Today we’d like to introduce you to Merek Dorf.
Hi Merek, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Always been interested in eastern healing arts, herbalism and all forms of martial arts. I first started my true martial art journey after settling in Santa Cruz almost 25 years ago. I dabbled in external and internal martial arts( Capoeria, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Kung Fu and really got into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for a while until my body started breaking down and my body asked me…’surfing or BJJ’….and I answered surfing! LOL
So, I had to find a martial art that wasn’t as hard on the body but yet satisfied that piece of me that enjoy sparring so much.
About 15 years ago I met my Iaido(Japanese sword) teacher of the style that I currently teach at a Kyudo seminar that was being held in downtown Santa Cruz. My friend and I heard that this high ranking sword. teacher was in town at the Kyudo seminar and we were absolutely enamored with the sword and wanted to learn more about the style that he taught and has studied for over 50 years.
Since I met my teacher, mentor and friend ‘Phil Ortiz Sensei’ at the Kyudo seminar I have not turned back.
I continue to grow a small but active group of traditional Japanese sword practitioners here in Santa Cruz. I have also traveled from Barcelona to Vancouver, British Columbia to upstate New York to participate in seminars and do rank testing with people from all over the world.
I really enjoyed travelling around the country and world studying with various martial arts masters in various martial arts. I still love the immersive experiences of going and studying a martial art for a week or two at a time in some rural village or mountain town..Kind of a martial art retreat.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has been lots of fun. Covid was a challenge.
Before Covid, we were training two- three days a week in the dojo and since then we haven’t been able to build back up to that and now only train one day a week in the Dojo.
During Covid, however I was able to work a lot more online with my main sword teacher. We would FaceTime biweekly with him in New York and me out here in California. There was also the opportunity to FaceTime with our grand Master in Japan. So while it was a challenge, there is also many silver linings.
Another challengesSanta Cruz is a small town and there’s a lot of transient movement because of the university so many of our students come and go, but I don’t mind because I always love teaching new students and having new people fall in love with the art. We have a handful of core members that have now been with us for a few years, so it’s quite fun watching all of our growth together..
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Iaido….the art of drawing and cutting with a samurai katana and Iaito.
Specifically studying a curriculum of a traditional samurai sword style of the Ryushin Shouchi Ryu traditional.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We are on instagram(Santacruz_Todokai), have a website(centralcoastsamuraidojo.com) and train currently at the Pacific Arts Complex in Midtown Santa Cruz.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Centralcoastsamuraidojo.com
- Instagram: Santacruz_todokai
- Facebook: Santa Cruz Todokai
