Individual Development
Seido Karate has two goals: to maximize each student’s physical skills and to cultivate individuals of the highest moral character who can make significant contributions to their family life, the workplace, and to society at large. In this manner, traditional karate is a way of life, a way of being.
“My purpose in founding Seido Karate was to show what I feel is the true essence, the kernel of true karate-do: the training of body, mind, and spirit together in order to realize the fullness of human potential.”
Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura -founder of Seido Karate,
Kaicho Nakamura is convinced that karate has much to offer men, women, and children as we move forward in the 21st century.
Beginner’s Mind
Unlike many martial arts schools, Seido aims to connect its students to the origins of karate and the bushido spirit of the samurai. This goal is achieved by the integration of Zen meditation into every student’s practice. In this sense, Seido returns to the origins of the martial arts. The practice of meditation has no religious overtones or content. However, it is an essential counterpart to hard physical training. Today, our lives are much different from that of the samurai, but the bushido spirit remains applicable to each individual’s development.
Seido seeks to develop a “non-quitting” or “bushido” spirit in each student. No matter what the obstacle or difficulty – emotional, physical, or financial – we want students to feel that they can overcome it. The sincere practice of karate can impress this idea into the spirit. This is the modern interpretation of the bushido spirit of the samurai.
With these goals in place, the World Seido Karate Organization officially opened its headquarters on October 15, 1976, in New York City. We are now a worldwide organization, with thriving branches throughout the United States and in such diverse places as Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, and South America. Nevertheless, within Seido, growth of our branch schools is not pursued for its own sake. Quality of instruction and development of the students are paramount.
We invite you to learn more about the World Seido Karate Organization, its founder and leadership, and our philosophy that makes Seido Karate so applicable to today’s life.