Martial Arts, Chicago - Shinjinkai Dojo Community

DOJO COMMUNITY

Aside from its deepest purpose as a place where Budo (the martial Way) is practiced and embodied, a dojo is a unique social community. At the dojo, you will share with other members a common experience of the forging process of training. Such camaraderie can engender deep and lasting friendships.

Toyoda Sensei, the founder of Shinjinkan dojo, said,

"Although it is an old institution, the dojo will always have a place in modern society. We live in an electronic age when traditional community gathering places, such as churches, no longer hold the relevance they once did for many; we communicate by email or phone, and can go entire days without speaking directly to a living person. But the dojo is a place where direct human contact and communication may always be found. In our training, our entire physical and social selves must be used."

Currently, our Chicago-area locations include members from across the United States and from the United Kingdom, Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, Russia, Israel, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, the Phillipines, Japan, Korea, China and other nations. The dojo is a place where people from diverse backgrounds, who might otherwise never have met, come together.

Our Chicago-area members also maintain a schedule of social events - dojo pub nights, museum trips, holiday parties, etc. - at which they get together purely for fun and networking. Check back on this page periodically for updates (or join our general mailing list by clicking the icon to your left). Non-members are often welcome to attend these social events to meet us.

CHICAGO-AREA MEMBERS: UPCOMING SOCIAL EVENTS

December 17th: potluck party at Shinjinkai H.Q. in Chicago. Family and friends are welcome!

Swimming in Lake Michigan: New Year's Day!