IUKF Structure

Administration

84_campThe IUKF organizational chart consists of a President, Vice President, Chairman, board of advisors, test boards, consultants and committees. The board of advisors consists of select people who have special skills. The Board, at the current time, has been appointed by George Mattson.

The Dojo:

By signing the application for membership and being formally accepted by the admissions committee, member agrees to abide by and fully support this charter and all future amendments that might be forthcoming.

The Dojo is the most important entity of IUKF. The “SOKE” philosophy of “Sacred Space” is especially important to IUKF regarding all relationships involving the membership. The Dojo is considered to be the focal point of Uechi-ryu. This is the place in which all Uechi-ryu activities take place. No person, group of people or organization must ever interfere with the sacred space joining students, Instructors and the Dojo.  Each IUKF-member dojo has specific representative synonymously referred to do as shihan, sensei, or head-instructor.

Individual Membership:

All active students and teachers with current, up-to-date registration are considered members of the IUKF.

Shihan:

The shihan is the individual within a dojo that is a direct representative to the IUKF administration.  S/he is responsible for recognizing the students within their registered dojo for promotion.  Note that a shihan, within the definition of the IUKF, may not be the highest ranking individual or head-sensei within a dojo.

Master Titles:

(Renshi, Kyoshi, Hanshi) are awards given to deserving individuals who have demonstrated contributions to Uechi-ryu and have been reviewed and recognized by the Titles Committee.

Dojo Administration:

The Dojo owner/shihan is 100% responsible for his/her own business policies involving non-Uechi-ryu matters. The only constraint is that these policies must not in any way reflect badly on IUKF, on Uechi-ryu or in any other way potentially pose a threat to overall IUKF Uechi-ryu goals.

New Dojo:

Commercial Dojo:

A commercial Dojo is a space devoted primarily to the teaching of Uechi-ryu. A sign or other identifying method tells the public that within this space there is a Uechi-ryu Dojo.

Educational Related Dojo:

Any space owned by a school, church, college or university where the Uechi-ryu Instructor participates in a program whereby the Dojo activities are part of the curriculum of the educational or church program.