- 23 Apr 2023
- 11
- 23
Good evening on Okinawa. My name is G. Seizan Breyette. I am an American and came to Okinawa originally in 1979. I am retired USAF and live here with my wife (who is form Nago), my son (who is now 37), and one granddaughter. I live in Nagahama, Yomitan.
My wife and I are both schoolteachers, she teaches English in the local elementary school, and I teach English in the middle school. She had a much more illustrious working career than I, and she just became a teacher in January this year (her first employment was teacher, certified to teach grades 1-12), but we can leave that for now. She is truly an amazing woman at age 65.
After joining the USAF in 1972 in the weather field, I began training in karate in 1974. My dream was to land an assignment to Okinawa and train in the dojo of the master of the system, and so I was selected and reassigned to Okinawa as a weather forecaster in 1979. Except for a few short-term reassignments to the States, I remained on Okinawa since then.
But I still have only the most rudimentary knowledge of Japanese, sorry...
For all these years I remained in the same system of karate, but met my last teacher in 1998 who taught only the old original style as it came from China. He was the last active teacher of the system to study under the founder, and so carried forth the old style for the next generations.
Sensei passed in 2009, and I succeeded him as owner and president of his association. And so I have taught karate in my dojo which is the first floor of my home, built in 2000 (it was Sensei's first branch dojo!). I have taught school during the Japanese school year for the past 21 years and it looks like I might be able to continue to teach in school for many more years.
During the last year of his life, Sensei asked me to write a book about our system. He directed it to be something other than a book of techniques; he wanted me to write a book of concept, philosophy, and history. I thought about it many times after his passing (I promised him I would write) but I never got around to it...
I have since written and published three books about this old karate system, plus a book of haiku about our cats to raise awareness of the plight of lost, stray, and abandoned pets on Okinawa, and my wife write a book for our granddaughter. I am currently writing another volume for our karate, and am about halfway done (at 270 pages).
So that's how I spend my time now – living on Okinawa, teaching English by day and karate by night, writing and publishing, and watching my small family grow in peace and safety. My foreign students are working on translations of my books into their native languages, and are awaiting the 3rd volume of my book series "Bunburyodo". The 3rd volume has more about the Chinese history of the system and the origins of technique from as early as the 1500's.
My wife and I are both schoolteachers, she teaches English in the local elementary school, and I teach English in the middle school. She had a much more illustrious working career than I, and she just became a teacher in January this year (her first employment was teacher, certified to teach grades 1-12), but we can leave that for now. She is truly an amazing woman at age 65.
After joining the USAF in 1972 in the weather field, I began training in karate in 1974. My dream was to land an assignment to Okinawa and train in the dojo of the master of the system, and so I was selected and reassigned to Okinawa as a weather forecaster in 1979. Except for a few short-term reassignments to the States, I remained on Okinawa since then.
But I still have only the most rudimentary knowledge of Japanese, sorry...
For all these years I remained in the same system of karate, but met my last teacher in 1998 who taught only the old original style as it came from China. He was the last active teacher of the system to study under the founder, and so carried forth the old style for the next generations.
Sensei passed in 2009, and I succeeded him as owner and president of his association. And so I have taught karate in my dojo which is the first floor of my home, built in 2000 (it was Sensei's first branch dojo!). I have taught school during the Japanese school year for the past 21 years and it looks like I might be able to continue to teach in school for many more years.
During the last year of his life, Sensei asked me to write a book about our system. He directed it to be something other than a book of techniques; he wanted me to write a book of concept, philosophy, and history. I thought about it many times after his passing (I promised him I would write) but I never got around to it...
I have since written and published three books about this old karate system, plus a book of haiku about our cats to raise awareness of the plight of lost, stray, and abandoned pets on Okinawa, and my wife write a book for our granddaughter. I am currently writing another volume for our karate, and am about halfway done (at 270 pages).
So that's how I spend my time now – living on Okinawa, teaching English by day and karate by night, writing and publishing, and watching my small family grow in peace and safety. My foreign students are working on translations of my books into their native languages, and are awaiting the 3rd volume of my book series "Bunburyodo". The 3rd volume has more about the Chinese history of the system and the origins of technique from as early as the 1500's.