Keisetsu Yoshimaru talks about his karate training in the 1950s

 Here is a translation of some memoirs of Yoshimaru sensei from the Senbukan. A shorter version of this appeared in my book but here I translated some additional parts. He talks about Kanki Izumikawa, the Senbukan and also a few other prominent karate and kobudo teachers of the time. Enjoy.

I was introduced to Kanki Izumikawa sensei in 1951, director of the Senbukan. It was great luck I was able to learn the Higa-Ha Goju-Ryu which was passed down by Izumikawa sensei. I was eventually graded to Yondan by Izumikawa sensei. Thanks to his teachings I was better able to understand the Daito Ryu of my teacher Yukiyoshi Sagawa. To show my appreciation to Izumikawa sensei I later instructed his son Katsuya, the third soke of Senbukan in Daito-Ryu Aiki Jujutsu.

My lineage of Goju-Ryu is as follows: Kanryo Higashionna—Chojun Miyagi—Seiko Higa—Kanki Izumikawa
After I stopped my job as a seaman after three years I was able to reside with the Izumikawa family. I was also an instructor at the Senbukan honbu dojo.

Izumikawa, Yoshimaru and Arakawa, Senbukan dojo mid 50s

Before the war Izumikawa sensei was the only official teacher of Goju-Ryu karate on the mainland. Kenwa Mabuni sensei was teaching Shito Ryu in the Kansai area at the beginning of the Showa era.

As luck would have it I was able to train the Goju-Ryu of Kyoda sensei. I visited Juhatsu Kyoda who lived in the Oita prefecture in 1957. Since Izumikawa sensei was a former disciple of Kyoda sensei on Okinawa, I was taught the Sanseiru Kata directly by Kyoda sensei. It is because Chojun Miyagi sensei was on military service at the time Sanseiru was taught by Kanryo Higashionna sensei, only Juhatsu Kyoda sensei was able to learn Sanseiru. After this I returned home.

When I first came to Tokyo, I was planning to go to the Kodokan. However, at that time, karate movies such as "Sanshiro Sugata" and " Zanpamisaki no kettō" were popular, so I changed my schedule and immediately moved to Tokyo in 1950 and searched for a karate dojo. Shortly after I came to Tokyo, I was able to join Kanken Toyama sensei in Meguro. However, although there was a Toyama Dojo after the war, the teaching time was irregular. The Toyama dojo shihan dai, Ito sensei arranged for me to practice at the Aoyama University karate club.

Around that time I saw a photo of Sanchin in a magazine. I searched for the teacher who seemed to be in Kawasaki. When I asked at the police box, I was told to go there as it was a great teacher with 8th dan. It was Kanki Izumikawa sensei of the Senbukan. After the war, all the houses were still like barracks, but there was a small dojo. Kawasaki city had many people from Okinawa and had a strong Okinawan culture. At that time, Okinawa was still under the military administration of the United States, and people involved in Okinawa Karate usually visited Senbukan when they came to Tokyo.

While I resided with the Izumikawa family the branch chief list for the Senbukan was as follows:

Keisetsu Yoshimaru Yondan Honbu Shihan Dai
Sosui Ichikawa Godan Taito Branch Chief
Matsuke Akamine Godan Yokohama Branch Chief
Tsutomo Takato Godan Ota Branch Chief
Busen Arakawa Godan Suginami Branch Chief
Toshikazu Sagara Sandan Brazil

At that time, Morio Higaonna (now a world-famous karate teacher) came to Tokyo from Okinawa and entered the university, where he also performed at a university school festival. Shinken Taira sensei, of the ryukyu kobujutsu also came to Senbukan and held many seminars.

Sakagami sensei of the Japan Karatedo Shito-ryu General Headquarters is a teacher who has handed down all the kata of karate, but I stayed with Taira sensei in a small room on the second floor of the Sakagami Dojo in Tsurumi. Sakagami sensei and Nakamura (?) And I learned Ryukyu bojutsu together. At that time, I was still working for a nearby company, and I went to the company from Sakagami Dojo and learned bojutsu at Sakagami Dojo at night. Later Busen Arakawa launched the Sokan Ryu and Motokatsu Inoue launched the Ryukyu Kobudo Preservation Promotion Association.(Translator's note: Busen Arakawa was also a senior student of Shinken Taira in addition to Kanki Izumikawa)

During my time as a teacher at the Senbukan I met Gogen Yamaguchi sensei, the first chairman of the Goju kai together with Kanki Izumikawa sensei a couple times. I was happy to be invited to Yamaguchi sensei’s house at a later date.

So I had a good career in karate. If I lived in Kawasaki as it was, I would have spent my entire life enthusiastic about working in the karate world. However, my destiny has changed since I got a job at Hitachi, and it is my inevitable destiny.

Kanki Izumikawa sensei was in the top class of the karate world. I was getting ready to open a Senbukan branch dojo when I accidently met Mrs. Yukiyoshi Sagawa and my fate would change forever. After leaving the karate world which I spent 10 years training in Goju-Ryu I devoted the next 15 years to learning Sagawa-Ha Daito-Ryu. I was completely away from the karate world for 15 years, and I was taught by Yukiyoshi Sagawa sensei with almost no absence 3-4 days a week. Hitachi Central Research Laboratory is located in Kokubunji, and Sagawa Dojo is about a 20-minute walk, so I only had to go back and forth between the company and the dojo.

Yoshimaru practicing Seienchin kata