Our History

The history of our school begins in the Kumamoto region of Japan. Nobuyoshi Higashi, the founder of our martial arts school, was born in a small farming village in 1937. At that time Japan was a war-torn place and Nobuyoshi, being in a military family, spent much of his childhood without his soldier father. In keeping with family tradition, Nobuyoshi started training martial arts at a very young age. 

He would wake up early morning to help with the family rice farm and then immediately head to his morning judo training session, the first of several sessions that day. From a very early age, Nobuyoshi was taught that it was absolutely necessary to combine the practice of martial arts with a strong formal education. This was the belief system of Jigoro Kano, the educator who founded Judo, and it continues to be the belief system of our school today. Read more