Ligo Dojo in Durham News
Ligo Dojo experiences its first boom in popularity!
February 2008

At long last it seems like Triangle residents are starting to figure out both that we're here, and what kind of quality training we offer. We're located in downtown Durham near the ball park and the Sun Trust Building and it was at about the same time that the city of Durham finally completed construction on our street, Parrish Street, that students started to roll in . . . at least when compared to anything we've seen in the past. We continue to offer 90-minute classes every night of the week except Sunday that are primarily geared towards adult students. Indeed we pride ourselves on NOT being the "belt mill" or babysitting service that so many American martial arts schools have become. Children from the age of 7 are welcome and we have several as young as 6 that train with their mothers and/or fathers. Parents and kids training together has in fact been very successful and we recommend that you give it a try!

All training is geared towards full-contact, real world applicable karate. Of course the primary motives are self-defense, the development of spiritual and physical health, and the deepening of character! But we are firm believers that martial arts schools who train their students for anything less than real fighting are doing a great disservice to their students, since they will surely develop a false sense of their own abilities. That said, SAFETY and respect for the PACE with which each individual student should approach higher impact training is upheld as a matter of course. We currently have 4 students in their 50's one in her 60's and minors that are as young as 6. . . They don't leave the class injured, and yet they SWEAT and they learn techniques that they can apply should they ever have to.

Ask Sensei Ligo and he'll tell you that one of the most exciting developments in the recent growth of the Ligo Dojo student body is the development of a women's program with the potential to set a new standard far beyond the Triangle in terms of developing the true potential of women as practitioners of karate who are not held back by social stigma. Current female students, whether they know it or not, have set out on the road to achieving a standard for women in karate that has been largely absent from the American South. Women in Canada, Europe and Russia, those that choose to, engage in full-contact competition just like the men. All Ligo Dojo students engage in contact activities at a pace at which they're comfortable, but the evolving difference here is that women at Ligo Dojo will have the opportunity to fight if they so choose.

Shihan Jacques Sandulescu, 79, (below) was the first American to practice Kyokushin Karate in the continental united states in the early 60's when Kyokushin's founder, Mas Oyama (1923-1994), stayed with him in New York for five months on his first trip to introduce karate to America. Jacques is a legendary figure in Japan since the adventures that he shared with Mas Oyama were immortalized in books, movies, and even comic books. The two men's friendship was life-long and we are extremely honored to have Jacques and his wife, Annie, as dojo members since they moved to North Carolina from New York three years ago. In Rochester, New York in 1992, Mas Oyama introduced Nathan Ligo (head instructor, Ligo Dojo) to Jacques, and said, "Ligo you have to take care of Jacques, Jacques you have to take care of Nathan. Support each other to build Kyokushin Karate in America," and another life-long friendship was born.

Jacques's wife, Annie, above right, has been practicing Kyokushin Karate for 35 years. She brought Jacques to North Carolina in 2006 to be near Ligo Dojo so that Nathan Ligo and his students could help to take care of Jacques in his retirement. Like her husband, Annie is an inspiration to Ligo Dojo students since she trains harder and kicks higher than most of the rest of the students and yet she's, well, pushing sixty-something. Annie is currently working to edit Nathan's most recent book (she is a professional editor and was a book critic for the NY Times), and although she let Nathan's prior 5 manuscripts remain on the shelf, she finally likes this one, and will help to push it through to where it can be read by more than just her. "Your students ought to really benefit from reading this book," she said, "particularly the new ones. They'll start to figure out what karate's all about, those of them anyway who limit their idea of what it's about to their pre-conceived notions."

Ligo Dojo instructor and founder, Nathan Ligo, is seen here in Japan in the last week of November '07. The All-Japan Karate Tournament was held on the 25th and Nathan Ligo traveled to Japan to enter his residential student (uchi deshi), Paul Kaminski (see below). That's Sensei Ligo (above left) participating in a training for instructors following the tournament and (above right) interpreting Kancho (chairman) Royama's speech at the opening ceremony of the tournament. Below, that's Nathan again with Kancho Royama (see "Kyokushinkan Home" link above).