Instructors

 

Our Instructors

Sensei Michael Mendoza, Chief Instructor
Sensei Michael Mendoza began his martial arts training in February of 1968, just two months before his eighth birthday. From 1968 until 1972, he studied Sil Lum and Hung Gar Kung Fu. In 1972, he began training in Mas Oyama’s Kyokushin karate, achieving the first of many black belts in 1977.  From 1978 until 1982, Michael Sensei served in the United States Navy nuclear submarine force as a crew member of the USS John Adams SSBN 620. While serving in the military, he attained black belts in Judo and Jujitsu and won the ComSubLant18 Light Heavyweight boxing title in 1980. After being honorably discharged from the service, Michael Sensei continued his studies in the martial arts and opened his first studio in 1985.

 

Each year from 1985 until 1989, “Mendoza’s Ki Tsu Te Karate” in Stockton, California had no less than 10 students ranked nationally by sports karate organizations. Michael Sensei himself was the California Karate League Light Heavyweight Champion in 1985 and the International Martial Arts Competitor Federation all-around Champion (forms, weapons and sparring), in 1988 and ‘89. During his tenure in Stockton, Michael sensei managed to organize the largest network of black belts and martial arts experts in Central California.

 

Each week, teachers from every conceivable style of martial art would gather at his studio for the sole purpose of training and sharing ideas. This represented Sensei’s concept of what a Black Belt Club should be. Every Saturday afternoon at his dojo, teachers of Goju, Shaolin Kempo, Escrima, Judo, Renbukai, etc. would meet to discuss theory and flesh out their technique. It was during this time that Sensei began to realize the need for a new dynamic in the martial arts world.

In those days, a martial art was either traditional, or it was eclectic. The old schools mocked their younger siblings and the new schools shunned the old ways. What was needed was a martial art that preserved the traditions and rich secrets of the Chinese and Okinawan Masters while embracing innovation in a rapidly changing world.

 

In 2005, Michael Sensei formed the International Kyokumaru Kai for just this purpose. The art of Kyokumaru Karate is the result of 40 years of training and tears, research and development and trial and error. It is the state-of-the-art martial art. 

 

Sensei Yeu-kei Ng (Yu-chi 吳鈺琪), Instructor
Sensei Yu-chi heads our Morgantown, West Virginia Branch.  She holds a shodan black belt in Kyokumaru Ryu Karate, is a member of (OKDR) Okinawa Kobudo Doushi Rensei-kai traditional Okinawan weaponry, and is a member and the official translator for Grandmaster Liu Chang-I, head of (FCKI) Feeding Crane Kung-Fu International.  Sensei Yu-chi is currently studying classical Goju Karate.