december 2018 / january 2019 - u.s. family martial arts · kata was useless and if one really...

December 2018 / January 2019

Please address all email regarding Affiliation, Membership, Tournaments, Seminars, Karate and Police Training to: [email protected]

Webpage: www.IKAKarate.com

UKRAINE TOURNAMENT RECAP On the weekend of October 12-14 Soke travelled to Sumy, Ukraine to teach seminars on Boken, Kubotan, Kubojitsu and karate. He was also there to oversee the IKA tournament, hosted by Soke Dai (of Ukraine) Anatoliy Lozovoy. Soke promoted Shihan Dai Lozovoy to Soke Dai due to his great success in promoting Gosoku Ryu throughout Europe. Soke Dai has worked very hard for recognition of Gosoku Ryu by the WUKF and his team has been very successful in all the tournaments they have participated in. Soke Dai has also worked tirelessly to promote Gosoku Ryu within the country of Ukraine by working with the Ministry of Sports and the other instructors in Ukraine. The Ukraine seminar and tournament was well attended with participation by IKA Poland and Belarus as well as numerous dojos throughout Ukraine. The competition was very well organized with a very high caliber of karateka competing.

We thank Soke Dai Lozovoy for all his hard work that made this tournament a great success. Osu! ALASKA KUBOTA CUP TOURNAMENT Alaska…..the final frontier. The last great American wilderness. Land of the grizzly, the finest salmon and halibut fishing in the world and the site of the 54th Annual Alaska Kubota Cup Tournament held on October 27th, 2018. This was no ordinary tournament as it was hosted by Hanshi Charles Scott of the International Karate Association under the leadership of Soke Takayuki Kubota, 10th dan and founder of the Gosoku Ryu karate system. The tournament was unique in that it had participation from several different styles of martial arts. There were representatives from not only traditional Japanese karate but also Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, Aikido and Kung Fu. The tournament was held in the city of Fairbanks with a population of approximately 40,000 people and it is the premier martial arts tournament in the city. The tournament was a friendship tournament with many schools participating for many decades. It is refreshing

to see a tournament with all different styles working together instead of promoting their own style as “the best”. The tournament had participants from as far away as Poland and from Los Angeles to New Jersey in the lower 48. The star of the tournament was Skyler Borane of IKA Alaska that was the Grand Champion in not only the women's competition but the All Around competition as well which included the highest cumulative scores of women and men competing for the coveted award. The men’s best all around was won by Kurt Furhmann of New Jersey. Kurt is a Tae Kwon Do instructor that was visiting Fairbanks on an invitation by the host Hanshi Scott. The Polish team under the leadership of twin brothers Shihans Jacek and Krzysztof Chalupka took several medals and 2nd place for the all around best performing dojo being narrowly beaten out by IKA team Alaska for the 1st place “Crystal Cup”. The Alaska team sent the Crystal Cup to IKA

Soke Teaching Boken – Sumy, Ukraine – October 2018 – photo courtesy of Aleksander Boriskin




Headquarters to honor Soke and it is proudly displayed in the headquarter’s dojo. We would like to thank Hanshi Charles Scott and Team Alaska for hosting this memorable event. Osu!

Soke Instructing Kubotan – Sumy, Ukraine– Photo Courtesy of

Aleksander Boriskin MASTERS FORUM The Masters Forum is dedicated to increasing the knowledge of the IKA Family. Each month we will try to cover a new topic on a multitude of facets of the art. This month Kyoshi Rod Kuratomi has written an article: How Kata Improves Your Kumite I have heard several times over the years by those that supposedly were advanced students of karate proclaiming that kata was useless and if one really wanted to learn how to fight, they had to practice only waza and kumite. This statement was made because the student did not know what they did not know.

It takes years and years of training in order to understand what kata really does and how it benefits the practitioner. Kata’s primary benefit is for the mind. It actually rewires the electrical synapse in the brain. This is not a change that happens overnight and it takes years and often decades to become evident. Laymen call this “muscle memory”. Muscles don’t have memory. The only thing in our body that has memory is our brain. Kata, through thousands of repetitions of technique, internalizes the techniques and movement to where karate movement comes without conscious thought. The movement becomes reflexive. This is especially evident when it comes to defense and counter attacking. The beginner sees an attack. Their eyes tell the brain, here comes a punch to their face. They consciously think that they have to do a jodan uke. Sometimes they block it, most of the time the block is missed because of the delay due to the movements being consciously controlled by the brain. I have heard several times, “wow, that karateka is so fast”. In reality the physical movements are not necessarily any faster than others but the reaction to an attack is reflexive. Blocks and counters happen almost instantaneously giving the illusion of speed when it is actually reflexive reaction that reduces the total time the technique takes to execute. Attacking is easy for a beginner. Just throw punches and kicks. Blocking is hard as it requires one to analyze the speed, target, and distance of the attack and intercept the attack in a fraction of a second. Blocking and counter punching is even harder to do quickly as one not only has to block but also has to reflexively deliver an attack to an opponent’s unprotected target. Only the experienced karateka can do this reflexively. Next time your students complain about doing the same kata over and over again, explain to them that repetition is the key to making karate effective. Want to become a better fighter, spend more time training in kata…




