Franco

Franco Sanguinetti

Name: Franco Sanguinetti

Age: 53

Born: Perú

Nationality: USA

Martial Arts: Karate, Kobudo & Iaido

Ranks: 6th Dan Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate , 6th Dan Matayoshi Kobudo Kodokan, 1st Dan Iai-Do

Studies: BA Computers

Publications: Fundamentos de Goju Ryu
Articles at Bugeisha Magazine

Dojo: Bushikan Budo Dojo
City: San Diego, California

Website: www.bushikan.com

The martial arts since my initial days has been a lot more than just a way to exercise, a lot more than just a way to learn to defend myself; it has been in all the sense of the words a way of living. For me has been so rewarding to follow the path of the old ways to get simple but so important concepts as part of my life. One of my most prized own self-discovery is my believe that no matter how high our rank is, no matter how much we think we know, we always need to keep the heart of a White Belt. We always should be eager to keep learning, we always should keep our heart pure away from egos as when we began our journey in the martial arts.

In my humble 37 years training I feel that I have been able to accomplish many important things in my life, but all those accomplishments did not come for free neither without sacrifices. In my search for the best training I moved to different countries including Japan where I not only had to leave behind my family, friends, work, etc. but even more important I had to learn a completely different language to be able to understand the instruction that I was receiving.

As some of my accomplishments, I competed in national and international tournaments for 13 years, and as a result of this experience in competitions, I earned positions on teams such as the Peruvian National Karate Team and the Venezuelan National Karate Team. I was able to establish my humble Dojo in San Diego to serve as the Honbu Dojo for the two Budo organizations that I founded: the Bushikan Budo Kyokai and the Matayoshi Kobudo Kodokan USA, currently with members in 12 countries around the world.

I have been appointed to positions as the USA West Coast & South America Regional Director for the Shorei Shobu Kan and Member of the Board of Directors of Kobudo at the United State Karate Alliance. I had the honor and privilege of being a direct student from Matayoshi Shinpo Sensei since 1982, founder of Matayoshi Kobudo in Okinawa. Since then I have became the most Senior Instructor and higher rank outside Japan at the Kodokan International organization.

I have been going to train in Okinawa since 1981 and I still do once or twice per year. Since 1998 on even numbered years I bring instructors from Okinawa to teach in the USA and on the odd numbered years I take a team from our organization to train in Okinawa. All year round I promote and teach gasshuku (camps) and seminars in the USA as well as in the countries where we have affiliated members.

One of the main focuses of my work in San Diego for the last 15 years has been working with our youth because I believe that they are our future. I am very involved teaching children at our Dojo and also in 5 elementary schools as well as two day care centers. I have developed a program that gained the recognition from the School Superintendant of my area for what I have teaching it in the schools as an after school program as well as a class during school time. It is very rewarding to see children

Working with children or adults I strongly believe that in empty hands and weapons, has to be not only a sense of reality but also a complement between both systems. Many instructors will teach either systems striking and blocking all on the air but they never will practice contact with a real partner. I feel that practitioners need to understand what will work or what will not work in a real life situation on the street for what in my teachings I always incorporate contact training with empty hands or weapons. I also feel that empty hand practitioners need to understand how to deal with an armed enemy for what weapons training should be part of their knowledge.