Start of our Tigers League
We had the first round of our leagues for our Tigers (5-6 years & 7-11 years) small turnout for the first one due to summer holidays but well done.
Our next round will be the first Wednesday in August in Dooradoyle, Limerick.
Hope everyone enjoyed themselves.
Osu!
New club tracksuit coming soon.
Our new official club sportswear will be available soon. Full zip or 1/4 zip jacket are available with a track bottoms and t-shirt.
Samples are available in the clubs to try on for size.
Letter to all JKS branch leaders and members from Kagawa Shihan.
Dear JKS members,
I hope everyone in our large family is doing well and stays health. It has been quite a substantial period of time that we all had to face the coronavirus thread at doors of our houses all over the Globe. Due to continuation of the pandemic almost all of the countries had to prolong the quarantine measures and, involuntary, deprive us from our normal life, causing piles of asperities and inconveniences. Therefore, I would like you to know that here, at JKS Headquarters, we are very much worried about every JKS member’s health and wellbeing. Yet being separated by the outbreak of vicious virus the very fact of facing it makes us even more unite by the Karate-do principles both in thought and emotion. On behalf of JKS Headquarters I would like to ask you take good care of yourself and your families. We are always here to support and inspire, because Karate-do is all about the self-discipline that we cultivate to become stronger. When the coronavirus crisis is over, the JKS Headquarters will make every effort to support JKS branch all over the world to further development.
Yours sincerely,
Masao Kagawa
The Japan Karate Shoto Federation Chief Instructor
9th JKS Ireland seminar & kyu grading with Dermot O'Keeffe Sensei
May 12th saw us have our Spring seminar and grading under JKS Ireland technical director Dermot Sensei 6th Dan. Our biggest & busiest grading to date and a huge well done to all who trained and graded on the day.
We wont always be successful in karate as is the same with life. If we don’t pass on the day we must take the lessons learned and ask ourselves why not & be better prepared to come again the next time.
We are not beaten until we quit and the day we quit is the day we cant fix it anymore. The choice is our own. It takes a lot of bravery to train in karate this way, the correct way & take the lows with the highs; so you can all take great confidence in knowing you’re doing things a harder way than a lot of other areas of society these days would encourage.
I’m very proud of all the students who give everything they have in their training. You’ll start to reap the benefits of your hard work in no time at all.
Keep up the great work.
Next for us is the Shannon Shojinkai grading on June 9th.
Work work work!
Osu!
(tap image for slideshow)
Kagawa Shihan Technical Seminar.
March 10th & 11th saw JKS Ireland host our annual technical seminar with JKS world chief instructor Kagawa Shihan 9th Dan. As always it goes without saying it’s an awesome experience having such a living legend of Shotokan karate visit us every year.
Students from both Limerick & Shannon dojo’s travelled for what was a great weekend on & off the dojo floor.
Sunday saw the main seminar packed with 150 people from all over Ireland working on basics, Kumite & kata Nijushiho & Meikyo.
Monday night as always in JKS Ireland Honbu dojo saw a very small and personal class of about 20 of us go through a (much watered down for us, 😄) Teikyo style Kumite session starting with physical strength and conditioning drills and straight into partner drills.
Many thanks to Dermot O’Keeffe Sensei 6th Dan JKS Ireland branch leader for organising a great weekend as always.
I am looking forward to seeing Kagawa Shihan again in Japan in July a month before we host the JKS World championships in Dublin in August.
Osu!
Limerick Shojinkai members from Limerick & Shannon who travelled to Dublin on Sunday 10th
Dave & Pawel in action on Monday night.
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Darragh Sensei with Athar. A nice preset counter-attacking partner drill Kagawa Shihan went through with us.
Darragh & Dermot Sensei’ during class on Monday night
With Kagawa Shihan & Dermot Sensei
Kaori San under the watchful eye of Shihan
Dave & Kaori San in attendance as always.
©️Pictures credit Jolanta Ploskonka
3 new Shodan to end 2018
2018 proved to be the year the club got its first homegrown Dan grades. With Darragh Dave & Kaori successfully grading for their black belts under Sensei Dermot O’Keeffe 6th Dan JKS Ireland chief instructor at a national grading in Dublin.
This is the culmination of an awful lot of training week in week out over a number of years. Taking part in seminars and competitions at every available opportunity. Not to mention training in the Honbu dojo in Japan itself numerous times. Something the vast majority of karateka never get to experience.
Even though it marks only the beginning of karate training (Shodan lit; beginning level) it is nevertheless a huge milestone for all who achieve it in the correct manner.
We certainly don’t allow shortcuts here and training is extremely taxing both mentally and physically.
Big thanks to Sensei O’Keeffe for allowing us be part of a very open group with Japanese lifelong budo training as its core value.
Obviously a huge congratulations to our 3 new Dan grades.
GAMBATTE!!
Osu!
Grading day in Dublin
Our 8th JKS Ireland seminar & Kyu grading with Dermot O’Keeffe Sensei 6th Dan JKS
It’s that time again when we host our JKS Ireland chief instructor for our winter seminar and kyu gradings.
Always a big occasion having Dermot Sensei visit. Always something new to pick up.
All are welcome regardless of affiliation and Limerick members are a must to attend whether you’re grading or not.
Training will be 3:00-4:15pm
The cost for training only is €10.
This will be followed immediately by club grading.
Looking forward to seeing you all there.
Yamaguchi Sensei 7th Dan JKS Ireland Technical Seminar
It’s always great when Yamaguchi Sensei visits as we are guaranteed some great traditional karate training not at all affected by modern day competition. So no matter what age or physical fitness we all have something to study.
With kumite technique & tai sabaki covered we also went over 2 advanced black belt kata. Gojushiho Sho & Dai.
A great 4 hours karate. Just as he does in Japan Yamaguchi Sensei never fails to educate in a very inspiring way.
Well done to those who traveled from Limerick Shojinkai. It’s experiences like these that add up over the years and make everything we do on a weekly basis make sense to us.
Osu
The crew from Limerick Shojinkai that travelled to Dublin for Yamaguchi Sensei seminar.
Limerick Shojinkai’s Darragh working tai sabaki (body shifting) & a kicking counter attack to deal with an attackers punch.
Darragh Sr & Jr with Yamaguchi Sensei 7th Dan JKS.
Dave & Declan during a Kihon training drill for Shuto Uke.
Photographs Credit ©️ Jolanta Ploskonka
Yamaguchi Sensei in Ireland
JKS Honbu dojo instructor Yamaguchi Sensei 7th Dan is in Ireland for a weekend of training in November. Open to all Karateka regardless of affiliation. This is a must attend for JKS members.
contact for more details.