Brandon Fisher

Brandon Fisher was born in Lafayette, Indiana in November of 1976, where he resided with his mother and grandparents until 1982, when moving to St. Louis, Missouri. Brandon was born with a rare visual impairment caused by a pinched nerve in his neck that left him totally blind. It was not until he was 3 years old, when a chiropractor adjusted Brandon's neck on a chance that it may free the nerve. With a lot of prayer and some luck the nerve was relieved, which allowed more blood flow and gave Brandon limited sight. To this day he is considered legally blind and requires different things to help him see. However, most do not work well enough for him to use so he works around it the best he can.

In 1984, right after moving to Cleveland, Ohio, his family was notified of a karate class through one of the local recreation departments, and they felt this would be a good thing for Brandon to try out. Well it was like a lot of little kids, Brandon was scared to death of it, when arriving to his first class. However it quickly became a great love for him and he stayed with that program for the next 21 years.

When Brandon was 15, he and his mother moved back to Indiana, near Turkey Run State Park where he attended Turkey Run High School and graduated from TRHS. While in Indiana it was a known fact that Brandon had to find a dojo to train in, so asking around he was referred to Renshi Tom Ward, Shorin Ryu-Shorinkan, who was teaching at a local catholic church about 30 minutes from where Brandon was living at the time. Brandon trained with Sensei Ward, and also traveled back and forth to Cleveland to train there also. It was with Sensei Ward that Brandon received his first exposure to kata, yakusoku kumite and kobudo. Again it left Brandon a little shaken, as it was a whole new aspect and he didn’t pick it up easily. However, over the next couple of years he learned 11 kata of which he still teaches and practices today, among others he has learned since. In 1994 he started teaching his own class as a brown belt in Tai Shin Doh Karate. With just a handful of students he had great success in there learning.

In 1995 Sensei Fisher was promoted to Shodan, and from there the teaching career began. Because of his eye problem there are only a few jobs that he can do, because of the lack of understanding of many employers he had. So Brandon dedicated his life to the martial arts and decided that teaching and training was the path he would follow in life. Since he began teaching he has promoted 18 people to Shodan, many of which were some top competitors at the kyu and black belt levels on the local and state circuits. During this time Brandon created the kata curriculum for Tai Shin Doh karate and added 50% more self defense techniques. With this he founded a Ju Jitsu system called Tai Shin Jitsu. Tai Shin Jitsu was based on traditional and modern ideals for those interested solely in self defense.

Sensei Fisher's and his first instructor parted ways in 2006, and Brandon founded Seijitsu Shin Do, which he just renamed Tai Shin Jitsu, to incorporate the traditional karate ideals he has always practiced and taught. Brandon is very traditional minded when it comes to karate and an absolute believer in the teachings of Karate-Do, so with the approval of UMAA (Zen Sekai Bujitsu Kyokai) under the direction of Kyoshi Frank Williams Brandon started calling style Shorin Ryu - Seijitsu Shin Do Kan. This reflects the traditional karate that was taught to Brandon and under the direction of Hanshi Jack Buckley, 9th Dan and Kyoshi Frank Williams, 7th Dan continues to be taught to him.

Brandon has won many awards in both self defense and kata competition. He has competed in Ohio, Pennslyvania, Indiana, and Illinois. In addition, he has attended seminars from some of the top instructors in the USA and abroad. Some of these notable instructors were Grandmaster Vince Marchetti (Ju Jutsu), Grandmaster Ron Van Clief (Chinese Goju), Grandmaster Dan McEddy (Angelic Ninjutsu), Grandmaster John Denora (Daito Ryu Aiki Ju Jutsu), Grandmaster Harris Warren (Ju Jutsu), and Bill "Superfoot" Wallace among many others. He has also had the opportunity to teach his brand of Ju Jitsu to many masters and grandmasters at an International hall of fame gathering. Brandon has traveled throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Florida, and Maryland to attend tournaments, seminars, to teach and to assist in black belt gradings, and loved every minute of it.

Most recently Brandon had the honor of hosting a seminar with Hanshi Seifuku Nitta from Okinawa at his dojo. During that seminar Nitta Sensei surprised Brandon with his Renshi menkyo which truly was an honor in itself.

Email: fisher@universal-martial-arts.org