Inspiring Conversations with Henry Kikunaga of Bonita Point Family Optometry

Today we’d like to introduce you to Henry Kikunaga.

Hi Henry, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started the martial art of Kendo (The Way of the Sword) at the age of seven with my Father and older brother in San Jose, CA. My father thought it would be a great “family” activity and also to keep everyone in physical and mental shape. Within the year, I placed in a local tournament and the competitive fire grew inside me. I made the regional team to compete at Nationals at age 12 competing with other youths that were three years older and much bigger than myself. At that Nationals, I helped our youth team place third. At age 15, I competed in the next Nationals on the youth team again. Nationals are held every three years in Kendo in the USA. At that competition, I placed 3rd in the Individual competition and 2nd in the Team competition. I competed in the next three Nationals in the next nine years helping our Northern California Men’s team capture two National Titles. Through this time, I competed in many regional tournaments with competitors as far as Canada, Hawaii, and Japan.

In 1990, I represented the USA in a goodwill World Championship competition as a youth. In 1993, I moved to San Diego to attend UCSD and practiced with San Diego Kendo Bu Dojo. At that time, Head instructor was John Yamamoto Sensei and Dojo Advisor was Kikuo Uyeji Sensei. It was my honor and privilege to practice with another sensei other than my “home” dojo. In 1998, Yamamoto Sensei and I created and started the UCSD Recreational Class for Kendo so that we can share the art of Kendo to more people, including to university students that otherwise may have never heard of the martial art. This class is still going on strong to this day. From 2009-2014, I was the coach of the UCSD collegiate Kendo team who competed in tournaments that involved many universities from all over the USA.

In 2014, I became the head instructor of San Diego Kendo Bu Kendo Dojo, replacing John Yamamoto Sensei who then became the dojo advisor. Throughout my 38 years journey with Kendo so far, I have gained an extensive amount of discipline, learned to have passion for whatever I do, respect everyone around me, and made many friends throughout the world. These life experiences and values helped me be successful as a student at UCSD, assisted me to obtain my goal of getting into and graduating from Optometry School in Chicago, IL, and lastly have the courage to open my optometry practice in 2008 in the middle of an economic recession. I am forever grateful for those sensei and kendo colleagues that helped me push through not only my professional career but also my kendo career. I am 38 years in with kendo and I plan on continuing to practice kendo for the rest of my life.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As with any successes, there are trials and tribulations that are overcome to get to where I am. One of those struggles was the fight against lack of motivation. Do I want to head to practice, do I fight through this fatigue, do I push through this injury? In a position of leadership and coaching, another struggle is to motivate the group to keep moving forward and pushing them to improve. Most understand and trust that with my expertise and experience, I can get them to their goals. However, some do not, and that is ok.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Bonita Point Family Optometry?
As stated earlier, I went to Optometry school and opened a practice in the middle of a recession. I have been a provider in the Greater San Diego area, and specifically in the Chula Vista area for the past 13 years. One of the things that sets me apart from others is the passion for what I do. Kendo taught me to have passion and commitment for whatever i do and to put forth the best efforts to reach my goals. That directly translates to my professional career and how I lead life. With my Optometry practice, I built it from the ground up and grew the practice to the size and production as other similar practices within a few years. Other practices take several to over 10 years to get to the same point I was within few years. And I attribute those successes to being MYSELF. I don’t compromise my patients care and I try to get to know all of my patients.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a very quiet kid and very reserved. However, I had the tendency to explore and be very curious of places I haven’t been. My father once said that I may not be noisy with my mouth, but I am noisy with my feet. I was always a very sporty kid, taking interest in KEndo at age seven, but also playing competitive sports in junior high, high school and even in undergraduate college. I specialized in the sprints in Track and Field during high school and even had the opportunity to race against future Olympians. Of course I got blown out of the water by them, but seeing them on TV few years later after racing them was a treat.

Pricing:

• Annual Membership fees (Range $56-106) depending on age
• Monthly Dojo Fees (Range $14-27) depending on age

Contact Info:

• Email: sdkendo@gmail.com
• Website: www.sdkendo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/san_diego_kendo_bu/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoKendoBu
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/san-diego-kendo-bu-san-diego?osq=kendo