Okinawa Karate Kaikan
The Okinawa Karate Kaikan in Naha is an ultramodern center using educational technologies, (holographs and three-dimensional videos) blended with ancient weapons and training tools from the past.
Okinawa Guide: The Informative and Entertaining Okinawa Karate Kaikan 沖縄空手会館
Greg Goodmacher
My fist flew toward a lit candle. The flame was obscured by my extended arm. My clenched hand returned to my hip. The damn light still flickered.
I let loose a flurry of Bruce Lee-like punches and screams until the holographic candle was extinguished. I was at the informative and entertaining Okinawa Karate Kaikan (karatekaikan.jp) in Naha.
Learning the Basics, Karate Kaikan, Naha, Okinawa
Move Like This, Karate Kaikan, Naha, Okinawa
Exhibits
I was expecting to see typical museum displays and boring explanations about karate. Instead, I discovered ultramodern educational technologies, such as holographs and three-dimensional videos. These were blended with ancient weapons and training tools from the past, like iron sandals and clay pots.
A bonus was being taught karate by junior and high school students who were staying healthy and fit by embracing their Okinawan heritage.
The Okinawa Karate Kaikan is a window into one of Japan's most well-known cultural products. A visitor from France commented: "The visit to the Karate Kaikan brings a lot of knowledge to a simple Karate experience, we got an impressive video introduction with a lot of historical content. The experience itself felt like a good introduction to Karate."
Okinawa Style Roof on Outside Dojo for Special Events, Karate Kaikan, Naha, Okinawa
Powerful Video of Karate History, Karate Kaikan, Naha, Okinawa
Okinawa - Birthplace of Karate
Recently opened in 2017 on a hill with a view of the sea, the facility was designed, as one brochure states, to promote the "preservation, passing down, and development of traditional Okinawan karate as a unique cultural heritage, and as a base for promoting Okinawa as the birthplace of karate."
Visitors should first drop into the center's miniature theater to watch videos explaining the history and philosophy behind today's karate.
Some of the filmed practitioners are senior citizens, but the speed of their movements and the almost unnatural flexibility of their bodies will probably make you think that you are out of shape. I walked away inspired, wanting to stretch, kick, and punch. That I got to do in the interactive exhibition hall.
First, I tried walking in five-kilogram iron geta, (traditional Japanese clogs), an exhausting activity. Years ago, karate practitioners walked kilometers or practiced kicking while wearing such geta.
Karate masters and students still work out with large earthenware pots to develop hand, arm, and finger muscles. Lifting heavy jars with just the finger edges is a nearly impossible task for most visitors. This exercise develops gripping power. The most memorable activity is the punching challenge. Quietly try to extinguish a candle with your hand. I couldn't.
Besides the exhibition hall, you should tour the public karate dojo, which has four courts for holding competitions. Some of the best karate athletes in the world compete there. If you arrive at the right time, you can attend lectures about karate and other topics in the seminar room. If you are really lucky, like my friends and I were, you might be invited to join a training session.
While donning karate uniforms in the locker room, karate experts couldn't help but laugh good-naturedly at our clumsy attempts to tie the robes with our pure white belts of beginners. We took amusing photographs of one Brazilian and one Japanese karate athlete assisting my Italian friend. They were so happy that we were interested in karate.
Stand with the Masters, Karate Kaikan, Naha, Okinawa
The Future Generation of Karate, Karate Kaikan, Naha, Okinawa
Karate Practice
Properly attired, we walked into one shiny wooden-floored training room to join four students, three with brown belts and one with a black belt. They ranged from elementary school age to high school age.
The kids giggled shyly and joined us for photographs after we finished. But during practice time they focused on their breathing and moving. They taught us how to move our bodies, and they were patient with our incorrect movements. In our contemporary period of smart phone and video game addiction and youth without goals, meeting children with concentration and good manners was a pleasure.
Unfortunately, the Okinawan Karate Kaikan does not currently offer karate classes to non-Japanese speaking people.
However, if you want to study karate but cannot speak Japanese, the nearby Yagi Karate Dojo (imgka.com) teaches karate to complete beginners and experienced martial artists.
The school welcomes able-bodied and disabled students. The address is 4F, 2-20-21 Kume, Naha.
Karate Today
Karate is a global phenomenon. More than 100,000,000 people are practicing karate today in 180 countries, according to an information display at the center.
Karate teachers and students worldwide visit Okinawa to pay homage to the birthplace of karate, to show respect to the founders of their karate schools, and to hone their skills.
One of the functions of the Karate Kaikan is maintaining standards for the judging of karate proficiency. Foreign martial artists often discover that the Okinawan standards are stricter than those in their home countries. They often find that their abilities are not up to the standards of Okinawa.
Unfortunately, much of tourism in Japan revolves around eating excessively, shopping in crowded cities, staring at countless temples, or waiting in lines and on planes, buses, and taxis. But this facility inspires you to move your body and learn to be healthier and happier.
The Okinawan Karate Kaikan dojo is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The exhibition facility opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. All facilities are closed on Wednesday.
Training and Exercise Tools, Karate Kaikan, Naha, Okinawa
Training with Heavy Ceramic Jugs, Karate Kaikan, Naha, Okinawa
Access
From Naha Airport Station, drive or take a taxi for about fifteen minutes.
Bus routes 33, 46, Itoman Nishihara Line; 101, Hewiadai Aiya Line; and route 105, Tomigusuku City Loop Line go to the karate center.
The address is Tomigusuku 845-1, Tomigusuku-shi, Okinawa. Tel: 098-851-1025
Video of Karate History, Karate Kaikan, Naha, Okinawa
