Sensei (Chief Instructor) Cesare Marino Sensei Marino began his martial arts training in Treviso, Italy, in 1972 under the tutelage of one of Italy's great Karate instructors, Sensei Ofelio Michielan. Sensei Marino received his black belt in 1975 from Shihan Hiroshi Shirai, one of the world's leading Shotokan masters. In addition to this training, Sensei Marino attended the arduous instructor's training program under Shihan Shirai and Shihan Taiji Kase, both students of the father of modern Karate, Gichin Funakoshi, and two of the Japan Karate Association's (JKA) original four great masters who were dispatched from Japan to Europe in the mid-1960s. After moving to the US to earn his doctorate, Sensei Marino continued to study under Master Teruyuki Okazaki - another student of Master Funakoshi who was dispatched to the US and established the 50,000-member International Shotokan Karate Federation – a former affiliate of the JKA. In 1980, Sensei Marino was captain of the Kata (forms) team that placed first at the East Coast Karate Championships and second at the US National Championships in Philadelphia. After moving to the Washington area, Sensei Marino taught Karate at the Washington, DC Karate Club in Georgetown until he established the Alexandria Shotokan Karate Club (ASKC) at the Alexandria YMCA in 1985 where it continues to operate as an independent, non-competitive Shotokan Karate dojo that adheres to the basic principles and traditions in the spirit of tranditonal Shotokan Karate. Sensei Marino continues his senior-level training in his frequent travels to Italy under the tutelage of his long-time Sensei Ofelio Michielan, a senior associate of Master Shirai. Associate Instructors Gabriel Riego de Dios |
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