DOJO

The Karate school Renshinkai was established in 1974 by Rolf „Böbby“ Baumgartner. After he retired form Karate in 1992, Oliver took over as head of the school, sensei. Since 2003, Gregor is responsible for running the day-to-day operations.

The name, Renshinkai, consists of three Kanji, "ren" meaning training, practice, "shin" meaning spirit, heart, character, and "kai" meaning school.

The school practices traditional Goju-Ryu Karate and is directly linked to Okinawa, Japan. Oliver travelled to Okinawa in 1997 and started practicing under Eiichi Miyazato, 10th Dan (see below). Eiichi Miyazato is a Karate legend. He took over from the founder of Goju-Ryu, Chojun Myagi, in 1953 and continued the teachings in the famous „Jundokan“ dojo. Since Eiichi Miyazato passed away in 1999, his son, Yoshihiro Miyazato, runs the Jundokan and its global organization (www.jundokan-hb.jp). 

Initially, Renshinkai was following the Goju-Ryu Karate of Kozo Matsuura (Style Shokenkai), who used to be Rolf Baumgartner‘s Karate teacher and himself a student of Tadahiko Othsuka (Style Gojukensha). Matsuura and Othsuka formed part of the branch of Higa Seiko, a student of both, Chojun Miyagi and Eiichi Miyazato. Due to our long-standing relations, dual ancestry and frequent travels, we have a broad and profound knowledge and understanding of traditional Goju-Ryu Karate.

Renshinkai is a member of the Swiss Karatedo Union SKU, a section of the Swiss Karate Federation (www.karate.ch).

Administratively, we are part of the Budoschule Wädenswil (www.budoschule.ch). This ensures we can focus on practicing Karate and lets us profit from a frequent exchange with other martial arts enthusiasts, in particular those from Jiu-Jitsu.