This year [1996] Takahashi Sensei celebrates two important events: his 50th birthday, and his 25th anniversary as a karate teacher in the United States. We, his students, both old and new, take this opportunity to wish him happy anniversary, and to express our gratitude for what we have learned from him.
According to Sensei Masakazu Takahashi, who holds the highest rank attainable (8th degree black belt) in Shotokan, Karate is not just a sport or a method of self defense. "It's a discipline that you give to yourself," he says. "Once people deeply practice Karate,they see that it's not a sport. For me, it's definitely my religion.
"When I was younger and practiced at 3 o'clock in the morning, with the lights out, I would hear only my breath and the sweat drop on the floor. That is a great feeling! You feel good and you get high, you don't need drugs for that."
Sensei began his own training in Tokyo, when he was 15 years old. In Sensei's high school, boys had to study either Kendo or Judo, and he picked Judo. But he noticed that, because of his light weight, it was easy for others to throw him.
Soon after he'd begun Judo training, a senior student and friend took him to Sensei Okano's Karate Dojo, and that day changed his life. Sensei recalls: "We were free sparing, and one spinning back kick in the right spot knocked him down. 'This is amazing,' I thought. After that, I never missed and constantly practiced Karate."
Sensei continued training in both Judo and Karate throughout high school. Karate practice sometimes lasted up to six hours per day-both in and out of the Dojo. The friend who introduced him to this martial art is the man we now as Sensei Sawamoto. He was a purple belt then-but had a tremendous influence on Sensei Takahashi's development, along with Sensei Okano. The two friends worked out together in the park after class, and Sensei learned a great deal from his senior, including the need for precision in all movements. Says Sensei Takahashi: "If he asked you, 'How much did your watch cost?' and you said, '$60,' and later he found out it cost $60.25, he'd be very angry!"
In Sensei's time, only men and boys trained at the Dojo. Fighting was hard, and it was not uncommon for students to come away from training with broken bones or bloodied body parts. The white belts often had to practice on the road outside the training hall which was about half the size of our Dojo, which had to accommodate 50 or more students during practice. And practice they did, regardless of the weather-hot or cold, rain or snow.
When Sensei entered engineering school at the University of Tokyo, his training slowed down somewhat, because the rigorous curriculum demanded most of his time. After he finished his undergraduate degree and began working on his master's, which involved research in plastics as well as teaching, he once again had time for Karate. After completing his master's, Sensei worked for a short time as a plastics engineer in the private sector in Japan, but he didn't like the strict regimentation that went along with donning a corporate uniform. Around the same time, he got an invitation from Arthur McConnell to come to the United States to teach Karate.
He arrived here in 1971 and was soon teaching on his own, at first in church basements and health centers. It was a difficult start in a brand new country, and Sensei often thought of going back home, but "I saw the students waiting for me outside, and I couldn't quit," he says. "I have many happy memories from those times. The students were always behind me. I'm very lucky that way."
The Mt. Kisco Dojo was opened first, about 18 years ago. Not long after that, Sensei opened a second Dojo in Amityville.
Sensei has always trained men and women together, although there are more female students now than there were in the early years. He says of the women, "They are strong. They are stable, and that's a strength. If it's a rainy day, women show up; if it's snowing the women are there; when it's hot, they are there; when it's cold they show up. Man are strong, but if it's a rainy day, they don't show up. If it's snowing they don't come! The women keep going-not too fast not too slow. Men can rush. It's like the rabbit and the turtle. Who wins the race?"
In the years before he was married, Sensei himself practiced all the time. As a result of that intensity of focus, he gained access to the internal beauty of kata. He relates: "I was practicing for a long time, every night by myself. One day I was very tired, but I kept practicing—one, two, three, four. Then all of a sudden—that's it. 'This is a different movement,' I thought
"In that moment, a chill went through my body. My body started to flow and I wasn't tired anymore. Then I told my students, they asked me, 'What happened? What kind of condition was it? What kind of movement?' I couldn't really say, but after that I loved kata, where before I hated it." Sensei says that all his movement changed tremendously that night.
According to his long-time students, both Sensei and Karate have taught them more than just punching and kicking.
"The most impressive thing about Sensei as a teacher," says Keith Jones, "is his dedication, his perseverance, and his sensitivity to the students. He show students movements; he doesn't just stand there and point his finger. He corrects and interacts; he gets involved. Most teachers don't do that.he gives completely of himself, and that's rare.
"That's what the whole essence of Karate is," says Keith. "It's looking within yourself and pushing to be the best you can be—learning your own limitations and pushing to your fullest extent. That whole philosophy is not just for the dojo; it can be used at home, in business, in life."
According to Sensei Takahashi, each student must find out for him or herself what Karate really means. "If people get that far," he says, "it is not possible for them to quit."