The Sannan Karate Academy was founded in 1984 to teach traditional Japanese karate with the purpose of providing an effective form of self-dense and a method of attaining physical fitness. Properly taught and trained, karate “conditions the body, cultivates the mind and nurtures the spirit”.
The ACADEMY teaches RENBUKAI karate, a traditional style of karate known for both strong non-contact and full-contact kumite (sparring). The variation of Renbukai karate taught at the academy is SHOKO-RYU as espoused by Akira Onodera Sensei. The teaching of karate at the SANNAN KARATE ACADEMY generally follows the traditional methods of instruction, but they have been modified slightly to take into account some cultural differences. Dan (Black Belt) rankings are registered in Japan.
In 2002, the curriculum was expanded to include KORYU UCHINADI, old style Okinawan Karate, as interpreted by Patrick McCarthy Sensei, before it was modernized into a more sport oriented form of self-defense. The system not only includes blocking and striking, but also throws, joint manipulation and ground defense. The system also includes traditional Okinawan weapons and weapons defense. The SANNAN KARATE ACADEMY is an accredited school with KORYU UCHINADI KENPO JUTSU. “As an art, Koryu Uchinadi conditions the body, cultivates the mind and nurtures the spirit, in an effort to improve health, its holistic purpose; be better prepared to protect oneself, its defensive application; build moral character, its social aim; discover and overcome the source of human weakness; its philosophical nature; and finally to know inner peace, its spiritual essence.” – Patrick McCarthy Sensei.
The emphasis of the training is to learn effective self-defense in a safe and controlled environment as well as to provide physical fitness. Core self-defense techniques are based on responses to the Habitual Arts of Physical Violence or HAPV.