Kyokushin Karate: London Dojo

Negative experience: What an odd experience. Teacher never performs Kihon with the students. I trained in Japan at Matsuyama, Takashi Azuma, Masuyama, Yasuo Takahashi, Yasuhiro Kuwajima, Satoshi Yui dojos, in the UK with Arneil et al. and sometimes the teachers are in their later years but still practice Kihon with their students - as best as they can. Also, they were super welcoming and courteous to visiting and new students. This guy is super distant and doesn’t move while we’re practicing Kihon! The lack of senior grades for an Instructor that’s been around that long is also a bad sign. I think if you have a child that wants to train in the children’s classes, perhaps worth a try. But, if you’ve trained before and looking for inspiration, a welcoming courteous dojo and senior grades you can also learn from, this isn’t the place. Funakoshi said “Karate begins and ends with rei”! Rei is not a given, it has to be earned.

Positive experience: Looking forward

Fantastic experience: Excellent instruction, proper Kyokushin training