Welcome to the Daimon-Ryu BudoKai Martial Arts Association story.
Organization Overview:
The Ukinjukai Dojo in Ashland, Oregon, is the official Hombu dojo for the Ukinju-Ryu Family Martial Traditions, or henceforth known as Ukinju-Ryu Budo, and is home to it's head instructor and association president, Thomas C. Spellman, Hanshi.
The Dojo name of Ukinjukai was changed from the previous name of Okumakan to reflect its intention of honoring Grandmaster Thomas M. White and his teachings handed down over the decades to Spellman Sensei through their close association, treasured friendship, and White Sensei's mentorship of Spellman Sensei until White Sensei's passing on May 30, 2012. This change is dated December 3, 2012. It corresponds to the first anniversary of the promotion of Spellman Sensei to 9th Degree Black Belt in the SanDoKai Karate-Do system (the highest Dan ranking in SanDoKai Karate-Do ever bestowed personally by Soke White) and the accompanying commissions contained within the rank certificate signed by Soke White.
In keeping with this evolving process, phase two is dated December 3rd, 2013 and recognizes the renaming of the family tradition taught by Spellman Sensei from Okuma-Ha to Ukinju-Ryu (Receiving Water school) further continuing the commission to White Sensei from Grandmaster Shimabukuro upon his leaving Okinawa in the mid-sixties to plant the seed he had received on his return home, the seed of Ukinju (Receiving Water). Henceforth, the three divisions of practice taught will be Ukinju-Ryu Budo Karate, Ukinju-Ryu Karate-Do, and Ukinju-Ryu JuJitsu and known under the reorganized collective title as Ukinju-Ryu Budo, dated January 1, 2015.
Associate members, clubs, and dojos can be found in four western states including Hawaii and in Shanghai, China and may be contacted by e-mail through this web page or at ukinjukai@yahoo.com. The Ukinjukai Dojo is a Juku (non-commercial, private, invitation-only dojo) dedicated to the pursuit of the unification of the mind, body and spirit through the forging of the sacred triad of the will, the physical and spiritual selves on the anvil of disciplined, sincere, and focused martial arts practice.
The Ukinjukai Dojo is also the headquarters of the Daimon-Ryu Budokai Yudansha Society, a collection of black belt members represented of Ukinju-Ryu practitioners and various affiliated yudansha in the Daimon-Ryu Budokai Martial Arts Association family of martial artists (see Yudansha Society Page 5-6 for details). Inquiries may be made by contacting Spellman Sensei by E-mail : ukinjukai@Yahoo.com.
Theb list of the martial arts that represent the Legacy we serve are :
1) Ukinju-Ryu Budo Karate: Inherited from Kenpo Grandmaster Robert A. Leonard.This art spans eight hundred years of evolution starting with the First Grand Master Zenko Yoshida in Eleventh-Century Japan. This art, by tradition, was centered around the Mt. Kinkai temple, founded by the Urabe (later Yoshida) family. This Temple would come to host Chinese monks who in turn brought their fighting arts and shared them with their hosts. These Chinese influences are apparent in the various techniques it has in its Kenpo arsenal to this day.
The 21st Great Grandmaster Masayoshi (James)Mitose brought the Kosho Kenpo to Hawaii in 1937 and since then it has taken various forms throughout the years in coming to the U.S. mainland with Grandmaster Edmund Parker( father of American Kenpo Karate) and continuing with the Tracy System of Traditional Kenpo Karate graciously imparted to Spellman Sensei, with his humble gratitude, by Grandmaster Instructor Robert A. Leonard, 10th Dan and, his instructor Senior Grandmaster Al Tracy.
Sensei Spellman holds a 10th Degree Black Belt Certificate in the Tracy System of Traditional Kenpo Karate that was presented to him in Ashland, Oregon during a visit by Senior Grandmaster Al Tracy and his son, Master Instructor (Now Grand Master) Mark Tracy dated August 19, 2016 in conjunction with a recommendation by Grandmaster Robert Leonard, Sensei Spellman's personal teacher and mentor.
The main theme of this art is its self-defense technology taught through the over six hundred technique syllabi and their numerous variations plus its Twentieth Century created Kenpo Karate Katas coupled with several traditional Chinese empty hand and weapons forms that comprise the art. Ukinju-Ryu Kenpo Karate is the mind of the Ukinju-Ryu family martial traditions.
2) Ukinju-Ryu Karate-Do: Inherited from Grandmasters Thomas M. White and Grandmaster Jerry Smith. This branch of the Ukinju-Ryu family is based on the Ukinjukan forms of Soke Thomas M. White's Style of Karate drawn from the Okinawan Shobayashi Shorin-Ryu of Grandmaster Eizo Shimabukuro of the Rendokan and further influenced by Ohshima Sensei and his SKA Shotokan Karate-Do teachings on the U.S. mainland. Spellman Sensei is deeply indebted to his beloved mentor in these arts to Ukinjukan and San Do Kai Karate-Do Founder Grandmaster 10th Degree Black Belt Thomas White for showing him Way. Sensei White graciously bestowed the title of HANSHI (April 17, 2010) to Sensei Spellman under the San Do Kai Karate-Do tradition and promoted him to the rank of 9th Dan Black Belt in San Do Kai Karate-Do dated December 3rd, 2011. On May 31, 2012 GM Thomas M. White passed away due to illness in Long Beach, California.
A second Karate-Do instructor of Spellman Sensei in the realm of combat technologies was Grandmaster Jerry Smith, a co-founder of the Black Karate Federation, and Grandmaster of his own martial arts style the Five level System of Shorin Ju Kenpo. During the period of 1969 through the early 1970s GM Smith, GM White and Spellman Sensei were located at the Tracy’s Kenpo studio of Master Robert Leonard in Long Beach, California. It was there GM Smith taught Spellman Sensei the intricacies of GM Joe Lewis’s Fighting System and the Matsumura Seito style of Shorin-Ryu Karate handed down to him by Okinawan Master Jun Kina, as well as Smith Sensei’s versions of Kenpo that became one of the fundamental elements of his Shorin Ju Kenpo/ Five Level System. Spellman Sensei is indebted to GM Smith for his instruction and guidance during this formative period in combat strategies and principles. During the weekend of May 1-4th of 2014 Spellman Sensei had the privilege of reuniting with his two surviving teachers, GM Leonard and GM Smith, following a 40-year period of separation. During this momentous visit Soke Jerry Smith extended an unexpectedly high honor to Sensei Spellman by bestowing the title 'Senior Grand Master' in his Five Level System/ Shorin Ju Kenpo and the rank of 10th degree Black belt under Soke Smith dated May 3rd, 2014 . With rank comes responsibility and Sensei Spellman can't express enough heartfelt thanks to GM Smith for his trust Spellman sensei evidenced in the mantle he has placed on sensei' shoulders and will strive to live up to this great honor. Ukinju-Ryu Karate-Do is the heart of the Ukinju-Ryu family martial traditions.
3)Ukinju-Ryu JuJitsu- Common to both of these lineages are grappling arts (Tori-Te) that in some cases have been lost or set aside in their present day teaching. Coupled with the throwing and locking techniques of Traditional Kodokan Judo taught to me by Akira Matsuoka Sensei and the Toyota-Ha Jujitsu of Spellman Sensei’s father, Thomas L. Spellman, comprise the third portion of the Ukinju-Ryu family martial arts trinity. Ukinju-Ryu Jujitsu is the seed of the Ukinju-Ryu family martial traditions.
