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 in Tai Shin Doh Karate. 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 18 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 Tai
Shin Doh karate and added 50% more self defense techniques. With
this he founded a Ju Jitsu system called Tai Shin Jitsu. Tai
Shin Jitsu was based on traditional and modern ideals
for those interested solely in self defense.
Sensei
Fisher's and his first instructor parted ways in 2006,
and Brandon founded Seijitsu Shin Do, which he just
renamed Tai Shin Jitsu, 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 Brandon
started calling style Shorin Ryu - Seijitsu Shin Do
Kan. This reflects the traditional karate that was
taught to Brandon and under the direction of Hanshi
Jack Buckley, 9th Dan and Kyoshi Frank Williams, 7th
Dan continues to be taught to him.
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, and Maryland to attend tournaments,
seminars, to teach and to assist in black belt gradings,
and loved every minute of it.
Most
recently 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 which truly was an honor in itself.
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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