Tamura Sensei passes away

Nobuyoshi Tamura (8^th Dan): 2^nd March 1933 - 9^th July 2010

It is with great sadness that I have to report that Nobuyoshi Tamura Sensei passed away on 9^thJuly.

Apparently he had been suffering from pancreatic cancer and was hospitalised and operated on in April of this year.

Mike, Mairi and I, along with many others, regard this as an enormous loss to whole body of Aikido - Tamura sensei's Aikido was something very special.

I remember talking to Steve Beecham (then 4th dan) who commented that he had trained with many of top Japanese sensei but he could see that, whilst their Aikido was better than his, he could achieve their level of Aikido with lots more practice but believed that Tamura's Aikido was a 'quantum jump' above this, being of a quality he couldn't explain.

Fortunately there are many of Tamura sensei's students who can continue teaching Tamura sensei's high-quality Aikido - I am only sorry that our own students will not have chance to work with Tamura himself and, selfishly enough, I too must now regret that I was only able to train with him on so few occasions.

What is important is that we, in the Fudokai, continue to teach and practice Aikido in a manner which would have made Tamura sensei, if not proud, at least approving. I strongly believe that the work Mike, Mairi and I have done with Pierre Chassang (a long time student and confidant of Tamura sensei) means that we can continue assured that we doing our best to follow in his way.

Alan