Holy Smoke!  Two notes from me in a single week!  Actually, since you don’t have class this coming Saturday (Sept 24), I figured you might want to watch some very short videos of Kancho Kenneth Funakoshi teaching classes.  As you all know, he taught Sensei Peter, Wayne, and me for many years (even Sensei Trish began as a 6 year old white belt under Kancho).

I’ve mentioned the strong, lasting influence he had on those of us fortunate enough to have trained directly under him, particularly as brown and black belts so many decades ago.  Beyond teaching technique and sharing his philosophy on Karate-Do, I know that he had a great influence on the personal teaching styles and methods that Sensei Peter, Wayne, and I have developed in our turn.

Recently on YouTube, I came across a series of short videos (a couple of minutes each) from the FSKA website and thought that you might enjoy getting a glimpse into what his teaching was like.  When he was training us, he was in his late thirties; young and still strong, fast, and powerful. Most of us were in our twenties, and Special Training was focused on conditioning and sparring.  The videos were all taken on the mainland where Kancho permanently relocated to in 1986.  Judging from how Kancho looked in the videos, I’m guessing that these were recorded twenty or more years old.  Sensei looks like he might have been in his sixties back then.

Despite living and teaching on the mainland for so many years, he still spoke in his familiar local pidgin – some things never change.  The snippets include him teaching a mix of ranks and ages from various classes.  As usual, Kancho’s lessons expand beyond karate into his philosophy of life, always with his constant emphasis upon hard work, sweat, spirit, and perseverance.  No matter how tired our group was from tough training, his presence and down-to-earth way of speaking would somehow motivate us to try even harder.  Although his teaching style seems to have mellowed out over the years, these videos give you a good idea of his personality and what he expected from his students.  He retired from active teaching some years ago and responsibilities for the many clubs are now carried on by his sons, who are excellent karateka in their own right.