Sensei’s Thoughts

Grandfather Masui Taneda left Kochi, Japan, in search of the American dream. He traveled to Hawaii in 1905 and worked there for 6 months. Canada was next on his adventure. Arriving in 1906 at the age of 16, he worked…

My father nurtures a substantial collection of bonsai trees. He spends hours trimming and clipping these living works of art. Plants that are on the brink of dying often find a second life if they are adopted by him. Dad…

My mother’s parents came to Canada in 1929 to minister for the Japanese United Church. Grandfather Jun Kabayama started by building up a congregation in Ocean Falls. Then in 1942 the war broke out and the family was taken to…

The Dojo is like watching the flowing water in a creek. It generally looks the same but is constantly different. Each class gives the opportunity to interact with students that all have their own stories and different solutions. The class…

The Professor told us time was up. Everyone was to pass their exams forward until all the tests reached the front of the class. I had been looking at a question for the last few minutes and still had not…

September brings the excitement of a new season. A sandwich board sign on the side of the highway invites potential students to watch a Karate demo. Afterwards we hope that they will be intrigued enough to join the Dojo. An…

In this article, Chris Taneda writes about how to run a successful dojo, concentrating on his approach to teaching. Chris runs the West Bank and Penticton, B.C. schools, which boast, at peak season, more than 500 students. Chris has nurtured…