Member Profile: Tom Kosslow

Tom Kosslow began his practice of Wado Ryu karate in 1968 at the age of 18, while attending college in Nashville, Tennessee. His first sensei was the late Cecil Patterson Sensei, President and Founder of the U.S. Eastern Wado Ryu Karate-Do Federation. Kosslow Sensei trained in Nashville until he was drafted during the Vietnam War in 1970. He spent the next four years as a member of the U.S. Air Force. He continued his training during his military years and upon his Honorable Discharge he relocated to Lakeland, Florida, where he trained under the direction of Charles Parrish. Parrish Sensei promoted Kosslow Sensei to shodan (1st degree black belt) in 1975.

In 1976, Kosslow Sensei moved to Atlanta so that he might attend graduate school at the University of Georgia. Between 1978 and 1983 Kosslow Sensei earned a Masters Degree, Specialist Degree, and Doctorate Degree in Educational Administration. He worked for the Fulton County Board of Education in Atlanta, first as an Elementary School Teacher (9 years) and then as an Elementary School Principal (17 years). In July of 2000, Dr. Kosslow retired from that school system.

In 1969 and again in 1975, Kosslow Sensei was fortunate enough to have been able to receive instruction from the late Otsuka Hironori Sensei, the founder of Wado Ryu karate-do. In 1985, he traveled to Japan for the 50th Wado Ryu World Championships as a member of the U.S. Eastern Team. In the early 1980's, Kosslow Sensei began training under the supervision of Suzuki Tatsuo Sensei, the most senior of all Wado Ryu instructors. When Suzuki Sensei created the Wado International Karate-Do Federation, Kosslow Sensei formally joined that organization in 1989. Suzuki Sensei has been his instructor since that time. Kosslow Sensei returned to Japan again in 1995 as a member of the WIKF Team to compete in an International Friendship Tournament. In 2003, he once again visited Japan to train and tour as a member of a WIKF world group.

In 2005, at the Wado World Cup in Plano, Texas, Suzuki Sensei promoted Kosslow Sensei to the rank of 7th degree black belt. This promotion made him the highest ranked WIKF teacher in the United States.

Dr. Kosslow served as the Chairman of the WIKF USA Board of Directors until December of 2006. He is currently the Secretary and a member of the Technical Committee of that organization. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Georgia Karate League since its inception in 1996. Dr. Kosslow has owned and operated the Newnan Karate Center in Newnan, Georgia since 1977.

Member Profile: Ann Kameoka

Ann Kameoka Sensei is a member of the SMAA Board of Advisors. She is also the co-author of The Japanese Way of the Flower: Ikebana as Moving Meditation (Stone Bridge Press).

Kameoka Sensei has studied Ikenobo kado, the oldest form of lower arrangement, for many years under top Japanese experts. She lives in California and holds a teaching certificate from the Ikenobo headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. Ikenobo is the original form of flower arrangement from which all newer systems have originated. She also has teaching certification in the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga and its related healing arts. Kameoka Sensei presented a very well received flower arrangement lecture/demonstration at the first SMAA Seminar and Conference in July of 2005.

Her appointment as an SMAA Senior Advisor is an indicator of our association's ongoing effort to offer SMAA members information about other time-honored Japanese art forms, which have parallel principles to budo, principles that can further one's understanding of certain aspects of the Japanese martial arts. Likewise, bringing Kameoka Sensei onto our Board of Advisors is part of the SMAA's continuing endeavor to further our ties with the Japanese and Japanese-American communities.

Member Profile: Kevin Heard

A San Francisco Bay Area native, Kevin Heard Sensei has been studying Japanese cultural arts for over twenty years. He holds teaching licenses in Shin-shin-toitsu-do, a form of Japanese yoga and meditation, as well as related healing arts. He also holds the rank of menkyo chudan (a traditional teaching license roughly equivalent to fourth through sixth dan in modern ranking systems) in Saigo Ryu aiki-jujutsu. He also posed for illustrations in the books Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation and Unlocking the Secrets of Aiki-jujutsu.

Heard Sensei serves on the SMAA Board of Advisors. He is also the assistant editor for the SMAA Journal and webmaster for the SMAA website. He currently holds the title/rank of Fuku Shihan/5th dan in the SMAA's Traditional Jujutsu Division. He has received rank and teaching licenses from the Nihon Jujutsu and Kobudo divisions of the Kokusai Budoin, an elite international martial arts federation headquartered in Tokyo. He has also demonstrated aiki-jujutsu several times at the Kokusai Budoin Sogo Budo Taikai, held annually in Tokyo. Heard Sensei taught Saigo Ryu at the 2005 SMAA Seminar & Congress in Utah and at the 2006 event in Michigan.

Mr. Heard earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. After working in the software development industry, he returned to the University to become Director of Computing and Information Services for UCB's

School of Information. His professional interests include UNIX/Linux system administration, building information systems based on open standards, open source software, and the effects of electronic media on personal freedom and privacy. He is co-author of Mastering Netscape SuiteSpot 3 Servers (Sybex).

Mr. Heard currently lives in Richmond, California with his wife, Patricia.

Member Profile: Michael Donnelly

Michael Donnelly Sensei's interest in Japanese culture began with his exposure to the Japanese art of aikido at the New Jersey School of Aikido in 1976, while in the U.S. Navy. He is now a third-degree black belt in aikido, affiliated with the Shudokan Martial Arts Association. In addition, Mr. Donnelly is a Senior Advisor with the Shudokan Martial Arts Association, and he has served as its General Manager in the past.

