Arakawa Sensei
Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 7:38 pm
I'm not good at these things and I am sure many others will write much more polished and eloquent statements but Arakawa Sensei passed away yesterday.
He had cancer.
I had a feeling the last time I saw him in Japan in February that was going to be it. He was barely able to walk but for whatever reason the second he stepped onto the floor in his gi he transformed into Superman.
Norma Foster probably trained with him longer than anyone outside of Japan so see what she has to say if she is willing to share any of her feelings and memories. I won't say much but I can say is that he was probably the best teacher I ever met in Wado. He was the only man people unanimously considered a shihan in the Wadokai. He had his detractors but in the end he was the only one who managed to get a 9th dan from the JKF alongside Hayashi Teruo Sensei of Hayashi Ha Shitoryu and a few others. He never graded past 7th dan in the Wadokai because he felt there was no one good enough to grade him. That pretty much sums him up and I always found that part of his personality endearing.
Koichi Shimura was asked to take over Arakawa Dojo a few months ago. I assume he will now be in charge permanently.
If you never got to see Arakawa Sensei then he will technically live on thru Koji Okumachi. Okumachi is a mirror of Arakawa Sensei and trained under him for many years.
A lot has happened in the past few years in the Wadokai politics wise and he was an important cog in preventing the ship from tilting sideways. Hopefully the ship will continue to stay afloat and there won't be a radical power shift.
Bob Nash
He had cancer.
I had a feeling the last time I saw him in Japan in February that was going to be it. He was barely able to walk but for whatever reason the second he stepped onto the floor in his gi he transformed into Superman.
Norma Foster probably trained with him longer than anyone outside of Japan so see what she has to say if she is willing to share any of her feelings and memories. I won't say much but I can say is that he was probably the best teacher I ever met in Wado. He was the only man people unanimously considered a shihan in the Wadokai. He had his detractors but in the end he was the only one who managed to get a 9th dan from the JKF alongside Hayashi Teruo Sensei of Hayashi Ha Shitoryu and a few others. He never graded past 7th dan in the Wadokai because he felt there was no one good enough to grade him. That pretty much sums him up and I always found that part of his personality endearing.
Koichi Shimura was asked to take over Arakawa Dojo a few months ago. I assume he will now be in charge permanently.
If you never got to see Arakawa Sensei then he will technically live on thru Koji Okumachi. Okumachi is a mirror of Arakawa Sensei and trained under him for many years.
A lot has happened in the past few years in the Wadokai politics wise and he was an important cog in preventing the ship from tilting sideways. Hopefully the ship will continue to stay afloat and there won't be a radical power shift.
Bob Nash