My Legendary Teachers - A Tribute

I have traversed 31 years in Karate-do out of 35 years of my life. My early training has been in JKA Shotokan at YMCA Dojo, Kolkata, India, which was started by Sensei Anil Sinha, legend of Indian Shotokan. Sensei Sinha, currently GM in IFC (World Bank Group) is a former student of Enoeda Sensei and former All British Universities Champion. Sensei Sattrajit Chaudhury, Sensei Salil Burman and Sensei Purandar Sarkar are my teachers who groomed me up, toughened me in JKA Shotokan and have been instrumental in shaping my interest in Karate-do. After training under numerous JKA Instructors from Tokyo - Sensei Sasaki, Omura, Imamura, Shiina, Yoshitaka, I also trained under Sensei Kanazawa & Murakami many times. Pemba Tamang Sensei, Former JKA Instructor and now NSKF Chief also took me under his fold, fine tuning my performance and pushing me further.

During my overseas trips, I was fortunate to have trained under Okazaki Sensei, Yaguchi Yutaka sensei and Ochi Sensei in USA and Europe. In London, I trained under Kawasoe Sensei . This was possible for my frequent international business trips for my Business Consulting work. One of the golden opportunity came when I trained under Asai Sensei, Yahara Sensei and Kagawa Sensei. The JKS approach is one of the deadliest and practical.. I am so lucky to be trained and graded under the Japanese Shihankai..

It was a new world of Karate when I trained under ... Sensei Hitoshi Kasuya, 8th Dan WSKF. Sensei Kasuya, a former JKA Instructor and protege of Nakayama Sensei and Kanazawa Sensei, is a pragmatic, focussed teacher, a hard task master and epitomises innovative rotary techniques in Shotokan. His serious approach, dynamic techniques and Budo-spirit appeals to me the most. He is always approachable, clears all our doubts, practices on the floor with students and has totally hands-on approach. In many seminars that I have trained under his guidance, he was always offering something new to us - Karate perfection is a moving target! The complex kihon , loaded with rotational tai sabaki & sudden counters which is his forte, seemed so difficult to us.. Sensei explained the deep philosophy of Shotokan, Funakoshi Sensei's Niju-kun and implored us to train harder. He leaves us spell bound each time and thus we develop, in body and spirit, a march towards perfection in all we do.

I am a business consultant in the area of Capacity Building,Change Management,Risk Advisory and Corporate Training & Development. The path is tortuous, slippery and demands tough, collaborative, flexible and open mind to learn, unlearn where needed and continuously develop and bring about holistic improvement in organisations. The full extent of my success here is all due to my being a Karate student - Issho Benkyo - "always a student".