Tuesday Night Karate Classes in Mesa

The Phoenix Japanese Peace Garden

It's Tuesday night at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate on Baseline Road in Mesa. Members drive to the Arizona Hombu dojo (martial arts school) between Mesa and Country Club on MacDonald and Baseline (60 W. Baseline Road). Look for the 'KARATE' sign over the door (location map for our dojo).

Soke Hausel stretches before training at the
University of Wyoming, where he taught karate,
kobudo, self-defense and samurai arts for 30
years prior to moving to Arizona. Today, 
some watch Soke Hausel stretch at the Gilbert 
Lifetime Fitness gym.

Traditional Karate Classes start at 6:45 pm. If this is your first time, stop by about 6:30 pm to talk with Soke Hausel and and feel free to watch from the peanut gallery. We have a dojo full of adults and families ranging in age from 70 to 10 years old. You will want to meet the people who train in traditional Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo. We have college professors, nurses, doctors, biologists, geologists, chemists, engineers, teachers, accountants, secretaries, students, pilots, authors, senior citizens, house wives, computer techs, lawyers, electricians and other professions represented in our group of adults and families. As one person put it, you can get an education in martial arts as well as just about any other subject from gravitational energy to gemstone deposits, and frogs to jet engines. You also get great exercise while learning to defend yourself - something you can't get at a gym.

Bowing to one another at the Arizona Hombu to show 
respect for each other as well as the martial arts.

Tuesday nights, traditional karate class begins with formal bowing and then warm up. Warm ups include a group of exercises to limber muscles, stretch ligaments, and do a few sit-ups and push-ups. Next its off to basics (kihon) where we the group trains in a variety of stances, punches, blocks, kicks and combinations. After these are performed, the class moves on to kata (forms).

Kata is everyone's favorite as these are set forms that use all kinds of techniques to develop muscle memory for self-defense applications (bunkai). At some point, a person or two will need additional help as the group ranges from white belts to master black belt instructors. When special help is needed, the group breaks up into two or more groups to provide personal assistance. Class ends at 8 pm with formal bowing.

Several members also train in advanced kata. Soke (Grandmaster) will review some advanced kata explaining the history and origin of the kata and teach the bunkai (practical self-defense applications) of all of the techniques in the kata. After review, the group may learn a new advanced kata or just focus on a bunkai from an advanced kata. Each is taught over a period of a few months so that it can be broken down piece by piece to insure the entire class understands the applications and can employ them in self-defense situations. 

Students practice kata in Mesa - the heart of Okinawa karate. Look closely as you neighbors might be in this class.

Traditional Martial Arts for Adults & Families at Arizona Hombu, Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler, Tempe

One of the few traditional martial arts schools in Arizona, teaches a very wide variety of Okinawan-Japanese martial arts at the Arizona Hombu on Baseline on the border of Gilbert and Mesa. At this school, one can learn traditional karate, martial arts weapons (kobudo), samurai arts, self-defense, knife defense, throwing arts (jujutsu), gun defense, body hardening, white crane shorin-ryu and more. 

The system of karate taught at this school is Shorin-Ryu Karate (Seiyo Kai). This is taught by Hall-of-Fame Grandmaster Hausel. Unlike self-proclaimed grandmasters in the Western world, Soke Hausel was appointed and properly certified as the world head of Seiyo No Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo Kai by the Zen Kokusai Soke Budo Bugei Renmei in 1999.

Drums at the entrance to the pagoda exhibit the Okinawan (as well as Shorin-Ryu) icon

http://Seiyo-ShorinRyu.com

Arizona School of Traditional Karate - Best of Mesa!

Arizona School of Traditional Karate, Gilbert, Arizona

Our martial arts school and martial arts instructors focus on teaching our Mesa Martial Arts students the traditions of Okinawan martial arts. This has resulted in some of the better martial arts students in Arizona. At the Arizona School of Traditional Karate, we were excited to see that we were honored in 2013 and in 2014 as the 'Best of Mesa'. This followed more than a dozen Hall-of-Fame inductions of the senior instructor - Soke Hausel from 1998-2008.

One student received an international award in martial arts. Ryan Nemec was presented the Top Male Martial Arts Student at the Juko Kai International clinic in New Braunfels, Texas in June. In addition, Soke Hausel was presented with an extremely rare award - 'Meijin wa Jutsu', due to his  genius expressed in martial arts. Earlier in 2013, Soke had been inducted into Marquis Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World.

