Click HERE for Easy to Print PDF Flyer
Professor Larry S. L. Martin Shihan, 10th Dan is
the Director of RI Shotokan Karate-Do and
Chief Instructor of Karate - Eastside
at Main Street Martial Arts in
Providence, RI.
Martin Shihan joins his son,
Jeramy Devlin Sensei, 4th Dan,
our new Director of Karate - Eastside,
in bringing to our community a dynamic and
powerful family system of traditional
Shotokan Karate-Do. We are offering this special
Grand Opening Shotokan Karate-Do Seminar
to the RI and Southeastern MA community.
Register now in the boxes below and
and get the special discount price for the
March 1 Shotokan Karate-Do Seminar,
limited to the first 10 people to register:
$40 - $5 Web Site Discount = $35$40 - $10 MSMA Member Discount = $30
| Shotokan Karate-Do Workshop | 1:30-2:30 |
| Shotokan Karate-Do Workshop | 2:45-3:45 |
| 3:45-4:30: Pasta and Meatballs + Feedback and Discussion for Karate - Eastside | |
Karate began somewhere in the distant past with elements of unarmed fighting methods from China and Japan coming together to be shaped by the unique culture and people of a small group of islands known as Okinawa. Situated geographically and sociologically at the halfway point between two great cultures, Okinawans developed a strong fighting spirit, which allowed them to exist for centuries as a culture distinct from their stronger neighbors.
During the 17th and early 18th centuries, first under its own central rulers and then later under clans from the main islands of Japan, a small ruling elite outlawed the possession of weapons by the general population. The secret study of weaponless fighting, or te as it was called, became one of the only means native Okinawans had to protect themselves from heavily armed warriors and brigands.
It was during this time that Okinawans put their own stamp on unarmed fighting methods by emphasizing the use of the natural physics of the body and connection to mother earth to achieve high levels of power. Early practitioners spent a lifetime developing and organizing the technical skills needed to perfect elements of various foreign and native weaponless fighting schools. As time went by, the need and therefore the emphasis on fighting for purely reasons of self-preservation began to diminish.
At the same time, practitioners of this pure fighting method began to recognize that many aspects of native philosophical beliefs provided unarmed warriors with a level of mental peace needed to enhance chances for success during combat. Practitioners of unarmed martial arts realized too that the focused application of the art itself led the warrior to a greater level of self-awareness and inner peace. This melding of the outer, physical and inner, mental elements is what defines eastern martial arts.
The physical and mental benefits of this art form have been recognized worldwide. Through physical training, a student learns that emotions control the physical body. Karate is the mastering of the body, the mind, and the emotions. It creates self-confidence in ones ability to stop an opponent with a single blow (todome). Such confidence leads to stable emotions. Stable emotions eliminate negative emotions, to the benefit of physical and mental health.