Chapel Hill Hoshokai
Ligo Dojo of Budo Karate in Chapel Hill now offers an exciting, parallel path of study called Hoshokai, the 4-art, weapons-based Martial Art of Soke (“so-kay” = “Grandmaster”) Shiokawa Hosho. The pursuit of mastery in traditional Japanese weapons systems is rigorous, and it requires perseverance, dedication and physical conditioning, but because we can’t strike each other with weapons during training, it happens to be a mostly non-contact Martial Art at its beginning stages, suitable for individuals who want to learn a serious fighting art without the impact of karate’s kicks and punches. Focusing primarily on Japanese swordsmanship (Iaido) and defense against it using the traditional Japanese weapons of Kobudo (sai, tonfa, and bo staff), or Jo-do (the use of the walking cane-length “Jo” staff), Hoshokai students learn Martial Arts FOR THE SAKE OF THE ART. What students learn is most definitely lethal and effective in combat, but we live in a world where people don’t carry weapons for self-defense, so the pursuit should be understood to be primarily one of health, self-improvement, and self-fulfillment, through the mastery of an exciting art form.
Our Hoshokai program, as a stand-alone program at Ligo Dojo, is a pilot program that is being offered for the first time to new students, with the Hoshokai arts as the primary field of study. For a decade already, karate students at Ligo Dojo have participated in once-per-week Hoshokai classes to supplement their two-times-per-week karate training. Starting now, however, we will offer 2 classes per week that are Hoshokai-specific, and invite new Hoshokai-specific students to join our combined, advanced Hoshokai class once they become enough accustomed to class routines. Your pursuit of mastery in the Hoshokai arts at Ligo Dojo will begin with two, 75-minute classes per week, and once you get your bearings, you’ll be invited to join a 3rd advanced class with the long-established group. The earliest students to join the Hoshokai-specific program should expect the program to feel like private or semi-private training with Ligo Dojo’s director, Sensei Nathan Ligo.
On the links above, please read more about Hoshokai, about our Class Schedule, about Registration (and Rates), and about Sensei Ligo.
Sensei Ligo, above center, leading Hoshokai students at Ligo Dojo in Kihon (basics) with a Jo staff. Iaido (the art of drawing and cutting with a Japanse sword) has been mentioned. The second of the 4 Hoshokai arts is “Jo-do”, the “way of the jo (staff)”, an art that’s been carried forward since the Japanese middle ages in which students learn to use “a simple stick” to defend against sword attacks.
After Iaido (the art of drawing and cutting with a Japanese sword), and Jo-do (the art of the Jo staff), the 3rd of the Hoshokai arts is Kobudo. The fundamental weapons of Kobudo are Bo staff, tonfa, and sai (shown above). These are traditional Japanese weapons designed as defensive weapons against sword attacks, but that might also be used as offensive/defensive weapons in their own right.
Chapel Hill Hoshokai – Martial Arts’ Sensei Ligo, above, teaching the application of an Iaido kata (Iaido is the art of drawing and cutting with a Japanese sword).
A class held at Ligo Dojo, the group shown is a bit bigger than our average class size. Chapel Hill Hoshokai – Martial Arts’ Sensei Ligo also teaches the Hoshokai arts to a group of Kyokushin Karate students in Maryland. This was a combined training when the MD group came down for an all-day Saturday seminar.
Chapel Hill Hoshokai – Martial Arts’ Sensei Nathan Ligo, above right, participating in a Martial Arts demonstration on a festival day in Japan. The festival was held in front of the medieval Japanese castle (below) where Japan’s last remaining Samurai chose to sacrifice themselves rather than abandon the Samurai way at the time of the Meiji Revolution (In 1900, the Japanese government abolished the Samurai way of life, and made the carrying of swords, illegal). Notably, Hoshokai members were allowed to practice in the dojo there, a dojo where students of only the most serious of the Budo arts are allowed entry.
This is the Hoshokai group in Japan following the above demonstration. “Soke” Okazaki Hiroto is center front. Sensei Nathan Ligo is in the 2nd row, over his left shoulder.
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