Club Naha

Club Naha is named after the capital of Okinawa, Japan, where the Martial Art of "Naha Te" began. "Naha Te" is one of the earliest forms of karate and has had a major influence on many of the most popular karate styles of today, including Shotokan, Shito Ryu, Gojo Ryu, Wado Ryu and Shudokan karate. The style taught at Club Naha is called "Hensen Ryu", or "Way of Change", a combination of Shudokan and Wonhwa Do. Club Naha is a positive karate school that enables its students to develop the skills necessary to become great martial artist as well as productive, caring, honest, and responsible citizens.

Hensen Ryu Karate

Hensen Ryu (Way of Change) is the style of martial arts taught at the Club Naha dojo. It was founded in New York in 1986 by Shihan Ken Walsh. A Sixth Degree Black Belt in Wonhwa Do, Shihan Walsh combined his knowledge of Wonhwa Do and Shodokan to form the diverse art of Hensen Ryu. Several years later, Shihan Walsh moved to Waterville, Maine to become the director of the Waterville Area Boy’s and Girl’s Club.  He brought his martial arts experience with him and established the first Waterville Club Naha in 1992.  During this beginning period, Hensen Ryu was primarily a Wonwha Do based dojo with slight influences from Shudokan and other styles such as Vee Arnis Jujitsu, Isshin Ryu, and Ngo Chu Kun. During the summer of 2000, Shihan Ken’s Shodokan instructor, Renshi Javier Diaz Piscil, visited the Waterville, Maine Dojo to teach the Hensen Ryu students the Okinawan karate style of Shudokan. Throughout Renshi Javier's two-year stay, Hensen Ryu began to evolve as it slowly incorporated the art of Shodokan Karate. Today’s Hensen Ryu has an equal balance of Shudokan and Wonhwa Do, making it a diverse, well-rounded martial art.

Wonhwa Do

Wonhwa Do is a Korean martial art that emphasizes many powerful kicking and throwing techniques much like Tae Kwon Do and Judo. Wonhwa Do (also known as Tong Il Moo Do) was created by Dr. Joon Ho Seuk in the mid to late 70’s. Wonhwa Do was developed as a comprehensive and unified martial art that is able to harmonize and unify the best essence of all the different techniques of the various schools of martial arts through scientific analysis and improvements. By theoretically organizing all the different martial arts centered on universal values, Wonhwa Do seeks to bring martial arts into one perfect martial art.  Since one aspect of the Wonhwa Do philosophy is that man is a creative being with both internal (mind) and external (body) traits, students of Wonhwa Do are required to train in both martial art skills and to perfect their character by following the "Tenets of Wonhwa Do". The "Tenets of Wonhwa Do" is a creed that the students follow to better themselves in their daily life.

Shudokan

The other major influence of Hensen Ryu is the Okinawan martial art named Shudokan (The Hall for the Study of the Way).  Shudokan emphasizes strong traditional stances and explosive hand techniques.  Shudokan karate is a sister style of the popular Shotokan karate system. Shotokan was the first Japanese system of karate and was developed by Gichen Funikoshi.  Shudokan was created and refined by Sensei Toyama Kanken who learned his karate from many of the same Okinawan masters as Funikoshi. Sensei Toyama refined his karate for many years and merged many of the straight-line power techniques characterized by Shotokan, with softer (as in striking with speed and accuracy vs. striking anywhere with overwhelming power), circular, and more angular techniques imported from Okinawan and Chinese fighting systems. This blend of “Hard/Soft” techniques makes for a sophisticated and effective fighting system.