Jorge F. Garibaldi

Co-Founder of the Intercontinental Bujutsu Federation.

Chief instructor for Ten Chi Jin Martial Arts Academy.

Founder of the Ten Chi Jin Karate Do system.

Board member of the Intercontinental Bujutsu Federation technical committee and grading panel.

I' ve been on this path for over half my life. Karate really is a way of life if you want it to. It' s not empty words. Karate is the path I' ve chosen in my quest for self knowledge, and self conquest, and It has given me so much, that I can' t even begin to describe how happy I am to have stumbled upon Karate Do. My thanks and my thoughts go to my teachers and students, they' ve made me a happy man.

I started as everybody else, looking to learn how to defend myself (I still am), but was soon bitten by the bug and forgot completely about any reason for training, I trained because I loved it so much and couldn' t think of anything else more worthy of my time and passion.

The Dojo' s atmosphere, the smells and sounds were like magic to me. I still remember the butterflies flying around in my stomach as I walked up the stairs up to the Dojo. That blend of anticipation and anxiety would stay with me for many years to come.

Every day had its challenges, every training its hardships, and no immediate reward, but that exalted feeling of well being that rushed through my veins as I walked home after the evening session.

12 years passed and I begun to feel trapped. I could see no difference between our 1st Dan students and our 5th Dan sensei. The 5th Dans did the same things as the 1st Dans only faster and harder. When I asked questions like, what is this position for? , the answer would invariably be kamae if i dared the natural follow up: what is this kamae for? I would get an angry grunt for an answer. It seemed as if people didn' t know the answers to this kind of questions, and got annoyed when confronted with them.

Another thing that bothered me was the title of traditional they gave to the Karate we trained in those days... I can' t understand what is so traditional about training to score ippons and wazaris ...

But what finally made me look elsewhere was the lack of connection between kata, kihon and kumite. At the time, the training was so rigid, the communication so poor and the lack of a tactical and strategical theory so appalling, that to me it seemed that Karate was composed of 3 different disciplines, in stead of being one cohesive system. It took many years of studying under different sensei and careful thought and analysis before I begun to get a basic understanding of what it was all about.

Today I teach at my own Dojo after my own head. I teach Ten Chi Jin Karate Do, which is the result of my ongoing research in the pursuit of what I jokingly like to call Karate' s general theory . I look for general laws of motion, energy generation and a cohesive combat strategy. It is an ongoing and never ending process.

I don' t regard it as a style of Karate, but more as a systematized and modernized approach to the study of traditional Karate Do. The core of what I study and teach is to be found in Wado ryu Karate, but I am inspired by many sources: Taichi chuan, Jujitsu, Boxing, Bojutsu, Iaido, and other styles of Karate, mainly Kissaki Kai and Goju ryu.

When I say inspired I don' t mean techniques. Taking techniques from different styles to make your own is like taking parts from different cars to assemble your own: the engine from a Mercedes, the doors from a Fiat, the tires from a Mazda... what a useless car that would be!!! No, by inspired I mean, the way different arts and systems express the principles, how the make use of them, how they employ them so to speak. That is very inspiring and I am constantly learning new things.

I believe that learning is something that many misunderstand when following the path of karate Do: to learn is not about memorizing techniques, kata, kumite, or bunkai. It is not even about ingraining reaction patterns to certain stimuli, although that is a good thing to do. To learn something, you' ve got to comprehend its meaning. You have to understand the principles at play. If you don' t understand and make that knowledge yours, you are like a parrot that mimics human speech, but doesn' t understand a word you say to it and is not capable to formulate a single word from its own mind.

To understand is to grow, to go deeper, to open doors to knew levels of development, the fun never ends!!! So that is what I do: learn from people that knows more, and teach those that know less.

Welcome to the IBF!

Jorge F. Garibaldi

Name: Jorge F. Garibaldi

Age: 43

Nationality: Uruguay

Residence: Denmark

Martial Arts: Karate, Bojutsu, Tai chi chuan, Kenjutsu.

Grades: 5. Dan Karate,

1. Dan Bojutsu

Studies: BA International Business Communication, University of Southern Denmark

Publications: Basic Karate Principles

Dojo: Ten Chi Jin Martial Arts Academy

Website: karate-klubben.dk

IBF © 2010