Our philosophy is simple. We are a traditional Shotokan karate dojo with traditional values. Our objective is to train, advance, and pass on the knowledge of traditional Shotokan karate in the spirit it was passed on to us. Traditional Shotokan karate may mean different Things to different individuals, e.g., a form of exercise, a form of inner development, a form of stress release, a form of sport, a form of art, a form of social interaction, etc., etc.. These reasons for training traditional Shotokan karate are all valid, and we believe that they are important; however, traditional Shotokan karate must still hold true to its martial beginnings – students should be confident that the skills learned in the dojo could help them in a self defense situation. Self defense is a serious topic, and although karate should be fun, the knowledge that is being taught is potentially dangerous or perhaps even lethal.. For this reason, the dojo kun (a set of five mottos often recited in JKA Shotokan dojos) is stressed above all..