Master Soken was a Martial Artist in the true sense of the word; he trained for most of his life and was well into his later life, before achieving a 10th dank rank. Today there are a least 10 students who spented only a short time of their lives anywhere near his dojo and don't see anything wrong with being his equal in rank, or claiming to be as skillfull... enough said about that. Never once in my 28 plus years in karate that I have known Sensei Coffman, has he even considered himself on the same level of his teachers, Kise or Soken, that he knew and trained with in the 60's. He respects them for what they were. That's the difference between some students and others.

Some background on myself

A Yon-dan, (4th degree black belt) in Okinawan Shorin-Ryu Karate. I began my training in February of 1973 under Sensei Al Gagne, ruku-dan (6th degree black belt) in Woonsocket, R.I. With the help of my instructor I founded the Shorin-Ryu Disciple School of Rochester, N.H. in October of 1974. This was the first Shorin-Ryu Dojo, anywhere in the seacoast area of N.H. Having taught over 2,500 students in it's 25 plus years of operation where each student paid by the month with no contracts of any kind. During this time only 16 students have been tested and promoted to the rank of Sho-dan. Thus showing a strong comment to maintain a quality above today's selling of rank. I'm proud of the fact that it's not the rank you hold, but the skill that you possess that counts. Sensei Coffman has given me and my students the ability to achieve a greater knowledge of the Martial Arts and I truly thank him for that.

I can be e-mailed at Cybertiiz@ttlc.net

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