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(773) 344-2131

Welcome To The Takeo-Ryu Training Center Website...

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We serve the Chicago-Land area with the finest in martial arts training, focusing on, Self-Defense. We teach adults only, young and not so young. Adults of good moral character are provided the opportunity to learn authentic self defense tactics in a secluded and traditional setting.

Our training facility is completely different from other martial art schools in the area. We function as a family.

The atmosphere is friendly and totally geared toward preparing students to become proficient in learning preventative and precautionary self-defense tactics. Our Motto: Each One, Teach One - Each One, Help One! Master Ken Keith - devised a system which is known today as Takeo-Ryu Goshin Jitsu.

The Takeo-Ryu system of Self-Defense is very combative - being both physically and mentally challenging. However, Takeo-Ryu students approach all phases of the training with the attitude that, if he can do it and she can do it - then I can do it!

"When you show kindness to an attacker, you're being cruel to yourself!
Master Ken Keith

EARN YOUR BLACK BELT IN JAPANESE JUJITSU
Classes Are Held Every Tuesday & Thursday
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Yoshin-Ryu is a common name for one of several different martial traditions founded in Japan in the Edo Period. The most popular and well known was the Yoshin-ryu line founded by a physician, Akiyama Shirobei Yoshitoki in Nagasaki in 1632. The Akiyama line of Yoshin-Ryu is perhaps the most influential school of Ju-jitsu to exist in Japan. Takeo-ryu Goshin Jitsu was founded by Master Ken Keith in 1972. This ryu contains techniques from Karate, Judo, Kung-Fu and Jujitsu. This Ryu is taught using Japanese terminology along with a doctrine and guidance syllabus for Kyu and Dan ranking.

For More Information Regarding Class Fees, Dojo Rules, Location, etc. Contact Master Keith

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Left To Right Front: Brianna Nissim-Sabat, Ken Keith Shihan, Founder and Head Instructor, Jeanine Ward Administrative Assistant and Eric Echols.

Left To Right Back: Tremayne Baker Kohai, Sensei Kwame Anthony Scott, Fuku Shidoin Kevin Clay-El Marketing Coordinator, Omar Corral Grappling Instructor, Dawan Bradley (Enlisted U.S. Navy).

Anthony Scott's Shodan Promotion Ceremony!

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On January 20, 2014 Sensei Donald Jackson, standing in for Master Ken Keith, presented Grand Master Willie Adams with an honorary Black Belt Certificate from Takeo-Ryu Training Academy, Inc. Sensei Donald Jackson is a student of Grand Master Willie Adams and first cousin of Master Ken Keith.

The certificate carries connotations of great admiration and respect that Master Keith has for Grand Master Adams, a true "BUDOKA."

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Thursday, November 5th thru November 7th, 2015 Master Ken Keith, Sempai Meridian Brown and Fuku Shidoin Kevin Clay-El took a trip to Southfield, Michigan to visit Shihan Keith's Cousins, Sensei Donald Jackson (Isshinryu Karate) and his brother Sensei Carl Jackson (Tae Kwon do), Grand Master Willie Adams, (Isshinryu Karate) and his Southfield Martial Arts School.

It was a great experience. The students are very attentive, completely engaged throughout the entire class. Grand Master Willie Adams was instructing white belts and was able to correct brown belts and black belts simultaneously as though he had eyes in the back of his head. He was able to oversee all of the activity, covering a large area.

We were inspired by what we saw and heard. We look forward to going back to Southfield Martial Arts to give a demonstration per Grand Master Willie Adam's approval.

We were dinner guests, invited into home of Master Donald Jackson and his wife Sharon who is also a Black belt in Isshinryu. We enjoyed a delicious meal, great conversation, truly genuine and warm hospitality.

An awesome experience with fellow martial artists, in and out of the dojo.

Donnie and Sharon's Trip To China...

From September 14, 2016 to October 01, 2016, my wife and I had the opportunity to travel to Mainland China and Hong Kong. The trip included visits to Tian'anmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, The Temple of Heaven and The Summer Palace in Beijing.
We also did a 5 day Cruise on the Yangtze River with stops at The Three Gorges Dam, The Shibaozhai Pagoda and to see the Pandas at the Zoo in Chongqing.
The next stop was in Xi'an to visit the Terra Cotta Warriors Excavation at the site of the burial ground of the first Qin Emperor. From there, we traveled to Shanghai and rode the Maglev Train which reached speeds of 300 kilometers per hour (187 mph).

