MEIRIOKU FOUNDATION
CULTURAL EXCHANGE GROUP
POLAND - OKINAWA
The Meirioku initiative aims to promote the Okinawan karate system (Oshukai) of Sensei Kenyu Chinen’s school. We recognize it not merely as a system of self-defense but also as an inspiring art of living.
In addition to its educational mission, the Meirioku Association has a strong scientific interest in martial arts. We investigate the impact of Okinawan karate on human development. We collaborate with the Faculty of Physical Culture and Safety Sciences at the Academy of Applied Sciences in Nowy Sącz, Poland.
The founders of the Meirioku group acknowledge the positive pedagogical aspects of Okinawan Karate. The training process aids in developing talents, refining character, and enhancing overall personality. Beyond its physical movements, karate uniquely addresses cognitive needs in culture, aesthetics, and ethics.
Based on our long-term observations, we believe that practicing Okinawan karate under the guidance of a competent teacher (sensei) is more valuable to the practitioner than the so-called goods of consumer culture or various stimulants.
While the prosocial dimension of karate is invaluable, it's also essential to notice the health benefits for those who practice it. According to the modern definition of health, its components include physical, mental, moral, and social well-being. The harmonious coexistence of these factors determines overall health.
Karate can achieve more than psychophysical integration. In my long-term experience as a physician, I have concluded that the karate system includes the so-called "martial arts medicine," a specific and traditional field of science, which we aim to highlight and integrate into comprehensive health prevention strategies.
We are firmly convinced that, unlike many violent combat sports, Okinawan karate cultivates individuals who are psychophysically healthy and morally valuable to society. It fosters courageous and well-rounded individuals. Hence, we move away from rigid approaches in physical education and stereotypical views of physical culture.
Educating a creative and noble person requires embedding ethical principles into the educational process. These principles shape the personality of our trainees, determining whether they will become noble individuals (Homo Creatus Nobilis) or controllable personalities, or worse, as Erich Fromm described, self-selling, exploitative personalities. Thus, the Meirioku Association, as an educational and scientific institution, strives to elevate karate club trainees to higher levels of development by following the Okinawan example.
We are confident that the model of physical education we have proposed, based on the principles of the Far Eastern self-improvement system, deserves broader implementation in the physical education of modern people.
Tomasz Zając
Founder, medical doctor
7 dan Okinawa Shorin-ryu
3 dan Okinawa Kobudo