Memories of Master Gichin Funakoshi-Kenjiro Kawanabe
Greetings and Salutations to all;
I have attached for your reading pleasure the manuscript from the journal of Kenjiro Kawanabe. This excerpt is culled from my notes, interviews and letters with Kawanabe Sensei. The memoirs have been left intact and while rather lengthy reading, it does capsule a period of history that all budoka's of Shotokan history should read closely. This is one of the last great masters who studied directly Funakoshi Gichin and shares with us some insight that you will not find anywhere else. I am proud and honored to have been selected to assist him with his manuscript and it is in that theme, I now share with all his words.
Master Funakoshi was born in 1869, sixty-two years senior to me, thus I was like his grandchild. It was the year 1922, at the age of fifty-three, that the Master moved to the main land from Okinawa and began promoting karate. After having suffered great hardship, he founded a dojo in Mejiro that became the origin of karate do in mainland Japan. The Master was not strong when he was just a boy, thus his first wish was to train the body, and he became a pupil of Masters Itosu and Azato, both of whom were considered great masters.
In the time of Master Funakoshi, practice was done in the early morning or at night to hide the training. Originally budo was not supposed to be showy or boastful. It was thought of as a defense technique that required critical training. Therefore, it was only for men of firm purposes and the training started with an emphasis on spiritual discipline in the natural environment. It is in striking contrast to the present way that stresses physical practice in a modern sport sense.
The Master raised the technique of "an exact killing with one blow," the soul of karate, to the level of karate do.
It is clearly expressed in his change of the Chinese character of "karate (lit., T'ang hands)" to "karate do ( lit,. Way of empty hands)." Also there are the words in his Chinese poem that swear to heaven to become the founder of a movement to revive the forgotten karate; it shows that the Master had such a serious attitude.
It was in the spring of the 25th year of the Showa period (1950) when I first met the Master. He was present in the dojo at least once every month until my graduation in the spring of the 29th year. It was impressive that the gentle Master's actions in daily life were thoroughly guarded. I was really surprised when I later realized that he moved every moment precisely according to every principle, just like the intentional control of all motions. I believe that it was difficult for young students to understand his high level technique.
It is said that his son, Master Gigo, also called Master Junior, was threatening to all of the pupils at the dojo. However, I think that it was a great loss for the karate world that Master Junior died soon after the end of the war in the 23rd year of the Showa period (1948). They say that the present karate world in which many sects compete with one another would not have been existent if Master Junior was alive. It is well known that Master Junior's trick of one-blow & one-kick was a fearless and unparalleled technique that was created through risky training. It was probably his devotion to his responsibilities when he had acutely realized that he was the one who would have to be the leader to establish the foundation of the karate world in Japan rather than his father, who was gentle and never pushed his own claim, and the necessity to protect the tradition without submitting to Japan's ancient judo or military art. It is certainly impossible to describe all of his painful and tearful efforts in my writing. Master Junior sacrificed the whole of his life for karate even as he suffered from a then incurable disease, tuberculosis. It can be said that Master Junior's discipline was a more realistic and dynamic training in contrast to his father's static training. Some of my seniors recall that Master Junior was naturally firm and brave, very soft and agile, and so strong that no pupil could avoid it when Master Junior returned a dazzling strike in a second to a pupil who had slightly touched his face by accident.
His father, Great Master, was a man of dignity, a man with a philosophy of authority, not rage. He never pushed his way on others, and he seemed to have wished it not to be known that he was doing karate even. In such a way, his life was truly the life of a respectable and devout karate expert. Yet I remember that even this Master who generally kept a gentle face could not stop expressing anger on his red gloomy face when he saw the students striking and kicking the wooden wall of the dojo. At that time the wall of the Waseda Dojo was made of a concrete layer with wooden boards on it with some space between them, thus the wall of wooden boards was just right to be used as boards for kick practice. The students knew that they should not do it, but naturally they did it with their excessive energy. Those who did were scolded by the Master and told that individuals who did such a reckless act were not qualified to practice karate and told them to quit.