Classes at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate focus on traditional martial arts for adults, women and families. Our curriculum is unmatched and members learn traditional Shorin-Ryu Karate, Kobudo, Samurai Arts and Self-Defense.

The samurai arts taught at this school include samurai sword (katana), halberd (naginata), spear (yari), jujutsu, half bo (known as hanbo), short stick, weighted chain and rope restraints (hojojutsu) and a number of common everyday weapons that would likely have been chosen by samurai if the weapons had been available including key chains, hatchets, ASP (expandable police baton), short rope and more.

In our Okinawan martial arts weapons classes (kobudo) all of our students learn many of the traditional martial arts weapons including long staff (bo), sickles (kama), side-handled night stick (tonfa), rice beaters (nunchaku), 3-section staff, forks (sai), sickle with chain, knives, rake, hoe (kuwa), cane and other weapons.

In our Traditional Shorin-Ryu Karate Classes, students can learn more about karate than they ever thought possible. Training focuses on forms (kata) and teach self-defense applications (bunkai) for every single move and technique in every karate and kobudo form. This also includes unique body hardening methods that will help build self-confidence. Breaking objects is a very minor part of our art, but at least once a year, we teach our students to break rocks.

Thank You Very Much Mesa, Arizona for Recognizing Our Martial Arts Curriculum and Instructors as the Best in Mesa!

Following cleaving of pumpkin during the Great Pumpkin Celebration in Mesa, Soke Hausel exams blade of katana.

  

Arm bar followed with foot sweep during hanbo (3-foot stick) training.

Preparation for karate practice

 

Soke restrains Kyle during Jujitsu class at the University of Wyoming.



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Sensei Patrick Scofield defends using naginata against Sensei Bill Borea
using bokken (samurai sword) during Samurai Arts classes.

Mesa Martial Artists Certify in Martial Arts Weapons

Kobudo, the ancient Okinawan martial art of farming and fishing tools as weapons of self-defense has been part of the Okinawa Karate system for centuries. It is a very important part of Shorin-Ryu Karate for members of all ranks and levels.

One of the more traditional kobudo weapons is that of a fork-like weapon known as sai. The sai is one of the more difficult weapons to master. Even so, members of Seiyo No Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo Kai in Chandler, Mesa and Gilbert tested for certification with this weapon. To certify, the group was required to demonstrate four advanced kata (forms) including all bunkai (self-defense applications) and one-step full-focused sparing.

Grandmaster Hausel of Gilbert Arizona teaching Okinawan sai to students at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

Sai-jutsu training on the sandy beaches of Okinawa?  Nope, in the sand pile
of the Education Building at the University of Wyoming.

Adam Bialek and Sensei Bill Borea train in applications of the Okinawa Sai.

Six martial artists from the Mesa and Gilbert martial arts school successfully passed exams and were awarded certification in this complex weapon. The six included Adam Bialek, Sensei Bill Borea, Amanda Nemec, Ryan Nemec, Alexis Pillow and Patrick Scofield. We congratulate them all!














Dr. Neal Adam (6th dan) and Sensei Bill Borea (2nd dan)
 train with sai and bo.

Mesa Martial Arts Classes

Interviewers with Planet News and Fox 10 Phoenix discovered a unique martial arts school, martial arts program, and martial arts instructors in the East Valley of Phoenix at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate located on the border of Gilbert and Mesa and only a mile from Chandler.  A martial arts program that is geared towards teaching adults the traditional aspects of Okinawan Karate, Kobudo and Self-Defense. Students at the School come from Chandler, Florence, Gilbert, Mesa, Queen Creek, Tempe, Scottsdale, Phoenix and other places in the Phoenix valley to train with arguably the best martial arts instructor in Arizona, Sixteen time, Hall of Fame martial arts grandmaster, Soke Hausel. In addition, groups of martial artists from Wyoming, Utah, Massachusetts, Colorado, Nebraska and India have recently trained in Mesa Arizona to learn from the grandmaster.

Many martial arts students who currently train at the Arizona Hombu (world headquarters of Seiyo Kai Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo) on the border of Mesa and Gilbert (and only a mile from Chandler) ended up at this traditional martial arts school while searching for classes taught by qualified martial arts instructors with experience in traditional martial arts. Many also were looking to find a karate school (dojo) that would be around for some time. People are frustrated by being locked into yearly contracts that require them to pay fees whether they show up to classes or not or even whether the martial arts school closes its doors. And in many cases, some later find their instructors have no lineage to back up their credentials (if they have any credentials at all). Others who would like to learn weapons are required to pay extra fees to attend those classes. One will not find this at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate on Baseline and MacDonald.

