Brandon
Fisher was born in Lafayette, Indiana in November of 1976,
where he resided with his mother and grandparents until 1982,
when moving to St. Louis, Missouri. Brandon was born with a
rare visual impairment caused by a pinched nerve in his neck
that left him totally blind. It was not until he was 3 years
old, when a chiropractor adjusted Brandon's neck on a chance
that it may free the nerve. With a lot of prayer and some luck
the nerve was relieved, which allowed more blood flow and gave
Brandon limited sight. To this day he is considered legally
blind and requires different things to help him see. However,
most do not work well enough for him to use so he works around
it the best he can.
In 1984, right after moving to Cleveland, Ohio, his family
was notified of a karate class through one of the local recreation
departments, and they felt this would be a good thing for
Brandon to try out. Well it was like a lot of little kids,
Brandon was scared to death of it, when arriving to his first
class. However it quickly became a great love for him and
he stayed with that program for the next 21 years.
When
Brandon was 15, he and his mother moved back to Indiana,
near Turkey
Run State Park where he attended Turkey Run High
School and graduated from TRHS. While in Indiana it was a
known fact that Brandon had to find a dojo to train in, so
asking around he was referred to Renshi Tom Ward, Shorin
Ryu-Shorinkan, who was teaching at a local catholic church
about 30 minutes from where Brandon was living at the time.
Brandon trained with Sensei Ward, and also traveled back
and forth to Cleveland to train there also. It was with Sensei
Ward that Brandon received his first exposure to kata, yakusoku
kumite and kobudo. Again it left Brandon a little shaken,
as it was a whole new aspect and he didn’t pick it
up easily. However, over the next couple of years he learned
11 kata of which he still teaches and practices today, among
others he has learned since. In 1994 he started teaching
his own class as a brown belt. With just a handful of students
he had great success in there learning.
In 1995 Sensei Fisher was promoted to Shodan, and from there
the teaching career began. Because of his eye problem there
are only a few jobs that he can do, because of the lack of
understanding of many employers he had. So Brandon dedicated
his life to the martial arts and decided that teaching and
training was the path he would follow in life. Since he began
teaching he has promoted over 20 people to Shodan, many of
which were some top competitors at the kyu and black belt
levels on the local and state circuits. During this time
Brandon created the kata curriculum for karate organization
he was a part of at that time.
Sensei Fisher's and his first instructor parted ways in
2006, and Brandon started calling his karate Seijitsu Shin
Do Karate Do, to incorporate the traditional karate ideals
he has always practiced and taught. Brandon is very traditional
minded when it comes to karate and an absolute believer in
the teachings of Karate-Do, so with the approval of UMAA
(Zen Sekai Bujitsu Kyokai) under the direction of Kyoshi
Frank Williams and Hanshi Jack Buckley Brandon started calling
style Shorin Ryu - Seijitsu Shin Do Kan. This reflects the
traditional karate that was taught to Brandon.
Brandon
has won many awards in both self defense and kata competition.
He has competed in Ohio, Pennslyvania, Indiana,
and Illinois. In addition, he has attended seminars from
some of the top instructors in the USA and abroad. Some of
these notable instructors were Grandmaster Vince Marchetti
(Ju Jutsu), Grandmaster Ron Van Clief (Chinese Goju), Grandmaster
Dan McEddy (Angelic Ninjutsu), Grandmaster John Denora (Daito
Ryu Aiki Ju Jutsu), Grandmaster Harris Warren (Ju Jutsu),
and Bill "Superfoot" Wallace among many others.
He has also had the opportunity to teach his brand of Ju
Jitsu to many masters and grandmasters at an International
hall of fame gathering. Brandon has traveled throughout Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina
and Maryland to attend tournaments, seminars, to teach and
to assist in black belt gradings, and loved every minute
of it.
Brandon had the honor of hosting a seminar with Hanshi Seifuku
Nitta from Okinawa at his dojo. During that seminar Nitta
Sensei surprised Brandon with his Renshi menkyo (license)
which truly was an honor in itself, Nitta Sensei also certified
Brandon as Rokudan (6th Degree Black Belt).
To further his education in karate and kobudo, Brandon plans
to travel to the birthplace of karate (Okinawa) sometime
in the near future to train with some of the top masters
in the world.
Don't
be fooled by his having a sight problem. Karate is one
thing he does very well and teaches well. He loves to
train himself and teach anyone who is willing to learn
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