Uechi-ryu in Europe

tigereye · Post by **tigereye** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 3:04 pm

Hi,

My name is Eva S., member of the Uechi-Ryu Karate-Do Belgium.

Mr. Mattson encouraged me to report here about our Dojo and especially about the seminar we had mid-November.

The only Belgian Uechi-Ryu dojo is led by Patrick Wauters, who introduced Uechi-Ryu Karate-Do in Belgium after attending the 1997 edition of the Mattson Summer Camp. At that Summer Camp, Patrick was advised by Uechi Kanmei Sensei to work with Yukinobu Shimabukuro in Paris, France. The rest is history…

It’s a tradition that twice a year (Spring and Autumn seasons) seminars are organized in Mechelen, Belgium, where we train together with colleagues from France. The yearly Summer Camp in France is led by Shimabukuro Sensei 8 Dan, who is teaching Uechi-Ryu Karate in France since 1986. He is the President of the European Uechi-Ryu Karate Organization which operates 7 dojo, including our dojo in the city of Mechelen, Belgium since 1997.

Shimabukuro Sensei is a student of Toyama Seiko who is the last still living student of Uechi Kanbun and Uechi Kanei. From Uechi Kanei he received his 6th Dan in 1987. In 2002 he was promoted to Kyoshi 8th DAN at Uechi-ryu Soke, the organization of the Uechi family.

Besides the Summer Camp there are regular Winter Camps which gives us the opportunity to go with our group to Paris to train in the Dojo of Shimabukuro Sensei.

I send a few pictures along to give an idea about what we are doing.
Here you find the pictures: http://www.uechi-ryu.be/dutch/fotogalerij.htm

If you want to know more about our Dojo and the activities we organize, you can contact Patrick Wauters at: info@uechi-ryu.be

or you can contact me right here...

Van Canna · Post by **Van Canna** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 4:56 pm

Excellent, Eva.

Are there any Uechi dojo in Italy?

Post by **gmattson** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 9:24 pm

So pleased that you finally got the courage to post here on the forums. As you will discover, everyone here is like family and you are most welcomed.

I've known Eva for a few years and can vouch that she is one of the kindest, nicest individual you will ever meet.

After reading the forums for awhile, she was quite apprehensive about posting, but I kept urging her to give it a try. I hope everyone reading this note will say hello to her.

She is a very dedicated Uechi-ryu student and is very serious about her training.

CANDANeh · Post by **CANDANeh** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:52 am

Big hello from me as well, I`m a student of Uechi-ryu (Canada)
I checked out the link you gave...are you in any of those pictures working out?
Hope to see you post often

Take care,

chef · Post by **chef** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:24 am

Greeting, Eva. It is so nice to see more women on the Forum. It is a great place for give and take, and the ability to get many different perspectives on every imaginable question you could possibly ask concerning karate and life.

There are so many wonderful martial arts practioners of different styles beside Uechi that bring something new and refreshing to the table.

I look forward to talking with you in the future and encourage you to visit the many forum sites available....make sure you visit Dana's site. Good stuff!

....and if you have the opportunity, please try to make it to George's Summer Camp. It is an incredible way to meet Uechi people, not only through out the U.S. but from other countries as well. George always puts on a great camp. You won't be disappointed.

I applaud your courage to post. Most excellent!

Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Regards,
Vicki

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:33 pm

Hello, Eva. How wonderful it is to have you posting!

Uechi Ryu most definitely is alive and well in Europe. One of my students, Bruce Hirabayashi, started a group in Regensburg, Germany when he was working there for Siemens Automotive. I've been there several times, and have noted that Germany has a number of Uechi dojos representing just about every faction of the style. All the dojos seem to cooperate beautifully in much the same kind of environment that we enjoy in the Mid Atlantic region. Whenever a dignitary of any sort would come to Germany, everyone would come and share in the experience.

Thanks for sharing your information on Shimabukuro Sensei. It appears France has a growing Uechi Ryu tradition.

Bruce has worked out with Takayasu Sensei I believe on more than one occasion while visiting Paris. He is from the Kenyukai lineage of Uechi Ryu.

They share a gift of very strong and obscenely flexible legs. Undoubtedly this is the Shinjo family influence.

We have our own private "cross training" in kicking, so Bruce was able to steal some very helpful plyometric kicking exercises from him.

In addition to getting Belgium on the map, I want to emphasize what a strong women's community we have here both in Uechi and online in these Forums. Dana and Vicki (a.k.a. chef) will take good care of you. We treasure their unique perspectives both from a body mechanics and a self-defense perspective. We're looking forward to you opening our eyes as well.

- Bill

jorvik · Post by **jorvik** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:11 pm

hi Eva I'm in the U.K.
I've never thought of trying Uechi in Fance or Belgium, but it would make a nice holiday

.maybe oneday

tigereye · Post by **tigereye** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:27 pm

I would like to take the opportunity to say hello to all of you and thank the kind words.

George,

Thank you for encouraging me to post this article about our dojo on your forum.
I'm delighted with the warm welcome and nice reactions I got till now, and this sure motivates me to post in the future.
I feel honored to be able to interact with many experienced people.

Mr. Canna,

A big thank you for your interest!
As far as I know there isn't any Uechi-ryu Dojo in Italy but I will ask
Patrick about it.

