Warriors of Budo: Episode One: Karatedo

A warrior trains his entire life for a moment that may never arrive. As a master of the fighting arts, achieving victory in a fight that may even mean death, can be a simple matter. Yet at the highest level, a Warrior of Budo will choose peace instead of conflict.

Sensei Morio Higaonna is a Warrior of Budo. At the age of seventy five, his passion for Karate still burns bright, like a fire in his belly. Each morning Higaonna walks downstairs to his Okinawa dojo and begins his routine… warm ups and makiwara training followed by Sanchin kata and technique. Each evening he teaches class, leaving students panting for breath and with little strength left when class is over. It is past midnight when Higaonna leaves his dojo to walk back upstairs.

In this episode we take you inside Higaonna’s dojo for an intimate talk about his life and his Karate. In the evening class, we witness the toughest martial arts training we have seen in thirty years documenting Japanese Budo. In his twilight years Higaonna holds nothing back… sharing for the first time, technique and philosophy that display his profound knowledge of Karate. Yet Higaonna still practices with the intensity of a student, saying “I am still green. Waza are endless. The more you train, the more you must pay attention to this. I’m deeply grateful toward my own sensei. Even today I think, thank you sensei !!” We are proud to choose this documentary as our first episode of Warriors of Budo.