Seminar at Cape Town, South Africa, May 2006

BKH instructor (Nathan Ligo) took BKH student (Robert Schnoes) to Cape Town, South Africa for a week of training including a 3-day seminar with Kancho Royama and instructors from Japan. Above, that's Nathan Ligo with Kancho (chairman) Royama. Be sure to see more details of the seminar at the above "Kyokushinkan Home" link. Schnoes, center back, below, benefited from being able to compare himself to other Kyokushin green belts on an international level. Since there were 160 camp participants and he was one of the lower ranking students, he enjoyed also being able to fade into the crowd. His personality is one that he doesn't like being made a big deal of.

Above, that's Schnoes kneeling at left in front of his teacher, posing for the photo with Kancho, his instructors from Japan, and instructors from Shihan Hennie Bosman's Belleville area dojos, several of whom who Schnoes trained with for several days before the camp.

Above and below, again, we see Schnoes (wearing a green belt) enjoying not being the center of attention.

Nathan Ligo (BKH founder) was invited to this seminar to act as interpreter for Kancho and his Japanese instructors. Since he also does Honbu's (Japan headquarters) web page design, he had many roles during this camp including assistant instructor, photographer, and interpreter. To applicants interested in applying, we will point out that the greatest personal benefit to ones own self-improvement and learning can come through tireless service. Nathan Ligo went to South Africa to work for Kancho and Kyokushinkan and to help South Africa's Shihan Bosman to make his seminar a success. As a result Nathan Ligo had an unparalleled opportunity to learn both in terms of his karate and in terms of his Japanese language ability. New students should come to BKH with this same attitude. Come to work FOR Budo Karate House, and you will gain the most from it. Come, on the other hand, to take as much as you can, and you likely won't even be successful.

Schnoes taking a break with new friends between training.

Here, Nathan Ligo is assisting instruction of the bo kata, Oshiro no kon. Kyokushinkan has recently adopted training with the Bo (traditional Okinawan weapon) in order to deepen our understanding of the origin and application particularly of karate stances, a correct application of which is vital to winning empty handed fights.

BKH instructor, above center, interpreting for Kancho and, below, for Shihan Kaneko from Japan.