Breaking Rocks - Arizona Martial Arts Instructor, Geologist & Author Loves to Teach

Gilbert geologist and author, has had his share of breaking rocks with his bare hands, or with a rock hammer while searching for gold, diamonds, or colored (fancy) gemstones. 

He found dozens of deposits (sapphire, peridot, diamond, garnet, diopside, opal, the largest known iolite gems in the world, and possibly the largest iolite deposit in the world. He still thinks about that one gem he left in a rock outcrop in Wyoming: estimated to be the size of a smart car! Imagine wearing that on a necklace.

In-between mapping old mines, and a few hundred square-miles of complex geological terrain, the Arizona scientist published more than 1,000 professional papers, magazine articles, books, blogs, abstracts and geological maps. Being an author takes considerable time, and leaves him with little time to do anything else: well, not actually. He's a workaholic. In the past, he was a professional musician, artist, astronomer, and public speaker. In recent years, miracles have attracted his attention, and now he delves into Biblical archaeology and explores the science behind artifacts in the Bible. 

Back to breaking rocks! When teaching students to break rocks in martial arts classes and clinics, he also educates them in rock identification. 

When not breaking rocks with a rock hammer, Soke
uses his hands to break rocks at the Arizona
Hombu dojo in Mesa

Nearly two dozen Halls-of-Fame inducted him in the past and he is a Who's Who in Martial Arts. But he is not a fighter! Instead, he is a martial arts teacher. 

As a teacher, he taught hundreds of students at ASU, UNM, U of U, and University of Wyoming. Even though he accomplished a lot in his life in human terms, he thanks God for all of his blessings and for God's grace.

Teaching students to break rocks in front of the geology
department at the University
of Wyoming.

Demonstrating body hardening at a basketball game halftime with third
degree black belt Donnette Gillispie.

Ouch! Sensei Hausel

demonstrates body hardening (Juko Ryu

jujutsu) at halftime at the University

of Wyoming before a sellout crowd.

Great Teaching Requires Extraordinary Teachers

Grandmaster Hausel at the Arizona Hombu Dojo Karate and Kobudo School, Gilbert, Arizona. Hausel demonstrates a
 common kobudo weapon known as tekko derived from horseshoes and stirrups. 

October, 2017. Former professor of martial arts (kyoju no budo), Soke Hausel, taught taught karate, kobudo (Okinawan weapons), self-defense, samurai arts, and jujutsu for 3 decades at the University of Wyoming, prior to packing up and moving to Gilbert, Arizona, in 2006. In-between teaching karate, kobudo, jujutsu and self defense in the departments of physical education, kinesiology, extended studies, and club sports, he would keep in shape by walking for miles in a search for mineral deposits for geological research, or as a consultant to various mining companies. 

In Alaska, he and 6 other geologists discovered one of the largest gold deposits found in human history, with more gold than mined at the famous Homestake mine. He didn’t get a speck of gold for the discovery at Donlin Creek Alaska, just a consulting fee and his name carved on a stone plaque with the other 6 geologists. 

When searching for gold deposits, he exams all aspects of the rocks and mineralization.  For martial arts, he also examines all aspects of creating the greatest amount of thrust in his blocks and strikes and studies the karate kata (forms) in detail to search for the many, hidden applications known as bunkai. To him, kata (the forms of karate and kobudo) are like gold mines filled with treasure. The treasure in kata are known as bunkai (practical applications hidden in the forms). In days of old, Okinawan karate masters created karate kata (forms) with all of their favorite techniques and used kata as a living guide to self-defense.

Hausel is a grandmaster of Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo certified by Juko Kai International,  and Zen Kokusai Soke Budo Bugei Renmei. Over the years, he found hidden treasures in his students. The students are the lineage of our martial art, and it is up to them to carry on the traditions.  

Much of Okinawa karate is centered around katas. Kata are an ingenious pattern to teach students how to kick, punch, stand and defend. They contain devastating self-defense techniques developed by karate masters in the past, and they mimic traditional Okinawan dances. Why? It was a method used by Okinawan people to keep karate secret from the Japanese who had conquered the tiny chain of islands. Thus, the Okinawan people actually practiced karate right under the noses of the Japanese samurai, and the samurai had no idea of what it meant. The karate masters taught these living forms to their students, which contained many self-defense techniques with hints of hidden secrets retained only by the masters of various karate styles. 

