The current dojo we train at is, of course, Shiro Tora, the White Tiger
Shiro Tora Budo Kai
White Tiger Martial Arts Association
we practice White Tiger Martial Arts at the Shiro Tora Dojo
of course this symbolism is nothing more than that, symbolism, a way to use names and images to identify who we are and what we do - at this time, this place, with these people we are the Shiro Tora dojo
with the modern age having the internet and websites and website promotion, it has become an essential part of any dojos identity - we have the website ShiroTora.co.uk and use white tiger symbolism
The Shiro Tora dojo was founded, in concept, in 2008, seven years ago when I first planned the dojos curriculum and location and set up the relevant internet sites, blogs and forum, prior to recruiting
Shiro Tora opened properly when I returned to England in May 2009 with our first recruits and by August 2009 we had a full group of 15 and were awarding the first coloured belts. In September 2009 we had an article on the future of Martial Arts in the UK published in MAI magazine, which of course as also published online. Three of the members of this first STMA group went on to become our first black belts, two of whom went on to become 2nd dan. None of that group are now currently training.
Iceman was the first of the second wave of conscripts who joined the group in early 2010, the new decade, and trained with and under these existing members. Ice was the first brown belt to train directly under all 3 of the original group of black belts and become the fourth STMA black belt, the third to get to 2nd dan, and the first ever member of STMA to attain the rank of 3rd dan and the title of Sensei.
STMA did not literally start in 2009 and the foundations of what we now do were founded over a decade before, in 1996, with an experimental group that were the first White Tigers. This was all happening largely at the start of the internet boom, so well before dot.com websites were common, so there was no real internet presence, not until around 2003. We did however receive a lot of magazine coverage from 1999 to 2003 as the group evolved, some of which I have shared in class with the current STMA group. There was also the STMA DVD which we collated and produced from a series of training sessions over our 3 active dojos.
The members of this WT group, though we used the term White Tigers I had not coined the STMA name for the dojo formally, trained informally at 3 venues, a wooden floored hall much as we have now, a sports hall with mats, and a boxing gym where I was one of the boxing coaches. The group were all young, mainly in their 20s, fit and athletic, and some were competitors in various sports forms. We had an entire weekly session at the boxing gym, completely in the ring, and focussed on the kb side of STMA.
This WT group was trained in parallel to, though not in opposition to, the group of nightclub doormen whom I was training at the time.
I had progressed from being a competition champion, training a new generation of fighters, to training security personell, specifically doormen for nightclubs. Most of these men, and a couple of women, were boxers at my gym, weight lifters and bodybuilders, rugby players, and some karateka, including some black belts. Although they were trained by me in the application of karate for the street and the job, they did their formal karate training and grading at another local dojo. I also pulled in a few acquaintances I was making from Judo and Jujutsu clubs. Only one member of the door group appears in the STMA training footage - and he is not hard to spot!
At this time 1998 to 2003 I was best known as a high grade karate sensei, security expert and self defence instructor than a competitor in karate, kickboxing and Vale Tudo, though many people of the time still recognised me as a kickboxer and identified me as a kb champion.
So this athletic group of young kickboxers and tough group of nightclub bouncers, training under me at 3 dojos and working doors for me at the weekend, helped mould what would be established as Shiro Tora Dojo in 2009, though none of them would of course go on to train there.
The White Tiger club did produce 3 black belts, one of whom went on to become 2nd dan.
Some members became head doormen and ran their own clubs.
Nobody went to on to win anything major in any form of competition, and that was fine as it was never my intention for STMA to become a sporting based training group.
The matter of the current STMA dojo producing fighters was brought up by Ren in 2009, discussed in a thread, including my own "career", but never pursed beyond that initial stage. Though we don't train for competition here, nor encourage it, should a member become interested and ambitious enough to compete in some format, we would of course encourage and advise them.