Soke Hausel explains wrist lock technique using hanbo at 2013 martial
arts clinic in Mesa (Photo courtesy of Nemec Photography).

Fox 10 Phoenix discovered that this martial arts center is operated by one of the highest ranked instructors in the world and the highest ranked instructor in Seiyo Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo. Soke Hausel, the owner and operator of the martial arts school (dojo), is the world head of Seiyo Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo and the world head of the International Association of Traditional Okinawa Karate and Kobudo. As a member of national and international grandmaster councils and boards, a member of several Halls of Fame, and a national and internationally recognized instructor, he maintains his teaching expertise by teaching 6 to 8 classes a week, teaching clinics and seminars and also training at the Juko Kai International Hombu.

Paula Borea, Sensei from Japan, roughs up Dr. Neal Adam, Shihan at 2013
martial arts clinic in Gilbert - Mesa, Arizona (photo courtesy of
Nemec Photography).

During a 90-minute interview with Fox 10 Phoenix, Grandmaster Hausel and Sensei (instructor) Paula Borea (2nd dan) and Bill Borea (2nd dan) talked about their martial arts experiences, the health benefits of martial arts programs and impressed the Fox 10 crew with their abilities and power. The focus and power was unlike any martial arts that they had seen. Pretty amazing, especially when one realizes that all three of these instructors are also grandparents.

Some students who end up at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate are looking for a school where they can train with other adults. Some mentioned they were tired of getting kicked in the shins by 4 and 5 year old kids in taekwondo classes. Few, if any martial arts schools in Arizona offer as much as the Arizona Hombu (Arizona School of Traditional Karate) where the head instructor has nearly 5 decades of experience and a former professor of martial arts at the University of Wyoming and instructor at Arizona State University, University of New Mexico and University of Utah.

Self-defense applications and forms (kata) practice at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate on Baseline Road, Mesa & Gilbert, 2013.

Members of Seiyo Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo, an international martial arts association, are found in several countries and include a very large percentage of college graduates. Soke Hausel has been training in martial arts since the early 1960s and taught as a professor of martial arts at the University of Wyoming for 3 decades. In 1999, he was certified as grandmaster of Shorin-Ryu Karate (Seiyo-Kai) and in 2004, was certified as 10th degree black belt. In 2012, he received one of the rarest honors in martial arts. He was certified as 12th degree black belt in Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo, something that has only happened a couple of times in since the 19th century.

Martial Arts Weapons (Kobudo) training at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate in Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, 2011

In 2006, Soke packed up and moved the world headquarters from the University of Wyoming to the corner of Chandler, Gilbert and Mesa, Arizona, where he established the Arizona Hombu, or world headquarters for adult martial artists and families. In the past he taught university classes filled with more than 110 students, and now he enjoys smaller karate classes of less than 25 so he can focus on details with each martial arts student.

The Mesa martial arts center also has special martial arts clinics. These martial arts clinics involve visitors from other parts of the world. The clinics may focus on self-defense, martial arts weapons, samurai arts, jujutsu, etc., or just focus on some rare martial arts weapon or martial arts form.  In recent years, martial arts and self-defense clinics were taught to university students, university faculty and staff, Chandler librarians, military groups, girl scouts, church groups, political organizations, other martial arts groups, etc. And special weapons clinics were taught to our martial artists.

Members of the Police DAV Karate team from Punjab, India visit the Arizona School of Traditional Karate to train in Shorin-Ryu Karate

Many black belts have trained directly under our soke. While at the University of Wyoming, a few thousands students learned martial arts under the guidance of Soke Hausel.

Members of the Utah Shorin-Kai from the Salt Lake valley make one of their annual visits to the Arizona School of Traditional Karate to train in martial arts. Robert Watson (8th degree black belt) stands next to Soke Hausel.

In total, the instructors at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate have more than a century of experience. If you are looking for a different kind of martial arts school that focuses on the traditions of the martial arts, it will be worth your time to check out this martial arts school at the border of Chandler, Gilbert and Mesa, Arizona.

