Sensei Rickard Nakano got his start in karate while attending the University of Hawaii, at the Manoa Campus. “I met an instructor who got me interested and I was recommended as a student.  Back in those days you needed to be recommended in order to take martial arts.”

Nakano has been teaching Nishioka’s modified Shorin Ryu style of Karate since 1963. From 1965 to 1967 Nakano taught in Riverside California while doing post-doctoral work in horticulture at University of California Riverside. Dean Pickard was a student of Nakano Sensei at that time. Nakano has been the head instructor for the International Karate League, Waimea Branch, since 1968. According to Nakano: “Karate is an art, not a sport.  We don’t place a heavy emphasis on competition, instead our emphasis is on character building.” He emphasizes hard training and discipline to achieve this. “I have a big split bamboo stick and I show it to all my students and have used it on a few.” Nakano “encourages goodness and decency in his students to ensure that the skills learned will only be applied in self-defense.” Nakano believes that “only students of good moral fiber should be evaluated with a physical and mental examination test, for possible promotion to a higher rank.” Nakano makes sure that his students “learn the founder’s history to truly appreciate our unique style of Karate; Modified Shorin Ryu.”

According to former student Steve Morifuji, since the inception of Nakano’s Waimea Dojo in 1968 Nakano Sensei has taught free of charge at a county facility and students paid only $5 per month dues at a church facility to cover the rent. “Nakano Sensei has been donating his time and experience willingly for the betterment of the youth and adults in this community. His passion is to see that proper techniques are passed on to students who have good moral character and become productive and responsible members in our communities and citizens of the world.”

Nakano was inducted into the Big Island Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.