Many techniques were proven effective in the alleys of Shuri and Naha, Okinawa. Even though most Okinawan martial artists could not read, they had living forms of self-defense. And over time, just like some old gold mines, the original prospectors and some of the original martial arts masters, forgot where the gold was hidden. But it is still there, and one must spend a lifetime of study to reveal those secrets.

They pragmatic self-defense techniques in each kata employ all kinds of techniques including escapes, chokes, pressure-point strikes, kicks, punches, restraints, joint manipulations, throws, and even weapon applications known as kobudo. This is the treasure Hausel loves.

Inducted into a 16th Hall of Fame,
Who's Who in Martial Arts awarded
Soke Hausel at their convention
in Washington DC in 2017.

Over the years, Soke Hausel won fame as a martial arts instructor and was inducted into an unprecedented, 16 halls-of-fame around the world.

  

Arizona Karate Instructor Nominated for Top Scientist

It's not everyday a Hall-of-Fame Grandmaster and instructor of Karate and Kobudo is considered as a Top Scientist. That's right, it just never happens! Well, almost never. But, why a top scientist? Is karate now a science?

Soke Hausel, an Arizona martial arts instructor, is also a Hall-of-Fame geologist as well as a Hall-of-Fame Martial Arts Instructor. Combining these skills helps him select rocks for his students. No, he doesn't try to convert them to rockhounds, instead he teaches them a little about the toughness of various rocks so they can break them with their hands (and sometimes with their heads). For instance, a friable sandstone is the easiest to break (but will leave grains of sand stuck in your head or hand) and along with this type of sandstone, there are shales that are relatively easy to break - but he tells his students to avoid shale simply because it often breaks with a conchoidal fracture similar to glass and potentially can severely cut the student. But if you are from certain parts of Canada or Colorado, you may be stuck with oil shale. It smells, but what the heck!

Then there are other rocks. Soke Hausel likes to break limestone, recrystallized or lithified sandstone, dolomite or quartzite as these provide excellent resistance. Limestone is basically mother nature's concrete. But in the Phoenix Valley in Arizona, such rocks are not easy to come by because of all of the past volcanism. The valley is filled with rocks like rhyolite, andesite and basalt. Some of these are very, very hard. For instance, rhyolite is the fine-grained equivalent of granite - and we all know how hard granite is.

After working at the Wyoming Geological Survey and the University of Wyoming as a research geologist, consulting geologist and martial arts instructor, Soke Hausel got to know a lot of difficult rocks. For instance, he mapped more than 1,000 km2 of complex Precambrian terrain covered with metamorphic rocks: metamorphic rocks, like volcanic or igneous rocks, are very, very uncooperative. He doesn't recommend schist or gneiss as they have a fabric, much like plywood that will tend to resist breaking. And Wyoming - the Jade State, of course has some jade deposits - don't even consider jade - it is one tough gemstone.

Governor Mike Sullivan congratulates Soke Hausel

Soke Hausel is also an author and wrote many books and papers on geology and rocks. So, if you want more information, have a look at some of his books. And if you decide to try breaking rocks with your hands or head - remember, you should have professional training first - by someone who has done this before, otherwise you will break your hand - rocks do not cooperate like boards.

Finally, back to the Top Scientists. In a letter from Nicholas Law, Director General with the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England to Soke Hausel, he writes: "You are to be congratulated. As a noted and eminent professional in the field of science you have now been considered and nominated for recognition by the IBC. Of the many thousands of biographies from a wide variety of sources investigated by the research and editorial departments of IBC, a select few are those of individuals who, in our belief, have made a significant enough contributions in their field to engender influence on a local national or international basis. Ratification of your nomination by the Awards board is now complete and it is therefore my great honour to name you as a member of the IBC Top 100 Scientists - 2016. As a holder of this distinction ....."

So what makes Soke Hausel unique as a scientist - all of the gemstone, gold, mineral and rock discoveries. These can only be matched by a handful of people in history. But will he accept this award? Probably not. "It is always nice to be recognize for my work, but I don't need awards anymore - I have plenty buried in my closet".  "When I left the University of Wyoming, I also dumped a bunch of them on a shelf, as there were too many to transport to Arizona".

One of the greatest achievements - discovery of a
giant, world-class gold deposit

Soke Hausel inducted into two Halls of Fame at the same time - one for geology, the other for martial arts.

Valley University Professor Receives Martial Arts Promotion

Dr. Neal Adam promoted to shichidan (7th degree black belt) 
by Soke Hausel. Few martial arts sensei are as
creative and dedicated as Kyoshi Adam. We all have a great
time training with him at the Arizona Hombu.

