ABOUT OUR CLUB  |  OUR HISTORY

In May, 1996, 5th-dan Sadato Konoya moved to Seattle with his future wife, Jane (1st dan). Konoya-sensei came from Japan's Akita prefecture, where he was a member of the Yadome branch. He first took up ShorinjiKempo as a student at Meiji University.

The previous summer, in 1995, Colin May and his wife Julia, both shodan at that time, returned to Seattle from two years in Japan. About a year later Colin was introduced to a new thing called the World Wide Web while studying to become a schoolteacher. He did some searching for ShorinjiKempo resources and discovered that the Vancouver, Canada, branch had a website. He sent the webmaster an email asking if he was aware of any kenshi in the Seattle area. After a bit of investigation and back-and-forth, Colin was put in touch with Konoya-sensei, who was taking ESL classes at the same university. This shows the true value of the internet!

Konoya-sensei and Colin had just started to practice together when Konoya-sensei met on campus one Sachi Crowder, who said that her husband, Andrew, also was a shodan. He quickly joined the party...

All of this was happening in autumn. The turn of the year came around, and Colin and Julia went to a local Japanese supermarket. Inside the front door was a bulletin board, and on the board was a flyer for ShorinjiKempo classes in the University District--but it wasn't Konoya-sensei's group! Colin looked at the flyer and looked at his watch, and realized they could catch the end of the class on their way home.

Pankaj Rastogi (then 4th dan, now 5th, formerly of the Buffalo NY and Yamanote Doin branches, now in L.A.) had introduced ShorinjiKempo to an acquaintance, Nida Kukjazada (sp?), who had begged him to start a class, volunteering to take on the organizational responsibilities herself. No sooner did they enact that plan than Colin and Julia walked in the door with a gassho rei...

And so the Seattle club took root when senseis Konoya and Rastogi joined forces. Sadly, just a few months later, Rastogi-sensei was transferred to work in Osaka (there joining the Moriguchi branch), and the burden of instruction fell solely on Konoya-sensei.

Coincidentally (or fatefully?), one of Rastogi-sensei's training mates back at Yamanote Doin was our current Seattle branch master. Onaka-sensei moved to the Seattle area in the summer of 2002 and quickly made contact. For the following year he worked hard to maintain his relationship with the dojo in spite of an extreme work schedule and heavy family obligations. Nonetheless, he accepted the torch of leadership in June, 2003, after Konoya-sensei took a job in Kentucky.

Under Onaka-sensei's leadership the branch has continued to grow and strengthen. In April, 2005, we were able to make use of a special anniversary Cherry Blossom Festival in Seattle to host the first Northwest Regional Training Camp, with some 50 kenshi attending from all seven branches in the Northwest region plus Ohgaki Doin in Japan (see article under Events & News).

Of course, many others have contributed greatly to the development of our dojo. We give thanks to all who have joined us on our ShorinjiKempo journey, and we wish you all well as you travel your current paths.