I guess it never really crossed my mind that I never really made much known about myself other than who I am a fan of and stuff..

My name is Rod, I'm from Hawaii, blah blah blah.. Yeah.. I kind of wanted to share a little bit more about why I've been into martial arts and MMA, for me it's always been more than watching UFC on TV.. Back in the day, I didn't know much about MMA other than the famous guys.. (MMA wasn't even a term that I knew, if you would've asked me I probably would've said jeet kune do) It was the rise of BJ penn when he first joined the UFC that opened my eyes to the actual sport of "mixed martial arts".. prior to that I had only knowledge of what I or the people I know have trained in.

I've always known about my family history and accomplishments (mainly because my family takes so much pride in it), but it wasn't until a few days ago when I decided to actually search up my relatives and see what I could find online and share.. Thought some of you true martial arts fans might enjoy a little reading:

My mom is full Japanese (yes, that makes me half Japanese) and although she doesn't do any martial arts, both sides of her family has a long history both here in Hawaii, and in Japan..

Japanese immigration was heavy in the 1800s and 1900s, Judo was the primary martial arts of choice for them.. My mom's father's side of my family was the Migita family, and almost 100 years ago my "great" uncle Sunao Migita (then 7th degree black belt), came along with many others.. The Japanese founded the Shobukan judo club/school just a little over 100 years ago, and he was the "sensei" there from around 1920 til a couple decades ago.. Up until last year my other uncle (his son) Lloyd Migita had taken over his spot (Sunao is no longer alive) and has since passed his position again.
http://hawaiijudo.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=29
A little more on Sunao Migita:
http://www.shobukanjudo.org/Sunao_Migita.html

and his son, Lloyd Migita:
http://www.shobukanjudo.org/Lloyd_Migita.html
^^These two have accomplished a lot, and have bred some grappling and judo killers.. I recently found out that an old friend of mine is now a 1st degree black belt under them and working for them.. I had no idea he was trained under them in judo, but I watched him take 1st place in his weight division in the last NAGA competition down here.

Now, on the other side of my family is someone who is very well known in Karate both here and in Japan.. My uncle Pat Nakata, who's turned out to be one of the most accomplished and respected black belts in Karate around here.. Very nice guy too, there was a time where he nearly passed away.. but has survived it and even at his age is back in his dojo and still doing it til today..

http://seinenkai.com/salute-nakata.html

^He may be recognized mainly for his karate accomplishments, but would make a completely legitimate MMA contender.. He originally started out training judo under the Nakatas if I'm not mistaken and has trained in many martial arts before becoming a karate master.. There was a time about 20 years ago when Chuck Norris had come to hawaii and actually did a demo with my uncle pat.. I just wish I knew if there are ANY pics of videos of that in existence that I can get a hold of..


Sadly, I can not find anything about their tournament accomplishments.. But no surprise there as it always seems to be that way in all martial arts tournaments pre-2000.. (Just because there aren't videos all over the net of Bruce Lee actually fighting, doesn't mean he wasn't a legitimate killer in martial arts). From what I've seen and heard, there are MANY golden videos and stuff from martial arts throughout the years that the public will never see simply because they were privately recorded and never broadcasted or uploaded online. I'm just glad that we now live in a digital age for this reason.

Anyway now, about myself, I'm nothing but a red belt in taekwondo.. I worked as an instructor for well over 5 years, but left the academy due to some horrible business management. They went out of business about a year later, right around the time I would've got my junior black belt if I had continued.. I was about 18 then. (Yes, I know that age is a little young to be an "instructor", but I was the only non-black belt to teach full classes, and the second youngest instructor there completely.. Second to the grand-master's son who was already a black belt at 12. Also, the experience was required to receive a black belt.. Luckily for me, it also became my 1st paid full time job 35 hours a week )

I guess what made me post this is watching all my friends now begin to smash their grappling, judo, jiu jitsu and wrestling competitions over the last few years, and I also have a buddy who just won an amateur middleweight MMA belt here 2 months ago.. All that on top of recently discovering my other friend getting his black belt under my Migita uncles is becoming my motivation to actually go back to martial arts. I've decided that (even though it's kind of a long drive for me) once my kids start school I'm gonna give judo a shot as well, under the same name as my uncles and my friend. (Hopefully my back can handle it.. Scoliosis has not been good to me  )  But I'm gonna give it a shot anyway just to see if I can see any success in that area as well. Would be sweet to keep the family tradition alive . If grappling doesn't work out as well, I'll do kickboxing (or BJJ since it's less physical and more technique).
I've always wanted to try muay thai as well..  my confidence was always high standing, but I once had my lip split right open by a TKD junior black belt who really had more of a muay thai style than a traditional TKD or karate style. That dude had me covered in my own blood. lol. 
(I gotta be honest, I almost literally felt the pain when silva kicked belfort and machida kicked couture.. I've been on the receiving end of that kick a couple times before )

I haven't done any real training in anything since about 2005, (when I graduated high school) I guess because that's when the life of being a parent, trying to go to college and then getting a job all got in the way. Now that both of my kids are going to be in school this year, I can get back to working and training full time.. This time in a different direction.  Chee! I will also get my kids into martial arts ASAP, my 4 year old daughter is already anxious and I've been teaching them basic boxing. Lol.

I've also made a couple other further plans/goals for myself around here that my friends know about, but IMO not really worth talking about things until I actually do it.

Anyway, I guess that's it. Hope I didn't bore y'all to death.  It is now 1:30 AM and time to sleep. PEACE!


Edited by rb808 - 05 Jul 2012 at 6:43am

Interesting stuff.