Our final stop was Hong Kong with a side trip to see the Giant Buddha on Lantau Island.
Our tour guide for the trip while in China was a student of Tai Chi and also Wing Chun Kung Fu. He demonstrated a form when the group visited the park surrounding The Temple of Heaven. It turned out that a passerby was also a student of Wing Chun. She agreed to demonstrate a form which I was able to capture on video. I was able to perform several Isshinryu katas for our guide and he noted similarities in the movements when compared to the forms of Wing Chun. Students of Isshinryu know that a number of the old Masters studied under Chinese Sifu and even traveled to China to further their learning before returning to Okinawa to teach.

The photos included were taken at Tian'anmen Square in front of The Forbidden City (also called The Palace Museum) and The Great Wall at Juyongguan. tus.

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Martial Arts Magazine & Supplies...

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Practice Kata Correctltly

By Kenwa Mabuni

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In karate, the most important thing is kata. Into the kata of karate are woven every manner of attack and defense technique. Therefore, kata must be practiced properly, with a good understanding of their bunkai meaning. There may be those who neglect the practice of kata, thinking that it is sufficient to just practice [pre-arranged] kumite (13) that has been created based on their understanding of the kata, but that will never lead to true advancement. The reason why is that the ways of thrusting and blocking - that is to say, the techniques of attack and defense - have innumerable variations. To create kumite containing all of the techniques in each and every one of their variations is impossible. If one sufficiently and regularly practices kata correctly, it will serve as a foundation for performing - when a crucial time comes - any of the innumerable variations.

However, even if you practice the kata of karate, if that is all that you do, if your [other] training is lacking, then you will not develop sufficient ability. If you do not [also] utilize various training methods to strengthen and quicken the functioning of your hands and feet, as well as to sufficiently study things like body-shifting and engagement distancing, you will be inadequately prepared when the need arises to call on your skills.

If practiced properly, two or three kata will suffice as "your" kata; all of the others can just be studied as sources of additional knowledge. Breadth, no matter how great, means little without depth. In other words, no matter how many kata you know, they will be useless to you if you don't practice them enough. If you sufficiently study two or three kata as your own and strive to perform them correctly, when the need arises, that training will spontaneously take over and will be shown to be surprisingly effective. If your kata training is incorrect, you will develop bad habits which, no matter how much kumite and makiwara practice you do, will lead to unexpected failure when the time comes to utilize your skills. You should be heedful of this point.

Correctly practicing kata - having sufficiently comprehended their meaning - is the most important thing for a karate trainee. However, the karate-ka must by no means neglect kumite and makiwara practice, either. Accordingly, if one seriously trains - and studies - with the intent of approximately fifty percent kata and fifty percent other things, one will get satisfactory results.

Source: http://seinenkai.com/articles/tankosich/tankosich3.html

Art of Ukemi

As a practitioner of many many martial arts I have come to know a thing or two about how to identify excellence. It is said that a master in Aikido or Judo is best exemplified by his or her Ukemi. The Term "Ukemi" is Japanese and means to take a fall.

Cats are great at Ukemi. No matter how they fall they always land on their feet. Ukemi simulates being a wheel.

This might strike some of you as peculiar but in many ways it truly is the highest art. A master of Aikido knows intrinsically how to harmonize with others and a judo master can do this the same but with a supple touch. This level of sensitivity is not reflected by how many people you can take out during a conflict or how big of an opponent you can put flat on their back. A master pays no mind to winning or losing. They just are at a place where they can enjoy the flow and thus enjoy the fall when it happens. This is a freedom that less refined practitioners are not privy to. They must mentally struggle and try to figure out how to attack you or how to bring you down. When their plans are foiled they often lament having to take their falls (Ukemi)an feel subjugated. Meanwhile the master only needs to adjust his general approach and maintains no plan and relishes in every moment of the engagement.

For me the technique of Ukemi has become the cornerstone of my training philosophy and teachings at Zhang Sah. I try to live my life in this free fall state. Only paying mind to the approach and living in the flow of things with great joy! You can tell by the way I greet people by wishing them a "Happy - Day" on any and every day. Because that day is a happy moment. By the virtue of the moment itself. It doesn't matter if it's a winning or losing day.

Learning to live like you are in a state of "Ukemi" frees you up to live passionately. To throw yourself wholly into anything that you desire. When you become the embodiment of what you seek the outcomes are inevitably positive. Just as long as you are seeking to be positive. This is the best way to live, love and lose with the greatest fulfillment life has to offer.

My advice - Learn to fall, take the fall, enjoy the fall. Throw yourself into what you love and it will always turn out great.

Source: http://sensaysense.blogspot.com/2011/05/art-of-ukemi.html
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