Just a quick note – If you access the following site: http://www.theshotokanway.com/interviewlinks.html , you’ll see a long list of interviews. The site is from a JKA style Shotokan group in England and is chockful of good karate information. Over the last few years, I’ve enjoyed reading interviews with a great many senior Shotokan instructors on the site, including many of the masters from the old JKA in Japan. Anyways, the most recent interview (2 parts) is with a very familiar instructor…Shihan Kenneth Funakoshi. I think most of you know that for many years, Shihan Funakoshi was the primary instructor for Sensei Wayne, Sensei Peter and myself. While we have trained with different sensei’s over the years, much of what we know about the art was first learned directly from him. Back in the 1970’s when we were young black belts, he led the grueling training for our special Yudanshakai group at the old Puck’s Alley dojo. We all trained directly under him throughout that decade in his special flavor of advanced and kumite conditioning. Later, in the 1980’s, we were additionally blessed to revist and strengthen our basics and intermediate techniques under his tutelage at the Mililani dojo. In fact, before he relocated to California in 1986, even Sensei Trisha was fortunate enough to have Shihan as her primary instructor for the basics of karate-do. So his direct impact and imprint rests upon each of your sensei’s and his indirect impact upon our whole group, is very deep, to say the least.

If you read the interview, I hope you’ll gain some insight into the man who is responsible for much of the core knowledge that we share with you. In turn, Shihan gives credit to those great JKA instructors who shared what they knew with him and others here in Hawaii back in the 1960’s. Obviously, each of these world-famous JKA instructors (Kanazawa, Mori, and Asai) who introduced Shotokan to Hawaii, and later to the mainland, Europe, and Southeast Asia, were extremely talented karateka – but what impressed him the most – was the fact that each of them turned out to be a “fine gentleman”. In other words, it was their character and spirit that he remembers best.

In case you have not seen a pic of Shihan and his sons, the attached photo was taken some four years ago in Las Vegas, the last time Sensei Trish and I got to train with them. Each of them is a fine gentleman in his own right; strong, friendly, and confident; yet humble and always respectful of others.

P.S. The site also features interviews with Sensei Kyle Funakoshi, Kancho Kanazawa and the late Shihan Asai.