Kancho

Kancho means chief instructor of the dojo. Shoshin Ryu of Arizona’s kancho is a senior student and boardmember of Shoshin Ryu and martial brother of Combo Sensei. Kancho started doing judo at age 10 (1967) with Ozaki Sensei but didn’t start training martial arts seriously til 1980 when he returned from graduate school in organic chemistry.

Kancho, a personal student of Takeshima Toshio Soke, started training 1983 and was the first westerner initiated into Tosa no Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu. Kancho was awarded Kongen no Maki (Menkyo Kaiden) by Takeshima Soke in 1995, the fifth license awarded in the previous 50 years. Sensei continues to be a part of Eishin Ryu in Japan and is an iai brother of Muranaga and Nakamura Sensei.

During his stays in Japan, Kancho lived in Gokukuji, a small Zen training temple known for its intensive Sesshin which focus on 17 hours a day of zazen.

Kancho was a national level swim coach for 18 years but gave it up to go to medical school and then residency in Emergency Medicine after he spend time volunteering in the shantytowns of Delhi, India. He directed a 50,000 visit per year Emergency Department for a very nice but under-served population on the Navajo Reservation. Sensei has also done 6 international medical missions ranging from 1 week to 3 months. Sensei recently retired.