Before 1989, Karate had carried on illegally for a long period of time. That is the reason why this disturbance wasn't united. It is difficult to establish the veracity of these events, as there are no official documents which can give us the exact chronology of the evolution of Karate in Romania. There is a possibility that the circulated information from a generation to another, to be true or not. In the totalitarian regime, this discipline took place only in a few powerful centres, in the country. Nowadays this is spread almost in every district. From the beginning, Karate met the harsh opposition of the police, security and even of public opinion. The last one considered that Karate meant street fight and hooliganism.

       In 1982, The National Council of Sportive Education forbade, by law, the practice of Karate in Romania.

       The ones who were devoted to this disturbance continued their trainings and found methods by which they "fooled" the law, or they were continually changing their training places, or they even pretended that they were doing gymnastic, self-defence, judo, or modern dance.

       Nevertheless, this discipline managed to obtain spectacular performances, by taking part in national and international seminars, and even International Coups.

       At the beginning of 1990, Karate started to be legal in Romania and the first national ruling structures were organized.  The Romanian Martial Arts Federation (FRAM) was organized, federation in which all disciplines with "martial" character found their place. A Karate department was created too, with sections for each style.

       In the next years, the first official tournaments, the first national competitions took place. Training and judging camps were organized, where prestigious masters were invited, and later appeared the results in international competitions.

       Upon these positives aspects, there had existed many negative aspects such as rivalry between certain groups and aspects connected to the promotion and according the grades to certain people which were not so competent, in the other's disadvantage.

       Convenient to Romanian Shorin Ryu history, the first steps regarding the introduction of this style in the country, were made by Sensei Florin Patrascu, in 1980, being helped by the possibility of traveling in Europe and taking contact directly with foreign Shorin Ryu people.

       The friendship between Sensei Florin Patrascu and Sensei Dumitru Alexandru, determined the last one to start practicing this style since 1981. Dumitru Sensei continued his studies until Sensei Patrascu had left and settled to USA. Immediately after 1989, Sensei Dumitru Alexandru organized his own dojo where he taught Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu Karate.

       Sensei Dumitru Alexandru (6th Dan) was born on 17th of March 1957, and he has been practicing martial arts since he was 15.

       His initiation in Martial Arts was made by Sensei Kamiloo, who was a student at a university in Ploiesti and with whom he studied jiu-jitsu and nunchaku. In the same time he had another mentor, Sensei Constantinescu from Campina, Prahova till 1977.

       In 1977, Dumitru Sensei has chosen to become a military. In 1978 he studied Sankukai Karate with Sensei Kawada, a Japanese engineer , who worked in industrial area, in Targoviste.

       Since 1979 till 1981, Alexandru continued to train in jiu-jitsu and karate alike with Sensei Lazaroiu, who was an officer in the army. After Lazaroiu's death Alexandru started to study Karate Shorin Ryu with Sensei Florin Patrascu.

       Sensei Alexandru Dumitru is a found member of Romanian Martial Arts Federation (FRAM), which was created in 1990 and which organized the first legal karate competition, in 1992, where participated many other styles such as: Shotokan, Goju Ryu, Shito Ryu, etc.

       The next 10 years, Alexandru continued as a FMK (Karate World Federation) member and he taught many students (military also), who participated in national, European and world tournaments, where they won many trophies.

       

       In 1998, after many years of studying nunchaku, he created 2 Kata-s named: Alex Nunchaku Sho and Alex Nunchaku Ni.

       In 2001, Sensei Dumitru started to exchange letters by Internet with Sensei Patrick Beaumont from Ireland. Sensei Beaumont invited Alexandru to take part along with his Shorin Ryu national team in USKK European Championship. Here he met Sensei Phillip Koeppel, 10th Dan, director of USKK International.

       Sensei Dumitru Alexandru is the president of Shorin Ryu Karate Do Association and USKK director in Romania.

       

   Since 1990 till now he has been participating to several Karate Okinawan  and Kobudo seminars with masters such as:

   • Sensei Phillip Koeppel (Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu,8th Dan , USA)

   • Sensei Bob Yarnall (Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu ,8th Dan, USA)

   • Sensei Parker Shelton (Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu ,8th  Dan,USA)

   • Sensei Eihachi Ota (Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu, 9 Dan, Okinawa)

   • Sensei William Hayes (Shobayashi Shorin Ryu , 8th Dan , USA)

   • Sensei Doug Perry (Kobayashi Shorin Ryu , 8th Dan , USA)

   • Sensei Patrick Beaumont (Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu, 7th  Dan, Irlanda)

   • Sensei Dave Schielein ( Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu , 7th  Dan , USA)

   • Sensei Trotta Tonino (Shotokan,8th Dan ,Italia )

   • Sensei Ahmedin Marukic (Shotokan,7th  Dan,Macedonia)

   • Sensei Giacomo Bertoletti (Jiu-jitsu , 9th Dan, Italia)

   • Sensei Vince Morris (Kissaki-kai ,8th Dan , Anglia)

   • Sensei Jamal Measara ( Seibukan Shorin Ryu , 7th Dan , Germania)

   

   Since 2002, Alexandru has been practicing Shorin Ryu with Sensei Phillip Koeppel and Sensei Parker Shelton.

   Shorin Ryu Okinawa distinguishes itself from other Karate styles through the fact that in this style there are studied traditional forms and self-defence, and less competition forms. It can be said that this type of Martial Arts is not just a sport, but a way of life which helps people to discover themselves.