Kai Cho / Headmaster | Kai Cho / Headmaster |
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 LoPriore Sensei was the first full-time instructor to teach the rare and beautiful art of Kosho Shorei Ryu in New England. He was given the position and title of Shihan (Japanese for “Shining Example”) by Bruce Juchnik Hanshi, the 22nd-generation- and first American Headmaster, in 1997. At the time, LoPriore Sensei was also offered the position of Bucho (Department Head) of the Healing Arts within the Ryu, but he declined that position. LoPriore Sensei pursues the study of Kosho Shorei Ryu with great interest in internal and external martial arts, and the healing, philosophical, energetic and internal cultivation aspects of the art. He focuses his teaching on a holistically comprehensive study of this traditional art, directing substantial effort to the study of each of eight of the arts which James Mitose Sensei, the 21st-generation Headmaster, said the art is defined by. He formed KSSK in 2004 to reflect this intention. In 2006, he decided to drop the title "Shihan" and simply use the title "Kai Cho", which means Headmaster. In Japan, the title "Shihan" is usually granted only for highly skilled master-teachers who have at least 30 years' training in the lineage by which the title is granted. It is a term not to be used lightly, and is one very rarely given to a teacher who is younger than fifty or sixty years of age. Americans tend to frequently over-use it, and this diminishes its perceived value here. Thirty years' training is a minimum for qualification for this title in Kosho Shorei Shin Kai.  Since LoPriore Sensei began teaching in 1986, hundreds of students and patients have remarked that the self-cultivation aspects of his Kosho Shorei Ryu training and treatments are profoundly beneficial, and that these methods have helped them to transform their lives in many positive ways. His martial arts classes are decidedly practical, with an eye toward both combat effectiveness and self-cultivation simultaneously. He loves to teach and practice forms, and discuss their martial application in many self-defense situations. In early training, simple, practical, and natural but effective movements are emphasized so that beginners can quickly gain confidence and skill. But, efficiency and the subtle use of internal and external power are the main focus in training over the long term. Martial skills are dramatically enhanced through the study of self-cultivating arts such as Naijutsu (internal energy-cultivation arts), healing arts, meditation, and philosophy. Through this method, students quickly gain self-confidence, self-esteem, refined natural movement and holistic health. They also begin to drop their ego, and get out of their own way in life.
LoPriore Sensei began studying martial arts in 1984, the year after he graduated from high school. The first style he studied was called American Freestyle Karate. In 1986 he founded the Quinnipiac College Martial Arts Club, where he hired a local teacher to come in and teach a combination of Kyokushinkai Karate and Aikido, which he called Aikijutsu Karate. He later received black belts and teaching certification in both arts. Before he graduated from Quinnipiac College later that year, he was asked to start teaching classes for the club. He taught Aikijutsu Karate classes on his own for the first time in 1987, starting at the Stonington Community Center. He studied Aikijutsu Karate for another five years, eventually earning Sandan (Third Degree Black Belt) in that art.
He has studied many arts since, including Chinese, Indonesian, Filipino, Israeli, and American ones, as well as combatives with various military and law-enforcement groups. By 1991, LoPriore Sensei had been studying Small Circle Jujutsu for a couple of years with Professor Wally Jay. He opened his first full-time Dojo in January of that year, and hosted Prof. Jay's Eastern U.S. Summer Camp that year as well. That same summer he went to a large seminar in Long Island called "200 Years of Jujutsu", and was honored to uke for Prof. Jay, and be locked in his famous "pretzel" full-body lock. He also witnessed the incredible techniques of Daito Ryu Aiki Jujutsu there for the first time, demonstrated by Roy Goldberg Sensei. The timing wasn't right at the time to study this art, since LoPriore Sensei was so heavily involved in Professor Jay's organization, Jujutsu America, but he never forgot the amazing throws and locks that he saw that day by Goldberg Sensei.