The Great Master always came to the university wearing a kimono and in clogs. With amazement I used to look at his clogs with the edges worn out straight and evenly. It was reasonable because for his whole life he continued training by dragging his feet and keeping the upper part of the body straight up like an armored knight when he walked. His consistent and integrated manner of life at all times was the expression of his will to elevate karate do by avoiding violence to the ultimate point as the way that a warrior strives to be a man of purposeful ambition and virtue. It was truly an honorable attitude. He used to laugh at my friends' manner of wearing clogs, as seen in the unbalanced edges of their clogs and of strutting along, by saying that there were too many strong warriors. However, I think that the students' behavior was just like childish actions to the eyes of the Master. I am sincerely embarrassed that as a student I was not at all able to understand that his consistent attitude toward life was truly' that of the great master.
It seems that the students tended to underestimate the Great Master, whom they nicknamed "Grandpa," in regard to the strength of his karate in contrast to that of Master Junior.
Masters Egami and Harada.
(NOTE: refer to letter from Master Harada posted on this site on:
01/16/06 "Memories from a former classmate at Waseda University" for additional insights and recollections with Master Kawanabe).
I heard of one episode from my senior Mr. Egami, who founded the national organization of the Association of Shoto (Shotokai) after the war. One day, when the Great Master was severely lecturing some seniors in the dojo, Master Junior tried to intercede with his father, who was seated, and touched the Great Master's shoulder from behind. Then the Great Master shook his son's hand off and threw him down in a second. According to Mr. Egami, it was a great shock to everyone, including him, because they did not expect to see such terrible power hidden in the Great Master, who was always gentle and calm. The Great Master used to tell us that we students who were in the process of training had to hide our hands, had to avoid violence, and had to behave ourselves because a human is weak and would possibly die from one blow. This episode reminds me of what he mentioned in his teaching that karate do needed an absolute power that could even put a tiger down with one blow.
The Great Master used to say that we had to avoid dangerous areas, and he would take a detour around the place where dangerous characters tended to gather. Among swordsmen, there are some masters whose specialty is kata and others whose specialty is kumitachi. I remember reading a fighting scene in a novel between Goroemon Terada, a kata-expert and Shasaku Chiba, a kumitachi (kumi-sword) - expert, in the period of the End of the Tokugawa Shogunate. There cannot be a comparative analysis of which one was stronger than the other. If I categorize' simply, the Great Master can be thought of as an expert who became a master through kata practice and training of kata of karate, whereas Master Junior can be said to be a born-expert who became a master through kumite. I heard that when he was young the Great Master once fought against the typhoon by holding the wooden door in his hands standing straight up on the roof and superbly succeeded in his attempt of standing on the roof after many failures. There is some subtle charm in kata-practice that is not in kumite and I think that it is helpful for internal, emotional, and physical training and for breath technique. I believe that the Great Master was truly one of the masters who trained themselves through kata-practice spiritually and physically. It is said that Master Azato, from whom the Great Master received training, was a master of swordsmanship and used to say with confidence that he would not lose in a match of swords. One day, after having seen a swordsman practicing, Master Azato challenged the swordsman, who was using a real sword, and defeated him with one straight hit with his own hand.
The Great Master's Twenty Disciplines of Karate do is well promoted and every one reads it at least once; however, it is extremely difficult to put it into practice. Whenever one thinks of these Twenty Disciplines, he can imagine not only the Great Master's philosophy of karate do, but also his high state of mind, the unthinkable hardships and inventive training. He said that karate do is the way to train one's soul and mind to be right, beautiful, and strong up to the final point, thus a person must be happiest if he finishes his life without using the skills he developed.
If my memory is correct, Mr. Motonobu (Genshin) Hironishi, my senior, wrote a book, the Great Master's biography, titled Karate do Ichiro One episode in the book describes that the Master, at an age of over sixty years, said with excitement,
"Ah, thank Heaven. I finally can do the Gedan Barai (lower kick block)." It is that "karate do is a lifelong learning" stated in the Twenty Disciplines, and I think that we must be aware of the fact that it has such a depth.
There is another episode in the book. When the young Master was walking on a country road at night, a man who was running like a hare in flight bumped against the Master in the dark. There was no space on the narrow road to avoid a collision, and the Master struck a blow at the man unconsciously as the men passed each other. On the next morning a man with several broken ribs was discovered lying on the lower side way. It was judged that he was the burglar who was struck by the Master on his escape in the previous night. Even in such a case, it is said that the Master was remorseful for his wounding the man and said, "I feel sorry for him. I could not use my discretion; I am still inexperienced." Moreover, in his later years as an elderly man in the postwar chaos, he was attacked by a pickpocket as an easy target because of his age. Later the Master felt sorry for the attacker who was lying suffering after the confrontation because he felt he did a shameful thing to the attacker. It was this episode that really gives an account of the Master's warmhearted personality.
