Karate Man

At 65 years old, Sensei Eihachi Ota is one of only a handful of Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu karate instructors from Okinawa still teaching in the U.S. Immigrating here in the late 1960's during the martial arts boom that gave rise to such luminaries as Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, Sensei Ota eventually found work as a technician at a large electronics company in Los Angeles. He also ran a bar in a rough are of the city, working 365 days a year, 7 days a week. Like many immigrants, Sensei Ota's journey has been one of finding roots in a new land. But in his 40+ years of training and teaching he has also become a vital link between the karate of Okinawa and its continuous evolution in the United States and throughout the world.