Kenshūkai is a relaxed martial arts school.  What do I mean by that?

We teach an Okinawan form of Karate as taught to us by Taika Seiyu Oyata.  All techniques originated from him.  

• It contains the typical punching and kicking of most Karate, however our philosophy is a little different.

  • We are not heavily into sparring and tournaments.  There are Ryu Te® tournaments but that is not our focus.  We focus on realistic self-defense, not on tournaments.  Tournaments are always different depending on the host, but they train you in bad habits like "Don't kick below the waist, no hits behind the back, etc".  They also slap a set of gloves on that prohibit the use of wrist locks and pressure points which is a major part of this style.  

  • In short, we do have sanctioned tournaments, and we do occasionally suit up in the gear and spar in class, but this is NOT our focus.

• We do ground work.  Many schools do not deal with the ground in general Karate, however we do.  Every fight usually ends up on the ground and our hope is that we can prepare you for this inevitability, and teach you how to control the "how" of getting to the ground.  Your goal is to take it there and control it.

More about "RELAXED"

• FEES - FIRST MONTH IS FREE.  No cost to try us out at all.  We are cheaper because we train in a basement of a residence.  We have a rather large house available and paying a strip mall for rent, and utilities would bump up the price vastly.  We choose to not go this route.  As you reach Green Belt, your monthly fee comes down in steps till you are free as a Black Belt.  As the head of our association is located in Independence, MO, you then become his student, and can train with him one night a week.  We then hope you will continue to train with us as an assistant instructor.  There is a yearly fee for membership in the Ryu Te® Ren Mei Association which I merely take from your January membership.

• UNIFORM - A uniform is NOT required initially.  IF you decide to continue your training to attain your first black belt, then you must purchase an association uniform prior to that test.  While at our school, however, you can train in about anything you are comfortable in.  Sweats, Shorts, BDU's, T-Shirt.  It does not matter to us and does not cheapen your knowledge.  You can buy a $5 martial arts uniform at a garage sale, spend $150 on a fancy one, or just where the clothes you already own.  We do not care. No street shoes on the mats. You may wear wrestling shoes, socks, or go barefoot.

• TESTING - Association rules state that we have to charge for a certificate for Green Belt, and the Three Brown Belts.  (See Rankings Link Below).  The association charges us $15.00 for these certificates and that is exactly what we charge you for them.  No mark up, we even eat the stamps.  There is no charge for the first six belt tests.  IF you choose to wear a martial arts uniform, you may purchase a belt corresponding to your rank after the test and wear it.  That is solely up to you.  We even have a stock of some belts that we built up 12 years ago when Tony ran a small business.  We usually give those out for free if we have your color and size. There is not a huge build up of pressure for testing with us, however there may be stress testing in front of Mr. Oyata for your black belt depending on your mindset, should you stay with it that long. We test you when we feel you are ready, and half the time you don't even realize you were being tested. Rank at lower levels is a way to know what items you should be familiar with, and not an end goal to look cool. We don't make a penny at Kenshūkai off of testing other than the monthly fee for you to continue training with us which as shown above is nominal.

• PRESSURE - YOU set your pace and priorities.  If you want to train without testing, that is up to you.  Any martial arts instructor is constantly assessing your "level" as you train.  There are basically two paths you can choose when training with us.  

  • Rank and File - You want to continue the association path to your first level of black belt (hopefully more).  You want to learn all the history, culture, and jump through all the regular hoops to get to this point.

  • Just Train - You just want to train and learn.  You won't be expected to memorize a bunch of Japanese words and philosophies.  You just train and when you are ready for more we give you more.  

  You can always jump back and forth between the two, but the pressure is much less.  Your path is tailored to you.