welcome!
Thank you for your interest in Shōrinji Ryū Karate at The Martial Arts Academy of Marin! We are so glad that you are here.
I began my martial arts journey in 1987 right here in Marin County at San Anselmo's Recreation Center. Sensei Sam Samarrai had just started classes there for O'Sensei Richard Kim’s Dai Nippon Butoku Kai (all Japanese Martial Virtues) International Organization. Sensei Samarrai trained me intensively in full contact Shorinji-Ryu Karate, Bagua Zhang, and Shugendo Meditation. My Sensei was a tough, demanding teacher. He didn't care for much else but Karate and Zen. If he felt you weren't performing honestly, to your full effort and potential, he had no problem mincing his words of exactly how he felt. I appreciated Sensei's direct and authentic teachings, training with him as often as I could. After many years training with Sensei, and after attending seminars with his Sensei, Richard Kim in Concord CA, I moved away to begin college. While I continued to study my Sensei's Karate method independently, it just wasn't the same practicing alone.
This led me to another style of martial arts altogether. I began classes at Sifu John Kang's East West Wing Chun Kung Fu school in San Francisco's China Town. Sifu Kang was a very open-minded and forward-thinking teacher. He was a joy to learn from. After a year, I stepped up my attendance and trained as much as possible. I progressed quickly, and in 2003, I became the head teacher at the school. I taught for over six years, training a core group of instructors. Upon accomplishing my teaching goals in Wing Chun Kung Fu, I handed over the school's teaching responsibilities to my senior students.
The martial arts academy of marin
I then moved back to my hometown in West Marin, where I found the traditional martial arts and karate scene in a state of decay. Living a life with purpose and authenticity seemed to be slipping away from a society that valued efficiency over spirit, and materialism over purpose and meaning. Most of the schools had lost their realism, and they had been replaced by large commercial outfits that taught a hodgepodge of non-functional methods. I immediately missed my Sensei’s intense Zen approach. Karate wasn’t a competition or a game to him. It was the real thing, meant to be used on the battlefield, and also, as a distinct way of Being. His absolute focus encouraged my own growth, and I aspired to conquer the extraordinary ... to see past my mere animal instincts. Subtly, all of this began to lay the groundwork for a spiritual awakening within me. While my Sensei was indirect in these teachings, the outcome for me was truly transformational.
Thus, I promptly set out to do something about this state of affairs, and contacted my teacher. While he had stopped teaching publicly, he readily agreed to take me on as a student once again. The training was arduous, with Sensei putting me through training scenarios that tested both my physical and mental limitations. After years of classical master to apprentice training, I set a goal of bringing Sensei's method to the public. In 2014, I established The Martial Arts Academy in San Rafael.
When properly practiced, Shōrinji Ryū is a fearsome fighting system. Robust striking, grappling, and weapons techniques, connected with Shugendo Philosophy, enables practitioners to properly employ the martial art as intended by its founders. This practical fighting art, fueled with consistent testing and training, leads to self-discovery and an understanding of one's purpose. Bringing one's higher aspirations to light can lead to an easing of the mind, which allows one to live their lives beyond the ordinary. This is my wish for all students of The Martial Arts Academy: to become greater physically, mentally, and spiritually than you are today. I am honored to assist you or your child in taking the first steps towards self-discovery into a much larger world.
See you at the dojo!
Sensei Will