On Thursday, May 26th, 2016, Dr. Neal Adam of Phoenix, Arizona was promoted to one of the highest ranking members of Seiyo No Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo Kai after demonstrating karate (empty hand) and kobudo (ancient traditional Okinawa weapons) along with developing new bunkai (pragmatic applications) for kata. Dr. Adam was promoted to 7th dan (7th degree black belt) and awarded the honorary title of Kyoshi. It is extremely rare for anyone to achieve such a high rank in a traditional martial art. It is estimated that less than 1% of martial artists ever reach such a high level of expertise. In Seiyo Shorin-Ryu it is even more uncommon as less than 0.1% of members have ever been promoted to such a high rank of expertise. 

Possibly more significant is that only two people: Andy Finley from Casper, Wyoming and Neal Adam from Phoenix, Arizona remain in the running to receive certification for Menkyo Kaiden - a license of total understanding of the Seiyo No Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo martial art. 

Old photo of Dr. Adam at the University of Wyoming. Kneeling on the left. Photo taken about 1990.

Few people are as ethical as Dr. Adam and he is a very important representative of Seiyo No Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo Kai. His integrity exudes in martial arts, his daily life, his religion and in his profession as a professor at Grand Canyon University. Soke Hausel, the grandmaster of Seiyo No Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo Kai expressed his admiration for Dr. Adam, "I feel lucky to have him as a long time student of mine. He first joined my organization at the University of Wyoming more than 25 years ago while working on a post doc in the UW Agricultural Department.

Dr. Adam (far right) at the Arizona Hombu dojo, Mesa Arizona

Ok, is he from Hooker, OK, or did he decide to take
up a new profession?

Dr. Adam demonstrates a kata for professors he created and demonstrated at the dojo
The kata is known as the Nerd Kata.

Dr. Adam training in Kobudo at the Arizona
Hombu dojo

Dr. Adam entertains members of the Arizona Hombu Dojo with his interpretation
of Nebraskan kobudo 

Karate training at the Hombu dojo, Gilbert, Arizona. Kyoshi Adam with
Sensei Bill Borea

Hands up!

Okinawan kobudo is about applying martial arts techniques
to tools - Here, Dr. Adam demonstrates the use of a modern
hoe, known as kuwa in the Okinawan language.

Gilbert Arizona Karate Instructor celebrates 50 years.

Grandmaster Hausel poses in Gilbert, Arizona

Fifty years ago, a young, long-haired rock n' roll musician walked into the Black Eagle Federation dojo in Salt Lake City, to sign up for karate lessons at the local martial arts school. This was in 1964 and this teenager had enough harassment by both adults and other teenagers. Many threatened to cut his hair, reform him, and beat him up. So, it was pay back time.

Soke Hausel, an Arizona Martial Arts instructor and grandmaster of Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo started training in Kyokushin Kai Karate in Sugar house and found it may have been easier getting beat up on the street rather than in the dojo (martial arts school). The training was tough and each class included full-contact kumite (sparring) without pads, head-gear, foot-pads or gloves. We had a cup, feet, hands and hard heads, but that was it for protection.

Every week someone was a knocked out, received a broken nose, finger, stubbed toe. Soke Hausel indicates that the training was valuable except for one problem. It was obvious it was not a devastating-type of karate he was looking for. After all, no one ended up in the hospital, so something was not quite right in this training, and we never held back on any block, punch or kick. Later, I was introduced to Wado-Ryu Karate, Kempo Karate, Goju-Ryu Karate, Shotokan Karate and Shorin-Ryu Karate. Grandmaster Hausel took a liking to Shorin-Ryu karate as it was not like the others. It was 'traditional karate' and taught people how to actually defend against most kinds of attacks with maximum power and focus. All of the other types of karate were known as sport karate and were more about winning trophies than defending oneself.

In 1977, Soke Hausel accepted a job as a research geologist at the Wyoming Geological Survey at the University of Wyoming. In addition to conducting research on rocks, he began to teach people to break rocks in classes in the School of Extended Studies, the Department of Physical Education, Department of Kinesiology, Club Sports, and also taught many dozens of clinics in self-defense, women's self-defense, martial arts history and more. 

"I was very lucky in my martial arts education. I had some good instructors early on, and then in 1992, I hooked up with the greatest martial artist on the planet, and likely the greatest martial artist of 21st century, Dai-Soke Sacharnoski. This made all of the difference - after Dai Soke became my instructor, I really improved dramatically in my abilities. Anyone looking to learn martial arts needs to keep this in mind. Find a first class instructor!

