Shaolin Studios in Pittsburgh was founded in 2004 by Senior Masters Steve and Lisa Nakamura, lifelong students of Shaolin Kempo and Kung Fu. In 2023, the Nakamuras retired from their ownership roles and passed the studio on to their longtime students, Master Michele Montag and Sensei Joseph Cooper. For over 20 years, Shaolin Studios has been providing exceptional martial arts and self-defense training to the Pittsburgh community.
We’re different, and we think you’ll like that.
Our training environment is inclusive of all genders, sizes, physical strengths, abilities and ages. We foster and expect mutual respect, discipline, and control from our students, as that is the Shaolin way. We build community among our students by collectively sharing and supporting one another as we each strive to meet our individual goals.
While our instructor team focuses on the day to day group and private instruction we provide to children, teens, and adults – from age four and older — our team is constantly learning, too. We learn from each other including our students, sharing ideas to make our classes better. Each of our instructors has spent years with our dojo, first as students forging their own paths in the martial arts. We hold regular instructor team meetings and development sessions as a way to keep learning and improving upon what we do.
the roots of our practice
At Shaolin Studios, we practice Shaolin Kempo and Kung Fu.
The roots of Shaolin Kempo originate with the Shaolin Monks in China, who developed both internal and external practices to improve their fitness, martial arts, and their ultimate ability to defend themselves and their temple. Called Shaolin Chuan Fa (“Fighting Fist”) and Kung Fu (“hard work”), the style uses five primary animal forms and movements as its foundation: tiger, leopard, crane, snake, and dragon. Chuan Fa spread across China and later into Japan, where it became known as Kempo (“Way of the Fist”) and served as a cornerstone to Japanese traditional Karate (“Empty Hand”). In the mid-1900s, a Japanese soldier and martial artist named Doshin So spent years training at the Shaolin Temple in China, and he later adapted what he learned into a fighting style called Shorinji Kempo (literally, “Shaolin” Kempo) that incorporated Japanese influences including the grappling and joint locking techniques of Jiu-Jitsu (“Yielding Art”). The style was adapted as it passed through lineages of students in Okinawa, Hawaii, and the continental United States into an effective system of self-defense that develops character, self-discipline, and fitness through fighting techniques, joint-locking/grappling techniques, and traditional forms.
We are privileged to carry on the lineage of Senior Master, Go Inkyo Sama Lisa Nakamura, 8th Degree Black Belt, and Senior Master and Founding Chief Instructor Steve Nakamura, 7th Degree Black Belt. Together they founded our studio in Regent Square in 2004. With nearly 70 years of combined martial arts training, including multiple trips to train with the monks at the Shaolin Temple, we are honored that the Nakamuras continue to oversee our Black Belt examinations and provide special clinics and learning opportunities for our students.
Master Michele is privileged to have accompanied Sr. Masters Steve and Lisa to train and study at the Shaolin Temple, and several of our other instructors have trained there as well, bringing an authentic connection to the root of what we teach and how we teach.
At Shaolin Studios, our philosophy is that learning martial arts will result in better physical health, more focus, and increased confidence so that we are empowered to defend ourselves and others. Because of this balance of the physical and mental, Shaolin Kempo training is for anyone.
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