Bill,

Thank you for your appreciation.
I look forward to a great talk with all of you.

As I know Master Takemi TAKAYASU, is the technical Director of Uechi-Ryu Karate-do Kenyukai Europe association.
He has also yearly Summer camp. I haven't got the chance to meet him.

It seems that the side knife-edge kick is your favorite technique.

Viki,

I'm happy to meet you virtually.
I was dread of being the only women on the forum.
I also hope that this is just the start of a long and very interesting talk with you.

Leo,

There aren't many pictures of me as I am the photographer.

Jorvik,

Feel free to join us anytime. U.K. is just a few hours by the Thalys.

Regards,

James Watt · Post by **James Watt** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:37 pm

I met the French guys at our small tournament in August in Tokyo. Shimobukuro Sensei was great, and the French giant he brought with him won the tourney.

Eva, all of you at the Belgian dojo should come over to Japan for next year's tournament. It's great fun, and my teacher is crazy. Shimoji Sensei is always looking for new dojos to partner up with, and after the tournament, we'll take you on tours of the Tokyo area. (In those group pictures on your site, Shimoji Sensei is the Japanese man standing to Shimobukuro Sensei's right. On our left. )

I'll be translating our dojo website into English and French over the Christmas break, so maybe I'll post it up after that so you can have something to look at.

Dana Sheets · Post by **Dana Sheets** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:59 pm

Hi Eva,
Welcome and thanks for writing in about our dojo and yourself. I look forward to hearing more about some of those camps - they sound like lots of fun!

cheers,
Dana

tigereye · Post by **tigereye** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 9:19 pm

James Watt wrote: I'll be translating our dojo website into English and French over the Christmas break, so maybe I'll post it up after that so you can have something to look at.

It's a good idea James!

During Christmas holiday I should make some time free to remake our website also.

Please let us know, when your translation is ready.

James Watt · Post by **James Watt** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 2:07 am

tigereye wrote:
James Watt wrote: I'll be translating our dojo website into English and French over the Christmas break, so maybe I'll post it up after that so you can have something to look at.
It's a good idea James!
During Christmas holiday I should make some time free to remake our website also.

Please let us know, when your translation is ready.

No problem. I'm going home for Christmas so I should have it up by January. Hopefully there will some interesting stuff there, too.

ShiroTora · Post by **ShiroTora** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:21 am

Hello Everybody,

Finally I get some time to answer some questions

Thank you for all your reactions. As written by Eva, Uechi-Ryu Belgium really started during the 1997 Summer Camp in Boston where Kanmei Uechi Sensei advised me to continu Uechi-Ryu with Yukinobu Shimabukuro Sensei in Paris (France). On returning from the camp I started again as a white belt under Shimabukuro Sensei. (Already graded Nidan from the Belgian Federation at that time, having started Karate in 1983.)

Unfortunately I haven't been able to visit the Summer Camp again. Every year there is hope that the trip will fit in the (family, work, etc) planning but until know this hasn't been the case. (I do wonder what happened to Jeff Morris and Louis Hopper - my two wonderful Canadian brothers - that I took on board from and to the Boston airport in 1997.)

To Eva: thank you very much for posting and supporting the web site. (Sorry for the times that I'm not responding to your questions but I assure you that has valid reasons.)

To Van Canna Sensei: I've heard that there are a number of Uechi-Ryu dojo in Italy (North) operating under Takayasu Sensei of Kenyukai lineage. Since we are affiliated to Shimabukuro Sensei connected to Soke, I don't have any more information. Best is to ask Takayasu Sensei himself.

Uechi-Ryu is steadily developing in France and Belgium as a result of the dedication of Shimabukuro Sensei.

This year in May, Shimabukuro Sensei succeeded in organising the first Uechi-Ryu France (Kata) Championship WITH support from the French Federation. On Saturday there was an open seminar with Yasuo Shimoji Sensei and Haruyoshi Shimabukuro Sensei (not related to Yukinobu Shimabukuro) who flew over from Tokyo for the occasion. On Sunday was the Kata Championship. Hopefully next year it will be possible to incorporate Kumite. See also: http://www.okinawa-karate.jp/english/n_ ... =10#column

The vision is to build a strong relationship with UR (whatever their faction) dojo in other European countries and to organize European seminars and championships.

Kindest regards,

Patrick Wauters - Uechi-Ryu Belgium
Patrick.Wauters@uechi-ryu.be
--

AAAhmed46 · Post by **AAAhmed46** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:23 am

Wow, look at his neck muscles.

Van Canna · Post by **Van Canna** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:55 am

To Van Canna Sensei: I've heard that there are a number of Uechi-Ryu dojo in Italy (North) operating under Takayasu Sensei of Kenyukai lineage. Since we are affiliated to Shimabukuro Sensei connected to Soke, I don't have any more information. Best is to ask Takayasu Sensei himself.

Thanks. Good to know for the next time I go there.
They are probably in the Milano area way up. I do travel and spend time in the Milan area, actually from the very North to the very south. It would be nice to see Uechi blanket Italy. The Italians are very much into martial arts and develop some fantastic fighters.

Uechi-ryu in Europe

Uechi-ryu in Europe

Hi Eva...

Hi Eva

Uechi-Ryu in Europe (Belgium, France)