Seido
Seido (more fully Seido Juku) is a style of
karate founded by Kaicho (Grandmaster)
Tadashi Nakamura in
1976.
In 1976 Kaicho Nakamura withdrew from the
Kyokushin-kai and after surviving an assassination attempt, Kaicho began to build Seido Juku, "the school of the Sincere Way", citing differences in philosophy with his longtime mentor, Sosai Mas Oyama. Seido is headquartered in
New York City at 61 West 23rd Street, but has branch
dojos around the
world, including New Zealand, Japan, Israel, and also other parts of the U.S. such as Maryland, New Jersey, California and more. Altogether, there about 200,000 members.
The name "Seido" means "Sincere Way". It comes from the Chuyo (
Confucius's book "The Middle Path", or "The Doctrine of the Mean"), which says
Sincerity is the way of heaven.
To follow this sincerely
Is the way of mankind
The Seido philosophy is encapsulated in three words:
sonkei (respect),
ai (love), and
jujun (obedience). These three principles are represented as the three circles within the
ume blossom logo of Seido Juku. These principles were suggested to Kaicho Nakamura by a congratulatory letter his mother sent to him after his marriage, which read "Each day I pray for both of you. I want you to live a long life, without regrets, respecting each other, nurturing your love for one another, and always holding feelings of obedience to each other."
As this philosophy is an important part of Seido, Kaicho Nakamura has founded the
Seido Juku Benefit Foundation as the charitable arm of the organization.
Like other forms of Karate, seido has a graded syllabus which is required to master in order to promote to the next level.
*10 Kyu White Belt
*9 Kyu Adv. White Belt
*8 Kyu Blue Belt
*7 Kyu Adv. Blue Belt
*6 Kyu Yellow Belt
*5 Kyu Adv. Yellow Belt
*4 Kyu Green Belt
*3 Kyu Adv. Green Belt
*2 Kyu Brown Belt
*1 Kyu Adv. Brown Belt
*1 Dan Shodan (at this point, the student receives the title
senpai)
*2 Dan Nidan
*3 Dan Sandan
*4 Dan Yondan (the student becomes
sensei)
*5 Dan Godan (the student becomes
kyoshi)
*6 Dan Rokudan (the student becomes jun-
shihan)
*7 Dan Nanadan (the student becomes sei-
shihan)
*8 Dan Hachidan (the student becomes Shuseki Shihan)
*9 Dan Kudan- the level Kaicho Nakamura is at now; the highest level attaied so far in Seido Karate.Because the shodan promotion is rigorous, younger students can become shonen shodan and shonen nidan, which is just a junior level, but when the come of age, the still must pass the shodan promotion.
As the student progresses, they learn 5 types of training until Shodan:
Kumite,
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kata Kata, Self Defense (basic, intermediate, advanced), Kihon Kumite, and Yakusoku Kumite.
Kata: students must learn several new katas at each level.
*Taikyokyu kata (1,2,3)
*Seido Kata (1,2,3,4,5)
*Pinan Kata (1,2,3,4,5)
*Sanshin kata
*Geiksai-dai kata
*Yansu kata
*Tsuki-no kata
*Saiha kata
*Tensho kata
*Geiksai-sho kata
*kanku kata
*Empi-no kata dai
*Empi-no kata Sho
As well as katas with oriental weapons, including the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_(Weapon) Bo, the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_(weapon) Jo, the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sai_(weapon) Sai, and more.
*Nakamura, Tadashi. 'The Human Face of Karate'. Tokyo, Japan: Shufunoto Co., Ltd., 1989
*
Seido karate Web site
