Marital Arts : Two Black Belts Are Among the Ties That Bind This Unique Karate Couple From Woodland Hills

Phillip and Susan Bruno both have black belts. It’s the ultimate dress-for-success accessory worn by the folks the Brunos hang around with. But you won’t find it advertised in GQ or Cosmopolitan.

The Brunos’ black belts have less to do with their wardrobe than they do with athletic accomplishment for they are the Karate Couple, happily married martial arts experts who live in Woodland Hills with their cocker spaniel, Lady.

The Karate Couple met 17 years ago, at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church. They were 12 and it was practically love at first chop.

Phil was already a student of karate: His parents sent him to karate school in Burbank to stop him from getting into street fights.

“I haven’t had one since,” he says. “Karate cured me.”

The Karate Couple went together in high school. Phil was a wrestler at El Camino Real, Suzie a gymnast at Agoura. When they were in their early 20s, Phil took Suzie to karate practice for the first time and she liked what she saw. She decided to take it up and, as fate would have it, they were married shortly afterward.

Referring to Suzie’s involvement in the sport Phil says, “I never pushed her into it.”

Said Suzie: “It looked like fun. I had just put an end to 10 years of gymnastics. I needed something to fill the gap.”

The Karate Couple now follow the path of Masutatsu Oyama, founder of Kyokushin-Kai, a full-contact style of karate that has one of the largest followings in Japan.

Karate is a holistic activity; the physical part being only a portion of the attraction. The black belt certificate, an official-looking document in English and Japanese, includes the words “ultimate truth and spiritual forces.”

Phil got his black belt before Suzie. He took his test in 1985, fighting 10 men of higher rank, each for 2 minutes. Full contact. No pads. The Oyama way.

There seemed little spiritual about that.

When Suzie went for her black belt this year, she took the same test. One of the 10 men was her husband.

“She staggered me,” Phil says proudly, like a man praising his wife’s cooking.

But the Karate Couple don’t settle arguments at home by unleashing a torrent of mawashi geri kicks at each other’s faces in the kitchen. In fact, they say they don’t argue. “We’re pretty placid,” Phil says.

Strangers don’t even suspect that this All-American duo is the Karate Couple. And when the truth becomes known, Suzie says, “Guys tell Phil, ‘Better not mess with her.’ ”

The Karate Couple attend tournaments together. Earlier this month, Phil entered the 13th Mas Oyama Hawaii International Open Karate Championships, the MOHIOKC for short, and finished third in full-contact head-banging. He started competing “to prove to myself that I was good enough to stand up with the big boys.”

Next year, Suzie will take part in tournament kata competition--precise, dance-like combat movements scored by judges.

“Phil’s the fighter,” she says. “I’m the technician.”

Phil likes to show the videotape of his fight. On the TV, he bows to a larger man and they start to pound each other with punches and kicks. “You win by knocking the guy down for more than three seconds,” he says. “Kicks to the head are OK.”

In the video, Phil is getting forced off the mat by his more aggressive opponent. “He came on strong,” Phil says, “but if you notice, he’s limping from that exchange. I was working on his legs while accepting punishment to the chest. You can’t imagine what three or four kicks to the outside of the thigh will do to your legs.”

Ooooops. Phil takes a left leg to the forehead and goes down. “I didn’t see it coming.” he says.

Suzie walks into the living room and sees the videotape. “Not that again,” she says, grinning.

Karate has grown into more than a hobby for the Karate Couple. The pair operate a karate school, Mas Oyama Karate, Canoga Park Dojo. They go there twice a week in their Ford Bronco and transform Anne Lea’s Dance School into a martial arts temple where commands are given in Japanese and sensei are treated with respect.

“Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, ku, ju!” That’s Phil counting to 10 as he leads seven men and two women, all barefoot, in slicing the air with fists and feet. Despite the mayhem, there’s a feeling of glee under all the ceremony, adults playing samurai while getting their bodies and minds in harmony.

Suzie takes over for Phil, barking instructions in a gravely voice. She is sure of herself, which is almost a requirement for a black belt. In the group, besides her husband, there are two other black belts, one brown belt, two green belts and three white-belted novices.

“You have a responsibility being a black belt,” she says. “It’s something to live up to. You have to set an example for people. You’re looked at with a critical eye. There’s rank you have to prove.”

The Karate Couple have careers outside the dojo . Phil, who graduated in hotel and restaurant management from Cal Poly Pomona, runs Bruno’s Pizza, which his father started 33 years ago in Canoga Park. Phil’s business card identifies him as “The Pizza King.”

Suzie graduated from Cal Lutheran and Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. Her card says she’s Dr. Susan Bruno, chiropractor. She has a clinic in Calabasas. When Phil goes to tournaments, she’s the “team doctor,” he says. She avoids full-contact fighting to preserve her hands for the healing arts.

Not many women have achieved black-belt status in Kyokushin-Kai, the Karate Couple says. In California, “it’s been several years,” Suzie adds.

And there probably isn’t another black-belted Karate Couple around, either, although that may change. One of Phil’s students, Elizabeth Rose, currently a green belt, may test for the black next April. She’s married to a black belt holder named Ian, an Englishmen. They met through karate.

“He won’t let me stop,” Elizabeth jokes.

When she gets her black belt, says Phil, the Karate Couples will get together socially and celebrate, probably with pizza.