ABOUT US
While it is important to understand who we are and what to expect from your training it is equally important to understand what you won't find!
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What you won’t find are any tumbling runs, somersaults, backflips, aerials, flashy jump split kicks, baton twirling, sword spinning, “tricks” or other showboating antics designed to woo the crowd. (We leave all that to drill team majorettes in a football halftime show, dance recitals and gymnastic competitions. |
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What you will find are realistic and effective techniques and training methods (solo and partner practice, with and without training tools) designed to equally strengthen the student’s body, mind and character, both as an individual and as part of a community. Our trainings evolve and adapt as the student advances, all with the intention to provide for a higher quality of life, allowing the student to actively participate in their martial studies well into advanced adulthood. |
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What you won’t find is a dojo that is part of multimillion-dollar chain of fast food-style franchises masquerading as authentic martial arts, where each “licensed” location promotes a branded, cookie cutter curriculum designed by corporate heads and marketing influences to deliver a Hollywood-esque product. |
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What you will find are ever-evolving empty-hand and weapons-based life protection arts that developed over generations that integrate the latest insights from modern physical and life sciences, taught and shared through an internationally recognized community of instructors, students and other professionals, all of whom share a legacy of lifelong learning, training, and countless trials and triumphs. |
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What you won’t find is a business model that exploits its students as marketing tools to attract new clients with the lure of world titles, elite member status, or the lucrative opportunity to manage or own a franchised location. |
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What you will find is a community that focuses on the worth of each member, regardless of abilities or level of dedication, where ideals like respect, humility, diversity, perseverance and other character life skills are just as important as any physical technique. |
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What you won’t find are salary-based employee instructors and students, many times with limited martial arts experience, that have completed multiple weekend-long certification courses on both the sales and marketing program and the physical program that supports their brand. |
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What you will find is a diverse and internationally recognized community of instructors and students passionate about sharing their real-life trials and triumphs, decades of dedicated training in their respective styles, histories, and cultures, all with the intent to foster individual growth, strengthening our community as a whole. |
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What you won’t find is a program advertising fun and exciting training sessions filled with games, obstacle courses and other “fun-filled” activities designed to keep the younger students’ interest high. You also won’t find us advertising birthday party hosting services. In an effort to retain adult student retention, many of these martial business models have had to resort to offering instruction in bits and pieces of various other martial arts styles in an effort to fill the voids of their parent system |
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What you will find is instruction in complete and authentic Okinawan martial art systems presented in an enjoyable atmosphere where everyone strives to perform at the highest level possible, regardless of age or physical ability. The search for perfection is synonymous with the martial arts. And while our students learn that failures are a natural part of any progress and an important method in measuring success, the student quickly learns that poor performance due to being lazy, giving up or simply not caring is an unacceptable behavior in of our dojo. Scrutiny and never-ending correction are a key component to our martial science-based training program and can be quite direct, requiring the student to develop a thick skin. We do not handout any awards or acknowledgements just because a student shows up for class. Every belt promotion, compliment and correction must be earned and well deserved. The one thing you can depend on is Shihan and the other students being there, pushing and supporting one another day in and day out, year after year |
Our Dojo Philosophy
At the 
, we seek to foster positive virtues in our colleagues and friends, while providing a complete life-protection system for adults and children. We hope to cultivate a spirit that builds character, sincerity, integrity, perseverance, and respect through cooperative sharing and learning. An open mind is essential to achieve this goal.
Health Benefits
Our brand of martial arts is unique than what is found in most of today's franchise based martial arts studios. Modern martial arts were designed to support the various specialized sports, losing much of their original lifetime benefits. The foundation of our teachings are built upon the same time proven sciences that gave birth to the original martial and holistic healing arts found throughout India, Indochina, China and Japan, further supported with modern technologies. The physical and mental health and therapeutic benefits are far reaching and follows the student throughout their life. You can view more specific details on our Benefits page.
No one is a better example of these health benefits than Shihan McMains, who has successfully been managing cancer and associated side affects since 2012. His doctors firmly believe that his physical condition and positive attitude developed over his lifetime of martial arts practice are just as much a part of his recovery as chemotherapy and other common cancer treatments.
