… english message below…
Je voudrais féliciter tous ceux qui y ont participé. Nous sommes vraiment fiers de vous. Nous mesurons le succès n’est pas avec le trophée, mais avec les progrès que vous avez fait. Je suis particulièrement fier des karatekas qui a mis l’effort et les résultats ont été démontrés. J’espère que, gagner ou perdre, les leçons ont été tirées pour ce jour.
Un lien de notre nouvelle gallerie de photos peut être trouvé ici.
——
I would like to congratulate all of you who participated. We are truly proud of you. We measure success not with the trophy, but with the progress you have made. I am especially proud of the people that put in the effort and the results were demonstrated. I hope that win or lose, lessons were learned on this day.
Osu!
Luciano, Sensei
Dear Branch Chiefs and Contacts,
I hope that all of you are fine.
Here in Japan, we are in the midst of autumn which offers us a fantastic landscape colored in yellow, red and orange.
The training in our dojos all over the world is going on as usual, and all our students are heading towards the goal each one of them has set up for themselves. It is especially encouraging to watch the children in their practice; they are all very serious in their training, like small Samurais. I am very grateful to the parents who trust our organization and enroll their children in our dojos. Most parents wish their children to become “a gentle and kind child, with a strong heart and good behavior”. We must always keep this in our mind, to be sure not to let down these parents. In our work it is also important to teach the children what is said in “Kyokushin Seishin” (“Kyokushin Spirit”) about filial piety and gratefulness to our parents. In order to bring up these children to become people with great personality, we must never forget ourselves and our behavior; we must always work on our own personal growth.
Here in Japan the 41st All Japan Tournament was successfully held in the beginning of October, and we are now focusing on the upcoming 10th World Championship in 2011. We could see at the All Japan Tournament that the Japanese competitors fought with the World Championship in their mind, there were many great battles to be seen. The Champion of this tournament was Norichika Tsukamoto. Tsukamoto is working hard as a Branch Chief to bring up strong students and at the same time he is challenging himself with severe and hard training. He became the World Champion at the age of 21 and has continued to be the world’s top fighter all these years; he is today 35 years old. Although the competition level is increasing year by year, Tsukamoto has managed to continue to develop himself and remain at the top; he gives us a splendid example of what true Budo Spirit is.
The autumn has been very busy all over the country with many local tournaments, it is now starting to calm down a little bit, and I hope to be able to visit some of our overseas branches if my schedule allows it. I just visited Switzerland and watch the Swiss Open, organized by Branch Chief Peter Steinmann. The tournament was of a very high level, and competitors from many different countries participated in this event. There was a large audience with a great atmosphere. It is a great joy for me to see these kinds of events overseas, and it makes me proud of Japan and our Karate. I would like to express my gratitude to everybody who was involved in organizing this great tournament.
Now when Karate is becoming more and more globalized, it is even more important for us to retain our Budo Spirit and to always be sure to behave and act in true Budo manner. We must never forget to be grateful to others, to act with respect and modesty towards those around us. We are working for a globalization of Karate, but we must be careful to keep the tradition of true Budo.
I’m sending you my message every month, and I hope that you show it to your students as well, it is important that all members of our organization are working together, with the same goal, and in the same manner.
As always I would like to end this month’s greeting with thanking all of you for your hard work.
OSU!
Kenji Midori
President
WKO
It’s been a while I have started this article, but never took the time to complete it. I guess I wanted to find the right words to express this experience appropriately. However, sometimes you just need to sacrifice perfection for timely delivery 
On March 14, 2009, eleven courageous karatekas gathered together to participate in the annual black belt grading exam. Ten people were being tested for their first degree black belt, and one for his second degree black belt. Sensei Luciano and Sempai Marisa were honored and proud to have two of the ten candidates represent Dojo Tansei –Alessia and Michael. They represented our dojo very well. You can see the photos that were taken during this eight hour long exam at this link.
As part of their shodan exam, they needed to demonstrate their knowledge of karate terms, techniques, katas, combination of techniques, stamina during a cardio-demanding workout, tameshiwari and an exhausting ten rounds of full-contact fights. This particular exam focused particularly on endurance. The principal teachings of our karate and what this exam demanded is determination. One main characteristic of a Shinkyokushin black black is the mental ability to overcome any obstacle –when you think you can’t perform anymore and when you want to give up, that’s when you need to find your second wind and continue… the “never quit” attitude. Every single candidate demonstrated this. In fact, three out of the ten candidates had not passed last year, and were trying again this year. This truly demonstrates their determination and perseverance to not quit and try again.
About Dojo Tansei’s candidates:
Alessia has been practicing karate continuously for nine years before passing her black belt. She has participated in six summer karate camps organized by Shihan Camille Ohan, in several international competitions hosted by FKCO, GoldCup, and Junior Rallyes, in several seminars. She trains at the Honbu weekly during the professional courses, and of course at Dojo Tansei. She assists in teaching the mini-karate classes every Saturday morning.
Apart from karate, Alessia also enjoys the art of ballet. She has been practicing ballet continuously for eleven years. Alessia is part of the International Baccalaureate education program and has been on the honor role list since seventh grade. Alessia’s experiences has taught her the “never give up” attitude we all need in our lives. We are very proud to have her on our team.
Michael started karate at the age of four. He received his brown belt at the young age of nine. He then stopped for a few years and started it up again at the age of thirteen at Dojo Tansei, under the tutelage of Sensei Luciano and Sempai Marisa.
Michael demonstrated a sense of humility and trust with his new Sensei, when he wore a white belt once again during his evaluation period. Six months later, and after much dedication and hard work, Michael achieved all the criteria needed to qualify for green belt (two kyu levels below brown belt). Without question, he accepted this belt and worked even harder to prove himself for the next levels leading up to black belt level.
Throughout the years, Sempai Michael has demonstrated much dedication, perseverance and loyalty towards his chosen art, his dojo, and improving himself. He has participated in a summer camp, Mont Tremblant challenge, junior and international tournaments, tameshiwari, seminars, professional level classes at the Honbu, and assists in our classes at Dojo Tansei. Sempai Marisa and I are very proud to have Sempai Michael as part of our team at Dojo Tansei.
Besides karate, Michael has been part of an elite baseball team, and graduated high-school with honors. He recently started college this year.
Picture taken at the end of the Shodan exam with Shihan Camille Ohan
Picture taken at the end of the Shodan exam. Behind is a chart used to count the number of fights each candidate was required to do.
Jean, Mirella, et Nikolas
Je voudrais prendre quelques moments pour partager avec vous notre expérience lors de notre escalade du Mont Tremblant le 13 septembre. Jean et moi avons suivi seulement trois semaines de cours de karaté et n’avons eu aucun entrainement. Nikolas, d’autre part, venait récemment d’avoir 6 ans et n’aimait pas vraiment marcher. Malgré ces lacunes, nous avons voulu faire une sortie qui introduirait Nikolas aux joies d’être en plein air. Je ne peux pas nier que nous avions nos doutes, puisque Jean et moi n’étions pas en bonne condition physique.
Jean, Mirella, and Nikolas