Two instructors at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate at the border of Chandler, Gilbert and Mesa on Baseline Road east of Country Club. (Left to Right) Soke with Sensei Paula Borea (2nd dan) and Sensei Bill Borea (2nd dan). Both Paula and Bill spent considerable time in Japan training in martial arts. Paula is Japanese-American with samurai lineage.

George Mumford (1st dan) from Boston and Elaine Mumford from Switzerland
visit the Arizona School of Traditional Karate. George was a student of Soke's at the University of Wyoming more than 3 decades ago.

Black belts from up north visit the Arizona School of Traditional Karate. Left to Right are Sensei Kyle Linton (3rd dan) from Wellington, Colorado, Shihan-Dai Glenn Polk (4th dan) from Cheyenne, Wyoming, Shihan Kevin Vance (5th dan) from Cheyenne, Wyoming and Soke.

Soke-Dai Eric Hausel (5th dan) visits the
Arizona School of Traditional Karate from Parker, Colorado.

Dr. Florence Teule (1st dan) visits Arizona School of
Traditional Karate from Utah State University.

Dr. Neal Adam (5th dan), our Arizona School of Traditional Karate
martial arts master instructor trains in kobudo (martial arts weapons).
Shihan Adam was a student of Soke's at the University of Wyoming
 more than 2 decades ago.

Hanshi Andy Finley (7th dan) visits the Arizona School of Traditional Karate
from the Casper Wyoming, dojo. 

Kyoshi Rob Watson, 8th dan and Renshi Todd Stoneking, 6th dan from the Utah Shorin-Kai, present Soke Hausel with gifts at a recent Arizona-Utah martial arts clinic at the Arizona Hombu in the Phoenix East Valley (photo courtesy of Nemec Photography).

Heather From (former University of Wyoming Student) visits and
trains at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate from Kearney, Nebraska

Traditional Martial Arts in Mesa, Arizona

"On Okinawa, Miyagi know two things: fish and karate" - Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid.

How could we ever forget these classic lines by Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid movie? Particularly since they provide insight into Traditional Okinawa Karate and Martial Arts Classes.

Something seems to be missing in many karate schools these days. There is much more to karate than trophies or scoring points at a tournament. In fact, Mr. Miyagi was alluding to the traditional karate methods of martial arts training such as taught at our Mesa Martial Arts School on Baseline. In particular, Okinawan Karate, like fishing, was a way of life and the two were inseparable. Even the tools using in fishing was employed as martial arts weapons.

Daniel San “All right, so what are the rules here?” 

Miyagi “Don't know. First time you, first time me”. 

Daniel San “Well, I figured you knew about this stuff. I figured you went to these before. Oh great, I'm dead. I am dead. You told me you fought a lot”.

Miyagi “For life, not for points”.

There is nothing wrong with scoring points and winning trophies at martial arts tournaments if this is what you want from martial arts. But we provide an alternative at our martial arts school in Mesa across the street from Gilbert and Chandler. We will teach you to bow, to respect others and yourself, and teach you power and focus of traditional Okinawa Karate and traditional Japanese martial arts. And we will not send you to a tournament.

We don't have Mr. Miyagi, but we have Soke Hausel: some think he may be the nearest thing to Miyagi. So, experience the traditions of Okinawa Karate and Kobudo at our martial arts school in Mesa on Baseline Road. 

Drive east on Baseline from Country Club Road and turn left at the second traffic light (MacDonald) and you will see a simple KARATE sign at the northeast corner. "Welcome to our Traditional Karate School in Mesa".

Train under a certified Grandmaster of Karate in traditional Okinawan Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo with other adults.

Soke Hausel teaching karate at the Utah karate school.

Mesa Martial Arts - Award Winning Blog About Karate & Students

We are very excited to see our blog was selected for the international Web Award for Martial Arts. The Web Award - Martial Arts is international award that recognizes a site that provides the most trustworthy and valuable information on the Martial Arts in Mesa Arizona. We are excited to be recognized for providing information on martial arts and especially for martial arts in Mesa. Our author and martial arts instructor tries to provide the best training and information to his students and readers. But more importantly, we are most concerned for our students and their martial arts education.



The Path, or Way. Karate and martial arts in general are all thought to be lifelong paths.
Those who chose this path typically are healthy, happy individuals who build self-
confidence as they train in the martial arts. Such a path should be a life long commitment.



Karate and martial arts training in Arizona.
Karate training teaches one to be like water - adapt to other's movements