About Us

Shoshin Kai Martial Arts, is comprised of some of the oldest continually operated martial arts schools in the mid-Atlantic area. The home school in Milton, WV was founded in 1972 by James B. Cottrell originally as Southern WV Karate Club and has produced numerous national and international champions. Over the years the club has provided the opportunity for its members not only to learn an effective martial discipline, but also to travel and compete on four continents. Headed by Soke Brent Bias, Shoshin Kai Martial Arts offers classes in eight locations in West Virginia and is one of the most successful competition karate organizations in the region. Although the focus of the organization is Karate, we have grown to offer training in Aikido, Iaido, and Jiu-Jitsu at our various schools.

Through our affiliations with various national and international organizations over the years, Shoshin Kai Martial Arts has refined not only its karate, but also its administration. Our katas are instantly recognizable as standard forms performed in international competitions around the world, and our tournaments are some of the best run events you will find.

Senior Instructor: Soke Brent Bias

10th Degree Black Belt, Shoshin Kai Karate

brentwvkj@aol.com

Our Karate

Karate developed hundreds of years ago in the Ryukyu Kingdom of Okinawa as a combination of the indigenous Okinawan martial arts and influences from Chinese fighting disciplines. By the 18th century three distinct styles of Okinawan martial arts had emerged - Shuri-te, Naha-te, and Tomari-te, each named for the three villages they originated in. The lineage of our karate has it’s roots in Matsubayashi-Ryu. Founded in 1947 by Shoshin Nagamine, Matsubayashi-ryu is a branch of Shorin-ryu that draws primarily from the teachings of Nagamine’s two most important masters, Sokon Matsumura of Shuri-te and Kosaku Matsumura of Tomari-te.

In 1968 Soke Bias began his martial arts training within the Army ROTC program, but after several years started training under his lifelong Sensei Jim Cottrell in Seiei-kan karate, an orphaned branch of Matsubayashi-ryu. Under Sensei Cottrell’s guidance, the school grew and became affiliated over the years with the AAU and USA KARATE organizations allowing for the opportunity to train with many master instructors as well as head’s of different styles of karate from all over the world. Sensei Bias has learned kata from and trained with Sensei Mikami (Shotokan), Sensei Hideo Ochi (Isshin-ryu), Sensei Miki Minobu and his instructor (Shito-ryu), Sensei Yamazaki (Shotokan), Sensei Kanazawa (Shotokan) and many others. Our advanced katas trace directly to these Masters.

In Spring of 2017 after over 40 years, Soke Bias, left the Seiei-kan parent organization and formed Shoshin-Kai Martial Arts, in an effort to bring our karate back to a more orthodox practice. Shoshin-Kai Martial Arts is named in honor of Sensei Shoshin Nagamine and the Zen Buddhist concept of the same name, meaning “beginner’s mind.”