July 4, 5, 6 saw the famous Hirokazu Kanazawa Sensei, head of the Shotokan SKIF association, give a seminar in Nanaimo, Canada.
Frequent Shiramizu visitor Peter sent us a picture of the event, which also has Intern 2.0 Paul lurking in the background! I'm sure they had a great experience.
I have only two small stories related to Kanazawa Sensei. The first was several years ago when I ordered Kanazawa Sensei's English version of his autobiography from a publisher in Singapore, but it never arrived after several months of waiting. When I emailed the SKIF office in Japan to mention this fact to them, Kanazawa Sensei couriered me a copy that very day! Classy!
The second story is when I met him not long after getting the book at a karate function in Tokyo. I thought he might have wanted to speak English since he is fluent, but instead he spoke to me only in Japanese, which was refreshing since most Japanese instructors who speak some English only want to practice their English on pasty-white folks like me. But he's not like that. Someone mentioned to me afterward that when in Japan, we should all speak Japanese, especially non-Japanese who are here to learn, which is also what Toshiaki Maeda Sensei says. So again, Kanazawa Sensei is a sophisticated man who deserves the good reputation he has.
No doubt he was just as sophisticated and personable this time around in Canada.
No doubt he was just as sophisticated and personable this time around in Canada.
Richard
2 comments:
I think you have made a few spelling mistakes for Kanazawa - you have spelt kanagawa and then kanazaka for the title and first paragraph.
Thanks - errors have been corrected.
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