Donnelly Sensei, while primarily interested in budo (martial ways) in Japanese culture, is also interested in the history of medical ethics in China and Japan and their legal and philosophical interactions with Western medical ethical models and practice. He has expanded his martial arts background to include dabbling in Tai Chi Chuan and Arnis.

Mr. Donnelly lives in New Hampshire with his wife, Jayne. He has worked as a New Hampshire attorney and, in many hospitals in multiple states, as an ASCP certified pathologists' assistant. While not the legal counsel for the SMAA, he often serves as an unofficial legal advisor.

Member Profile: Richard Burkland

Richard Burklund Sensei brings many years of budo experience to our group, and we're fortunate to have him as a Senior Advisor. Burklund Sensei is one of the original members of the SMAA. He is active in both the SMAA Judo Division and the SMAA Jujutsu Division. Burklund Sensei retired from the Army in 2004 and has continued to serve as a high-ranking Department of Defense civilian.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Burklund was commissioned as an Infantry Officer upon graduation from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1983. During his over 20 years of service, LTC Burklund held a variety of command and staff positions in light infantry, military intelligence and special operations forces. He has led or commanded units and sections ranging in size from 40 soldiers to 500 soldiers.

In addition to troop leading and staff assignments, to include combat operations in Panama during Operation Just Cause, he has served at the Pentagon in the Office of the Secretary of Defense where he managed a $30 million dollar annual budget and interacted with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and members of Congress. LTC Burklund's final assignment was with Special Operations Command. While there, he served with Task Force Dagger, the Joint Special Operations Task Force in combat in Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom and at the Combined Forces Special Operations Command during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

LTC Burklund's military education includes the Command and General Staff College and the Joint Forces Staff College. LTC Burklund also holds a doctorate in History from Columbia State University.

Burklund Sensei has studied the martial arts and Ways of Japan for over 30 years. He is a member of both the Kokusai Budoin of Japan and the SMAA. He holds dan grades in judo and Nihon jujutsu. Burklund Sensei has been granted a Fuku-shidoin certificate by the SMAA. His first judo teacher was Otaka Shuichi Sensei, godan, of Nihon University. Sato Shizuya Sensei, judo ninth dan and Chief Director of the Kokusai Budoin, and Walter Todd Sensei, judo eighth dan and one of the founding members of the SMAA, have also instructed him. Burklund Sensei is additionally a past contributor to the SMAA Journal and the SMAA web site.

Member Profile: Dave Lowry

Dave Lowry literally grew up in the Japanese cultural arts. As a boy, he commenced a lifelong study of Yagyu Shinkage Ryu swordsmanship under a Japanese teacher who was living in Missouri. In 1985, Mr. Lowry's experiences growing up as a Westerner, who was deeply immersed in Japanese cultural and martial arts, formed the basis for Autumn Lightning (Shambhala), which was widely acclaimed.

In addition to Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, Mr. Lowry has trained in karate-do and a variety of modern martial ways. His current and primary martial arts activities are focused on Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, Shindo Muso Ryu (an old combative art utilizing a four-foot staff), and aikido.
He is heavily involved with the Japanese community in the St. Louis area, and he has practiced a wide variety of Japanese arts including go (an ancient Japanese game), shodo (calligraphy), kado (flower arrangement), and chado (tea ceremony). Mr. Lowry is also active in the organization and running of the St. Louis Japanese Festival, the largest such festival in North America. He is on the Executive Board of the St. Louis Japanese Festival as well, and he is the President of the St. Louis-Suwa Sister City Committee.

Dave Lowry has a degree in English and works as a professional writer. He has authored numerous books, including Sword and Brush (Shambhala); his monthly columns appear in several martial arts magazines, and he is the restaurant critic for St. Louis Magazine. In 2007, Mr. Lowry presented well-received classes in Japanese swordsmanship at the SMAA Seminar & Conference in Nebraska. See Dave Lowry's Web Page on Furyu Online for more information about the works of Dave Lowry.

Member Profile: Karl Scott

Mr. Scott has studied the martial arts since 1965, and has trained extensively both in the United States and in Asia with top exponents of many different Asian martial arts and ways. He has been with the Asian Martial Arts Studio in Ann Arbor since its beginning at the University of Michigan in 1970.

Mr. Scott began to study Toyama-style karate-do with Walter E. Todd Sensei over twenty years ago. Mr. Scott has also trained under Ichikawa Isao Sensei, and Shimabukuro Eizo Sensei. He trained with Shimabukuro Sensei in Okinawa as an uchi-deshi, or "personal live-in disciple," and received a Shihan (professor) certificate, directly from Mr. Shimabukuro, in Shorin Ryu karate-do and Okinawan weaponry.

Scott Sensei is also a high-ranking black belt in aikido. His aikido training started in 1973, and he founded the Asian Martial Arts Studio aikido program in 1976. Scott Sensei has trained in aikido under the following teachers:

Tohei Koichi Sensei (founder of Ki no Kenkyukai and judan)
Kai Kuniyuki Sensei (Yoshinkan hachidan)
Walter Todd Sensei (rokudan)
Toyoda Fumio Sensei (founder of the Aikido Association of America and rokudan)
Shiohira Hideki Sensei (founder of the Pacific Aikido Association and rokudan)

Scott Sensei is a Division Director in both the Karate-do Division and Aikido Division within the SMAA. He currently holds the title/rank of karate-do So-shihan/7th dan and aikido Shihan/6th dan. He is also a high-ranking member of the Kokusai Budoin Aikido and Karate-do Divisions.