Yoko Ishida

ABOUT MY KARATE

I started karate when I was eleven years old. Before karate, I had been figure skating for six years, but I quit because I knew it wasn’t the sport just wasn’t for me.

I decided to try karate out because my dad had trained through high school and college in Japan and for a little bit at Sensei Koyama’s dojo in Phoenix. I instantly fell in love with karate. Everything about the martial art appealed to me—the training, the discipline, the budo, and the dojo camaraderie.

To this day, I cannot find the words to express why karate is so addictive; I guess it is because training helps block out the busy atmosphere outside the dojo for a couple hours and helps focus on improving one’s technique—whether that is through drills, kata, or kumite.

I also believe that it is important for women to be able to defend themselves. Karate is definitely a lifetime art I plan to practice for as long as I can.