About
our founder:
George Takahashi is the founder and chief instructor of the West
Los Angeles Karate School. He was born in Idaho, USA and grew up
both in the United States and in Japan. A graduate of the
University of California, Los Angeles, with a B.A. and an M.A.
in Political Science, he taught Japanese language at UCLA full
time for twenty years. He has written several articles on
Japanese culture, language and the martial arts. He also
authored a book entitled "An Adventure in English Language
Space: A Key to the Mysteries of Prepositions", published in
1998 by Vantage Press Inc., New York.
Sensei (teacher) Takahashi has been
involved with Karate since 1952 and was awarded an 8th Dan in
March 2004 by AFISK (American Federation of Independent Shotokan
Karate-do). He was also awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of
Philosophy from the Ken Studies Institute in 1990 along with the
congratulatory letters from George Duekmejian, then Governor of
the State of California and Pete Wilson, then U.S. Senator.
We are privileged to benefit from
Sensei Takahashi's wisdom, experience, skill and wit, and are
proud to call him Sensei.
What is karate-do?
A traditional and formalized martial art whose aims include:
Learning self defense via the use of
attacks and defenses utilizing both arms and legs and sparring.
The development of mind and body via
formalized sequences of techniques (kata) and the practice of
basic techniques and increasingly complex combinations of
techniques.
A philosophy emphasizing humility, self
discipline and self growth with the aim of self enlightenment.
Karate means empty handed. The
significance of this is that we learn to defend ourselves
without any weapons other than our own body, and also that we
aim to empty ourselves of (human) vanity in the practice of this
martial art. We strive to develop both humility and an
indomitable will. Karate-do is the way of life of the karate
practitioner.
Shotokan karate is one of the largest
and best known of the karate styles in the martial arts. It has
been formalized and standardized since the early part of this
century, and has given root to many other styles.
About
our founder: