Beginning his martial arts training in 1976 in the art of taekwondo, Kris Wilder has earned black belt-level ranks in three arts: taekwondo (2nd Degree), Kodokan judo (1st Degree) and Goju Ryu Karate (5th Degree), which he teaches at the West Seattle Karate Academy. He has trained under Kenji Yamada, who as a judoka won back-to-back United States grand championships (1954-1955); Shihan John Roseberry, founder of Shorei-Shobukan Karate and a direct student of Seikichi Toguchi; and Hiroo Ito, a student of Shihan Kori Hisataka (Kudaka in the Okinawan dialect), the founder of Shorinji-Ryu Kenkokan Karate.
Though now retired from Judo competition, while active in the sport Kris competed on the national and international level. He has traveled to Japan and Okinawa to train in karate. He is the author of The Way of Sanchin Kata and Lessons from the Dojo Floor and co-author (with Lawrence Kane) of The Way of Kata and The Way to Black Belt. He has also written guest chapters for other martial arts authors and has had articles published in Traditional Karate, a magazine out of the U.K. with international readership. Kris also hosts the annual Martial University, a seminar composed of multidisciplinary martial artists. He also regularly instructs at seminars.
Kris lives in Seattle, Washington with his son Jackson. He can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected] or through the West Seattle Karate Academy website at www.westseattlekarate.com.
Lawrence Kane is the author of Surviving Armed Assaults and Martial Arts Instruction, as well as co-author (with Kris Wilder) of The Way of Kata and The Way to Black Belt. He has also published numerous articles about teaching, martial arts, self-defense, and related topics, contributed to other author’s books, and acts as a forum moderator at www.iainabernethy.com , a website devoted to traditional martial arts and self-protection.
Since 1970, he has participated in a broad range of martial arts, from traditional Asian sports such as judo, arnis, kobudo, and karate to recreating medieval European combat with real armor and rattan (wood) weapons. He has taught medieval weapons forms since 1994 and Goju Ryu karate since 2002. He has also completed seminars in modern gun safety, marksmanship, handgun retention and knife combat techniques, and he has participated in slow-fire pistol and pin shooting competitions.
Since 1985, Lawrence has supervised employees who provide security and oversee fan safety during college and professional football games at a Pac-10 stadium. This part-time job has given him a unique opportunity to appreciate violence in a myriad of forms. Along with his crew, he has witnessed, interceded in, and stopped or prevented hundreds of fights, experiencing all manner of aggressive behaviors as well as the escalation process that invariably precedes them. He has also worked closely with the campus police and state patrol officers who are assigned to the stadium and has had ample opportunities to examine their crowd control tactics and procedures.
To pay the bills he does IT sourcing strategy and benchmarking work for an aerospace company in Seattle where he gets to play with billions of dollars of other people’s money and make really important decisions. Lawrence lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife Julie and his son Joey. He can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].