POWERFUL EXPERIENCE
Rusty McMains - Shihan, Hachidan (8th Degree Black Belt), Kyoshi-Go
For more than 47 years, Shihan Rusty McMains has been bringing the very best in martial arts instruction to the US and Canada. The is the ONLY Karate Dojo in the Houston metro area that teaches authentic Okinawan Karate and the oldest Okinawa Family Kobudo system (Okinawan Warrior Weapons Arts). In addition to teaching these very unique brands of Okinawa martial arts, all our teachings are based on sound medical and physical sciences as well as practical fighting and study methods developed by Shihan McMains through decades of real-time application. This places the as one of the few schools in the world that expressly teaches these martial sciences as part of its general program, and one of but a handful in North America.
The was born out of an overwhelming interest in the classical arts developed on Okinawa. The term "uchinaadikan" literally translates to "Okinawa (uchinaa) Martial Hand (di) Center (kan). A deeper translation, based on the extensive research by Kyoshi McMains and others, is more precisely interpreted as "The great center for the research and study of the indigenous life protection arts of the Okinawan people". Therefore, UchinaaDiKan was chosen to reflect the true nature of all Okinawan martial systems when self-preservation was a high priority, before these arts became a sport.
Additionally important is to understand Shihan McMains’ choice to use just the kanji 手 (di) to refer to the original life-protection systems rather than the more common 空手, meaning empty handed, which refers to the modern practice of Karate as a sport. While 手 is the noun for hand, the same kanji can be used to describe an action, as in this case, represent a learned skill or talent, or one who performs an action. This further implies that the study and practice of Karate extends far beyond that as a competitive sport or form of physical exercise.
The stands apart from most of today's franchised business based karate schools and systems in that our classes focus on the student as a person rather than as a client or customer.
Shihan McMains is not just a member of several of the world's leading martial arts organizations, he is a global leader in these fields. His highly expanded understanding of Western and Eastern sciences and his ability to apply those sciences to any form of martial arts training and protection techniques is unparalleled. He has consulted and trained instructors in Judo/Jujutsu, Arnis/Escrima, Karate, Taekwondo, MMA, Krav Maga and others.
A key to Shihan McMains' success in teaching his students is that he is himself an active student. In addition to his never-ending self practice and study in Okinawa GoJu Ryu, Shihan McMains trains in Yamanni Chinen Ryu Kobujutsu and is an active member of the Ryukyu Bujutsu Kenkyu Doyukai.
Just as impressive as Shihan McMains' personal experiences, is the collection of extensive experiences of associated schools and instructors both in North America and Okinawa that provide for a deep network of information and training unlike other organizations, all this with the intent in bringing our students the best instruction possible while leaving a legacy for future generations.
Shihan McMains’ Kyoshi Certificate / Calligraphy by Tetsuhiro Hokama, 10th Dan, Hanshi
Shihan McMains holds Black Belt rankings and instructor certifications in several martial arts and is recognized as a leader in the specialized area of Martial Science:
- Hachidan (8th Degree) - Okinawa GoJu Ryu Karate-Jutsu Kobu-Jutsu / Kyoshi-Go (2nd Master's Level)
- Sichidan (7th Degree) - Torite-Jutsu / Master Instructor
- Sichidan (7th Degree) - Okinawa Kempo / Master Instructor
- Sicgidan (7th Degree) - Chin Sook Hage Kwan / Master Instructor
- Sandan (3rd Degree) - Chungdokwan
- Shodan (1st Degree) - Yamanni Chinen Ryu (Ryukyu Bujutsu Kenkyu Doyukai (RBKD USA)
- Shodan (1st Degree) - Jujutsu
- Co-Founder and Professor Level Instructor International Martial Science Federation
- Apprentice Instructor - WuYiJieHe Family Martial and Healing Arts
- Senior Advisor - North America Okinawa Goju-Ryu KenShiKai Association Advisory Board
- Featured Instructor on IDOMARTIALARTS.com
Shihan McMains is the highest ranked Black Belt and senior most instructor in North America Okinawa GoJu Ryu KenShiKai Association, 2nd only to Hanshi Luis Morales, 10th Dan, Director and Chief Instructor, North America Okinawa GoJu Ryu KenShiKai.
Shihan McMains also has extensive training in other Okinawan/Japanese Karate styles, Filipino Arnis, Hapkido/Kuksool, Judo, Taiji/Qigong and Western Boxing. He is a former TECLOES and Texas Dept. of Corrections Self-Defense and Physical Fitness Instructor. As a former amateur and semi-professional fighter, Shihan McMains understands what "putting it on the line" literally means. Though his students may never step into the ring, it is important that his students approach their training with this in mind.
