tenbukan bujitsu renmei

Soke Rick Jessee was a member of the Seishinkai Karate Union of Japan and had earned the title of Shihan. Upon the passing of Soke Shogo Kuniba in 1992, Soke ventured away from that organization. In 1995 he founded the Tenbukan in order to provide some kind of organizational structure for his students. This was also a way to incorporate others who practiced the Japanese and Okinawan arts. He chose the name Tenbukan directly from the his Korean organization Chun Moo Kwan.  If the characters are written in Kanji, a Korean will pronounce it Chun Moo Kwan, if a Japanese person pronounces the same kanji they will say Tenbukan. Both translate to Heavenly Warrior Clan or group. He did this to stay true to his martial arts philosophy of the Heavenly Warrior. The Heavenly Warrior is one who believes that we are guided by our Heavenly Father in all things and we in our martial arts serve our fellow man and do so by using what we learn to protect the weak, encourage the meek and being positive effluents on our students and others throughout our journey through life.