Tributes

Hiroshi Shoji Sensei - Master of Karate-Do

Hiroshi Shoji Sensei 8th Dan JKA 1931-2003

Late on Saturday 1st November 2003, JKA Victoria received the sad news of the passing earlier the same day of Hiroshi Shoji Sensei of the Japan Karate Association.

This tribute to Shoji Sensei consists of 3 parts. The main part, Part 1 was written by his student and friend Nishimura Takaatsu Sensei the resident senior Instructor in Victoria.

Part 2 is the preface to the JKA Kata textbook 'Unsu" published in Japan in 1976 which featured Shoji Sensei as demonstrator. This piece was written by Masatoshi Nakayama Sensei the first Chief Instructor of the Japan Karate Association.

Part 3 is an endorsement of Shoji Sensei written for the same book by Hidetaka Nishiyama Sensei, another senior JKA Instructor.

Combined, these writings give us some understanding of the unique character and incredible ability of this master Karateka.

Part 1
On the evening of Saturday 1 November 2003 I received a call from Japan that Shoji Sensei had passed away early that morning. He was 72 years old. I have many memories of Shoji Sensei that span nearly 40 years.

When I joined Chuo University Karate Club, our instructor was Mori Sensei (Masataka Mori) now residing in New York. His training was hard and we were all scared of him. For grading exams Mori Sensei always brought another smiley instructor with him, who we later learned was Shoji Sensei. When we learned that Mori Sensei was leaving for New York “for good”, we, particularly the 1st year students, were very happy. And when we learned that our next instructor was that smiley Shoji Sensei, we were doubly happy.

The only man to achieve a perfect "10" score in the history of the JKA All-Japan Karate Championships.

However, we soon found that our joy was short-lived. Shoji Sensei’s training was much harder with many hundreds of repetitions of the same basic techniques such as gyakuzuki, maegeri and oizuki. In early training sessions with Shoji Sensei, after about one hour of gyakuzuki (one side), Shoji Sensei called out “Saigo” which means in Japanese “Last”. We all thought he meant “Last 10 times”. We squeezed our energy and gathered our efforts and did gyakuzuki 10 times, thinking this would be the last. However, even after the last 10 times, Shoji Sensei kept counting as if he had said nothing. This was the same with maegeri. This happened all the time. I first thought I misheard him, but soon I found all my colleagues also heard Shoji Sensei say “Saigo”. Shoji Sensei’s “Saigo” became an important topic among us whether he tricked us or what he said was in fact not “Saigo” but some other word. We started paying attention to his word “Saigo” and found that he was not saying “Saigo”, but saying “Sah iko”, which means in Japanese “Let’s go” or “Carry on”. So, an hour of gyakuzuki or maegeri with one side was a mere warm-up for him.

Another memory of Shoji Sensei’s teaching was sticky stances. He always told us to make our stances sticky or glued onto the floor. This made our legs and hips extra tired. Shoji Sensei had already won the All Japan Championships twice in kata, which made us feel awed and we were scared to talk to him (we hardly had opportunities to directly speak to him anyway when we were 1st year students).

As we moved onto the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year in the university karate club, we had more opportunities to speak to him through the annual gasshuku and also visits to his home. We found him very unassuming despite his high achievements in karate, approachable and also warm. Shoji Sensei and Mrs. Shoji always warmly welcomed us students at his home. One of the things I clearly remember about Shoji Sensei is the speed with which he could eat his meals. At gasshuku, we all ate together in a big dining room. It was traditionally the duties of the 1st year students to serve rice for our instructor, old boys (graduates) and seniors. There were over 100 members when we were the 1st year students. Hence, we were absolutely busy serving those above us. Shoji Sensei was a fast eater and when we (the 1st year students) finished serving the instructor, old boys and seniors, and had our turn to start eating, there was always a call out for “Seiza” to finish the mealtime, because Shoji Sensei had already finished his meal. So, we had to finish our meals even before we started them!

We had the opportunity of having training sessions with Shoji Sensei in Melbourne in October 1996. I believe that all the members who participated in his training session enjoyed not only his teaching, but also his warm personality. One thing he wanted to do in Melbourne was to see the Milky Way in the skies. Unfortunately, while he was in Melbourne, the Milky Way was not visible due to bad weather. When he was leaving Melbourne, I asked him to visit Melbourne again, so that he could see the Milky Way next time. Shoji Sensei replied that this would be his last overseas teaching trip and in fact it became so.

