Sensei Patrick Beaumont - Director, USKK(E)

The following article is taken from the May 2004 edition of Irelands leading martial arts magazine, 'Irish Fighter', and was written by Mrs Sinead O'Connor:

Seventh Dan black belt Paddy Beaumont celebrated a 10-year association with the United States Karate-do Kai (USKK) – as well as 20 years of studying and teaching the traditional Okinawan style of Matsubayashi Shorinryu – when he hosted the 4th European USKK Championships in Co. Westmeath recently. The weekend series of events attracted hundreds of students and instructors from throughout Ireland, as well as visiting squads from the USA, England, Romania and Moldova.

The Midlands based karateka welcomed the American squad, headed by Hachidan Phillip Koeppel, president and director of the USKK, to Athlone where karateka competed in individual and team kata and kumite. The Shorinryu Irish/American link was first put in place by Beaumont in 1994. Over the years, both groups have established a close bond and have visited each other annually. “This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the USKK, so our annual forthcoming trip to Illinois this summer will be extra special for all of us”, Beaumont said.

Beaumont, the present USKK European director, was born in 1957 in Athlone where he lived for the first six years of his life. His family moved to Britain in 1963, and it was here that he had his first experience in the martial arts taking up Kodokan judo. At the end of 1971, he returned to Ireland and was soon involved in his local boxing club. Six years later, he married and joined the Irish Defence Forces where he continued to box and throw the javelin for the Western Command.

In 1979, he began practising a Japanese karate system locally, and when he moved to Canada in 1985 continued his karate studies. It was while living in Canada that Beaumont developed many of his Close Quarter Battle (CQB) skills. In 1986, he returned to his native Co. Westmeath and set about opening his own dojo in St. Mary’s Hall. He has taught at St. Mary’s, and hosted some of the world’s top karate masters, to this day. Being a member of the Defence Forces it was natural that Beaumont would be interested in all types of self-defence, both traditional and modern. During the 1980’s, he studied a number of different martial styles and today holds several ranks in major systems – Japanese and others.

Long time practitioner
It was back in 1993 that Beaumont came in contact with karateka from the USA. Following a number of letters and phone calls to, and from, America, it eventually resulted in the visit, in March 1994, of Koeppel and several of his students. Now 65 years of age, Sensei Koeppel is a long time practitioner of karate-do. He founded the USKK in 1984, after spending 22 years with Hanshi Robert A Trias, founder of the first karate body in America, the United States Karate Association (USKA).

Now in his 46th year of karate training, Koeppel began his martial career learning Wado-ryu karate in 1956 when he was serving with the US navy and stationed in Yokahama, Japan. During this time, he also studied with Richard Kim and Yahito Kauaguchi. Sensei Koeppel started his Shorinryu training in 1983 under Sensei Fuse Kise. In 1985, he studied with Yuichi Kuda, and in 1997 with Kosai Nishihara. All three instructors are first generation students of Hanshi Hohan Soken, the founder of Matsumura Seito Shorinryu. Koeppel is loud in his praise of Beaumont. “When I first met Paddy 10 years ago I knew I had met a unique individual”, Koeppel said. “In the last 10 years of personal and karate association I’ve seen Paddy mature and grow as a person. He’s a complete professional; a talented karate instructor, a person of integrity and a man of his word. What more could you look for in a person to represent the USKK, not only in Ireland but right across Europe”?

“The great thing for me is that, through the development with Paddy’s Shorinryu group in Ireland – and later on with the other dojo in Europe – a multitude of close friendships have developed with our European karate brothers and sisters that extends all over the United States”, Koeppel said. “The American team that visits Ireland and England for the USKK-Europe Championships is made up of people from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, California, Arizona, Ohio, Florida, Georgia and New York. When people travel these great distances to Europe, they not only meet other competitors, but their families and friends. Everyone develops friendships that last a lifetime. This is an aspect of karate-do that is rewarding to any individual who studies to develop the self discipline that we practice”.

“Never dragged his feet”
Koeppel adds: “In his role as USKK European Director Paddy has never dragged his feet. He does a great job and has representatives in several parts of England, as well as Ireland and Romania. He has hosted European Championships in Ireland three times in the last four years”.

