HIS Karate-Do

Thought you might find interesting, this article of our Founder, Gichin Funakoshi.  Much of it is about how much effort it took to make it to training in the old days (er, nights) and some of his sacrifices during that era of change throughout the country.  Anyways, about three-quarters of the way down the article, there’s a recollection of a Mr. Togawa during the many typhoons (hurricanes) that occur in Okinawa.  I think you might find it hard to believe how Master Funakoshi rode out the storm. http://legacy.ymaa.com/articles/2014/12/gichin-funakoshi

Since I recently wrote a little about Tohei Sensei, who was the top disciple of Aikido Founder (Ueshiba Sensei), and introduced to Hawaii and elsewhere, and who we got to receive technique from, on occasion….I thought I’d forward an article I recently came across about our primary instructor in the old Pearl City dojo – Kimura Sensei.  In the old photo, he is the second black belt from the right; and I’m sure you can get a feel for the physical power he exuded, just from the pic.  The article is about the four sensei’s in the photo, each of whom was a pioneer of the art in Hawaii.  The other three were long-time experts in Judo or Kendo before they were converted to Aikido after witnessing Tohei Sensei’s ability to dominate each of them.  It should be noted that prior to Aikido, Tohei Sensei was a black belt in Judo, so his expertise went beyond just Aikido.  He himself had been converted after being dominated by Ueshiba Sensei’s techniques…in turn, Ueshiba was an expert in Daito-Ryu Ju-Jutsu before creating Aikido.  Anyways, among the four Hawaii pioneers, Kimura Sensei stood out because of his brute strength, which I certainly could [...]

There are many great martial arts instructors in the world. The best of these have that rare gift of being able to display astonishing technique coupled with great insight. Once in a while, we come across a fascinating and seemingly fresh interpretation of the art, and it can give one’s mind a lot to think about. Below is video of a Shotokan instructor whom I hadn’t really heard about before – Sensei Rick Hotton. If you take a look at him, you’ll note that his karate techniques are very good – yet, his interpretation of movement is distinctly different from what most karate classes teach. He talks about the sine wave, emphasizes (and demonstrates) hip motion and connectivity in far more detail than the basic hip snap/thrust/rotation, and pushes his Shotokan audience to learn to relax. These are concepts I recall from my early years in Aikido. Glancing into Sensei Hotton’s background a little, I found out why – he is also a student of Aikido Sensei Matsugi Saotome. Sensei Saotome was an uchi-deschi of the art’s founder, Ueshiba Sensei. Some 25 years ago, I truly enjoyed reading his book, “Aikido and the Harmony of Nature”. It was so interesting [...]