Tino Ceberano is a Hawaiian born Filipino raised in the sugar plantation villages of Kauai. Surrounded by the martial arts from a young age, he selected Goju Kai karate-do in Honolulu as his chosen discipline. From the Hawaiian Islands to the dojos of Japan, his life story is a fascinating tale about the human spirit, daring to break barriers. You will never doubt your ability to do anything again after reading this tale. It is no wonder we call him the Father of Australian Karate.
Tino Ceberano Hanshi has a lifetime of memories spanning the globe and most of his eighty years. With over five decades of teaching martial arts and a share of life’s challenges, he has a compelling story to share of breaking through our self-imposed limits.
As a young man arriving on Australian shores in the early sixties, he had cultural differences to overcome and a passion to share the art of the empty hand with anyone who wished to try. In the Bruce Lee era of the seventies, hundreds turned up each week to try their hand at karate.
Many stayed the distance and have become generational leaders of the art today. Each has a unique story to share and Tino Hanshi had a compelling task on his hand to tell his story given the enormity of the numbers of people involved.
Michael Black was a young boy in 1971, living in North Balwyn, not far from the dojo. Tino was a customer of his father, the local pharmacist. Conversation lead to Michael taking up karate. The disciplined training helped him through many of life’s challenges.
Many years later, he had the need to immerse himself once more in the leadership and discipline that we can only often find in the dojo. It lead to a chance meeting between old friends, the student and the master.
When Tino Hanshi shared that he had always wanted to write his life story, but needed the right co-author to listen and interpret his message, Michael knew he had to work with his old teacher, the chance of a lifetime to work with a real Mr. Miyagi, to honour his first karate master.
Tino Ceberano