South Carolina Dojo? South East Dojo?

[sportsmedic]

Help everyone!

I'm trying to locate the nearest "official" WSKO dojo.

According to WSKO, a Mr. Shogo Fukinbara opened a South Carolina Branch in 1974, and closed in 1975. If this familiar to anyone?

(WSKO) writes to me:
Formal registration with an organization of Shorinji Kempo means to obtain a membership at a branch which is authorized by WSKO. No one is allowed to practice any activities of Shorinji Kempo without formal registration with the organization.

Well, here I am looking for help after several years of "unofficial" practice. Thanks everyone!


Gassho.

Kenshi Jim

[Gary Dolce]

Kenshi Jim,

Unfortunately, Shorinji Kempo Branches in the US are clustered on the West Coast and the Northeast and are rare elsewhere. There is an official Branch in Southern Alabama (on the Gulf Coast I believe) - send me an e-mail and I will give you contact information. In the opposite direction, the nearest Branch is the World Bank Branch in Washington, DC. Here is their web site address:

http://users.erols.com/ziring/wbsk/core.html

I don't know anything about the former South Carolina Branch, but the Branch Master of the Alabama Branch might. I believe that there was also a Branch in Atlanta briefly in the early '80s.

Where did you learn Shorinji Kempo? My usual advice to "orphan" Kenshi who want to continue to practice is to focus on looking for experienced Kenshi in whatever Japanese community may exist in your area. If you are lucky, you might find someone with both the experience and interest in starting a Branch. But it is a long shot, and I suspect there isn't a big Japanese community in Charleston.

Feel free to e-mail me if you want to talk more outside this forum.

Good luck!

[Phong Nguyen-Le]

Hi there,

Just in case you haven't seen it, since the last update of the offical WSKO website, it now has a list with of WSKO affilated Shorinji Kempo Branches outside of Japan.

http://www.shorinjikempo.or.jp/wsko/list.html


Cheers
Phong

[Edited by Phong Nguyen-Le on 08-06-2000 at 10:22 PM]

[Anders Pettersson]

Hi Jim.

I hope that you manage to find a branch so that you can become an official member of WSKO.
Even if you will have a long distance to the nearest branch it is possible to make progress in Shorinji Kempo. Maybe it isn't the most recommendable way, but if you work hard you can still make it.
As for myself I started unofficially to practice together with some friends, one of them had a little training under a "real" teacher. Shortly after that we started to travel to the nearest official branch (a little bit over 300 km) as often as possible and went to all training camps possible, both in Sweden and abroad.
Today my partner and me both are 4th Dan and I've been a shibu-cho since ten years or something.

If you want anything is possible, you just have to work hard.

Anders
<A href=”http://www.shorinji-kempo.org/">www.shorinji-kempo.org</A>

[sportsmedic]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I especially appreciate the encouragement from both Sensei Gary and Sensei Anders.

I must admit I was discouraged from WSKO's e-mail to "not practice" until I was formally registered with a branch.

I will keep looking until I find a branch, travel part-time to train, or find someone with "real" training. I hope to meet you someday!

Gassho.

kenshi Jim