In 2015 it is my intention to print on the forum, the Guvnors Board, some of my published work, strictly for members benefit, as some of what I have written in previous decades based on training sessions and experience of the time is still relevant today and for the future
I will also bring down the dojo DVD footage for viewing at class so you can all get an idea of how we developed this, get a chance to see your predecessors in action, and to have a training session based on what you see, to get a better perspective on how this training is timeless and limitless
(I will not be letting the footage be copied or posting it to the forum or any other online media as it is my intention that it is for dojo use and benefit, and not to be released to the general public. )
In even earlier group was one I ran back in the early 90s, again separate from the work I was doing as a karate sensei, and my personal developments in Jujutsu and Ninjutsu
It was around this time I was training in the martial arts of other countries, Filipino Kali, Chinese Wing Chun, and the Thai arts of Muay Thai and and Krabi Krabong, at which I went on to qualify as a full instructor in all . I had begun training in JKD, in classes and at seminars, and as involved in some private training groups
My special group was called Feng Wei, in which I went back to examine the roots of the Japanese arts I was training in, by looking at the Chinese and, in the case of Karate, Okinawawn origins and developments
The historical path of karate is as follows:
Chinese kempo, north and south
Okinawan karate
Japanese karate
Western karate - pan pacific, crossing to Hawaii then California
With the west coast California karate there was an explosion of development in the 60s and 70s with Ed Parker's Kenpo, returning servicemen, Bruce Lee and his influence over what was developing in MA, and many public schools opening, and many celebrities including Elvis becoming involved, some at a very high level
In the UK, karate was primarily being practiced as Shotokan, Kyukushin and Goju, and learnt in its original form from Japanese masters now living in the UK such as Enoeda and Kanazawa. There were some new developments such as Isshin Ryu, a hybrid, and there was development in full contact sports, most notable being Seidokan, which became K1.
A lot of UK karateka, myself included, were working as nightclub doormen and a lot of reveletions about what does and does not work were coming out
When I founded STMA in 2008, I still continued to use Feng Wei as the name for the Unarmed Combat section, it's blend of Karate, Kempo, Wing Chun, the standing phase of Jujutsu and the unarmed phase of Kali being as fresh and relevant as it was when we started developing it, street tested and time tested.
The Feng Wei training group met on a Tuesday night and was called the Tuesday Night Fung Fu Club - I simply wanted to not name it as a style or association, and simply call it what it was. However what it actually was turned out to be the founding of a new association and dojo, just like Shiro Tora was in the more recent years.
Shiro Tora is the White Tiger
he represents the West, the season of autumn
Byakko as one word is White Tiger in Japan
Byakko Ryu is a name I have been contemplating for future use if we expand what we do as an association of clubs
Bai Hu is the Chinese for White Tiger, which doesn't sound so good
White Tiger represents the element metal in the gogyo
Feng Wei in Chinese is Suzaku in Japanese, a great name for a MA dojo
Feng Wei is more accurately the phoenix
Zhue Que means red bird
a more accurate translation of red is vermillion, a more specific shade of red
Suzaku translates as Vermillion Bird, though Red Bird or Phoenix sound better
Fire Bird or Fire Hawk also work
The common bird used in MA is the Crane, so Red Crane
Aka Tori is the literal translation of Red Bird, as one word spells Akatori
Hi No Tori would be the literal way to say Fire Bird
In this situation we use hi rather than ka as fire, as we would use do rather than chi as earth
The bird's element is of course Fire, it's direction is South and it represents Summer
Just as the White Tiger of the West is symbolic so is the Red Bird of the South
So the Sozaku training that was going on in the early 90s at the TNKFC has influenced and founded a lot of what we do at Shiro Tora in the early to mid (what decade is this, the "teens")?
In 2015, and going into the second half of this decade, we will be delving not just into the White Tiger group of 1999 - early millennium, but also the Sozaku group of the early 90s - this will give you a rich 25 year history to appreciate, different dojos, different time periods, different people, many different arts and systems - but still the same GUVNOR
We may even separate, in time, Byakko Ryu from Sozaku Ryu, as there is so much training over a long period of time - of course this can be done in parallel at the same class, just as we now start with stix, go out to the carpet, come in to do some Unarmed, and pad up for kb - the secret is not to think of these as separate arts, schools, styles, just sources to dip into for the training we are doing at the current session and the goals we are looking to meet