When I was a student, once I unpremeditatedly accompanied the Master to his home. Although it was routine to see him off at the near Municipal railway station, because of my concern that the aged Master, who was over eighty, might fall on his way home even though he said he would be fine. As we usually did, I provided a bowl of tempura buckwheat noodles to him at a buckwheat restaurant near the school. It was impressive to see him eating the noodles piece by piece with relish very slowly. I was just a pupil in his late times of life and had never been trained physically with utmost care from the first.
However, I clearly remember the heavenly impression of him, similar to looking up at the sky (Kanku Kata), at his occasional demonstration performances. His fists were straight and exact to conclude his act. In the cold winter I was always concerned about him catching a cold. I asked him to keep warm watching the practice by not changing his kimono to a training uniform whenever he tried to change it. Now I remember that it was like a student's filial piety, being devoted to his master. The Master, who had an amiable face and was such an affectionate person, passed away in the 32nd year of the Showa period (1957), a few years after my graduation.
I attended the funeral at Gokoku-jiko with my second teacher_Hoken Inoue, an authority on classical budo (the nephew of Morihei Ueshiba the headmaster of Aikido, and an expert in kendo and aikido).
His grave is in Kawasaki city near Machida city.
Even now, I remember his gentle voice that used to encourage me to become the man who can be identified with karate, as if said "if it is Kawanabe, then it is karate, if it is karate, then it is Kawanabe."
Kenjiro Kawanabe-Atsugi, Japan
I have attached for your reading pleasure the manuscript from the journal of Kenjiro Kawanabe. This excerpt is culled from my notes, interviews and letters with Kawanabe Sensei. The memoirs have been left intact and while rather lengthy reading, it does capsule a period of history that all budoka's of Shotokan history should read closely. This is one of the last great masters who studied directly Funakoshi Gichin and shares with us some insight that you will not find anywhere else. I am proud and honored to have been selected to assist him with his manuscript and it is in that theme, I now share with all his words.
Osu
Shihan Carlos Varon
Lenchus Legend Karate Do/Kawanabe Karate Budo
Densetsu KuKen Karate Do Kyokai
**************************************************************************
Memories of Master Gichin Funakoshi
My Mentor and the Founder of the School of the Shotokan
Shihan Carlos Varon
Lenchus Legend Karate Do/Kawanabe Karate Budo
Densetsu KuKen Karate Do Kyokai
**************************************************************************
Memories of Master Gichin Funakoshi
My Mentor and the Founder of the School of the Shotokan
Master Funakoshi was born in 1869, sixty-two years senior to me, thus I was like his grandchild. It was the year 1922, at the age of fifty-three, that the Master moved to the main land from Okinawa and began promoting karate. After having suffered great hardship, he founded a dojo in Mejiro that became the origin of karate do in mainland Japan. The Master was not strong when he was just a boy, thus his first wish was to train the body, and he became a pupil of Masters Itosu and Azato, both of whom were considered great masters.
In the time of Master Funakoshi, practice was done in the early morning or at night to hide the training. Originally budo was not supposed to be showy or boastful. It was thought of as a defense technique that required critical training. Therefore, it was only for men of firm purposes and the training started with an emphasis on spiritual discipline in the natural environment. It is in striking contrast to the present way that stresses physical practice in a modern sport sense.
Karate ni sente nashi
"There is no first hand in Karate"
"There is no first attack in Karate."
This was most important to Master Funakoshi Gichin and is also the inscription on his headstone in the Enkaku-Ji in Kamakura, Japan
(Note: Original painting by Kenjiro Kawanabe-April, 2005 and gift to Sensei Carlos Varon
******************************************************************(Note: Original painting by Kenjiro Kawanabe-April, 2005 and gift to Sensei Carlos Varon
The Master raised the technique of "an exact killing with one blow," the soul of karate, to the level of karate do.
It is clearly expressed in his change of the Chinese character of "karate (lit., T'ang hands)" to "karate do ( lit,. Way of empty hands)." Also there are the words in his Chinese poem that swear to heaven to become the founder of a movement to revive the forgotten karate; it shows that the Master had such a serious attitude.
