FOOTHILLS KARATE YYC

FOOTHILLS KARATE YYC is Calgary's only full-time karate school offering instruction in Okinawan Karate. Okinawans first developed a self-defence art called te, literally meaning "hands". Te predates karate. In 1609, the Satsuma clan of Japan subjugated the Ryukyu islands and banned all weapons and practice of martial arts. Despite this 300 year ban, te was practised in secrecy between midnight and dawn in the most remote places and so it was preserved and passed down from father to son in the samurai class. In 1904, when Anko Itosu introduced as a mandatory physical education requirement in public schools in Okinawa, karate ceased to be a hidden martial art.

FOOTHILLS KARATE YYC is the dojo of Sensei Ken Larkman, a black belt instructor with more than 47 years of experience training traditional martial arts.

"karate ni sente nashi"
"There is no first attack in karate"

“Karate is self-training in perfection...It is a training in efficiency. It is a training in self-reliance... for it enables a person to meet any situation with exactly the right expenditure of effort... and it gives him control of his otherwise wayward mind so that neither physical danger from without nor rampant passion from within can dislodge him.” - (Nagamine, 1998, p.14)

"The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do" by Shoshin Nagamine

• KARATE IS THE ORIGINAL MIXED MARTIAL ART.
• ALL PHYSICAL ABILITIES. Not just for atheletes.
• NON-COMPETITIVE and focused on real self defense.
• BODY-FRIENDLY and focused on physical development.
• BUILD MUSCLE. Maintain and develop lean muscle.
• LOW IMPACT. Easy on the knees.
• RELIEVE STRESS..
• IMPROVE MENTAL FOCUS AND MEMORY.
• EXTENSIVE PARTNER WORK.
• PEER INSTRUCTION.
• DEVELOP FOCUSED CONCENTRATION. .
• REAL WORLD SELF DEFENSE. .
• FOCUSED PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT. .