In the very early 1960’s, I met Mike Foster. At that time, I believe Mr. Foster was a 3rd or 4th degree black belt in Chito-Ryu Yoshu-Kan karate. Yoshu-Kan did not evolve into Yoshu-Kai until much later. I was impressed with Mike Foster’s karate. We quickly developed a friendship and I started training with him in the Chito-Ryu Yoshu-Kan style.
From the early to mid 1960’s there were very few Yoshu-Kan schools in America. Mike Foster had a dojo in Tampa, Florida. Mr. Lee Norris had a dojo on the Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, Florida. Bob Bunning taught in Lakeland, Florida at the Jewish Community Center. Also, had a school at Saint Leo College.
After Mike Foster closed his Tampa dojo in the early 1960’s, the only places that we had schools were Mr. Norris’ dojo in Orlando, the J.C.C. (Bob Bunning) in Lakeland, and Saint Leo College. After a very short time, Lee Norris closed his dojo in Orlando, moved to Miami, and trained for awhile with Okisawa and Camachio. Not long after moving to Miami, Mr. Norris got out of karate for a several years.
Because the Tampa and Orlando dojos closed, we sometimes would drive to Saint Leo College, Lakeland, or meet at someone’s house to train. Also, during that time, a Judo instructor named Sekita taught Judo on Robertson Street in Orlando, Florida. For many years we used Sekita’s dojo two nights a week to train in karate.