Page 51 - Martial Science Magazine April/2016 #14

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO LEARN
KARATE?

I’ve been training in karate-do for some 40 years
now and I am still not satisfied with the way I make
a fist. Even though I think that I know what I’m
doing, I am always discovering or noticing some-
thing new. When training, I think about what lies
far down this profound path and I want to expe-
rience it with my own body, my own mind.

Also, I have learned and received many different
things from karate, and it is thanks to karate that
I am the person I am today. I would like as many
people as possible to know how wonderful karate
is, regardless of their nationality or race, or their
age or sex. And, as someone who has dedicated
himself to the development and promotion of ka-
rate, whenever I see or hear about people whose
lives have been enriched through karate, I become
inspired to make an even greater effort.

But the underlying feeling that is always present is
the desire to become strong and to be strong. WHO WAS YOUR FIRST MASTER?

When I was nine years old, I was introduced to ka-
rate-do by the late Takaki Maruo Sensei at a dojo
in my hometown of Kumamoto on the island of
Kyushu. Between the ages of 11 and 15, I mainly
played baseball, but at 15, I embarked down the
path of karate in earnest. After that, upon entering
Takushoku University, I moved to Tokyo and trai-
ned day in and day out with the university’s karate
team under Katsunori Tsuyama Sensei.

HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE
TRAINING WITH KANAZAWA SENSEI?

When I was in my third year of middle school (15
years old), Shotokan Karate-do International held
its first All-Japan Championship Tournament. That
was the first time that I set eyes on Kanazawa Sen-
sei. Later, when I was in high school, I saw Kana-
zawa Sensei again when he came to my hometown
to teach. It was the first time that I received ins-
truction from him and it made a great impression

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