Chief Instructor
Sensei John Spence
6th dan/ Rokudan
United States Shibu-cho/Shorin-Ryu Butokukan
Sensei John Spence is the U.S.A Shibucho/branch director for Shorin-Ryu Butokukan karate under Hanshi Sokuichi Gibu, 10th dan/Judan. He has trained in Shorin-Ryu karate for over 20 years and is a certified instructor in Okinawan Shorin-Ryu and Okinawa Kobudo. Sensei Spence travels to Okinawa, Japan every year for training at the World Headquarters in Urasoe City.
He has trained with some of the top martial arts instructors in the United States and Okinawa and aside from Shorin-Ryu, Sensei Spence extensively trained in Judo while attending college.
He has served as the self-defense instructor for the LSU Law School and the American Institute of Banking. Sensei Spence has conducted seminars in the United States and South Africa on Shorin-Ryu karate and Okinawan Kobudo and also created an 11 video/dvd series on Okinawan Karate and Kobudo that sell worldwide today.
Aside from a karate instructor, Sensei Spence is a fifth grade teacher at Matoaka Elementary School in Williamsburg. He earned his B.A. from Catawba College and his Master's Degree in Education from the College of William & Mary.
He was also the recipient of the 2003 Fulbright Memorial Fund Japanese Scholarship where he studied education for a month in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture. He was inducted into the Who's Who of American Teachers in January of 2006
He is married to Lorie Spence and they have two daughters, Emily and Madison. .
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