Feel free to view the photos and information from some of the events that the Hara Shotokan Karate Academy has been involved with; plus some photos taken from our karate history.
Over the years many memories, people and events have been captured on camera.
Click here to take a look through our archive of pictures that is ever growing.
For some more recent photo's continue below.
Sensei Marc Stevens' course
As usual sensei Marc Stevens 5th Dan from the Kei Shin Kan dojo, Belgium had plenty in store this weekend!!
Friday night started with the basics of Tekki Shodan, which was then gradually combined with Marc's interpretation of the bunkai (application).
Saturday Morning was initially for the grading candidates to impress..
Well done to everyone who graded:
Callum Mcmillan graded to 3rd kyu
Martin Kavanagh graded to 2nd kyu
Debbie Kavanagh graded to 1st Dan
Dave Petrie graded to 1st Dan
Jo Alker graded to 2nd Dan
Saturday afternoon was used to continue applying the bunkai to tekki shodan, mixed in with various kihon, jiyu kumite and a healthy dose of heian kata's.
The entire weekend and continuing into Sunday was very energetic with the focus being on 'kime', breathing, distance and timing, this was applied by doing various jiyu kumite, all heian kata's Tekki Shodan and Bassai Dai.
Bassai Dai was then used to apply Marc's interpretation of the engi bunkai (kata & application), which was very impressive.
All in all it was a very tough and tiring weekend, but this is only what we expect from sensei Stevens and are more than happy to deliver that commitment back.
Looking forward to February.
Sensei Derek Ridgway's course
The training began with Sensei Derek Ridgway, 7th Dan of Kasoku Kai International, announcing he was to teach us a Shito-Ryu style Kata, ‘Juroku’, meaning sixteen.
From the start of this session Sensei Ridgway received the full attention of every student from the highest to lowest Kyu grade as move by move we all managed to complete this Kata with relative ease and speed due to our Shotokan training; Sensei Ridgeway said, he would often be “pulling out his hair” at this stage when attempting to teach the Kata on some courses.
The Kata was then broken into sections of 4/5 moves to gain better understanding of the ‘timing’.
Next was partner work to study the bunkai (application), comprising solid, no-nonsense techniques which we could all easily put into practice, whilst Sensei Ridgway moved around the hall offering students help and advice together with demonstrations in a quiet and approachable manner.
We were enjoying the training so much, that it felt like the course ended all too soon; with a couple of final repetitions of Juroku to ensure we had all grasped the Kata and Sensei Ridgway commenting how quickly we had picked up the Kata and how hard we had all worked.
We in turn expressed our gratitude and pleasure in sharing this gem of a Kata by a loud and well meant round of applause. Juroku is a joy of a Kata, similar in length to a Heian kata but with blissfully shorter stances than our usual Shotokan style and coming at the end of long, tiring but extremely enjoyable weekend, a very welcome kata!
A handful of karateka's made a trip down to Birmingham on Saturday 19th July, to train with Master Hiroshi Shirai, 9th Dan.
Sensei Shirai demonstrated a style of karate that he is developing called 'GoShinDo', a style that relies on shorter higher stances than traditional shotokan and also a more self defense style.
Sensei Shirai suggested that this new style be added to our existing knowledge and used as required in harmony with shotokan techniques, rather than just rely on these new techniques only.
We started training basic blocks and attacks and then progressed, using these basics to start learning one of a series of kata that sensei Shirai has developed called GoShinDo Taikyoku Ichi. Sensei Shirai said he had developed nine of these new kata, one of which had been shown to him by the late sensei Kase in a dream.
The majority of the kata were demonstrated by the italian contingent that had accompanied sensei Shirai to Birmingham, a number of whom were former world champions, however sensei had great pleasure in telling us they were now 'old men' as this was some time ago.
We had a brief opportunity to speak to sensei Shirai after training and Chris even got the opportunity to wrestle him, which Chris lost of course!
It was apparent that everyone knew and felt they were in the company of a great and well respected karateka, it was an honor to be able to say I have trained with Master Shirai, the experience was unmissable and I'm glad I attended.
Written by Caleb Foster
Sensei Kato started the weekend course with zsuki, which quickly evolved into more complex exercises where we were rotating on the spot. From here the focus became oi zsuki and gyaku zsuki with Sensei Kato emphasising the hip rotation to generate power.
Next, an important point was made about gedan berai, Sensei Kato demonstrated the difference between gedan uke and gedan berai; gedan berai is a strike whereas gedan uke is a block.
Partner work also emphasised this point about gedan berai, first we had to block soto uke then use gedan berai as a groin strike, yaku zsuki was then added with the final combination blocking soto uke striking same time yaku zsuki, striking gedan berai then yaku zsuki and moving out of distance.
When it came to kata Sensei Kato had some innovative ideas; in Heian Sandan students often do very short techniques which need to be longer to give the student a feeling of how the movement should be. The first moves of Heian Sandan were performed in zenkutsu dachi and kiba dachi, so when you return to back stance and the standing position in the kata, the technique is longer and not as contracted.
Sensei demonstrated two versions of a kata called Meikyo Nidan.
Sunday's training involved another original training method, Sensei Kato demonstrated kicking techniques but using a chair as an ai, this may have looked easy but was quite demanding. Sensei finished the course by going through Meikyo Nidan.
Written by Darryl Percival
As always this years event was an amazing one, with many activities, competitions and karate training.
One again the English were victorious, with a close fought kumite competition, coming down to a tie breaker fight and the Hara black belts putting on a fantastic kata and bunkai display to place 1st in the kata competition.
Congratulations to all those who competed and to everyone who made this years events such a memorable one.
Click here to view the full results.
Congratulations to everyone who competed in this years Ian Poole Memorial Kata Competition.
This years kata competition produced an excellent display of karateka skill, many of the category finalist were within points of each other, with the yellow belt category coming down to a tie breaker.
Congratulations to all the winners of each category and everyone for competing, and also thanks to the judges and spectators.
Click here to see the winners from each category and some videos of the day.
A handful of students from the Hara Shotokan Karate Academy visited Frans Brijon and his team at the Wijnegem Karate Centre, Belgium and trained with sensei's Dirk Heene 7th Dan, Ken Button 6th Dan and Francois van Binst 6th Dan.
This years National Championships were a fantastic event...
The energy levels and commitment displayed by everyone, children and adults alike, throughout the day made the championships.
The morning was devoted to the kata categories and the afternoon was devoted to the kumite categories.
Well done to everyone; competitors, judges, volunteers and spectators...
Click here for the results of each category.