Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu Dojo of Little Tokyo

Here’s my snack!

Art Ishii, head instructor of Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu Dojo of Little Tokyo shares his favorite snack with us for Delicious Little Tokyo’s Virtual Food Festival.... Find out why Japanese Americans have an affinity for SPAM and why you can find SPAM musubi in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and not in Tokyo, Japan! : Jesse Koester + Adina Mori-Holt : bensound.com Cast: Art Ishii (Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu Dojo of Little Tokyo) , Walter Nishinaka, Michelle Chan, Sara Gonzales (Impact Dance x Wellness), Lupe Limon Corrales, Ana Cristobal, Ryan Lee Special thanks to: Go Little Tokyo Little Tokyo Service Center Walton Construction, Inc. Courtlyn Shimada Garrett Iwamoto During filming, we tried our best to adhere to COVID restrictions and social distancing to ensure the safety of our cast and crew.

Stay tuned for 6 episodes of Snack Time at Budokan for the final week of Delicious Little Tokyo! Sharing snacks is a great way to create memories with famil...y, friends and teammates. Our favorite snacks that will be shared are spam musubi, lumpia, pico de gallo, spam sliders, pineapple agua frescas and sour gummy worms! It might not be obvious in our video but we tried our best to adhere to COVID restrictions and social distancing during filming to ensure the safety of our cast and crew. Little Tokyo Service Center Go Little Tokyo Straight Outta Little Tokyo - A Fundraiser for the Terasaki Budokan Walton Construction, Inc. Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu Dojo of Little Tokyo Impact Dance x Wellness

Tuesday night full contact Zoom workout!

Pictured in gi, as part of the Matsubayashi Shorin-Ryu of Little Tokyo contingent, is Erik Matsunaga . Now, 20 years later, Erik is the head instructor of Ravenswood Shorin-Ryu Karate Dojo in Chicago.

Though raised mainly in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Seinan and J-Flats, Ishii sensei's birthplace was the Japanese American resettlement enclave of Clark & Division on Chicago's Near North Side. It was here that his parents, like so many other Nisei coming out of various camps, regained footing upon release from Heart Mountain War Relocation Center. Born in 1944, his first two years were spent at 220 W. Elm which has long since been redeveloped into modern high rises.

Private lessons this evening with Kara and Kieren. They said I was beginning to show some promise!

In 2009, the Southern California-based Nikkei Karate Committee hosted a seminar in conjunction with the Nikkei Budo Tournament - a unique, apolitical, goodwill ...competition where kendo, judo, and karatedo all compete on the same floor at the same time. While the tournament itself was hosted in the ginormous Walter Pyramid on the campus of California State University Long Beach, the seminar was held the day before at Centenary UMC in Los Angeles - home to our parent dojo, Art Ishii sensei’s Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu of Little Tokyo. Featured was a Kumite seminar with Tomohiro Arashiro sensei of Ryuei-ryu (Chula Vista, CA) as well as a Tactical Self-Defense Seminar with Takayuki Kubota sensei of Gosoku-ryu (Glendale, CA). At the invitation of Nikkei Games, the Nikkei Karate Committee was formed in 2005 by a contingent of Southern California Japanese American karate instructors to reorganize the existing Nikkei Games Karate Tournament. Representing various ryuha and not under the control of any tournament governing bodies, the committee’s mission is to spread Japanese/Okinawan and Japanese American culture through a venue free from politics. In addition to the tournament, the committee regularly hosts a seminar the day before. Not relegated solely to karate instructors, they have also hosted such legends as Randy Williams of Wing Chun gung-fu and Hayward Nishioka of judo to show how other styles can relate, compliment, and enhance one’s understanding of karate. L-R: Art Ishii (Shorin-ryu); Ed Ichihara Smith (Shito-ryu Shukokai); Rod Kuratomi (Gosoku-ryu); Takayuki Kubota (Gosoku-ryu); Tomohiro Arashiro (Ryuei-ryu); Kevin Suzuki (Shito-ryu Genbukai).

2015 photo of Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu of Little Tokyo head instructor Art Ishii with American Shotokan legend and old school Nishiyama student Frank Smith. Over... the years, Ishii sensei has maintained good relations with world-class practitioners of various budo throughout the Southern California region, often maintaining an open-door policy for them to come visit if finding themselves within a stone’s throw of J-town during scheduled class sessions. Smith sensei, having recently retired as Chief of a Los Angeles area fire department, had been looking to get back into a regular training schedule, but found public spaces like the local gym or community center too distracting with onlookers. Through casual conversation, Ishii sensei invited him to come by Little Tokyo Dojo, if for nothing else but to self-train in a semi-private room off to the side of the dojo. After a couple offers, Smith sensei took him up on it and thenceforth became a regular visitor, even accepting Ishii sensei’s additional invitations to share some of his wealth of knowledge for portions of class. Good company and many stories would later be shared over post-training meals in Chinatown. Ishii sensei has always been fond of saying, regardless of system of style, good karate is good karate. That he has always been open to instructors of other systems sharing their perspectives with his students without insecurity of losing students or having his own methods questioned is admirable. Smith sensei’s participation later led to Rei Fujikawa, his fellow 1960s Central Dojo kumite team member, dusting off his keikogi and making periodic visits to Little Tokyo Dojo as well. Frank Smith was a dominating force among the American Shotokan kumite tournament circuit of the 1960s, and, much to his dismay, in his prime was forcibly retired from competition by Nishiyama sensei. Frank has noted that personal differences and politics aside, the late Nishiyama was and always will be his sensei and emphasized what a technical genius and inspirational instructor he was. Thanks to Ishii sensei for keeping both the lines of communication and dojo doors open. His example of community building and focusing on core commonalities over superficial differences has inspired our Ravenswood program to maintain an open mind and welcoming spirit. An interesting, if unofficial, profile of Frank Smith can be found here: http://findingkarate.com/wordpress/profile-frank-smith/

Demo at the Aquarium of the Pacific for the annual Autumn Festival. Many thanks to Sensei Prince Lauffler for joining us with his dojo members.

2019 Nisei Week court taking a quick Karate lesson by Sensei Ishii, Sensei Walter & Sensei François during their visit to the dojo! Great job everyone!!

Late post for Nisei Week Tanabata festival and Grand parade!!

Ran in to Cynthia Rothrock at Dragonfest yesterday. We actually trained together years ago when she was a regular visitor at our midtown dojo.