"In Southern China {Fujian} there is a superb skill known as Nan-Quan.
It's a pity, however, that this tradition has waned and is in fear of vanishing altogether.
For such a great cause can we nurture its resurgence expecting again to make it blossom and flourish in the spring.
Let us vow to make heaven ashamed of itself."
Funakoshi Gichin wrote on a fan in a ship in 1922 from Okinawa to Japan.
*****************************************************************
The fan is a reproduction and was a gift from Kawanabe Kenjiro to Sensei Carlos Varon in Dec-2004.
(special thanks to Shihan Patrick McCarthy who confirmed the translation)It's a pity, however, that this tradition has waned and is in fear of vanishing altogether.
For such a great cause can we nurture its resurgence expecting again to make it blossom and flourish in the spring.
Let us vow to make heaven ashamed of itself."
Funakoshi Gichin wrote on a fan in a ship in 1922 from Okinawa to Japan.
*****************************************************************
The fan is a reproduction and was a gift from Kawanabe Kenjiro to Sensei Carlos Varon in Dec-2004.
It was in the spring of the 25th year of the Showa period (1950) when I first met the Master. He was present in the dojo at least once every month until my graduation in the spring of the 29th year. It was impressive that the gentle Master's actions in daily life were thoroughly guarded. I was really surprised when I later realized that he moved every moment precisely according to every principle, just like the intentional control of all motions. I believe that it was difficult for young students to understand his high level technique.
It is said that his son, Master Gigo, also called Master Junior, was threatening to all of the pupils at the dojo. However, I think that it was a great loss for the karate world that Master Junior died soon after the end of the war in the 23rd year of the Showa period (1948). They say that the present karate world in which many sects compete with one another would not have been existent if Master Junior was alive. It is well known that Master Junior's trick of one-blow & one-kick was a fearless and unparalleled technique that was created through risky training. It was probably his devotion to his responsibilities when he had acutely realized that he was the one who would have to be the leader to establish the foundation of the karate world in Japan rather than his father, who was gentle and never pushed his own claim, and the necessity to protect the tradition without submitting to Japan's ancient judo or military art. It is certainly impossible to describe all of his painful and tearful efforts in my writing. Master Junior sacrificed the whole of his life for karate even as he suffered from a then incurable disease, tuberculosis. It can be said that Master Junior's discipline was a more realistic and dynamic training in contrast to his father's static training. Some of my seniors recall that Master Junior was naturally firm and brave, very soft and agile, and so strong that no pupil could avoid it when Master Junior returned a dazzling strike in a second to a pupil who had slightly touched his face by accident.
His father, Great Master, was a man of dignity, a man with a philosophy of authority, not rage. He never pushed his way on others, and he seemed to have wished it not to be known that he was doing karate even. In such a way, his life was truly the life of a respectable and devout karate expert. Yet I remember that even this Master who generally kept a gentle face could not stop expressing anger on his red gloomy face when he saw the students striking and kicking the wooden wall of the dojo. At that time the wall of the Waseda Dojo was made of a concrete layer with wooden boards on it with some space between them, thus the wall of wooden boards was just right to be used as boards for kick practice. The students knew that they should not do it, but naturally they did it with their excessive energy. Those who did were scolded by the Master and told that individuals who did such a reckless act were not qualified to practice karate and told them to quit.
It seems that the students tended to underestimate the Great Master, whom they nicknamed "Grandpa," in regard to the strength of his karate in contrast to that of Master Junior.
Masters Egami and Harada.
(NOTE: refer to letter from Master Harada posted on this site on:
01/16/06 "Memories from a former classmate at Waseda University" for additional insights and recollections with Master Kawanabe).
I heard of one episode from my senior Mr. Egami, who founded the national organization of the Association of Shoto (Shotokai) after the war. One day, when the Great Master was severely lecturing some seniors in the dojo, Master Junior tried to intercede with his father, who was seated, and touched the Great Master's shoulder from behind. Then the Great Master shook his son's hand off and threw him down in a second. According to Mr. Egami, it was a great shock to everyone, including him, because they did not expect to see such terrible power hidden in the Great Master, who was always gentle and calm. The Great Master used to tell us that we students who were in the process of training had to hide our hands, had to avoid violence, and had to behave ourselves because a human is weak and would possibly die from one blow. This episode reminds me of what he mentioned in his teaching that karate do needed an absolute power that could even put a tiger down with one blow.
