Masaya Taking Off His White Belt for the Last Time - Our First Club Grading January 30, 2010
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Sensei Masaya Koyanagi receives his Black Belt in Hay River, May 31st, 2014.
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Sensei Masaya Koyanagi - Sandan (3rd Dan Black Belt) Wado Kai - Sandan (3rd Dan) Shindo
Sensei Masaya was born in Japan in 1975, and is the Chief Instructor of our club. As a young man he enjoyed watching Jackie Chan’s Kung Fu movies and wanted to be like him when he was young.
He lived and grew up in Japan until age of 23, at which time he moved to Canada to study English in Vancouver for 1 year. He returned to Japan, but then returned to Canada when he was 28 years old. He moved to Yellowknife and worked as a Aurora tour guide for Japanese tourists in 2002.
Sensei Masaya became an apprentice fire sprinkler system installer, and due to having spare time he decided to start learning Wado Kai Karate in the Yellowknife dojo. Masaya joined the YK Shintani Wado Kai Karate Club in the fall of 2009 and progressed steadily through the ranks, and received his Black Belt on May 31st. 2014 in Hay River and his third dan in Wado karate in October 2019 from Wado Canada.
Because of his Japanese upbringing, Masaya has an intuitive grasp of the spiritual and cultural aspects of Karate. Sensei Masaya also has contributed greatly to the club's understanding of respect and how that applies to karate.
Now he is addicted to Karate and continues karate to assist him in learning and staying connected with his own culture and to pursue and connect with the samurai spirits within him.
Sensei Masaya was born in Japan in 1975, and is the Chief Instructor of our club. As a young man he enjoyed watching Jackie Chan’s Kung Fu movies and wanted to be like him when he was young.
He lived and grew up in Japan until age of 23, at which time he moved to Canada to study English in Vancouver for 1 year. He returned to Japan, but then returned to Canada when he was 28 years old. He moved to Yellowknife and worked as a Aurora tour guide for Japanese tourists in 2002.
Sensei Masaya became an apprentice fire sprinkler system installer, and due to having spare time he decided to start learning Wado Kai Karate in the Yellowknife dojo. Masaya joined the YK Shintani Wado Kai Karate Club in the fall of 2009 and progressed steadily through the ranks, and received his Black Belt on May 31st. 2014 in Hay River and his third dan in Wado karate in October 2019 from Wado Canada.
Because of his Japanese upbringing, Masaya has an intuitive grasp of the spiritual and cultural aspects of Karate. Sensei Masaya also has contributed greatly to the club's understanding of respect and how that applies to karate.
Now he is addicted to Karate and continues karate to assist him in learning and staying connected with his own culture and to pursue and connect with the samurai spirits within him.