Throughout the last 10 years Koeppel and his squad have travelled to Ireland annually and in return Beaumont, and an Irish contingent, have made the return journey to Peoria, Illinois (Koeppel’s base) to compete in the USKK International Karate Championships. As a result of the first meeting in Ireland in March 1994, Beaumont was appointed the USKK European Director, a position he still holds today. Another USKK official, David Schielein – European Liaison Officer for the USKK and personal student of Koeppel for the last 35 years – said: “The Irish individual competitors and teams have always represented themselves and their country in a most professional manner, winning honours in all the divisions of our competition”.

During his career Beaumont has, on numerous occasions, visited the US to train and work out with some of the leading practitioners of karate-do, among them Senseis William Hayes (Shobayashi Shorinryu), Kimo Wall (Goju-ryu), Sherman Harrell (Isshin-ryu), Takayoshi Nagamine (Matsubayashi Shorinryu) and Dan Smith (Seibukan Shorinryu). Beaumont has had the opportunity to train with all of these first generation students of some of the legends of Okinawan karate-do. While in America, he worked with the best of the Matsubayashi Shorinryu practitioners, and in 1996 was the first person to bring an Okinawan karate master to Ireland.

Hanshi Takayoshi Nagamine, along with Koeppel, spent several days in Ireland working and training with Irish karateka. Takayoshi Nagamine is the son of the founder of World Matsubayashi Ryu, O’Sensei Shoshin Nagamine. O’Sensei Nagamine has since passed away and his son, Takayoshi Nagamine, now heads up and runs the World Matsubayashi Shorinryu Federation based in Naha, Okinawa. Since their first meeting in 1996, Beaumont has connected several times with Nagamine Sensei and they are considered to be well in tune with each other.

A number of honours
During his years involved in the martial arts, Beaumont has received a number of honours and awards. Among them have been: Goodwill Ambassador 2000 (Grandmaster magazine); Chief Instructor (Shorinryu Karate Association of England); Man of the Year 1998 (International Ryukyu Karate Association); Official Ireland Representative (Pankration Federation Athlima); Double Axe Holder (USKK) and Bushido Society (USKK).

Sensei Beaumont is the only 7th Dan in Ireland practising this Okinawan form of karate – Matsubayashi Shorinryu (Beaumont-ha), one of the oldest and most traditional styles of karate, an empty hand system of self defence rich in technique and tradition. “Matsubayashi Shorinryu is an authentic Okinawan karate system whose lineage can be traced back hundreds of years prior to the foundation of the Matsubayashi Shorinryu Association which was established in Okinawa nearly 60 years ago by Shoshin Nagamine”, Beaumont said.

The western world first heard of Matsubayashi ryu karate in 1947 when Nagamine Sensei opened his first dojo in Naha and named it the ‘Matsubayashi Ryu Kodokan Karate and Ancient Martial Art Studies’ (Matsubayashi is the Okinawan pronunciation of the characters for ‘pine forest’). The origin of the name Shorinryu is the Shaolin Buddhist Temple in China. ‘Ryu’ roughly translated means ‘style’ or ‘system’, so more literally it can mean ‘river’ which Nagamine Sensei said reflected his thoughts that the art of karate – and specifically Matsubayashi Shorinryu – is a living, flowing thing.

Came to the West
Two of Nagamine Sensei’s most influential teachers were Chotoku Kyan and Choki Motobu. In the years that followed the opening of the Naha dojo, it grew in both fame and size and soon selected American servicemen, based close by, began to train there. It is through this link with American military personnel that the style came to the West.

The Shorinryu style that Sensei Beaumont teaches focuses on learning one of the oldest and most traditional styles of karate. It’s an ‘in-close’ style of karate, whose 18 kata (forms) have provided the basis for 80 per cent of all karate-do kata we see today, among them Shotokan, Wado-ryu and Shito-ryu. These kata are based on both long range and in-close fighting techniques.

“The fact that the style still contains grappling, joint locking and throwing, as opposed to merely punching and kicking, makes it a more complete martial art. The Shorinryu style has never been watered down or lost its link to combat reality”, Beaumont said. Throughout his martial art career Sensei Beaumont has given much of his time to studying this system and in his dedication to the art has continually sent out the message to his instructors and students that there’s a lifetime of learning in the Matsubayashi Shorinryu system.