Seido Karate

Founder Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura discusses Seido Karate:

Karate is more popular now than ever before in its history. Because of movies, television and magazines, karate is widely perceived as a purely physical art with spinning kicks and "karate chops." Karate has also become competitive on the amateur and professional levels with individual promoters and organizations striving to control this fast-growing sport. Karate certainly develops strength, stamina, and physical well-being which are all desirable objectives. However, this is not the heart of karate-do. Karate is a way of life, a way of being. I have committed over 35 years of my life to the study, practice, and teaching of the martial arts. I am convinced that karate has much to offer modern men, women, and children as we move forward into the twenty-first century. My purpose in founding Seido Karate was to show what I feel is the true essence, the kernel of true karate-do: the training of body, mind, and spirit together in order to realize the fullness of human potential.

The physical training in Seido is strenuous, emphasizing progressive development of strength, flexibility, and aerobic capacity. One of the goals of Seido karate training is to develop strong bodies, which contributes to health and a general sense of self-confidence and well-being. In addition to developing students with the highest level of physical skills, Seido aims to develop individuals of the highest moral character, individuals who can then make significant contributions to a better life in the family, the work place, and in society at large.

This goal is achieved by the integration of Zen meditation into the practice of each and every student. Seido is unique because it stresses the unity and inseparability of karate and Zen. This is not a new idea. Rather, it is a return to the origins of the martial arts. By returning to the roots of karate, it can be made extremely valuable for men and women in this century and the next.

Zen is not taught as a religion in Seido. It is a practice, i.e., seated meditation, which has no religious overtones or content. However, it is an essential counterpart to hard physical training. The samurai, whose lives and values gave so much to karate, strived to develop 'bushido' spirit. Today, our lives are much different from the samurai's, but the bushido spirit can still be translated into our milieu. Seido seeks to develop in each student a 'nonquitting' spirit. No matter what the obstacle or difficulty -- emotional, physical, financial -- I want students to feel that, though they may be set back, they will never be overcome by any of these problems. The sincere practice of karate can impress this idea into the spirit. This is the modern interpretation of the bushido spirit of the samurai.

Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura

Before each karate class, we engage in a short period of sitting meditation - a time which allows us to be still, feel our breath, appreciate the moment,  and leave aside worries and preoccupations in order to be fully present for class. Once a week we offer an additional meditation class, open to all karate students.  This class offers a longer meditation period and an opportunity to explore the relationship between the sitting meditation of zazen and the moving meditation of karate.