Shunji Watanabe (“Kaicho”), founder and president of the North American Shorinjiryu Karate Federation, is a world-renowned karateka with over 68 years of experience and is a Ninth Dan (degree) black belt.
Kaicho began his karate training in 1955 under the Shorinjiryu Kenkokan karate founder, Shinan Kori Hisataka, at the Hombu dojo in Tokyo, Japan. He participated in demonstrations with Shinan’s son, Masayuki Hisataka Soke, Ninth Dan, at the World Expo in Montreal, Canada in 1967. As Shinan’s most senior student, he was personally selected to come to the U.S. to promote the study of Shorinjiryu Kenkokan karate-do. At the end of the 1960s, Kaicho moved to Maryland and began training students wherever he could find space, including the Nichi Bei Kai, a restaurant in Baltimore County, operated by his U.S. Sponsor, Mr. Miyamoto. In 1974, he opened the Hombu dojo in Owings Mills, where he taught the Shorinjiryu Kenyukai karate for the next four and half decades. Over the years, Kaicho received many accolades for his passion and commitment to teach karate to anyone willing to commit themselves to the discipline required in karate-do. Kaicho received citations of excellence in the services he and his dojo provided in Maryland by the Governor in 1989, as well as recognition from the Mayor of Baltimore City for ‘Baltimore’s Best Karate School’ in 1986 and 1996.
Kaicho is first and foremost an instructor of karate, teaching classes and clinics at the Kenyukai Watanabe-Ha Hombu dojo. While he faced many challenges, he remained humble and committed to helping students reach their full potential, both in the study of karate-do and in life. In Fall of 2008, he awarded his first highest honored title to his senior advisors (Saiko Koman) of Seventh Dan (Nanadan) to Shihan Page Christis, Shihan Daniel Hayes, and Shihan John Salasko. This was an easy decision for Kaicho as these lead instructors, whose combined training experience spans over a century, were involved in all vital organizational decisions. Starting her journey in 1972, Shihan Christis is Kaicho’s longest standing student with over half a century of continued dedication to the art.
This year, Kaicho will officially award the degree of Eighth Dan (Hachidan) to both of his longest standing instructors, Shihan Daniel Hayes and Shihan Page Christis. Additionally, he will award the degrees of Sixth Dan (Rokyudan) to Sensei Peter Guarascio and Fifth Dan (Godan) to Sensei Boris Nadelman and Sensei Rocky Lee. He is excited to celebrate the achievements of his students, who have nearly ten decades worth of training, experience, and knowledge combined.
In the upcoming year, Sensei Larry Dammons, who has been training for over three decades, is expected to test for Sixth Dan (Rokyudan) as he pursues a path set forth by his lead instructor.
Decades – we use the term decades to reflect the level of dedication required of our Yudansha that are being prepared for the future of Shorinjiryu Kenyukai Watanabe-Ha Karate. Kaicho’s tireless training over the past almost seven decades, along with his dedication and passion to teach, has forged a community of devoted karateka. Kaicho Watanabe is the standard by which all other karateka should be measured.