Johshin Honzan

At Honbu's annual Black Belt Clinic Weekend held in New York City, Kaicho Nakamura announced the official designation of Johshin Honzan, the first of its kind for the World Seido Karate Organization.

Earlier this year, Kaicho's dream of finding a permanent location for Seido was realized with the acquisition of our newest school in Elmsford, NY. Since then, many hours of dedicated thought by Kaicho and Nidaime have gone into identifying just how this location can be most meaningful to the World Seido Karate Organization.

Said Nidaime, "Trying to express the purpose of this building was a significant challenge for us because we wanted to make sure its meaning would be clear. The seemingly simple task of coming up with a name that represents the uniqueness of this new space was much more formidable than we initially anticipated."

For Kaicho and Nidaime, it was crucial to get the name exactly right. They made many attempts to accurately convey what they envisioned this location to mean.
"Our struggle," said Kaicho, "was not just to find a good name. It was to find a meaningful way to honor all members-past, present and future-of the World Seido Karate Organization."

After considerable thought, the name they chose is JOHSHIN HONZAN.

Johshin is the act of cleansing, or purification of, the mind and spirit. This is a practice from the days of the samurai when warriors would visit a designated location prior to battle. There they would calm and clear their minds, so they could head into battle with fortified spirit and unity of purpose.

Hon means "main". Zan means "summit". Together, the resulting word Honzan (pronounced hohn-zahn) means spiritual center. Further, it also represents a central place of history and remembrance.

Addressing the specifics and details of this special place will proceed as Kaicho and Nidaime carefully consider each aspect of the building. The two upper floors will be occupied by Seido Karate. As a part of Johshin Honzan, Kaicho and Nidaime envision providing the opportunity for branch chiefs, instructors and students to attend special teaching and training seminars focused on experiencing a deeper connection to the true meaning of karate-do.

For day-to-day instruction, the space will function as a traditional branch dojo with a curriculum offering classes for adults and children. In order to generate a steady stream of income for the building's ongoing maintenance and upkeep, the ground floor level can be rented to an outside complementary business. It is important to note that Honbu will remain in New York City at its 23rd street location and, as such, continue to function as the administrative headquarters for the World Seido Karate Organization.

It is Kaicho's and Nidaime's sincere hope that all Seido students will embrace and support this unique, and unprecedented, addition to the Seido family. As progress continues, we will post updates via the website. If you'd like to be notified as future developments occur concerning Johshin Honzan, please send an email to johshinhonzan@seido.com.

“It is my hope that Seido students will find a way to breathe life into this special space, for it will be all our spirits together—in unison—that will fill Johshin Honzan with meaning, strength and honor.”  -Kaicho T. Nakamura