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Budo Arts: Traditional Martial Arts Systems
We offer three traditional arts to every student enrolled at our dojo, each with a complete
syllabus and separate ranking requirements. Each is taught by world-class black belt
instructors with over a century of combined martial arts experience. |
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Combines an extensive traditional syllabus
with hundreds of hidden practical applications |
Training in over a dozen weapons, with traditional & modern defense applications |
The ancient samurai art of sword battle,
including cutting practice with live blades |
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SHITO-RYU KARATE
Shito-ryu Karate is one of the four major styles of Japanese karate, unique
in its extensive, integrated syllabus taken from several key historical
sources. It is a well-balanced and effective mix of hand and foot
techniques, as well as grappling, pressure point, takedown, and locking
strategies.
Shito-ryu karate was developed in the 1920s by the renowned Okinawan
martial artist Kenwa Mabuni, who greatly influenced the development of nearly
every other major Japanese karate style. Hanshi Crosswell is a second-
generation student of this highly regarded karate master via Teruo Hayashi and others.
Advanced students of Shito-ryu karate boast detailed knowledge of more than
50 kata forms, many of them featured in other major karate styles. Ranking
requirements go well beyond precise performance of kata, however—students
also learn to apply the myriad grappling and self-defense techniques hidden
in these elegant but practical forms.
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KOBUDO (OKINAWAN WEAPONS)
Okinawan Kobudo involves training with over a dozen weapons, most of
them derived from common objects available to 17th century samurai
who had been stripped of their swords.
Most schools teach kobudo as an aside to their empty-handed training, and
rarely have more than a dozen weapons kata on their syllabus. Hanshi
Crosswell’s extensive and eclectic curriculum features more than 50 kata
and over a dozen weapons, complete with defense applications both
traditional and modern. Hanshi Crosswell has spent a lifetime perfecting kata
and defense applications from a variety of sources, making him one of the
most knowledgeable weapons masters in the world today.
Okinawan Kobudo is derived from many Japanese and Chinese sources.
Hanshi Crosswell’s many years with Soke Teruo Hayashi and several other
respected kobudo masters has given him a knowledge of weapons forms
and fighting techniques found almost nowhere else in the world.
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JAPANESE SWORD (SHINKENDO and TOYAMA-RYU)
The art of the samurai sword has been the subject of worldwide fascination for centuries.
Shinkendo and Toyama-ryu are unique in that they put practitioners in touch with the
heart of samurai battle, offering a full range of practical exercises and regular cutting
practice with live blades.
Hanshi Crosswell has been studying Japanese sword since 1968, first
training in Iaido in Japan. In 1985, he began learning the Jikiden Eishin-ryu style
under legendary swordmaster Katsuo Yamaguchi. Later, in 1989, Crosswell began
training in Batto-do under Toshihiro Obata, founder of the Shinkendo style. In a recent effort to deepen
his Iaido roots, Crosswell has forged strong ties with Hanshi Takashi Ishikawa, a
living master of battlefield-tested Toyama-ryu Iaido with an active organization in Kyoto,
Japan.
Toyama-ryu Iaido is one of the core components of the Shinkendo system of
swordsmanship, sharing its unrelenting focus on practical battle techniques. For
more information on Shinkendo, visit the International Shinkendo Federation website or for more about Toyama-ryu, see our blog post.
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In Memoriam:
Soke Teruo Hayashi
Hanshi Rudy Crosswell met
Hayashi Soke in 1968 and trained
closely with him until 1990, making Hanshi Crosswell one of
Soke’s most senior practicing
students in the world today.
Click here to get a rare & detailed
glimpse at the life of this
extraordinary man, both on and
off the dojo floor. |
Chief Instructor
Hanshi Rudy Crosswell
With over fifty years of martial arts
experience, Hanshi Crosswell is
regarded as one of the top masters
of both Shito-ryu Karate and
Okinawan Kobudo in the world and
was one of the first to be awarded
a high-ranking black belt in
Shinkendo. Learn more about the
history of this distinguished and
versatile martial artist here. |
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