question about kancho henrioh/nako kyokushin

**thirdkyu** · Posted On: 7/09/2007 6:29am

Does anyone have any experience with NAKO kyokushin or Kancho Henrioh? I've trained with this group and have enjoyed it, but recently found out that the Kancho is a felon. (He was arrested in the late 1980s when he worked for the school board in Brooklyn-- had skimmed a bunch of money from the Board of Ed.) There's a New York Times article about this, but I don't know anything else about it, and no one at my dojo has ever mentioned it.

Thanks,
Third Kyu

**Tom Kagan** · Posted On: 7/09/2007 9:09pm

I can find no New York Times articles on Kancho Henri-Oh.

**thirdkyu** · Posted On: 7/10/2007 8:31am

here's a reference to the article, and the appeal statement. i can email you the original article if you'd like to see it:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/refere...er&match=exact

http://www.counsel.nysed.gov/Decisio...e34/d13274.htm

**Tom Kagan** · Posted On: 7/10/2007 12:18pm

Considering this is important enough to you that you are cross-posting these questions/allegations to the all-karate forum, have you tried contacting Henri-oh directly?

He doesn't seem to be very hard to find.

http://www.henrioh.com/

Total Fitness & Karate Center
46-12 Queens Boulevard
Sunnyside, New York 11104
Tel: (718) 706-0847
Fax: (718) 706-0848

**schuyler** · Posted On: 7/10/2007 1:18pm

My original sensei in Kyokushin is a felon. Spent time in prison and learned how to box. Nicest guy in the world....

**Vieux Normand** · Posted On: 7/10/2007 8:21pm

Anybody surprised? Oyama was a Yakuza enforcer before his wilderness trip...

By the way, that's not a dig at either Oyama or Kyokushin. Good, hard training to be found there, for a gi-wearing art. Greatly enjoyed it, myself.

**CanucKyokushin** · Posted On: 7/10/2007 8:44pm

Originally Posted by thirdkyu

Does anyone have any experience with NAKO kyokushin or Kancho Henrioh? I've trained with this group and have enjoyed it, but recently found out that the Kancho is a felon. (He was arrested in the late 1980s when he worked for the school board in Brooklyn-- had skimmed a bunch of money from the Board of Ed.) There's a New York Times article about this, but I don't know anything else about it, and no one at my dojo has ever mentioned it.

Thanks,
Third Kyu

I don’t see as this being any great issue in all honesty.However,I think it’s more important to find out and set the facts straight.

Was he charged or acquitted? Did he serve his time and if he has so what?The man he served his time for it and is now a member of the community.

**thirdkyu** · Posted On: 7/11/2007 10:48am

The reason I asked is that I am currently a student at his dojo and he has occasionally asked the students to donate money to one of the senseis. (in addition to the fees we pay). I'm not convinced he's to be trusted. There's also an attitude in our dojo that the kancho should not be questioned. It has more of a cult feeling than I expected.

**schuyler** · Posted On: 7/11/2007 11:24am

Donate money to a Sensei? For what? Generally in a traditional Japanese martial art, and especially in Kyokushin (which as a third kyu you should know by now), Yudansha are not to be questioned by a kyu. Why not take it up with one of the Sempai or a 1st kyu's?

**thirdkyu** · Posted On: 7/11/2007 12:05pm

Thanks Schuyler,

There is at least a sempai there I can talk to about it. I don't question the kancho's ability as a teacher, but I do get the feeling that there's a power trip going on. It wasn't clear why we were supposed to give money to the sensei-- we were just told that the sensei needed money and that we should all give $20 to the kancho.

Third Kyu