Hanshi Marilyn Fierro
9th Dan Isshinryu Karate
I met Hanshi Ferro briefly at the 2011 KIAI Grand Nationals tournament in Orlando, Florida. She stood out for obvious reasons, she was the woman with red on her belt. I asked Sensei if he knew who she was and he was able to introduce me. We were only able to speak for a few minutes before she was called away for tournament duties. But she made a very strong impression on me. She told me about being a woman training in the 70s and how when she got her black belt it was a powerful moment. So, when it came time for my belt test to start, I knew exactly who to chose when seeking out a master.
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Hanshi Fierro has been studying Isshinryu karate with since 1972. That was the yearshe had her second child. She was “doing the things you’re supposed to do. It was what everyone else wanted me to be,” she says. After that second child, she hit the gym, she just wanted to lose weight. It was at that gym that she stumbled upon a self-defense class. And it was that self-defense class that led her to the martial arts. The self-defense class was tae-kwon-do based and when that program ended at the gym, the instructor continued to teach her at her home. Eventually, however, he couldn’t teach anymore.
Hanshi was not ready to stop training. In the early 70s women were not allowed to train in dojos, martial arts was taught to the military and men only. Hanshi Fierro, however, was persistent. She convinced Hanshi Adler to accept her as a student. She was a yellow belt at the time, but willingly started over as a white belt in order to continue training.
Her goal was to get her brown belt. She told me: “In all honesty , I wasn’t very good. I was determined.” There is a lot of proof of that in her story. There was no protective gear available so she used her husband’s old socks to make some of her own. And she continued to train. She achieved brown belt but says, “I didn’t think I knew enough,” so she trained some more.
In 1980 she took over Smithtown Karate Academy. In 1982 the published her first martial arts article, and has published several more since then. She has competed in kata and weapons divisions with great success. In 1996 she became the first woman Isshinryu master recognized on Okinawa when was awarded the rank of Nana Dan by Hanshi Adler and Hanshi Uezu. In 1997 she was inducted into Hanshi Nagle’s Hall of Fame as a Master Instructor. In 1998 she was inducted into the Isshinryu Hall of Fame. And in May 2014, she was promoted to 9th Dan.
