Yasuhiro Konishi
Sensei Konishi was born in Takamatsu City in Japan’s Kagawa Prefecture in November 23, 1893. He began his martial arts training at 6 in Musou Ryu Kenpo from Hanshi Sanzou Matsui. In 1913, he began training in Kendo with Sueyoshi Kondo and Masahiro Inoue, both from the Jikishinkage/Kyoushin Meichi styles; and with Soukurou Uehara from the Onoha Ittou style. He also trained in the Takenouchi style of Jujitsu from Hanshi Midori Takenouchi.
While in Keio University, he helped Gichin Funakoshi (founder of Shotokan Karate) and Hironishi Otsuka (founder of Wado Ryu Karate) establish a Ryukyu Kenpo Tode club, the first university karate club in Japan. After graduating from Keio University in 1924, he soon opened a Kendo and Jujitsu dojo “Ryobu Kan.” The dojo became famous and many well-known figures visited for knowledge exchange and cross-training. Among them were Kenwa Mabuni (founder of Shito Ryu Karate), Chojun Miyagi (founder of Goju Ryu Karate) and Choki Motobu (founder of Okinawa Kenpo Motobu Ryu). After 1925, he began learning from all these masters, eventually defining and cultivating his emerging style.
Sensei Konishi also learned several other styles and martial disciplines such as Nanban Satou Ryu Kenpo from the 14th Head of the Koga Clan Ninja, Seiko Fujita; Fusen Ryu Jujitsu from Eizaburo Nakayama; Yagyu Shingan Ryu Kenpo from Itsumi Sato, Shiba Shinya Jujitsu from Syunsai Watanabe; and Aiki Budo from Morihei Ueshiba (founder of Aikido). Sensei Konishi believed that if you walk a morally correct path in life, then you are naturally following the Divine Way. As such, upon recommendations from Danjo Yamaguchi, a researcher of Koshinto (“Old School” martial arts) and Sensei Ueshiba, he named his karate style “Shindo Jinen Ryu” (Divine and Natural Way).
In 1927, Sensei Konishi was awarded a Seiren-Sho (the precursor to the Hanshi, Renshi and Kyoshi titles) by the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, the Japanese governing body for martial disciplines at that time. In 1934, he was awarded a Kyoshi in Kendo, and in 1935, along with Chojun Miyagi and Ueshima Sanosuke (founder of Kushin Ryu Karate), were awarded a Kyoshi in Karate Jutsu. In 1938, he was awarded Screening Committee Chairman in both Judo and Karate Jutsu, and in the following year, Renshi in both martial arts.
During the 44th Butoku Sai celebration of the 2,600th anniversary of the Emperor in 1940, he demonstrated “Shindo Jinen Ryu Karate” in public for the first time. In 1964, he was awarded his 8th Dan in Kendo and in 1968, his Hanshi. One year before that, in 1967 he was awarded the first 10th Dan/Hanshi by the Nihon Karate Rengokai (precursor of the Japan Karate Federation).
Until his death in June of 1983, he embodied in his training and life the philosophy of Karate expressed in the poem he once wrote, “Karate is… Not to hit someone… Neither to be defeated… But to avoid trouble.”
Jinen-Kai
Sensei Konishi’s dojo, the Ryobu Kan opened at Tokyo in 1927, serving as the headquarters for the Nihon Karate-Do Ryobu-Kai. After his death, the authority for the organization passed on to his son Takehiro Konishi, 10th Dan; with the dojos based outside Japan entrusted to Kiyoshi Yamazaki, 9th Dan.
Our Chief Instructors studied and trained extensively under Sensei Yamazaki as early as 1985. Sensei Chad Eagan and Sensei Bruce Nguyen then opened the Nihon Karate Dojo in Buena Park CA in 2003, and Sensei Patrick Martin the Nihon Karate School in Arizona in 2008 – proudly producing champions that excel in both the national and international arenas, and disciplined and responsible members of society. In early 2010 the Nihon Karate Dojo moved to their current location in Fullerton CA, continuing to provide quality traditional trainings in Karate, Aikido and Kenjutsu.
Inspired to further develop and extend the Shindo Jinen Ryu style, while paying homage to the great masters and their legacy, the Japan Karate-Do Jinen-Kai was founded in 2015. Initially comprised of dojos from Southern California, Arizona and Aruba, it takes on the challenges of building the next generation of martial artists – well-balanced and capable individuals in Shin (Spirit), in Gi (Technique), and in Tai (Body).
