Garry Riedemann, Instructor

Kung Fu Theater sparked a life-long journey that has given Mr. Riedemann an unquenchable thirst for martial arts knowledge. At an early age he began collecting every martial arts book he could get his hands on. Instruction was very difficult to find in the small Midwestern town where he grew up, but he was able to glean a small amount Taekwondo at the disapproval of his parents. Mr. Riedemann was a very out of control child and his parents feared him learning how to fight. But deep down even at that age he knew that martial arts were more than just learning how to fight.

Mr. Riedemann's journey lead him to the army where he trained in many forms of hand to hand combat under the guidance of some of the toughest instructors that the military had to offer, but he was deployed to the field so much that it was impossible for him to seek training outside of the military. And what he learned in the military was only for destruction and gave him no means to find inner strength and peace.

After the military, Mr. Riedemann found himself in college in Ames, Iowa where, in 1991, he formally began to train in Taekwondo under the instruction of Mr. Young Chin Pak. He trained with him for about a year until family business demanded he drop out of school and go to work full time. For the next few years he periodically trained with several different Taekwondo instructors but he was not satisfied with Taekwondo—it did not seem to fill his need. In 1996 he returned to Mr. Pak and started training in Hapkido and from the first class he knew that this style of martial art was what he had been looking for. So for the next four years he trained relentlessly in Hapkido, he also trained in some judo under Mr. Pak as a supplement to his Hapkido training. In 1998 a graduate student friend from Russia introduced Mr. Riedemann to Iwama Ryu Aikido. They trained privately for a year in Aiki-jo and Aiki-ken, until his friend graduated. Fortunately at this time a professor from Iowa State University contacted Mr. Riedemann about training in Aikido, he had been training in California for six years and need a training partner. At this time Mr. Riedemann had earned his black belt in Hapkido and was slowly losing interest in the Korean arts in favor of the Japanese arts, he found the Japanese arts to be more self-fulfilling internally. So he and the professor trained privately for two years in Aikido and it was during this time that he started on his own Musha Shugyo (warrior's pilgrimage), where he trained with such notable instructors as Steven Seagal and Toshishiro Obata.

Mr. Riedemann left his Hapkido class to find qualified Japanese martial arts instruction and to find the true essence of Bugei. The closest instruction he could find was Japanese sword two hours away. So he started traveling to train once a month for a three to four hour private instruction with a senior instructor of Toshishiro Obata. A year and a half later Toshishiro Obata gave him his first level instructor license in Japanese swordsmanship. Mr. Riedemann started teaching as an assistant instructor in Hapkido in 1997 and continued until 2001. On August 15th, 2001 he opened Masa Katsu Dojo in Boone, Iowa and on February 15th 2002 he moved the school to Ames, Iowa. In April of 2002, Mr. Riedemann and his school left Mr. Obata's organization to pursue other avenues of instruction.

In August of 2002, Mr. Riedemann and Masa Katsu Dojo hosted a seminar with Mr. James Williams of Dojo of the Four Winds and Bugei Trading Company. Mr. Williams has been training in Japanese arts for the better part of his life and has extensive knowledge in samurai arts. And after a successful seminar Mr. Riedemann had finally realized his life long goal of finding someone who truly wanted to share what he has learned on his journey. Mr. Riedemann is truly grateful for the opportunity to learn from such a generous instructor and believes that with Mr. Williams's guidance that he and his students will achieve more than just growth in the martial art but growth in themselves as well.

In the martial arts, many people call themselves "master", but if they were truly a master they would realize that to master something means death, the end of growth and so they would not want to be a thought of as a master, but a student with a little more understanding. It is this philosophy of life-long learning that lives at the core of Masa Katsu Dojo.