Update: Korea Open International Karate Tournament
Seoul, August 2006

Above, Budo Karate House's newest member, Jonathan Calhoun, (22, California) participates in his first tournament in Korea after only 73 days of training in the BKH dormitory. Calhoun came to BKH after finishing 4 years in the Navy and his military discipline shows itself in his ability to cope with the "culture shock" of adapting to life in a budo karate dormitory. Calhoun weighed in at a mere 150 pounds for this weight category tournament and we look forward to bulking him up during the rest of his three years of training to come.

Calhoun was defeated in his first fight by this more experienced, Korean fighter as we expected he would be. He also, however, demonstrated a great deal of heart in his ability to fight for the first time in his life at such an intense level. BKH Director, Nathan Ligo, told him he looks forward to watching him grow and become stronger as a fighter. Like all of these young guys that attempt the BKH three-year dormitory program, Calhoun has great potential.

Check out BKH's current senior dormitory resident, Robert Schnoes, below!!

It was a long way to travel to turn his ankle and break his foot during a two hour seminar just ONE DAY BEFORE what was to be his 3rd overseas tournament experience since he entered the BKH dormitory 320 days ago! What terrible luck for him! He was more prepared for this tournament, and he had a better tournament draw, than any he's been to so far. Now he has his second All-Japan Open Karate Tournament to look forward to 3 months from now, if he can heal that fast. He fought in his first All-Japan last November, like Calhoun just a couple months into his BKH training, and if he can get back on his feet, there'll be no comparison to the Robert Schnoes who fought in that same tournament last year. The doctor just told him today (August 18th) that his break would not require surgery and that since he was young and strong he might be back on it in six weeks. See for yourself below from the X-rays taken in Korea: You can see why they were debating putting in a couple screws.

Ouch! That's a pretty nasty break! How embarrassing it was for him that this happened in a normal training the day BEFORE his tournament. Below, you can see a photo snapped during the actual partner exercise he was participating in just moments before he broke his foot. Schnoes has a weak ankle due to a bad sprain that he received as a child and during one of these high kicks, he turned his foot over, curling the pinky edge of his foot under and crushed it between the hardwood floor and his own body weight.

Here's Calhoun (blocking) participating in the same exercise with a Korean partner.

The seminar was only 2 hours long, but both Schnoes and Calhoun had an opportunity to train with Kancho Royama (Chairman Kyokushinkan) and Shihan Okasaki.

BKH Director and founder, Nathan Ligo, is seen below being introduced to the crowd at the tournament among the participants for the kata competition. These days so much of his life is consumed by business tasks associated with making his students' training possible. Participating in this competition, like he did in the World Tournament in Moscow in 2005, keeps him on his toes.

Here's Nathan Ligo performing the elimination round kata, gekisai-sho.

Here's one more shot of Calhoun slugging it out with his Korean counterpart. These two were paired up with one another in the first round because they were both among the least experienced fighters in the competition. Be sure to see the Kyokushinkan Home page, above, for many more pictures of the more experienced fighters and other scenes from Korea.

Here's Schnoes and Calhoun the day before the tournament in front of Namdeamoon Gate, one of the two last-standing gates of the original walled city of Seoul. Notice the modern buildings in the background.

Schnoes and Calhoun, below, at the "Sayonara Party" after the tournament. Don't be confused: These guys in their normal everyday lives at BKH do nothing but training and working hard to support BKH. "Sayonara Parties" are an International Kyokushin tradition following tournaments and they are a lot of fun for the guys.

And finally, here's an interesting shot (below) of personal importance to BKH founder, Nathan Ligo. The man second to left shown here wearing glasses is Professor Seong-Soo Choi, who was Nathan Ligo's first karate teacher from 1984 until 1990 in the US. Professor Choi, who is a professor of Physics at a university in Korea, is no longer teaching karate but since he the the second son of Mas Oyama's eldest brother (Mas Oyama is the founder of Kyokushin karate), he was invited to this tournament as an honorary guest. "Master" Choi recommended Nathan Ligo to his uncle to become a personal student in Tokyo in 1989. That's Kancho Royama at the opposite end of the photograph.