The only way to keep what you have is to give it away.
Since November 18th, 1974 I have been privileged to learn karate from a wide variety of teachers all around the world. Each one taught me both by example and by explanation, by punching me around and throwing me to the ground, by being a sensei.
A negative example is as powerful as a positive one. I have seen teachers who engage in excessive drinking, who misuse their power to exploit their students sexually, financially and emotionally. Some teachers stop training and rely on their past victories. They have shown me what not to do.
Others, particularly Morio Higaonna, Leon Pantanowitz and Tetsuji Nakamura have given me and the karate world a strong message about the importance of character development, battling the ego, using one’s power only for good and continuing to train hard and be a student of karate first, a teacher second.
I was privileged to see up close how Leon Pantanowitz made every decision in his life by holding it up to the highest standards of morality and ethics. This continues to inspire me daily. When I told him I was getting older and didn’t know in what direction my karate should take me he said: “You must strive to be the best teacher you can.”
Higaonna Sensei said, “If you don’t train hard you have no business being a teacher.”
Thank you to all my teachers, past and present, for showing me the ‘way’ and giving me the tools to learn karate which, as my first sensei, Bob Sparks, told me, ‘is 99% self-taught.’
• Featured in this photograph: Me, having a bad hair day, and Katsuya Yamashiro Sensei, chief instructor of IOGKF Japan, whose kata is beyond inspirational.