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Jim Smoak – Nidan
Sensei for
Northwest Budokan
Master Kise’s Pacific Northwest Dojo.
Jim Smoak started his martial arts
training as a teenager by studying Choung Nhu, a Vietnamese from of karate. Jim
served 4 years (1982-1986) in the U.S. Marine Corps as squad leader for a Dragon
gun team and where he received hand to hand combat training with a mix of
striking and grappling martial arts techniques integrated in the training. Jim
trained in Tae Kwon Do for 1-˝ years starting in 1996 and was taught by Keirion
Pratt, 4th Dan.
Jim starting studying Kobayashi
Shorin-ryu in Crofton, Maryland under Sensei Anthony Russo, 6th Dan in 1997 and
received his Shodan, as a member of the Beikoku Shido-kan, in 2001 from Sensei
Seikichi Iha, 10th Dan, who is the North American Director of the Shido-kan. He
was privileged to be one of the last students Sensei Iha tested and promoted
while visiting the Shibu-dojo’s around the world. Jim attended the “National
Training Seminar” at the Hombu dojo in Lansing, MI in the summer of 2003.
In 2002 Jim founded the Cornerstone
Christian Martial Arts dojo in Maryland which is still operating today. He and
his family moved to Bothell, Washington in 2004 and then founded the Cedar Park
Christian Martial Arts dojo in 2005. The curriculum at both these dojos is
designed to incorporate the many benefits of karate learning with the principles
and study of a Christian walk.
In his quest to find a Shorin-ryu
style closer to the Bothell area for himself and his students he discovered the
NorthWest Budokan, Sensei Jay Gravelle and the OSMKKF, a Shorin-ryu Matsumura
Karate and Kobudo federation under Grandmaster Fusei Kise. The Cedar Park
Christian Martial Arts dojo joined the OSMKKF in June 2006 and
is transitioning to
the Okinawan Shorin-ryu Matsumura-seito Karate & Kobudo Federation.
Although the
OSMKKF practices a different "flavor" of Shorin-ryu that what the Cedar Park
dojo had been learning, the differences are minor, and the benefit of being a
member of a organization that has a local parent dojo far outweighs the effort
that will need to go into the transition.
Jim stated, “I’ve always enjoyed the
martial arts as a practitioner because of the emphasis on tradition, focus and
discipline, and I equally enjoy teaching them because of the same benefits I
experience as a karate-ka. Additionally, I find strong parallels between the do
(way) of the karate-ka, and the do of the practicing Christian. To be the best
martial artist you can be, it takes unwavering commitment, discipline to do what
needs to be done no matter how tired or distracted you are, and the drive to
focus even when everything else in your life is trying to gain and keep a
“mental front row seat”. These same skills are required for the Christian to be
successful in his or her walk with God.
We at the Cedar Park dojo thank God for
the opportunity Sensei Jay and his staff is helping us to realize, and we pray
for blessings on them for their kind and professional assistance.”
Jim is married and has two teenage
boys. He lives in Bothell WA, with his family and is very involved with his
church and its ministries.
Contact Information:
3631 Federal Ave.
Everett, WA 98201
425-783-0884
http://www.cedarpark.org/karate/karatedojo.htm |
