Seido Karate?

[TKDFromDMV_Student]

I have seen something about it when I was looking up Kyokushin schools in my area. I have never heard of this style. Whoever has heard of it or practiced this style, please tell me more about it. What do you guys know about it?

 

[JR 137]

I study Seido Juku. I really like it. What do you want to know?

 

[TKDFromDMV_Student]

I study Seido Juku. I really like it. What do you want to know?

The history and the uniqueness of the style.

 

[JR 137]

Tadashi Nakamura was sent to the US by Mas Oyama in the 60s to start Kyokushin here. Nakamura left Kyokushin in '76 and started Seido Juku.

Nakamura left Kyokushin for many reasons. He felt it was growing too fast resulting in a lack of quality control, he felt there was too much emphasis on competition and not enough character development, and he felt that it was too exclusive to young men. Among other things.

Seido is very similar to Kyokushin in syllabus. It's not bare knuckle though. Nakamura has also added a lot of strategy training (don't know how else to say that) through things like prearranged one step sparring, prearranged back and forth sparring, etc. Kyokushin doesn't (or at least didn't) do this stuff. Many Kyokushin schools will have you spar bare knuckle your first night; Seido waits until you've progressed somewhat in kyu ranks before free sparring (with pads).

Seido incorporates meditation into its practice. We have meditation classes at least once a month. They're not required, but they are there and encouraged. Just as in Kyokushin, there's a heavy emphasis placed on etiquette.

In my late teens-mid 20s I studied what was basically renamed Kyokushin. I restarted Karate about 2 years ago, and I'm 40. I could've gone the Kyokushin route again, but instead chose Seido for several reasons. The main one being the level of contact - we wear protective gear. Being 40, I've "been there, done that" with bare knuckle, and it takes me longer to recover from stuff like that. This goes along with Nakamura's feeling that karate should be a lifelong pursuit and it should welcome anyone who truly wants to learn.

Seido also has a strong family-like atmosphere. There's regular events in the dojo and out. We do a beach training every summer, we have a holiday party, dojo cleaning day every couple of months, etc. Nakamura is the kind of person who tries to remember every student he meet's name. I've met him a few times (I'm 2 hours away), and every time I've said hi, he knows who I am, who my CI is, etc. He's a bit shaky with my name, but I'm sure he'll get it right after one or two more meetings. He's a very approachable and down to earth guy, and he wants his students to be the same way.

Seido dojos vary, just like everything else. The dojo I train at is mainly people my age who came from Kyokushin and offshoots. My CI has been under Nakamura since the Kyokushin days. I think he was part of the group that earned their 1st dan right after Nakamura formed Seido. We train hard. We hit hard when it's appropriate. There are some Seido dojos that are full of kids. Nothing wrong with that. Not that they're bad teachers or dojos, but I wouldn't train at one of those; it's just not for me. Every dojo is different.

I chose my dojo based on the CI and students training there, and somewhat on the art itself. I visited a bunch of schools, but the Seido dojo felt like home.