Internationally Acclaimed Instructors
Converge in Ferrum for Special Karate Training Camp

    The Ferrum College Traditional Karate Club is organizing a special training camp that will bring students, as well as four internationally recognized instructors/researchers together for martial arts training this summer. The annual event, hosted by the Traditional Karate Research Institute of VA, (TKRI) will be held in Ferrum June 29 through July 1st. The three-day event will feature acclaimed artists Harry Cook, Meik Skoss, Dr. Elmar Schmeisser and Robert Miller. More information and registration information is available at www.tkriva.com

    England’s own Harry Cook is one of the foremost academic researchers and practitioners in the karate world. Cook is the author of several books on karate/martial arts practice, history and development, most notably the encyclopedic and exhaustively researched Shotokan Karate: A Precise History. Cook has also published more than a hundred articles in Classical Fighting Arts and other topical journals. In addition to 40 years of karate training and investigation, Cook has pursued training in a variety of Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Brazilian and European martial systems, as well as a BA in Chinese Studies and Language. Cook’s readings into world history and culture as well as a thorough study of culturally specific human aggressive behaviors and combative arts underlie his interpretation of karate development and technique. Cook has devoted a considerable amount of research into primary source materials with the intent of dispelling the many myths and fantastic notions that have some to pervade modern karate. His organization, the Seijinkai, is dedicated to the continued Western development of the art in a serious and realistic fashion.

    Also returning is koryu practitioner/historian, Hoplologist, author and publisher Meik Skoss. Mr. Skoss is a premier authority on the koryu, or literally “old school” martial arts and weapons systems of Japan’s feudal era. Each koryu is a time capsule of the period and cultural/combative conditions that it originated in, existing unchanged through each generation of practitioners. Mr. Skoss lived in Japan for more than 25 years studying aikido and several koryu, notably Shinto Muso-ryu, a staff fighting art that has been transmitted virtually unchanged for 500 years. In addition to an MS in physical education, Mr. Skoss holds high level teaching licensures in several koryu, making him one of the few Westerners to have achieved such credibility. Skoss accompanied seminal Hoplologist Donn F. Draeger on his information gathering field trips around Southeast Asia and continues his involvement with the International Hoplology Society. Along with his wife and fellow practitioner/scholar Diane, Skoss operates Koryu Books Publishing Co., maintains a full teaching load, and continues to publish new material in his field. Their three-volume set Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan is a standard of information among practitioners and the interested public alike.

    Examiner and administrator for the International Society of Okinawan Karate, Dr. Elmar Schmeisser will also return to contribute his knowledge to this year’s camp. His practice of karate is informed by 35+ years of training and teaching, as well as comparative studies of several related physical and meditative disciplines. Ranked in Karate-do, Aikido, Judo, Iaido (sword drawing for meditative ends) and Kyudo (classical Japanese archery emphasizing mental development), Dr. Schmeisser draws upon his technical knowledge of these arts to elucidate the less commonly understood aspects of karate. Additionally, the American Teachers Association of the Martial Arts (ATAMA) has awarded him Instructor, Senior Instructor and Master Instructor’s licenses. Schmeisser maintains his practice of Aikido, Kyudo and Cha-no-yu (the meditative Zen ‘tea ceremony’) to provide a study in contrasts between the active and meditative arts. His key contribution to karate is a theoretical basis for extrapolating realistic applications from kata (routines of defensive movements), the physical medium of transmission in karate. Based on a thorough knowledge of anatomy and historical context, this approach has become the standard for Western karate research in recent years. Schmeisser’s book on this topic, Advanced Karate-Do: Concepts, Techniques and Training Methods, is a staple resource for groups researching contemporarily relevant kata application. Dr. Schmeisser currently lives and works at the Army Research Office in Research Triangle Park, NC.

    Robert Miller of St. Louis, MO founded TKRI as an alternative to the atmosphere of commercialization and exploitation that surrounds much of American karate. Envisioned as a not- for-profit research group, TKRI does not participate in competitions nor conduct compulsory testing for rank. In 2001, TKRI organized and hosted the first Budo Symposium at the University of Missouri St. Louis, which brought together senior practitioners of the classical fighting arts of Japan and Okinawa as well as experts in Asian philosophy and history to discuss the progress of the martial arts in contemporary Western society. Mr. Miller’s insights into karate have developed from 35 years of training and investigation into the arts and methodologies of Japan and Okinawa. A range of related fields encompassing philosophy, history, anatomy and kinesiology have molded his approach to karate pedagogy and practice. Miller has taught karate at Washington University for 15 years and appeared in an article dealing with quantitative methods of karate training in the Journal of Asian Martial Arts. For the past 15 years, TKRI and TKRIVA have been selected to demonstrate karate in the annual Japanese Festival at the St. Louis, MO. Botanical Gardens, the largest such event in the nation. Mr. Miller has worked in partnership with the University of Missouri St. Louis and Washington University to provide lectures and seminars from credible experts in the field of the martial arts and its related disciplines.

    The Institute’s Virginia branch, TKRIVA is located in Ferrum. Chief instructor David Campbell, a Franklin County native and Journalism (BA) teacher at Franklin County’s Gereau Center, emphasizes practicality and adaptability in engaging, vigorous and well-rounded instruction. Classes focus on multi-faceted exploration of Okinawan and Japanese karate, and the cultivation of the benefits associated with the traditional practice of the art. Campbell has developed a series of rhythmic studies based on traditional karate kata (formal routines), and written for Classical Fighting Arts. Campbell also taught the Washington University karate club for several years. TKRIVA has demonstrated karate at the Ferrum College Intercultural Festival, for Franklin County Public Schools, at the Rocky Mount Warren Street Festival (for the past six years), and presented women’s self-defense seminars at Roanoke College. A number of Ferrum College graduates, students and staff/community members have trained at the dojo since it’s 2002 opening.

    The Ferrum College Traditional Karate Club began operation in January of 2007. A subsidiary of TKRI and TKRIVA, the club is open to all Ferrum College students, staff and faculty. The club adheres to the same goals and practices as its parent organizations, and strives to provide high quality intelligent, practical karate instruction for the benefit of the college community. Instruction is shared between Mr. Campbell and his senior student, Randy Simpson, a 2004 Ferrum Graduate and employee.
The event is open to all interested comers in the spirit of traditional, functional martial arts, and camaraderie.

    Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Ferrum offers a choice of nationally recognized bachelor’s degree programs at a cost well below the national average for private colleges. For more information on Ferrum, visit www.ferrum.edu.