In fact, at a Jujutsu America convention the next year in Boston, LoPriore Sensei met Tony Annesi Sensei, who was teaching Takeshin Ryu Seiken Budo (which combines Aikijujutsu and Karate). LoPriore Sensei later studied with Annesi Sensei, eventually becoming his top Seiken Budo student. Shortly after that, through another student of both Professor Jay's and Annesi Sensei's, LoPriore Sensei met Bruce Juchnik Sensei of Kosho Ryu Kempo. He was very impressed with not only the incredible martial arts he saw through this art, but of the large organization governing it which purported to teach shodo, shiatsu, and iaijutsu. Unfortunately, within a few years of LoPriore Sensei dropping everything else to study Kosho Ryu Kempo, the last of the Bucho in those areas quit or was asked to leave Juchnik Sensei's organization.
However, LoPriore Sensei was inspired by the spirit of what had been taught in the previous generations of Kosho Shorei Ryu (the parent art to the martial art of Kempo). So, he has followed the direction and teachings of James Mitose Sensei (Juchnik Sensei's teacher) which define Kosho Shorei Ryu as the study of eight specific traditional Japanese arts, understood in the context of the Principles of Natural Law. LoPriore Sensei studies with, or has studied with, senior teachers in each of those eight arts. In 2004, he formed his ryu-ha of Kosho Shorei Ryu, which emphasizes the study of all eight of the arts. He calls the organization that governs his art Kosho Shorei Shin Kai, Organization of the Spirit of Kosho Shorei.  In 2002, Sensei co-taught a class at Connecticut College called Martial Arts and Religion. As part of this class, he wanted to teach students about the intensity of the samurai spirit. So, he taught about the Japanese master warrior and calligrapher Tesshu, using the book "Sword of No Sword", and contacted Roy Goldberg Sensei of Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu to see if he would come and give the college students and the Dojo students a demo and class. Sensei has been studying with Goldberg Sensei ever since. Goldberg Sensei teaches monthly at Bushidokai.
 LoPriore Sensei has studied and practiced Asian medicine since 1990, beginning with anma (Japanese massage) from the Seifukujutsu lineage, under Professor Wally jay and his wife Bernice. He practiced predominantly Kosho Shorei Ryu Shiatsu (Japanese acu-pressure massage) under David Champ Sensei for the first several years. Then, after completing a long apprenticeship in Chinese style Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine with Dr. Yu-Chen Jiao, L.Ac., he became a Licensed Acupuncturist in 1998. From 2001 - 2003, he took an advanced two-year course with Lonny Jarrett, L.Ac., in Inner Tradition Medicine, the clinical integration of Five Element and Eight Principle style acupuncture and Asian medicine. His clinic currently sees sixty to eighty patients per week, with Sensei treating forty to sixty himself. He has written a well-received book called Essential Shiatsu, and authored many articles, handbooks, videos, DVDs and websites on the art of Kosho Shorei Ryu and related arts.
Sensei has produced a series of instructional videos. His latest DVDs include several on Chinese and Japanese Internal Energy Cultivation forms, two on the KSSK Pinan Kata, and most recently a comprehensive two-DVD set on a comprehensive introduction to the Eight Arts of Kosho Shorei Ryu. Earlier videos were on Kosho Shorei Ryu Shiatsu and other Energetic Medicine studies, the energetics of martial arts striking, throwing, grabbing, and other applications, and on the C.H.E.A.T. D.E.A.T.H. program that he and one of his students developed in advanced law-enforcement and personal defensive tactics.  Students can enjoy a close relationship with LoPriore Sensei. He is blessed with many advanced students and beginners alike who are true seekers. An inspired student and teacher, LoPriore Sensei continues to develop and teach deeper and broader studies of the Principles of Natural Law through Kosho Shorei Ryu training. He does not rigidly adhere to specific curriculum requirements, but encourages each student to use the various arts within Kosho Shorei Ryu to develop appropriately at various stages of their studies and their lives, as long as they have a well-rounded baseline education in all eight of the arts of Kosho Shorei Ryu. He has students and teachers with schools who look to him for guidance in several states in the U.S., and corresponds with others nationally and internationally. His branch of Kosho Shorei Ryu is a wonderful art for anyone who aspires to find the Scholar-Warrior-Healer-Sage within, and bring it out into the world.
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