ROCK N' ROLL STAR TEACHES KARATE IN ARIZONA

Dan Hausel began training in karate in 1964. His inspiration to sign up for karate resulted from the Beatles appearing on the Ed Sullivan show in February 1964. After watching the Beatles, he focused on learning to play the guitar and like many teens at the time, played in a rock-n'-roll band after signing up for guitar lessons at the Progressive School of Music in SLC.

The 1996 JKI Clinic at the University of Wyoming. Dai-Soke Sacharnoski

sits in center front. I'm standing in the back far to the left. "Dai-Soke 

Sacharnoski is the best martial artist I've ever seen", says Hausel.

On February 9th 1964, Ed Sullivan introduced the Beatles on his variety show. This event changed people’s lives as they watched the program with their families on black and white TVs complete with the old vacuum tubes. For Dan Hausel, he also wanted to be a rock-n’-roll star! Next door to his Junior High School (Irving Junior in Sugarhouse of SLC) was the Black Eagle Federation karate dojo, which would play an important part of his life, thanks to rock n' roll.

Only a few teenagers at this time grew their hair into a Beatles's cut. Mind you, in 1964 crew cuts were the norm, those who had any hair to speak of were dabbing it with Brylcreme and no male had hair that touched their ears. Those with hair of any length were so greased that many a head could have been used to extract diamonds at any South African diamond mine. Brylcreme ads resonated on TV and AM radio "Brylcreme, a little dab will do you..." – it was an extremely conservative society that did not accept change easily.

Steve Paulos (left) and myself at a Rock
n' Roll concert (Salt Lake Tribune,
Sept. 5th, 1965)

In the summer of 1964, Soke Hausel and three other teens started a garage band. If you travel to Grand Junction, Colorado, you will see photographs of the band displayed on the wall at J.B. Hart Music Company. The band known as the Churchmen, included a keyboard player who now owns Hart Music.

The band became very popular, ended up as a warm up band at some concerts, made it on TV, on the radio, and even had its own personal fan club - made up entirely of a group of Japanese-American girls who followed them around to various concerts, taking photos, and keeping a photo scrapbook of the band. When it became popular due to the hippie culture, the band even took on a light show - Tokyo Joe's light show - ran by one Japanese-American. There were many Japanese-Americans in Utah, presumably because of the World War II internment camps located in Utah, southern Idaho and western Wyoming.

Long hair was a liability in 1964, so sometime in 1964 the band signed up for self-defense lessons at the Black Eagle Federation Dojo in Sugarhouse. Soke Hausel was a sophomore in high school at the time and the dojo was located far enough away from his home that he walked a 2.5 to 3 mile round trip to get there and back because of being under aged for driving. On the walk, he had to pass through a large park. In the evenings, the park often was a play ground for hoods and others looking for trouble. Periodically, he had the opportunity to apply what he had just learned in karate classes.



Our Rock n' Roll band - the
Churchmen outside of Terrace
Gardens (1966).

It was a tough dojo and a declaration by the band's drummer, George Allen, was descriptive: "It was the toughest workout I had ever experienced and I actually sweat blood". He insisted that skinny o' Hausel would not last a week in the dojo, but he didn't understand that Soke Hausel took challenges seriously. George only lasted about a week or two but Hausel became fascinated with martial arts, particularly after the introduction of the Green Hornet (starring Bruce Lee) on TV in 1966-67 and the later Kung Fu series (1972-1975) with David Caridine. Hausel remembers training at the dojo and hurrying home to see Kato (played by Bruce Lee) take out a bad guy in very tiny segments of the program. The show really stunk, but the few seconds Bruce Lee made his appearance made it all worth while.

Hausel trained under various Sensei at the Black Eagle Federation dojo. Its been more than 45 years, but he particularly remembers Sensei Becker, Sensei Rudi, Sensei Fox and the head instructor, Sensei Anguay. Soon, Hausel became the designated uke for Sensei John Becker. Sensei Becker would call him in front of the class – "hey Ringo", and then often level him with a punch or kick. Back in those days, martial artists trained with full power and full force and lawyers were almost unheard of.



The 12th Knight Band, 1968. I'm
in the front

Part of the time, the demo was full force - after all , this was a kyokushin kai dojo and they had to maintain the focus of the style: full contact. Hausel survived and later repaid Becker for his demonstrations after he had to leave to dojo to take a job. When he returned, he was in poor shape, had been smoking, and his reflexes were not what they had been. During training, Hausel blocked a kick by Becker with his leg, leaving a large welt on Becker's shin.

