TOYAMA  JAPANESE 

  KARATE CLASSES 

Lehigh Valley, Pa.

 

Blessed. To have known and been trained for 35+ years by the honorable Japanese Toyama-kai Karate Master and  founder- Hanshi Mikio Tanaka - 10th Degree Black Belt.  As the years pass the number of karate-ka who actually trained under the Grand Master from Okinawa for any significant amount of time, Kanken Toyama, are getting fewer and fewer.  Mikio Tanaka is one of those few remaining legends in Japan, and he trained with  Kanken Toyama  for 25 years.  During the years pre & post World War II  in Japan, many karate practitioners  came to Tokyo to train with Kanken Toyama from the countryside.  Mr. Tanaka was usually seen there training seven days a week. Blessed. To have trained side by side with him for 35+ years, 17 of those years living and training with him week after week in Tokyo, Japan. Blessed. To have him such a large part of my life, as he gave the main speech at my wedding in Tokyo, then held my two daughters as babies, and later taught karate to them when we visited Japan every summer. There are many others in our Toyama-kai karate family circle in Japan; brothers Hayama Hanshi & Hayashi Sensei, Iinokuchi Sensei, Nakayama Hanshi and the Mito Dojo karate brothers, Ishida Hanshi in Kyushu, Ikeno Hanshi, Tokuyama & Kawamoto Hanshi in Hiroshima.  Ikeno Hanshi in Narita, Japan. My heart thanks them all, as they are now my Toyama-kai Karate family. It saddens me, though, that due to poor health Tanaka Sensei can no longer train and lead, but he still serves as an inspiration.  Master Tanaka passed on many invaluable karate lessons that have inspired me: First, that the most important and most difficult "technique" in karate is not a block or a punch, but is kindess, and that it is essentail to have a good heart to help others, and to share karate selflessly with others. Money was never his objective and his class dues were set so almost anyone could afford to train. Secondly, the most integral factor in the study of any martial art is simply to CONTINUE TRAINING, as all the answers and secrets can be unlocked through continued serious training.  Most important is to start, and if you have gotten away from it, to return.

And thirdly, to not be focused on rank or financial gain as SHARING Toyama Karate is most important and shoud be the focus,

and not on numbers kata one knows, numbers of students.

Tanaka Sensei pushed me to start teaching  20 years ago after moving back to America, by telling me,

"People teach best what they most need to learn."

Blessed.

To have lived such a magical life

thanks to so many people,

and I share theses memories

with you on these pages.

Please enjoy the other Toyama-kai Karate Pages.....