On November 14 and 15, the Bedford GKK was host to Mr. Motoo Yamakura, the Chairman and chief instructor for Goju-Ryu Karate-do Kyokai. Mr. Yamakura came to the Midwest for his yearly evaluation of student progress and to teach. The event was attended by over fifty karate instructors, students, and observers from Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois.

On Friday, November 14, Shihan Yamakura taught two seminars. The first seminar was devoted to students who were twelve and under. The second seminar was open to all students who were over the age of twelve. All of the teaching was geared to the age and the experience levels of the stu- dents who were in attendance.

On Saturday, November 15, Shihan Yamakura conducted three separate training seminars for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students. The sessions, which covered a variety of martial arts topics, were both vigorous and informative. As students were leaving the event, a commonly heard statement was "I’m physically exhausted, but mentally energized by what I learned."

Mr. Yamakura certainly has a lot of expertise to share with his students and the GKK. He began his karate-do training in Kyoto, Japan in the early 1950's, has authored two books on Goju-Ryu Karate-do, and has produced several instructional karate videos. The GKK community is fortunate to have such an accomplished individual at its helm to share his knowledge and wisdom with the younger generations.