I am fortunate to be trained one on one by Gerry Bryan, 9th Dan Traditional Tsuyoi Ryu Karate in Pagham, West Sussex. He is the founder in the 70’s and recently was awarded his 9th Dan for commitment to Traditional karate. I was training with him today and told him about this article and would like to confirm the following.
Gerry trained many in Tsuyoi Karate and was proud to have done so. Gerry teaches traditional karate and therefore his style which is directly taught by him is known as Traditional Tsuyoi Ryu. Other versions of Tsuyoi Ryu are slightly commercial. Gerry is aware of the low age of this Dan grade and is confident in his skill However in Traditional Karate Gerry explained he would never give a Dan grade to an under 17 as the word DAN means MAN and normally these sort of grades should be awarded to students in their late 20’s. Gerry trains just a handful of students now and I consider myself very lucky to be taken on by him.