Soke with the IKA Instructors in Ukraine – (left to right) Kyoshi Ted Bratakos, Kyoshi Rod Kuratomi, Soke, Soke Dai Anatoliy

Lozovoy– Photo Courtesy of Aleksander Boriskin

From the Alaska Kubota Cup - Alaska Champions, Skyler Borane for the Women’s All Around and for the Grand Championship (both sexes). Kurt Fuhrmann of New Jersey, winner of the Men’s All Around (based on cumulative points of multiple events – cool champion belts!!).

“To all those whose progress remains hampered by ego-related distractions, let humility – the spiritual cornerstone upon which Karate rests – serve to remind one to place virtue before vice, values before vanity and principles before personalities.” – Sokon ‘Bushi’ Matsumura (legendary Karate grandmaster – 1798-1890)




IKA Calendar of Events March 29-31, 2019 Warsaw, Poland IKA Tournament and Seminars with Soke Hosted by Shihans Chalupka August 4, 2019 Long Beach, California Nikkei Games Tournament July, 2019 Glendale, CA IKA Seminars – date to be announced November 9-10, 2019 Monterrey and Mexico City, Mexico Kubotan Seminars Hosted by Sensei Tomas Miledi




List of IKA Headquarters Staff and Instructors President and Founder Soke Takayuki Kubota Vice-President Thea Kubota Legal Advisor Paul McCaul, JD Directors Val Mijailovic Rod Kuratomi

Ted Bratakos Chief Advisor Barron Yanaga, JD, CPA Hospitality Manager Judy Rao, RN General Secretary/IT Staff Ali Farazdaghi Parent Committee Chair Simeon Waldron Liason, Special Projects Sara Kubota Medical Advisors Dr. Ashok Rao, M.D. Dr. Tatsuo Hirano, DOM Dr. Alex Tavitian, DDS Judy Rao, RN Official Photographer Lee Fisher Art and Advertising Marcial Soto, Duk Kim

Soke Takayuki Kubota – 10th dan Paul McCaul 8th dan Hanshi Val Mijailovic 8th dan Hanshi Boban Petkovic 8th dan Hanshi Ted Bratakos 7th dan Kyoshi Rod Kuratomi 7th dan Kyoshi Tatsuo Hirano 7th dan Kyoshi George Sinani 7th dan Kyoshi Antonio Antonetti 7th dan Kyoshi Danny Kahan 5th dan Shihan Sami Asmar 5th dan Shihan Victor Chico 5th dan Shihan Demetrio Munoz 5th dan Shihan Marcial Soto 5th dan Shihan Stuart Richman 5th dan Sensei Pierre Piponian 5th dan Sensei Sony Zivonovic 5th dan Sensei Alfonso Espinosa 4th dan Shihan Dai Judy Rao 3rd dan Sensei Patrick Reddy 3rd dan Shihan Dai Roy Simmons 3rd dan Sensei Anthony Boosalis 2nd dan Sensei Cheryl Kuratomi 3rd dan Sensei Lee Fisher 2nd dan Sensei Martyn Romero 1st dan Sensei Simeon Waldron 1st dan Sensei William Monterroso 1st dan Sensei Barron Yanaga 1st dan Sensei

CURRENT IKA HEADQUARTERS INSTRUCTORS The average training time for the Hanshi/Kyoshi/Shihan (Master) level instructor is 30-40+ years of training and teaching and have a minimum required rank. Each instructor not only teaches but trains as well in order to maintain his/her status. Title is not automatically bestowed with rank. Soke also has several other master level instructors in Kubojitsu , Kobudo and IPT (International Police Training). Shihan Dai is a Deputy Master level instructor with an average of 20-30 years of training and teaching. Titles are reserved only for instructors that are ACTIVELY teaching at IKA Headquarters. Dan ranks are retained but titles can be changed as Soke sees fit.

We welcome any articles you may wish to have published subject to approval by Soke Kubota. Submit your articles via email to Soke at: [email protected]

december 2018 / january 2019 - u.s. family martial arts · kata was useless and if one really...

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