Now here’s a “trivia question”.  Do you recognize the man on this book cover?

In  case you don’t, he’s the late karate legend, Master Masatoshi Nakayama.  His eminence in Shotokan Karate-Do is perhaps second only to that of the founder himself, Master Gichin Funakoshi.  As one might expect, he was a good Shotokan Karate-Do technician, but the talents which elevated him were in his long-term vision and organizational/leadership skills that have had a direct and significant influence on most every Shotokan practitioner in the world today.  Master Nakayama was one of the founders and long-time Chief Instructor of the Japan Karate Association (JKA), a global karate organization through which all of your sensei learned so much of what we are able to share with you today.  His book, “Dynamic Karate”, is considered a classic and was published over 60 years ago.  It is so valued by karateka, I see where the price of a used hardcover now starts at $87! (Master Nakayama was kind enough to sign Sensei Peter’s and my hardcover in kanji)

Both his father and grandfather were physicians so perhaps it was natural that he would become a professor and Head of the Physical Education Department at Takushoku University.  As Chief Instructor of the JKA, he was instrumental in forming the JKA instructors training program – considered an intense  two-year post-graduate karate program for selected black belt university grads.  Upon graduation, certain of these instructors were dispatched as “missionaries” to spread karate in other countries.  These included two of the early instructors at the Karate Association of Hawaii, Sensei Kanazawa and Asai.  Through the efforts of the early Japanese sensei, today there are millions practicing the art in nearly 200 countries.  To aid the many international students, Master Nakayama wrote numerous books on Shotokan Karate, often imparting a more scientific approach to explaining the art.

Sensei Peter and I were fortunate enough to meet and train with Master Nakayama at a 1985 seminar just two years before his passing.  After training, he was very kind and delayed departing to take photos with some of us.  I really didn’t want to bother him with picture taking and was hurriedly changing out of my gi when my wife suggested…er, ordered me to stop and take my green belt son to pose with the Master.  Till this day, I sometimes wonder if it wasn’t somewhat disrespectful to take the pic, being half-dressed and wearing “kamaboko” slippers.  Despite this, I’m very glad that we did, since having a photo with the late master was indeed, a once-in-a-lifetime thing.