Andre Leister

My martial arts interest started in karate during my teens as it was the type of discipline / sport that could be documented for the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme here in England. I started under the instruction of Steve Earl Sensei in the Shotokan style and this dojo was a very good grounding as the guys liked to kumite.

1985 saw the birth of my son Leo and in 1987 my daughter Ashley was born. It was around that time I also accepted a management position, which meant moving the family. I was up for my Shodan but my training was suffering with the move so it would have to wait, and wait and wait and I never did get that Shodan in Shotokan!

With the move I was self training but struggled to get back down to the dojo, so started looking around for other dojos in the area, there were various styles around and I tried a few could not find what I wanted. Then one day out strolling with Leo, the double doors of a Hall were open to let some air in and I saw these people fighting. We went in and Kevin Nason Sensei introduced himself to us and with that Leo was signed up. Within weeks Leo was saying Dad you do karate can you show me this Kata and I would say “no son it’s a different style it’s Goju-Ryu” but perhaps I should learn it as well so we can both do it. I started learning Goju-Ryu in the early 90’s, Leo left after a couple of years and I’m still learning so all I can say is “Thanks Leo”.

I trained regularly with Gary Webber Sensei and Kevin Sensei use to take us to the Camberwell Dojo called The Marble Factory run by George Andrews Sensei. Over the years we trained hard with many Sensei’s and was instructed by Morio Higaonna Sensei on several courses. In 1993 I followed my instructor Kevin Sensei into the Goju-Ryu Karate-Do International (GKI) association under the Chief Instruction of James Rousseau Shihan. In July 1995 I was successful in passing my Shodan grade after Sensei finally persuaded me to go for it. Two years later in July 1997 my sparring partner Paul Bell persuaded me to go for Nidan, funny you never ever feel ready enough yourself?

Also in 1997 the GKI sent four students to train in Okinawa with Ko Uehara Sensei and they brought back an interest in Kobudo training. It was around this time that a seed was planted for my interest in Kobudo.

2001 saw me starting up my own business and the obvious year or so in the wilderness doing the self-training bit again. During 2002 I heard about this GKI South African trip which made me think why am I working all these hours with no one to share it with, so my interest was once again sparked and there I was back training five nights a week and courses at weekend getting fit for April South Africa 2003. I took the kids, done the Kruger Safari, travelled down to the Gashuku and then the Garden route to Cape Town. While at the Gashuku I was inspired to help a new sparring partner Marius De Beer to succeed in taking his Sandan. It was also at this time I remember thinking I needed to stop playing at Kobudo and get some sort of structure rather than a just course here & there.

Travelling was as much a bug as karate and in August 2003 during the Swedish summer Gashuku and after persistent badgering from Daphne and Len Sim Sensei I succeeded in taking my Sandan.

In 2004 I went back to South Africa for the Gashuku and fell in love with Daphne moving to Surrey on our return. It was then onto Okinawa in July where the IOGKF was holding their 25 year Anniversary Gashuku. We attended this and trained very hard with Ko Uehara Sensei in Kobudo virtually every day as well as taking our scuba diving certificates, actually in nineteen days we only had one day sight seeing. When people asked back then what was Okinawa like we said what you mean “from the inside of a dojo or underwater”!

On our return we were still looking for structure and a system for training Kobudo but it seem like everywhere we turned people were just tacking it onto their karate

By 2005 the travel bug had really got to us so this was the year when we decided to stop the rat race and tour the world for a year in search of firstly Kobudo but also keeping up our Karate. We gave Alicia of Flight Centre about three weeks to organise our tour and in between that two weeks before we left Daphne and I decided to get married. So with a new start the Journey began on 1st March 2005 in South Africa touring around different dojos for 3 months, and then it was Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Tokyo and then the jewel in the crown OKINAWA for 4.5 months. In Okinawa for the most part we trained seven days a week at least six hours a day mainly in Kobudo but also in karate to keep up our Goju-Ryu skills. It was morning, afternoon and evening with a bit of scuba diving, sight seeing and doing the world’s largest tug of war. While in Okinawa our eyes were opened when we walked into the dojo of Akamine Hiroshi Sensei, a fantastic teacher and grand master who has started us on our road to somewhere. (See our Okinawan experience write up in the events and snippets)

With sad hearts at leaving Okinawa we had to move on to Australia where we spent Christmas and New Year before finishing with a Kobudo tour with Devorah Yoshiko Dometrich Sensei in Florida, USA and our final destination of Canada. We arrived back in the UK 360 days later with so many new skills, knowledge and experiences, truly a trip of a lifetime.

Now back in the UK and it’s 2006 we intend to keep out of the rat race and try to pass on the experiences we learnt while aboard. We have now spread the word of Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai in the form of opening our own Doko Kai, under the tutelage of Akamine Sensei and we are also touring different dojo’s to pass on our experience.