YORI NAKAMURA
At the age of nineteen, Yorinaga (Yori) Nakamura learned that Satoru Sayama would soon open his Tiger Gym. Yori had already gained experience in several martial arts, including Karate, Kickboxing, and Gung Fu. He always held Satoru Sayama in the highest respect. On opening day in 1984, Yorinaga enrolled at the Tiger Gym.
In January 1985, Satoru changed the name of the Tiger Gym to the Super Tiger Gym. Later that year, Yorinaga left Tokyo to help with his family business. One month later, he received a call from Satoru Sayama. Satoru invited Yori to work as a staff member at the Super Tiger Gym. Yori was honored to receive such an offer, and after a brief discussion with his family, decided to move back to Tokyo.
Upon arrive in Tokyo, Yori learned that Satoru wanted him to help in promoting Shoot Wrestling. In November 1985, Yori become a member of Super Tiger Gym's full-time staff. His main taks was assisting Sensei Satoru in developing and organizing Shoot Wrestling into a finely polished combative art form.
In order to become an instructor, Yori was required to study ten hours a day, seven days a week. Aside from the regular training hours that were held in the Tiger Gym, Satoru held private sessions in the basement of a friend's house known as Tiger Hole. During these private sessions, Satoru taught submission, throwing, punching and kicking. He always demanded perfection. If Yori could not perform a movement to Satoru's liking, he would be forced to practice only that particular technique or motion until it was perfected. After months of this rigorous training regime, Yorinaga become a Shooto Instructor.
In June of 1986, the first Shooting tournament was held at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Yori entered the competitiion in the 66 kg division. He won his first match by decision. His second fight was won with a sleeper hold choke. Yori won his third match with a V-cross arm lock and his fourth with a pillow arm lock, winning the championship. In November of 1987, Yorinaga was promoted to a Shooter.
In January of 1989, Yori made his first trip to the United State in order to study martial arts under the legendary martial artist Dan Inosanto. Sifu Dan invited Yori to train privately and Yori taught Dan Shooto while learning other various martial arts privately from Sifu Dan. At this time Yori also began teaching the first Shooto classes to be held outside of Japan.
Presently, Sensei Yori continues to teach Shooto as well as Jeet Kune Do/Jun Fan Gung Fu at the Inosanto Academy. He is also the founder and head instructor of the Inosanto United Martial Arts (IUMA) schools in Japan. He has written several books and DVD's on the martial arts.
See Sensei Yori in action on YouTube.