Studying Under Masters
In the five decades Shihan McMains has been practicing the martial arts, he has had the distinct honor and privilege of training directly with some of the world's leading martial artists. Because of his close relationship with these instructors, some of the most prized classes were held in ordinary situations including hallways, poolside or on tennis courts of hotels, late nights in backyards, or restaurant parking lots while waiting for their table.
In addition to the hours of practice, there were hours of discussions on planes, in cars, hotel rooms and just hanging out at the house. With this privilege comes the responsibility of maintaining a very high level of knowledge, expertise, integrity, and trust.
What these masters passed to Shihan McMains was more than a martial art. They imparted the deep internal concepts and principles that supported their systems. The more they shared from their individual systems the more Shihan McMains began to see that they weren't all that different as these varied systems shared many of the same technical foundations. It was upon these "First Principles" that Shihan McMains developed his style of teaching.
The , under the direction of Shihan McMains, is but one of a handful of dojos in North America and the only dojo west of the Mississippi River sanctioned and authorized to teach and represent this unique brand of Okinawan martial arts. The has the privileged support of Hanshi Luis Morales, 10th Dan, Chief Instructor/Director KenShiKai NA. Not only is Hanshi Morales the senior most student of Hanshi Tetsuhiro Hokama, 10th Dan, Founder and Head Instructor Kenshi-Kai International in the Western hemisphere, he was presented with the rare "Menkyo Kaiden" (License of Full Transmission) by Hanshi Hokama.
Alex Habibi - Yondan (4th Degree Black Belt), Jun Shihan
Sensei Alex Habibi has been practicing martial arts for more than 30 years. Sensei Habibi began training in Okinawa GoJu Ryu at the dojo under Shihan McMains in 2008 but shortly thereafter had to stop training due to medical issues. He returned to the OKCU Dojo in 2016. As a result of his intense level of dedication and past experiences, Sensei Habibi in just 6 years has obtained the rank of Yondan, 4th Degree Black Belt and “Jun-Shihan” Teaching License issued under the hand and seal of Dr. Tetsuhiro Hokama, 10th Dan, KenShiKai International Headquarters in Okinawa, Japan.
Sensei Alex came to Houston in 1997 to further his academic studies, completing his master’s degree in mechanical engineering. It was at this time that he began his martial arts training under Sensei Ben Kazar in Okinawan Shorin Ryu KenShinKai. Since then, Sensei Habibi has trained with many well-known martial artists including Ben Kazar, Deborah Douglas, Charlie Dean, Ron Lindsay and Saiyid Hassan. Aside from his passion for the classical martial arts, his personal interests include math, chess and firearms.
In addition to his success in Okinawa Goju Ryu, Sensei Alex holds Black Belt certifications in:
- Okinawan Shorin Ryu KenshinKai – Nidan (2nd Degree Black Belt)
- Okinawan Kobudo Shorinkan – Shodan (1st Degree Black Belt)
- Okinawan Shorin Ryu Shorinkan – Yondan (4th Degree Black Belt)
- White Crane Karate Jutsu – Nidan (2nd Degree Black Belt)
Tristan Beard - Nidan (2nd Degree Black Belt)
Assistant Instructor / Juniors’ Karate/Kobudo Program
Tristan began training at the dojo in 2015 at the age of 6. In his 8 years at our dojo, Tristan has continually shown an extraordinary level of dedication and commitment, missing less than 30 classes in all this time. After 2 years of achieving the rank of Shodan-Ho (Probationary Black Belt) at the age of 11, in January 2022 at the age of 13, Tristan was awarded the full rank of Shodan (1st Degree Black Belt). While this is a triumph within itself, Tristan accomplished this privilege 2 years shy of the traditional minimum age of 15. Setting yet another milestone, Tristan was awarded Nidan, 2nd Degree Black Belt on December 2, 2023.
Tristan arrives to the dojo on most days 30 minutes before the start of classes and assists Shihan McMains with preparing the dojo for that day’s lesson plan. Though Tristan’s main focus is instruction of our Junior students, Tristan routinely assists in both the Adult Karate and Kobudo classes.
In addition to his studies in KenShiKai Okinawa GoJu Ryu Karatejutsu, Tristan also trains in Yamanni Chinen Ryu under Shihan McMains.