Sensei Hausel standing on 2.4 billion

year old Sherman Granite east of

Laramie, Wyoming (about 1985)

But before this happened, Hausel remembers one night in particular. Sensei Becker decided he was going to get everyone in shape. They did dozens of squat kicks, duck walks, push ups, sit-ups, deep horse stances (kiba dachi), and a few hundred kicks until Hausel no longer had any strength in my legs. He was a teenager and had never done any formal exercise on his own up to that point, and unfortunately, had a long walk home from the dojo through Fairmont Park to his home on 27th South and 8th east. Periodically, he collapsed as his knees buckled. To stand, he had to pull himself up, lock his knees and walk with a awkward gait as his muscles would no support his weight. Later, he noticed the positive affects; he found strength in his legs that few others in his high school class could match in track and field.

Each week they had kumite training. In the 60s, no one cared much about safety and the only protective gear was a cup. No gloves, head gear, padding, nothing else, and all strikes were full contact to any part on the body. In a short time, they developed lightning fast reflexes as they fought everyone in the dojo without breaks at each kumite session. If they would have been properly trained in ki, probably someone would have been killed. But even this kind of negative training provided Hausel with experience and ideas on how better to train his own students later in life.

One evening, the band's bass player was hit in the forehead by an adult wearing a ruby ring. Ruby is only second in hardness to that of diamond - so you can imagine the kind of imprint this made on Steve Paulos. For about a month, one could easily tell the type of cut and carat weight of the gemstone from the impression in Steve’s forehead. And yes, all students in the class were periodically knocked out. Hausel remembers karate ka talking about how great he had fought one evening, which puzzled him as he had no recollection of the match or even getting dressed to go home. He finally realized what had happened half way home when he came to his senses.



Tim Smith, geophysicist to the left
and Hausel doing a flying side kick at
the University of Utah, 1970.

After Hausel graduated from high school he headed to the University of Utah. While at the U, he trained with the U of U Karate Club under Sensei Osaka in Wado-Ryu karate. Sensei Osaka could not speak English, so it resulted in lots of hands on explanations. During one of the club's demonstrations another group presented a demo of Shotokan karate. Hausel was very impressed and decided to start training under Sensei Tutsumi in Bountiful Utah.

After graduating from the University of Utah in 1972 and 1974 in geology, he moved to Albuquerque to attend graduate school at the University of New Mexico. His advisor, Dr. Kudo, was a prankster and of Japanese descent. Following his first mid-term exam in Geology 101, he called on Hauel to assist in breaking the ice. He stashed another graduate student in the lecture hall who pretended to be upset by his grade. The student challenged Kudo to a fight to the death and called his body guard. His body guard, Rusty Riese, another graduate student and fellow martial artist walked out on the podium wearing a gi. Kudo accepted the challenge and exclaimed he had a martial arts expert of his own. This was Hausel's queue and he came running across the stage, leaping into a flying side kick (yoko tobi geri) directed at Rusty. They fought our way off the stage. Many of students probably tell stories about these skits.

Hausel doing another yoko tobi geri
(Flying side kick) with Eddie Begaye
defending, University of New Mexico
1975.

On a more serious note, Hausel was attacked by two thugs on the UNM campus right after teaching a karate class in the student union. He was already warmed up. As he walked out of the union, one of the thugs assumed a cat stance on his left, while the other moved to his right to try out-maneuver him. Hausel reports that alarms went off in his head – the one on the left was likely a martial artist and the other had a knife. The one to his left attacked first and threw a right hook, followed by a right kick, and then a left hook. Hausel easily blocked the right punch and kick. While in the process of throwing a left hook, Hausel hit him three times three tsuki directed to the temple, neck and upper lip. The attacker collapsed and Hausel turned to face the other. Frightened, he had no fight in him and wanted to go to the aid of his partner. This was unfortunate, as Hausel discovered he loved to fight and later had to do some serious soul searching to keep himself in check. He began to do a lot of meditating and joined a local Christian Church to finally calm his spirit. But the technique used back on the UNM campus worked so well, that later when he became the grandmaster of Seiyo Shorin-Ryu Karate, he incorporated the sandan tsuki into one of the Seiyo Shorin-Ryu kata (Meikyo kata).

JKI Yudansha. I'm in the white gi pants sitting in front,

2nd from the left (2004?)

