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Suigetsukan Instructors

Sensei Mike Esmailzadeh is the head instructor of Suigetsukan. He holds the following ranks:
Kyoshi in Toyama Ryu Battodo
Rokudan in Toyama Ryu Battodo
Rokudan in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu
Godan in Aikido.

He has been actively involved in martial arts since 1976. Mike was born in Germany, and immigrated to the US at the age of 12. Months after arriving in the United States, he began learning Jujitsu under Professor David Bellman. Other Jujitsu Professors, who contributed to his education, may be found on the Jujitsu Instructors Page. He is equally grateful for the many years of Aikido and Toyama Ryu Battodo instruction he received from Obata Kaiso in those arts. Michael Esmailzadeh is also thankful for having studied the Inayan system of Eskrima under the direction of Suro Jason Inay and Masirib Guro Jena Inay. He also wants to thank Shihan Russ Rhodes for the teachings he has provided in that system.

Mike has also trained in a variety of martial arts/sports, including fencing, wrestling and Iaido. He trained and taught within the Chinese Gung Fu schools of Tai Mantis (Kam Yuen) and Wu Tang (Jason Tsou).

In 1990 he left Los Angeles for Oakland, and founded the Suigetsukan Dojo. Suigetsukan now consists of 1700 sq./ft of mat space, and living quarters for Mike and five others. Mike currently teaches Toyama Ryu Battodo, Aikido and Jujitsu. He also co-teaches women's self-defense classes.

Rebecca Wong has been training at Suigetsukan Dojo since its founding in 1991. She is an instructor and Board member of Suigetsukan, and has a 3rd degree Black Belt (Sandan) in Aikido as well as in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu. She also holds a rank of Nidan in Toyama Ryu. She teaches with ASAP - an API collective teaching awareness and self-defense for Asian and Pacific Islander women and girls. She also serves as an active Board member for Girl Army women's self defense collective. She works in a community mental health services program providing case management and money management services to the homeless in San Francisco.

   

Jorin Bukosky began his training with Mike Esmailzadeh Sensei in 1991 when Suigetsukan opened in Oakland. When Suigetsukan could house students, Jorin saw this as an excellent opportunity to further his training and teaching skills and leapt at the chance to become an uchi-deshi. After nine years as an uchi-deshi Jorin left the program, but continues to train and teach at the Dojo. Jorin has trained in all the arts offered at Suigetsukan and holds the following ranks, Yondan in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu, Sandan in Aikido, Nidan in Toyama Ryu Battojutsu and Level 3 Apprentice Instructor in Kadena de Mano.

 


Gina Rossi began training martial arts at Suigetsukan in 1992 and has been teaching at Suigetsukan since 1999. She holds the ranks of: Sandan in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu, Sandan in Aikido, and Nidan in Toyama Ryu.
She was born and raised in Oakland, California.




David Wilson started serious martial arts training in 1987, studying Wado-Ryu Karate under Hidetaka Abe Sensei. He got Shodan rank in 1990 and Nidan rank in 1994. It was a great honor for David to receive his Nidan certificate directly from the head of the Wado-Ryu style, Hironori Ohtsuka Soke, during one of Hironori's rare visits to the U.S. David is the head instructor for the Albany YMCA Youth Karate Program.
David was fortunate to study under Miyako Tanaka Sensei in Tendo-Ryu Nagianta from 1991 to 1992.
David started training in Sword with Mike Esmailzadeh Sensei. David is currently one of the instructors at Suigetsukan Dojo in Oakland and holds the rank of Nidan in Toyama Ryu Battodo.

Sam Larson has been studying at Suigetsukan since 1995, and is a Sandan in Danzan-Ryu Jujitsu and a Sankyu in Aikido. He teaches a jujitsu class on Thursday nights. He is originally from North Carolina, and moved to the Bay Area in 1991.

   



Alexander Ang-Angco holds the rank of Sandan in Aikido, Shodan in Toyama Ryu Battodo and Gokyu in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu. He began training Danzan Ryu Jujitsu at Suigetsukan in 1996, then Aikido and Sword in 1997. Since then, he has participated in various demonstrations for Suigetsukan with Professor Mike Esmailzadeh. He continues to train and teach.
He was born in the Philippines and spent his childhood in Papua New Guinea. He moved to California in 1995.