Avi Rokah lives and breathes budo.

Shotokan is a traditional Japanese style of karate built on precise technique, deep stances, and generating power through the whole body rather than the arm alone. It emphasizes form and principle over tricks. As fighting, Shotokan is built on timing and distance control rather than speed and athleticism — if the opponent cannot hit you, it does not matter how strong they are.

The founder of Shotokan, Master Gichin Funakoshi, was my teacher’s teacher. Sensei Nishiyama developed the first instructors course in Japan and then sent its top graduates to teach around the world. That is how Shotokan spread.

Most schools teach karate as a sport or an activity; we teach it as a study. The difference shows up in what gets corrected. In a sport school, a technique is right if it scores. Here a technique is right if the body is organized correctly behind it, whether or not it lands. That takes longer and it is less immediately satisfying. It is also why students are still finding new things in the same movement twenty years in.

When karate became popular it was taught as sport, rather than as the refinement of technique, timing, and Budo principles. Sensei Nishiyama insisted on Budo principles and on teaching karate as it was originally meant to be. That is what we teach here.

Sensei Avi Rokah teaches every adult class personally — 9th Dan in Shotokan karate, 1994 world champion, and President of the WTKF. Ruth Rokah teaches the children’s classes alongside him, assisted by Jakob Rokah, a two-time US champion. Andre Monge Johnson, an MMA fighter and jiu-jitsu and karate competitor, also assists with the children’s classes and teaches jiu-jitsu alongside Felipe Werdum. Vlad Matyushenko co-teaches the MMA program.

Sensei Hidetaka Nishiyama was a direct student of Master Gichin Funakoshi, the father of modern karate and the founder of Shotokan. He co-founded the Japan Karate Association, taught the most well-known Shotokan instructors to come out of Japan, and is widely considered the finest technician the style has produced.

I trained under him for 27 years, from 1981 until he passed in 2008, five hours a day. Every training was demanding. We did endless repetitions, and every repetition was purposeful. He did not want us to copy him — he wanted us to understand the principles underneath. You could be his student and he still would not teach you until you had proven yourself worthy of it.

The dojo was always full of people who had come from around the world to train there, and it was a privilege to be in that room every day. In every class he pushed us past limits we did not know we had. He was like a father to me, and an example of what passion and dedication for karate look like over a lifetime.

I still hear him while I train. “Don’t do the convenient way, do the right way” — meaning don’t move out of habit just because it works; look for what is correct. And “don’t use eyes” when fighting — don’t analyze, trust your heart, your intuition, your experience.

Carrying that forward is an obligation, not a credential. It is what this dojo is for.

Karate and jiu-jitsu are both effective martial arts — karate focuses on striking, jiu-jitsu on grappling. Start with what you want from it. Karate suits someone who wants a lifelong study with depth; it rewards patience and gives back more the longer you stay, and as self-defense it focuses on striking and the stand-up game. Jiu-jitsu as self-defense focuses on ground fighting. MMA is for someone who wants to train across all ranges, standing and on the ground. Karate and jiu-jitsu are scheduled back to back on Monday and Wednesday for students who want both. If you’re still unsure, come to a class and see which one you don’t want to leave.