Web Sites for Uechi-Ryu Organizations????

[Bone]

Does anybody have soem web sites to contact some of the other Uechi-Ryu Organizations?

What all is out there anymore? I was looking at who to posibly affiliate with , but would like to know what there Rank Requirements are before hand, as well as where are the organizations schools.

I have looked for Paingainoon-Ryu but have not found anything. Any info is helpfull thank you.

[Bruce Hirabayashi]

Does anybody have soem web sites to contact some of the other Uechi-Ryu Organizations?

What all is out there anymore? I was looking at who to posibly affiliate with , but would like to know what there Rank Requirements are before hand, as well as where are the organizations schools.

I have looked for Paingainoon-Ryu but have not found anything. Any info is helpfull thank you.

I recently ran across Shihan Mary Bolz's Pangainoon website. According to the site,

http://www.okinawa-budou.org/PGNR/

she / her organization offers:

Lifetime Membership (the most valuable asset). No annual fees!

One complete set of the nine video tapes (a $449.55 value alone).
Student Handbook
Pang Gai Noon Ryuu logo patch
The right to test via video up to Sho-Dan Rank.
Free official certificates for each kyuu rank earned.

With the complete set of instructional videos and the student manual, you will be able to follow the requirements needed to practice. You will need to have a video camera, record yourself testing on VHS and send in your performance to us. Each time you send in your video, you must send in A $50.00 judging and constructive critique fee. You may test for ranks from 10th kyu up to and including Sho-Dan-Hou . After you sign up for membership, you will receive all instructions on what to test on as well as practice requirements. Sho-Dan and ranks above must test in person under Bolz Shihan or Nishiuchi Saikoh-Shihan.

The fee for this entire package is $575.00 (the materials included already exceed this value, plus you have a lifetime membership! No other method of distance membership is accepted due to our mission of keeping training standards high and we wish those members who are truly interested in training, not just hanging a membership certificate on their wall. It should be the goal of distance learners in this organization to spend some time training at the honbu doujou before attempting Sho-Dan and above ranks.

Since I don't know anything about Ms. Bolz, I can't comment specifically about her offer or the quality of her training. I will note that in 24 years of training I have not run across any other Uechi-style teacher who has had the audacity to claim to be able to effectively train a student in karate up thru Shodan rank exclusively thru the use of distance learning / video. (In fairness, she does suggest a student consider spending some time training at the dojo before testing for "Sho-Dan-Hou")

Bone: Please don't misunderstand me here: I don't mean to make light of your search for an organization with which to affiliate. The strength of the organization does reflect on the value of the rank it confers.

On the other hand, I think that at the end, the quality of the dojo teaching staff and dedication of the students with whom you train is quite a bit more important than the organization or even the style.

Good luck on your search!

Cheers,

Bruce Hirabayashi
Rokudan
Atlanta Uechi-ryu Karate-do Society