He has earned his black belt in Nihon Jujutsu and judo. His current focus is on Nihon jujutsu, judo, and karate. Three months after starting training in Nihon Jujutsu, Andy began Judo and Iaido. “When I moved to Ann Arbor, my boss recommended coming here.” That was back in 2011. His job is actually what brought him to JMAC. K: To be honest I never really had a strong interest in joining Karate but when I was 12 or so my mother invited me to go along with my little brother and some of his friends, who were starting Karate at the local middle school.Andy, a lawyer by trade, does a little of everything including criminal, domestic, and business law. Ever since then I have done whatever I could to train as much as possible. I have gone as far as moving to Japan for the last two years. I was lucky enough to end up in Matsuyama a hot bed for Knockdown Karate. Something I have had a strong interest in ever since training with VKK in 2008. Matsuyama is the home of the Ashihara Honbu Dojo. One of the newer styles of Knockdown Karate, most noted for its emphasis on Tai Sabaki 「体裁き・ Body Movement」 and contemporary Kumite Kata「組手の型・ Fighting Forms」. When I was still in Vancouver there were no qualified Ashihara instructors around. The Open Dojo recently opened in Vancouver at the Vancouver Japanese Language school. Lead by Sorin Popa and Nobuo Kato, The Open Dojo brings together Ashihara Karate and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu creating a unique training experience not previously offered in Vancouver. Today I am lucky enough to be talking to Sorin Popa. How and why did you first step foot into a Martial Arts Dojo? We will discuss how he first found Karate and how he ended up in Vancouver with Nobuo Kato and The Open Dojo. S: I started the karate in the mid 80’s in Eastern Europe (Romania) using books and training by myself. During the communism the martial arts were illegal in Romania the karate practice was more like an underground movement. There were no formal advertisements for Dojos, and the way to get in was to be introduced by a current member.Īfter a brawl in my school I became very close to another student who had practiced traditional karate for a couple of months. We started training together by ourselves using the books we had and his knowledge. We were getting ready for the high school –admission exam and we both decided to join a dojo, after we passed the exam. In July 1986 we formally joined a dojo, which was just starting at that time. We were part of the first generation of students and never knew we would be part of building the history of Ashihara Karate in Romania. The head instructor at that dojo was a self-taught karate-ka who had more than 10 years experience at that time. His name is Mircea Carloganu and he is still training now at almost 60 years old!Īlthough we were just teenagers, we were training with adults and the classes were very tough. The training at that time was more like a Marine Corp boot camp. Being bruised and bloodied was considered normal. We trained on a cement surface, often times in the dark, without any light. The only heat we had in the winter was the heat generated by our bodies. The harder it was, the more we enjoyed it, and these years were definitely character building.Īfter the 1990, the martial arts become legal in Romania, and the landscape of karate changed rapidly. K: Wow that sounds like the tails of early Okinawan karate. So what brought you all the way from Romania to Vancouver? I imagine such training helped forge some great Karate-Ka. It is hard to give you a logical and simple answer, because I don’t have one! S: I am often being ask this question and more specific why Vancouver and not some other part of the world. I have traveled across Europe, The US and Japan however the decision to settle in Vancouver was more an instinct move than anything else. You could say it was the ocean or the mountains that attracted however it might be the blend of cultures that made me come to stay. In my opinion Vancouver is a gateway between western and eastern cultures and I am trying to adapt and take the best of each world. K: Vancouver really does have a little bit of everything, culturally and geographically. What difficulties have you found in starting a new Dojo in Vancouver? Leaving many industries including the martial arts heavily saturated.īecause of this it seems more and more people are being drawn to the city every year. S: Vancouver is a challenging environment for any kind of business let alone a martial arts school. There is not a huge difference between establishing an IT startup and opening a martial arts school. On a funny note, our dojo is located close to Gastown, which is home to a multitude of IT start-ups who are waiting to be the next company to be bought by Google or Microsoft.
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