For those not near a Kiyojute Ryu school, it is hard to learn our system. This art is taught very traditionally and takes a lot of one on one work between a Kiyojute Ryu instructor and students. While students who have started with us and moved have continued by video and with trips to Kiyojute Ryu Dojo, this takes a lot of dedication and perseverance. It is hard to study just by video. If a person has a real desire to study Kiyojute Ryu, they can visit my school in Frankfort, establish their foundation and then continue through video, but I think an actual visit is the way to start, if this is possible.

I am available for clinics, if this is possible in your area. If at least ten people are willing to attend and fund the trip, I would be willing to come to the area and help set up a Kiyojute Ryu club, which could become a full fledge Dojo when someone becomes a black belt.

Keep in mind that all arts are good, it is essential to have a good teacher. Over the years I have studied most Okinawan arts, many Japanese arts, Chinese arts, and Korean arts. In essence the physical skills are the same or similar, but certain cultural aspects are different. Still it always boils down to the philosophy of the individual. An instructor can have a great art, but be a bad teacher.

Visit the schools in your area, if an instructor is friendly, open, and caring about his students, then give it a try, but if the instructor is egotistical, cruel, and disregards the safety of the students, don't bother. Feel free to contact me by regular mail if you want, I am always open to contact from interested people. Hopefully sometime next year I will have an e-mail address and will be able to respond directly to you through the web.

Kiyojute Ryu is different than other systems of Mitose derived Kempo in that starting with Chow, most of the lines became obsessed with the Chinese aspect of Kempo, while the foundation of Mitose's Kempo was Okinawan. Kiyojute Ryu, while teaching the total range of skills, which includes the Chinese Kempo influence, as well as, the Japanese Jujutsu influence, emphasizes the Okinawan foundation which is the creation of the Okinawan warrior's genius.

Everything that Chow, Parker, and the other lines derived from them, taught was good and valid. There are many excellent forms of Kempo, ours just goes back to the original art as taught by Mitose and tries to preserve what he taught along with the most ancient skills of the influences which he experienced while a student in Japan.

The proper spelling of Kempo is with an 'm'. This is using the official Rose Innes method of transliteration which is the academic standard. The reason an 'm' is used is because that is the sound made when the word is pronounced. Kempo is made up of Ken meaning fist and Ho meaning law. When put together to form one word, the 'n' takes on an 'm' sound, and the 'h' takes on a 'p' sound, hence Kempo.

The reason the 'n' spelling came to be used was due to a misspelling of the original publisher of James Masayoshi Mitose's first book, What is Self Defense? From letters written about the manuscript, written in 1947, we know that Mitose originally spelled Kempo with an 'm'. The book was finally published in 1953. A misspelling occurred and neither the publisher nor the author could absorb the cost of doing a complete rerun, thus the book came out with Kenpo.

This spelling was then used by Chow, who passed it on to Parker, and he popularized it in the United States. However since both the 'm' and 'n' spelling are so popular, it should be considered that both are correct. However, I have chosen, in keeping with the academic community to use the Rose Innes transliteration and thus spell my art Kempo, this is formally the correct spelling.

To earn a rank in Kiyojute Ryu Kempo, a person must demonstrate in a test the complete requirements for their rank, which includes throws, blocks, punches/strikes, kicks, chokes, joint locks, Kata, and Embu. This also includes a demonstration of a weapon.

For black belt, any level, a person must write a paper and have a Mondo, question and answer, period with the Soke. Then they must take a pretest, where they demonstrate all of the skills they have learned prior to the rank they are currently going for, and which must be done before the Soke, or a Hanshi or Shihan.

Finally, they must then take their actual test, showing their new skills, along with five empty hand Kata, an empty hand Embu, a weapon Kata, and weapon Embu.

I earned my Ph.D. from the University of Oriental Philosophy a branch of, Juko Kai Kokusai Remmei, in 1982. I originally joined Juko Kai in 1978. I was a graduate of Campbellsville College, with a BA. At the time I was teaching for the College and when I became aware of the professional degrees offered by Juko Kai, I asked the college if they would accept the degree and they declined. So at that time I did not pursue the degree.

