ABOUT US
We are a school with a rich and deep history
Read below for an insight into our heritage, our founders and our present day leaders, as well as a look at our ethos and how we aim to achieve this with the practice of karate-do. 

chief instructor

Julia Turley shihan
Lineage, UK 
Renshinkan Great Britain is led by Chief Instructor Julia Turley (6th Dan). Julia Shihan (Chief Instructor) has dedicated her life to teaching traditional karate, which is enshrined by the ancient principles of Budo practice: compassion, courage, honour, humility, loyalty, sincerity and rectitude.

She has delivered 40+ years of teaching excellence after leaving her successful career in local government to better champion the confidence and character of children in her community.

Julia Shihan runs classes for children, teenages and adults across the Mid Sussex region of the South of England. She established the school in 1985.

chief instructor

yuzo tamotsU soke
Lineage, JAPAN 
Our school is affiliated with the Shorinjiryu Renshinkan Karate-do Headquarters in Japan, Kagoshima. Founded by and following the teachings of Isamu Tamotsu, the school has since been led by Isamu Tamotsu’s son Iwao Tamotsu (the Nidaime, second successor) who passed away in 2016, handing over leadership to his brother, our current Grand Master, Yuzo Tamotsu (the Sandaime, third successor). The Grand Master Soke is a 10th degree black belt.

We regularly visit the Grand Master at our school headquarters (Souhonzon) in Kagoshima for tournaments, seminars and senior gradings.
Style
This style can trace its origins back to the very early days of karate history in Okinawa and the famous master, Sokon Matsumura who is said to have created the kata Chinto.

Amongst his most committed students was Chotuku Kyan (1870 – 1945) who trained a karateka (practitioner) named Joen Nakazato.  On his return from active service during World War II, Nakazato was determined to continue his practice, maintaining all of his master’s teaching.  It was Nakazato who named the style Shorinjiryu after its birthplace, a Shaolin Temple in China. 

One of Nakazato’s students, Isamu Tamotsu of Kagoshima, was responsible for first taking the style to mainland Japan in the 1950s.  The school he created was named the Renshinkan School.  Iwao Tamotsu (son of the founder, Isamu Tamotsu) worked ceaselessly to expand Shorinjiryu Renshinkan across the world, having established the International Federation, which comes together every few years to celebrate and promote world peace and understanding in the International Friendship Tournaments.  Iwao Tamotsu Soke passed away in November 2016 and has been succeeded by his brother, Yuzo Tamotsu Soke. 



Shorinjiryu Renshinkan is one of the few remaining family styles being practiced today.
The style of karate practiced by the Renshinkan School is Shorinjiryu.
“The formation of sound human beings which builds a sound society.”
(The Founder, Isamu Tamotsu, 1955).
our vision
Our mission is to inspire our students to be the very best citizens they can be.  
Delivering traditional karate training in Shorinjiryu Renshinkan Karate Do, strictly following the path laid for us by our founder Isamu Tamotsu, Nidaime Iwao Tamotsu and our current Soke, Yuzo Tamotsu, Sandaime.
Enshrining our teaching in the seven Budo virtues of Compassion, Courage, Honour, Humility, Loyalty, Sincerity & Rectitude.
Providing classes to all in our community, aged 4 years+
Providing many and varied stimulating environments in which to expand our mind, body and spirit.
Giving a formal measure of progress via grading examinations.
Providing a competitive arena in which to challenge our courage, fortitude and resilience, whilst protecting human life by using correct Bogu (protective armour).
Abiding by and respecting the rules that govern all of our activity.
Ensuring we are a force for good in our local communities and our Renshinkan family, both domestically and internationally.
Ensuring our students are cared for as Renshinkan family members, and provided with as much support as possible in their life’s journey.
Delivering teaching which conforms strictly to the syllabus provided by Hobucho, and the Sensei Team.
Providing a clear path of development towards and beyond shodan grade in order to empower students to become Sensei themselves, if they so wish.
Adopting and abiding by all legislation required by our country.
We will strive to achieve all of these aims whilst learning the power of tranquil compliance, pacification of the emotions, and self-control in the face of any event that life may throw at us.
“Let humility, the spiritual cornerstone upon which the fighting traditions rest, serve to remind you to place virtue ahead of vice, values ahead of vanity, and principles ahead of personalities.”
(Matsumura Sokon, 1791 - 1888).
Guiding spirit
Respect the human life
Karate is a serious art whose application is meant for life and death struggle; to save a life. Its use is also internal development of the human spirit and as such provides ‘the way’ to get on in the world. 
Karate technique
Do not be harmed by others, and do no harm to others. This principle is the origin of karate-do. Renshinkan Karate-do is a self-defense technique that focuses on the principle that ‘flexibility overcomes stiffness’.
Form the human-being
A sound body is the basic element required to cultivate a sound spirit.Renshinkan Karate-do is to know truth with the body, and the way to cultivate and refine the imperturbable self.
Pursue the knowledge
To master the Karate-do is the same as to know truth. Even though life or society may change, one who knows truth will never lose oneself.
Pursue the moral
To lead a peaceful society into the right path, we need to start with a spirit of gratitude and thankfulness and reject ego and selfish thought and action.
Pursue the art
Kata is inhabited by one’s spirit once it is honed by a desire to practice and improve every day. Beauty that is expressed with the spirit far surpasses anything that is only expressed with the mind and the body.
After World War II, the founder Isamu Tamotsu decided to form human-beings through Budo, and founded Renshinkan because he grieved the desolation of people’s mind and spirit.He determined that “to form sound human-beings is the basis for the development of a sound society.” This is the core of Renshinkan Karate-do, which supports the hopes and dreams of young people, and is handed down from generation to generation.
Contact us
Headquarters office
47 Eastern Road, Haywards Heath, RH16 3NG
(0) 1444 454827
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