Recently, I was in one of our bedrooms that we use to store various items – paperwork, old videotapes, cassettes, photo albums, files, my guitar that I haven’t played for like, 10 years…well, you get the idea.  Anyways, I turned over a photo frame that was lying on a shelf and found it contained an old black and white (sepia-like) photo.  It took me a second to recognize when and where this was from.  It was from the early 1980’s and I was staring at a long-forgotten moment in time.  The blue belt boy executing the familiar opening move from Heian Nidan is my son, Matt.  Way back, some 35 years ago, he was the same age and rank as my grandson, performing the same kata that Noah does today. Talk about Deja Vu!  I recall that the pic was taken by a professional newspaper photographer at a community event where Matt and others from the KAH were demonstrating karate.  The pic made it into the local community paper and we were eventually able to get a copy of it. I am blessed in that all three of my grandchildren, my daughter, and my daughter-in-law, all currently train in our [...]

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 [...]