In 1979, I moved to Frankfort and began teaching for Kentucky State University. The University told me that they would accept any degree I earned from the University of Oriental Philosophy, which would also increase the salary I received. At that point, I began to work towards the UOP degrees, earning my Masters in 1980 and my Ph.D. in 1982.

Some accept this degree and others do not. Since alternative forms of education are becoming more prevalent, I believe that this degree will be more widely accepted in the future. I can say that I worked as hard for my degree as anyone, since physical skills are expected along with the academic aspect. My personal thesis was on the influence of Christianity on martial arts in Japan.

At my personal school I accept six year olds as students. Personally I believe this is the first age where a child can really begin to benefit from martial arts training. If a teacher is competent, a child should not be hurt in martial arts training. This is not a matter of age, but teaching methodology.

Personally I do not believe in awarding children black belts. In Kiyojute Ryu Kempo a person must be at least sixteen before being allowed to test for black belt. Kiyojute Ryu has various martial arts as part of it's curriculum, thus a young person can earn ranks in several arts while waiting to turn sixteen and qualifying for black belt.

One young lady earned her first class brown belt in both Kempo and Jujutsu, so that when she turned sixteen she was able to go for black belts in both arts. This is a way of keeping the interest of young people in the martial arts, while not awarding them a rank which they are too young and immature to hold.

A person is never too old to learn the martial arts. I have had a lady at age fifty four start training and at sixty she is one of my most active black belts. I teach a class in Tai Chi for the senior citizens center. I have a lady who is eighty six and is the top student in the class.

What is essential in beginning the martial arts is a good instructor who understands different ages and can adjust the training to meet your personal needs. I have students who are handicapped who are doing well in the arts, but it has to be adjusted to their bodies.

A person can learn and practice the martial arts at any age. I am in my forties, my instructors (Richard Stone, Bill Wallace, and Rod Sacharnoski) are in their fifties. Shian Toma, Dr. Sacharnoski's instructor, is in his sixties. And Toma's instructor, Seikichi Uehara, is in his nineties.

Please begin training and enjoy the benefits of a lifetime of martial arts training. God bless.

Sparring has never been about taking hits. If you get hit right, you are hurt, period. One of the students I currently have in the Ryu came to us due to a sparring injury. He was sparring in a class and was hit by a kick, which ruptured his spleen, requiring surgery to repair. After he was released from the hospital, he wanted to return to the martial arts, but not to his original system which caused the injury and emphasized dangerous sparring. Thus he joined our Ryu and now is quite an accomplished black belt and teacher.

Under my first instructor we did no sparring, yet I was attacked several times during those early years and had no problem defending myself. When I went to college I was introduced to sparring by several Karateka. I thought it was extremely dangerous, but since some of those showing us sparring were higher ranks than I was, I took it for granted that it must be right.

Over the years, I knocked people out, bloodied people, and even broke bones. I hated these things. We tried hard to make it safe, doing everything from no-contact sparring, to light contact, using gloves and foot pads, and then finally, striving to stay three feet apart, pulling techniques one inch short and finally wearing pads as well. But in sparring, where movement is erratic, the potential for accidental injury is just too great for it ever to be safe. This is especially if you are taught how to throw effective techniques. Some styles teach modified skills for tournaments, but these are ineffective for self defense. A person responds the way they train, thus if you constantly work on ineffective tournament techniques, that is how you will react on the street.

On the other hand, if you learn truly effective skills, in a tournament you are likely to seriously hurt or actually injure your opponents. Also the aggressiveness taught as part of tournament sparring is the antithesis of the self defense ethic.

In regard to developing toughness, 'the ability to take a hit', there are two superior methods. One is taking throws. When a person throws you, your whole body hits the mat, which develops a level of toughness and strength which cannot be developed any other way. When you tuck your head correctly, you will develop the neck strength so essential to absorbing punches to the head.

