Shirasagi Shima Dōjō
A dōjō. Not a club. Not a combat sport.
Enter ↓
A dōjō. Not a club. Not a combat sport.
Enter ↓Traditional Okinawan Shōrin-ryū in Chemnitz, Germany. Led by the Deinert family, in direct line to Sensei Joachim Laupp, 9th Dan Hanshi.
The Shirasagi Shima Dōjō is a private dōjō in Chemnitz, in the east of Germany. It is not a sports club, not a chain and not a hall rented by the hour. It is one room, held for one thing: the practice of Okinawa Shōrin-ryū Shidōkan Karatedō and the Kobudō that belongs to it.
Much has been written about what a dōjō ought to be. It can only be understood by entering one and practising in it. When we founded ours, our aim was to let something of what we had experienced at the Honbu Dōjō in Okinawa live again here in Chemnitz.
The name Shirasagi Shima – Dōjō Island of the White Heron – was given to us by our teacher.
Authentic Budō does not come from books. It is handed from teacher to student. Our line runs from Okinawa through Itosu Ankō and Chibana Chōshin to Sensei Miyahira Katsuya, founder of the Shidōkan, and from him to Sensei Joachim Laupp, who carries Okinawa Shōrin-ryū Shidōkan Karatedō in Europe on his behalf.
A student of Grandmaster Miyahira Katsuya, 10th Dan Hanshi (1918–2010), founder of the Shidōkan. He was taught by him directly on Okinawa over decades and spreads Okinawa Shōrin-ryū Shidōkan Karatedō in Europe on his behalf. He has stood on the path of Karate without interruption for more than fifty years.
Leads the Shirasagi Shima Dōjō together with his family. He began Okinawa Shōrin-ryū Shidōkan Karatedō in 2009 and has stood in the line of Sensei Laupp since then; in 2016 he was accepted by him as a personal student. He practises with his teacher every month and returns regularly to Okinawa for training.
Keiko – the Japanese word for persistent practice after the old manner – is the word we use for our work in the dōjō. There is no training here and there are no coaches. There is instruction, and there is a teacher.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday together form the practice. They are not a choice.
Those who practise here arrange their week around the dōjō, not the dōjō around their week. We keep close ties to the Shirasagi dōjō abroad and travel to Okinawa regularly.
Karateka of any school are welcome to practise with us while they are in the area. Please write before you come, so that we know you are expected and can tell you what we will be working on. Dan grades are asked to contact me directly.
Bring your own gi and obi. Our etiquette follows the Okinawan form; where something is unfamiliar, we will show you. There is no fee for a guest visit.
Instruction is given in German. For a visit this matters little — the practice is shown rather than explained. We do not, however, teach in English, so this is not a place to begin the path without the language.
Whoever comes with an open mind is a guest. Whoever comes to compare is a visitor.
Admission to the dōjō follows a personal conversation. Our groups are deliberately kept to a size in which concentrated and individual work is possible. Correspondence in German and English.
Shirasagi Shima Dōjō
David Deinert, 5th Dan Renshi
Zschopauer Straße 218
09126 Chemnitz · Germany
Phone: +49 176 20927257
E-mail: mail@shirasagi.de