Karate

In 1987, Souke Brooks and his wife, Lady Teruko, traveled to the village of Uchino-Ura of Kagoshima Prefecture, on the island of Kyushu, Japan to visit Teruko’s uncle Sachio Kurokawa, the appointed keeper of the Kurokawa Family crest. There, Lady Teruko and Souke Brooks received authority to use the crest and the Family name of Kurokawa for their Karate organization in the United States. As part of the Kurokawa Karate system, Kobushi Dojo students proudly wear this crest on their uniforms.

The Kurokawa crest is made up of two crossing Hawk feathers with both feathers pointing up at 45 degree angles. This crest is traced back to the Asano family, from which the Kurokawa clan descended. The Asano name is perhaps most well known as a result of the story of the Forty-Seven Ronin, whose lord was Asano Naganon, the head of a branch of the family at Ako. They were a noble samurai family in feudal Japan which controlled the fief of Hiroshima for much of the Edo period.

​Karate has a rich history dating back to ancient Okinawa, an island off the coast of Japan. In the 1300s and 1400s karate developed as a blend of indigenous Okinawan fighting methods and Chinese martial arts. Karate methods were originally named for specific regions or villages in Okinawa, but as time went on, the methods began to blend together and adopt newer names, now referred to as “styles.” Our style, Shito-Ryu, is a combination of Gojuryu Karate and Shuri-Te Karate. The founder of Shito-Ryu, Kenwa Mabuni (1890-1954), studied under several masters, and incorporated the strongest techniques into his karate system.

In the early 1900s, karate was introduced to mainland Japan. Much of the original Chinese and Okinawan terminology was changed to reflect Japanese culture, and new techniques were adopted to make the art appropriate for teaching in the school system. Shito-Ryu has persisted as one of the world’s major karate styles, retaining a balance of the older Okinawan and newer Japanese techniques. Kobushi Dojo strives to teach the strongest Karate available today, maintaining a powerful, enlightening, and fun mix of ancient techniques and Japanese culture.

Kobushi Dojo​​