Also, the Okinawans used Sanchin training to develop internal strength for just the ability to absorb punishment in a fight. This should still be practiced today. I also personally do one thousand stomach crunch sit ups every day. In each class my students do two hundred sit ups.

Finally, it is essential to understand real self defense. Real self defense is not about learning how to take a punch. Because in a real fight, you don't know if the hand coming towards you has a knife in it, brass knuckles, or other type of weapon. In classical Okinawan training, the main goal is to dodge a strike. The idea of taking a punch came about during the transition from real self defense, combat martial arts to modern sport. This type of concept is not classical, traditional, or legitimate combat.

Kiyojute Ryu is a noncompetitive system of martial arts. I do not believe that true martial arts, keeping in mind that the Japanese word for martial is Bu meaning 'to stop violence', should have a competitive aspect. Teaching martial artists to be aggressive, which is an aspect of competition, is the antithesis of the real martial arts spirit.

Tournament play is a game, not real self defense and does little to prepare a person for the street. Most of the classical martial artists of Japan and Okinawa, teaching traditional systems that do not have a sport form, do not allow their students to participate in tournaments. Seikichi Uehara, who taught Shian Toma, who taught Rod Sacharnoski, who taught me, does not allow his students in Okinawa to participate in tournaments, and I do not allow Kiyojute Ryu students to participate in any form of competition either.

Like most martial arts masters, at least in the classical sense, I am a very religious person. Actually I am an ordained Baptist minister. But this is no different than Morihei Ueshiba being a Shinto priest and Michiomi Nakano (So Doshin) being a Zen Buddhist priest.

However, like those masters, I teach Kiyojute Ryu Kempo openly to people of all walks of life. The only requirement I have is that a person should have a fundamental belief in God in some form. A person who just does not believe in God cannot possibly reach the highest levels of the martial arts, since they are of a spiritual nature.

In Japan the martial arts have been called Shin Ken, meaning divine fist. In Okinawa they were known as Kami Te, divine hand. In both cases the belief is that the martial arts are inspired by God. I believe this with all my heart. But I know that God loves all people in all countries, so that he has reached out in many ways to touch the lives of His children. Thus as long as a person has some concept of God, they can learn Kiyojute Ryu with no problem.

If you ask me my personal experience with God, you will learn about Jesus Christ, for this is how God touched me, through His son Jesus. However, we have students in Kiyojute Ryu who are of all Christian faiths, Buddhists, Hindu, Sikhs, Bahai, and even Wicca.

The only people who have ever had any trouble with the philosophy of Kiyojute Ryu have been people who do not believe in God at all. But in all my years, this has only been two people. So as long as a person believes in God, regardless of any other aspect of personal belief, they can easily learn and train in Kiyojute Ryu.

Kiyojute Ryu testing fees are among the most reasonable in the world. Mudansha, Kyu ranks, pay only $25 to register their rank, receiving a card and a certificate. Yudansha, Dan (black belt) ranks pay $50 registration.

There is no actual testing fee. A person pays only to register their rank, so that they receive a card, certificate, and have their files updated and taken care of, so that anyone can call the Hombu and verify their ranks.

In that regard, we have three levels of students. There are active students, who are currently training and in good standing with the association. These people's ranks are verified with a call. When calling about a person's rank, it is essential to know the person's name, as on the certificate, the date of the certificate, and their registration number. This is a matter of privacy, a person who has a legitimate reason to check on a person's rank will be able to get these three items from the person whom they wish to check on.

There are inactive students, who have not attended a Dojo in six months or more, and thus the association cannot verify their current level of ability. We will acknowledge what they had accomplished, but cannot verify their current status simply because they have not been in class to know whether or not they have kept their skills up. Finally, there are expelled students, who have been removed from the Ryu due to inappropriate activity. This would include the performance of felonies or other such illegal activities, this is not simply a matter of personal disagreement. Thus far no one has been expelled from the Kiyojute Ryu. I hope this will never happen, but the potential is always there. Luckily, people who do not want to follow the philosophy of Kiyojute Ryu usually leave on their own volition before expulsion would ever be necessary.