Koshiki Karate in Cantabria

Hello everyone.

Long time since the last post.
I have been busy, but on top of that, no news and no discoveries to talk about... till today!

Enter, Koshiki Karate!


Koshiki is a full contact style, rooted in traditional Shorinji Ryu Okinawan Karate, that uses intense and deep kata bunkai exploration and later uses it in NHB kumite.

How did I find this gem?
I was on a family trip in the beautiful Cantabria, north of Spain, and the destiny made me rent a house to a Karate Master, Sensei Juan José Reigadas, who was a wonderful host and was kind enough to notice I was wearing a Kyokushin jacket and invited me to join a class.


You can see the helmets (Kudo style) and body shields used for kumite, but the fun part is that is BARE KNUCKLE.
Yes, no gloves.
Yes, hard plastic masks.
Yes, you punch right on the plastic.

This is even more exciting than Kyokushin!
Few restrictions, no worries about injuring a partner, grabbing is allowed, you can follow through on the ground...
But you need to have precision with your cute little hands when you smash someone in the face.
Oh, open handed strikes are not permitted, so you need to really practice your punching technique. Great!


The gate to this wonderful dojo:


You can see more here.

And contact Sensei Reigadas here.

A video:



And the Bible of Koshiki, Scientific Karate.

They even have a Japanese cherry tree. Talk about commitment!


Their Sanchin version is FIVE MINUTES LONG.
Why is that?
Because they use it as a regular kata, with its bunkai and applications. They make use of all its possibilities in short, medium and long range.
I wish I could find the video when I practice it with them...
And I wish I recorded the kumite session...

People have a long history of fighting here:


And I had to come back to Mercadal. Nice village in the middle of these wonderful lands.
One of my hardest moments in life was here, twenty-ish years ago. I could not have a good look at it at that moment so I owed this visit to myself.


Oh, I crashed my car on the way, so...






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Location: Calle Angel Abajo Perez, 167, 39530 Puente San Miguel, Cantabria, Spain

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