The Great Master used to say that we had to avoid dangerous areas, and he would take a detour around the place where dangerous characters tended to gather. Among swordsmen, there are some masters whose specialty is kata and others whose specialty is kumitachi. I remember reading a fighting scene in a novel between Goroemon Terada, a kata-expert and Shasaku Chiba, a kumitachi (kumi-sword) - expert, in the period of the End of the Tokugawa Shogunate. There cannot be a comparative analysis of which one was stronger than the other. If I categorize' simply, the Great Master can be thought of as an expert who became a master through kata practice and training of kata of karate, whereas Master Junior can be said to be a born-expert who became a master through kumite. I heard that when he was young the Great Master once fought against the typhoon by holding the wooden door in his hands standing straight up on the roof and superbly succeeded in his attempt of standing on the roof after many failures. There is some subtle charm in kata-practice that is not in kumite and I think that it is helpful for internal, emotional, and physical training and for breath technique. I believe that the Great Master was truly one of the masters who trained themselves through kata-practice spiritually and physically. It is said that Master Azato, from whom the Great Master received training, was a master of swordsmanship and used to say with confidence that he would not lose in a match of swords. One day, after having seen a swordsman practicing, Master Azato challenged the swordsman, who was using a real sword, and defeated him with one straight hit with his own hand.
The Great Master's Twenty Disciplines of Karate do is well promoted and every one reads it at least once; however, it is extremely difficult to put it into practice. Whenever one thinks of these Twenty Disciplines, he can imagine not only the Great Master's philosophy of karate do, but also his high state of mind, the unthinkable hardships and inventive training. He said that karate do is the way to train one's soul and mind to be right, beautiful, and strong up to the final point, thus a person must be happiest if he finishes his life without using the skills he developed.
"Ah, thank Heaven. I finally can do the Gedan Barai (lower kick block)." It is that "karate do is a lifelong learning" stated in the Twenty Disciplines, and I think that we must be aware of the fact that it has such a depth.
There is another episode in the book. When the young Master was walking on a country road at night, a man who was running like a hare in flight bumped against the Master in the dark. There was no space on the narrow road to avoid a collision, and the Master struck a blow at the man unconsciously as the men passed each other. On the next morning a man with several broken ribs was discovered lying on the lower side way. It was judged that he was the burglar who was struck by the Master on his escape in the previous night. Even in such a case, it is said that the Master was remorseful for his wounding the man and said, "I feel sorry for him. I could not use my discretion; I am still inexperienced." Moreover, in his later years as an elderly man in the postwar chaos, he was attacked by a pickpocket as an easy target because of his age. Later the Master felt sorry for the attacker who was lying suffering after the confrontation because he felt he did a shameful thing to the attacker. It was this episode that really gives an account of the Master's warmhearted personality.
When I was a student, once I unpremeditatedly accompanied the Master to his home. Although it was routine to see him off at the near Municipal railway station, because of my concern that the aged Master, who was over eighty, might fall on his way home even though he said he would be fine. As we usually did, I provided a bowl of tempura buckwheat noodles to him at a buckwheat restaurant near the school. It was impressive to see him eating the noodles piece by piece with relish very slowly. I was just a pupil in his late times of life and had never been trained physically with utmost care from the first.
However, I clearly remember the heavenly impression of him, similar to looking up at the sky (Kanku Kata), at his occasional demonstration performances. His fists were straight and exact to conclude his act. In the cold winter I was always concerned about him catching a cold. I asked him to keep warm watching the practice by not changing his kimono to a training uniform whenever he tried to change it. Now I remember that it was like a student's filial piety, being devoted to his master. The Master, who had an amiable face and was such an affectionate person, passed away in the 32nd year of the Showa period (1957), a few years after my graduation.
I attended the funeral at Gokoku-jiko with my second teacher_Hoken Inoue, an authority on classical budo (the nephew of Morihei Ueshiba the headmaster of Aikido, and an expert in kendo and aikido).
Even now, I remember his gentle voice that used to encourage me to become the man who can be identified with karate, as if said "if it is Kawanabe, then it is karate, if it is karate, then it is Kawanabe."
Kenjiro Kawanabe-Atsugi, Japan
posted by Shihan Carlos Varon at 11:40 AM
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