After UNM, Hausel moved to southern New Mexico where he taught karate and worked as a geologist. One of his students was Tom Custer, who had a family with a long history of note. In Tom's lineage was another Tom with his brothers Boston and George Armstrong Custer. Hausel soon left New Mexico for Wyoming where he began research in geology at the Geological Survey on the University of Wyoming campus and started teaching karate, kobudo, jujutsu and self-defense classes at UW.

Over the years, Hausel taught hundreds of students at the University of New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming as well as classes in karate and jujutsu in the UW Department of Physical Education, Department of Kinesiology, and the School of Extended Studies. He also taught at private clubs and offered clinics for a number of groups around the state. Later he opened a dojo with Shihan Stahl, 5th dan, in Saratoga, Wyoming where several martial arts clinics were held and Stahl taught karate and tai ki classes. In 1990, Hausel affiliated with Juko Kai International and focused on Shorin-Ryu and Juko-Ryu martial arts. His personal sensei was (and still is) Dai-Soke Sacharnoski, 12th dan. Most people have no idea what a great honor it is to train directly under a grandmaster. Prior to Dai-Soke Sacharnoski, Hausel had only known of 3 or 4 other grandmasters in the world, and all were incredible martial artists.

At his first national JKI black belt clinic, Soke Sacharnoski tested him for godan (5th dan) and Shihan (master instructor). This test was done in front of 250 black belts from 1st dan to 10th dan – and Hausel was the only one allowed to test. So everyone watched. Following the test, he was promoted. Another black belt (Ron Smith) told him that his ki and focus were so incredible that Hausel actually shook the building with his punches. Another, a Nanadan (7th dan), told him it was the best display of Shotokan (Shorin-Ryu) karate he had ever seen. But according to Hausel, he was like a deer in headlights – he had never seen a grandmaster in person and never had the opportunity to approach anyone with such high rank as a 7th dan, two 9th dans and Grandmaster Sacharnoski. 

A day Hausel will never forget -
certification
as Soke Shodai (grandmaster) of
Seiyo No Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo
Kai by Dai-Soke Sacharnoski, 1999

JKI is a unique organization and has many of the top martial arts instructors in North America (as well as the world). Most who apply for membership in JKI are refused. We know of no other organization that requires its instructors to be of such high caliber and rejects so many applicants.

Hausel continued to attend all of the JKI clinics he could afford to. The limiting factor was his work that required him to conduct field work in the middle of nowhere. But in 1996, the University of Wyoming Campus Shorin-Ryu Karate Club was able to bring Dai-Soke to UW to teach a clinic.

His most memorable day in martial arts occurred a few years later in 1999. He had been promoted to hachidan (8th dan) in 1998 and at the time was personally invited to sit and talk alone with Dai-Soke Sacharnoski who suggested he should consider becoming Soke of his own style since he had already developed a hybrid style with his training in Kokushin Kai, Kempo, Wado-Ryu, Shotokan, Dai Yoshin-Ryu, Juko-Ryu, Nippon-Ryu, Shorin-Ryu and other arts and earned status of Kyoju (Professor of Budo), and was awarded JKI Samurai. He had also been awarded the top JKI instructor of the Year. But he never had dreamed of becoming a Soke.

Soke Jim Moclair (Great Britain)
and Soke Hausel (Wyoming) at JKI Hombu, 1999

To be a Soke, one must demonstrate a new legitimate style, or inherit a style from a Soke. Dai-Soke felt Hausel had demonstrated a new art and proved his ability. Thus in 1999, he was awarded certification as Soke Shodai of Seiyo No Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo Kai (TM) at the JKI Hombu in Murphy North Carolina and was promoted to kudan (9th dan).

In 2003, Hausel was able to bring his childhood hero to UW for a clinic. Tadashi Yamashita from Okinawa showed up to a packed training session at UW. Yamashita Sensei is an excellent Shorin-Ryu stylist as well as a Hollywood stunt man and movie star.

 In the following year, 2004, Hausel was promoted to judan (10th dan) by Dai Soke Sacharnoski as well as by a few other international associations. He didn’t keep detailed records, but a few thousand students trained in Seiyo Shorin-Ryu under the direction of Soke Hausel. Many students from UW became engineers, university faculty, scientists, etc. 

Teaching students to use the hanbo, Soke Hausel has received induction awards from 16 different Halls of Fame for teaching methods

2003 Tadashi Yamashita clinic at the University of Wyoming.
Yamashita Sensei sits in center, I sit six to the left in the black gi jacket,
my son Eric Hausel sits ten to the left, my daughter Jessica is standing in the
back (third from the right).