Shoji Sensei did not talk much. He was a quiet and in a sense a shy person. He did not seek to be in the spotlight. Despite his paramount achievements in karate, Shoji Sensei was very humble and also warm. I always looked forward to visiting him at his home each time when I went back to Japan. I usually prepared a long list of questions about karate before each of my visits to him. We normally got sidetracked in our conversation and many questions on my lists were left unasked. Whenever I had some question about karate to which I could not find an answer, I always had Shoji Sensei as my mentor to rely on for an answer or confirmation (or negation) of my lines of thought. Now he is gone, I will no doubt miss Shoji Sensei not just as my karate instructor from my university time but also as a warm and humble person for whom I had a great respect.

I visited Shoji Sensei at his home in early July this year when I was back in Japan for a private matter. As usual we talked about various things mainly concerning karate. This was to be my last time with Shoji Sensei. Shoji Sensei’s training was very hard. I quite often wondered why he had to be so hard. But at the same time we all understood that he was hard because he wanted us to become strong, not as a punishment.

I am extremely grateful and honoured that I had the opportunity of learning karate from Shoji Sensei.

Little known is that in addition to some kata books he published, Shoji Sensei in 1976 wrote a book “The Road to Karate – the way of life of a budo-ka”. This book is not a kata or karate technical book. It is a book of his life. Shoji Sensei closes this book with the following words:

“It is my belief that to polish our waza (technique) together with our minds through budo and to perfect us as a human being will make us healthy and live long and become a human being useful for the community.” May the soul of Shoji Sensei rest in peace. Oss
In memory of Shoji Shihan by Takaatsu Nishimura - 7th November 2003

Part 2
The Japan Karate Association held the first All Japan Karatedo Championship Tournament at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on October 28, 1957 to confidently show the unprecedentedly large scale Karatedo events, the fruits of due consideration and preparation for many years.

On that day, the gymnasium was packed with as many as eight thousand spectators and turned into a scene of wild enthusiasm and excitement because of the wonderful performances staged by many Karate players.

It was Mr. Hiroshi Shoji who fascinated the spectators fully by by his excellent performances, full of power and beauty and successfully won the Kata championship. The manner of Mr. Shoji's Karate is, as his personality indicates, never "showy", always serious, sharp and accurate. He has "something" indescribably appealing.

Mr. Shoji, after graduating from Takushoku University, has devoted himself to Karatedo. While attaining his own extensive growth in spirit and skill, he also contributed to the expansion of the Japan Karate Association through his steady activities.

It should be appreciated that his dexterous and proper leadership has turned out a number of great Karate men now forming the leading group of the Karate circle. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that his excellent personality has had a great influence on many Karate men.

Modest as he is, he is the sort of man who improves on acquaintance just like genuine Sake (rice-wine) which tastes better as you drink more of it.

"Unsu" is one of his favourite Katas together with "Kanku Sho". As is well known, "Unsu" is a Kata which is very difficult to perform, one in which strength and accuracy is demanded while executing the rapid changing movements. In this book however, he has successfully given easy and systematic descriptions on "Unsu".

I highly appreciate the efforts he has made to prepare this book. To publish a book of this nature is in itself very laborious work but is very useful for ones own development. I hope that he will achieve further greatness in the future.
From the Preface of "Unsu" by Masatoshi Nakayama Chief Instructor - Japan Karate Association.

Part 3
"An invaluable contribution to the existing literature on Karate"
Mr. Shoji won the All Japan Karatedo Championships a number of times through his flawless demonstrations of "Unsu", a Kata of Karate which represents the combination of techniques compiled over hundreds of years by countless masters of the art.

The All Japan Karatedo Championship demands athletes of such extensive ability, that those participating in it represent a large majority of the world's Karate masters. It is out of his experience with this elite company that Mr. Shoji writes this book.

The recent worldwide popularity of Karate has been a great lift for the 'sport'. However, some people fail to realise the principles of Karate and it's values for humanity. All readers should approach this book, not only for it's concepts and physical worth, but also in quest of the ancient spiritual essence which is the soul of Karate.
Hidetaka Nishiyama, Executive Director - International Amateur Karate Federation (IAKF).

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