Japanese karate grand master who has made Kenya his home

At the bottom right on Page 38 of the Sunday Nation on August 22, 1971, a grainy image preserves a piece of Kenya’s history through a black-and-white photograph and three paragraphs of text.

The picture captured the moment four Japanese men were welcomed to Kenya to train the country’s disciplined forces in karate and judo.

The text that accompanied the photo said: “On Friday evening, the Kenya Amateur Weight-lifting, Karate and Body-Building Association gathered at the National Youth Service headquarters in Nairobi to welcome four Japanese karate/judo experts who have just arrived.”

One of the four men is Yoshio Tamura, then aged 25, and who is now a karate master living in Nairobi. At 71, he is still training people how to tackle opponents using karate.

Mr Tamura decided not to return to his homeland at the end of his assignment with the Japanese Overseas Co-operation Volunteers. He had been tasked with teaching karate to armed forces trainees at the Kenya Prisons Training College that was then based in Lang’ata.

“I knew Japan for 24 years but I’ve known Kenya for more than 40 years. You can imagine how difficult it can be to adapt there, because I’m used to being here,” he said when asked if he would ever consider relocating to Japan.

During his stay in Kenya, he has trained numerous people in karate, which he estimates to be 20,000; has been a coach of the national karate team; has founded the first ever national karate body; has run a hotel and export businesses in Nairobi; has married a Kenyan woman who later died before he married a Japanese wife, among other deeds.

Mr Tamura also holds the credit of having introduced the Goju-ryu karate style in Kenya and, according to Mr Gabriel Mutuku, the secretary-general of Kenya Karate Federation, that is the style that all members of Kenya’s armed forces are trained in.

Every Tuesday and Thursday evening, you will find Mr Tamura at a hall in the compound of the Japanese embassy in Upper Hill, shouting things only karate enthusiasts understand as he trains people in the ancient martial art.

Three people who have been his students for years told Lifestyle that he is a strict man who pays lots of attention to the karate basics. No one, they said, can be promoted from one belt (levels represented by various colours based on mastery of skills) to another by Mr Tamura without showing a good grasp of the karate basics that entail accuracy, flexibility, speed and power.

We found the karate master at the Japanese embassy for an interview and a few minutes into the talk, one couldn’t help but notice the sense of humour laced with a sanguine attitude that seem to be his driving forces.

One of the questions we asked him was whether, in his long stay in Kenya, he has ever been in a situation where he has had to apply karate to rescue himself.

PROPER INSTRUCTOR

“No. Since I came, nothing has happened. I don’t know why,” he replied.

In any case, he said, no person should try applying karate moves when confronted by robbers.

“You don’t know if the challenger has something else,” said Mr Tamura. “It’s better to surrender, to give out your mobile phone, instead of fighting. Because it is taking a risk.”

Mr Tamura’s coming to Kenya was as a result of a move by the Japanese government to spread its culture to the world, and his career choices could explain why he got attached to Kenya.

After completing his studies in high school at the age of 15, he decided to concentrate fully on karate, and he pursued his passion through a club in his home city of Utsunomiya, which is about 100 kilometres from Japan’s capital, Tokyo.

The last born in a family of six children, Mr Tamura had been wishing to venture out of his country and when he saw an advertisement by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica) that an instructor was needed in Kenya, he tendered his application and succeeded.

He came to Kenya alongside S. Iteiri, R. Nishimoto and Y. Higashi through Japanese Overseas Co-operation Volunteers, an arm of Jica. Alongside Y. Higashi, he was posted to the Kenya Prisons whereas the two others went to train Kenya Police.

At that time, Mr Tamura had learnt English — the language we used during the interview — but he had never practised it until he landed in Nairobi.

Mr Tamura recalls that when he arrived in Kenya, already there was some knowledge of karate among residents, only that it was not refined.

“The first people who came through Jica came in 1966 or something, and one of them knew karate. He was actually a plant mechanic but he knew karate and he started teaching the Shotokan style. That’s why Shotokan is very popular,” he said.

“When I came, it was popular but the problem was that he was not a proper instructor,” added Mr Tamura.

He had learnt many karate styles, including Shotokan, but he preferred to teach Kenyans the Goju-ryu style.

The difference between Shotokan and Goju-ryu is mainly because the former focuses more on hard techniques while the latter encompasses a balance of both hard and soft methods. Another difference is that Goju-ryu has 12 kata while Shotokan has 26 and more kata. A kata is a detailed karate pattern that mimics a confrontation with one or many opponents.

Mr Tamura was with Kenya Prisons until around 1978 when his contract ended. He, however, decided to stay in Kenya.

“The contract had been renewed on several occasions since 1971 when Tamura first came to Kenya,” reports the Daily Nation of March 10, 1979.

But the one activity that further engraved Mr Tamura’s name in history books is the feat he achieved at the All Africa Games in Cairo in 1991.

A team he coached that represented Kenya in the games scooped two silver medals and three bronze medals. With that, karate bagged the second highest medal tally after athletics.

Mr Tamura was also the founder of the Karate Association of Kenya that has been in existence since 1975.

FATHER OF KARATE

“The first chairman was Isaiah Kiplagat. That time he was in Kenya Prisons as a commander of the training school,” he said.

Mr Mutuku, the secretary-general of the Kenya Karate Federation (KKF), said the Karate Association of Kenya was phased out to pave way for the one he currently serves.

“He was a technical director among other members in the office, most of who have passed on or are too old now,” Mr Mutuku said of Mr Tamura.

Through the Karate Association of Kenya, Mr Tamura trained karate judges because he had noted that not many people in Kenya knew the international rules applicable to the art.

It is for his involvement in the national karate team, the role he played in starting the karate association, that some observers consider Mr Tamura to be the “father of Karate in Kenya” as written in a March 1993 issue of the Daily Nation.

Alongside his karate activities, he also tried a hand in business. One of his investments was a Japanese restaurant in Nairobi’s Hurlingham area which he ran for about 15 years before selling it.

“I was running a tourist business and a restaurant, and also exporting,” he said. “But I haven’t done those for the last few years because of age. It’s very difficult.”

He had also invested in karate clubs from where he would impart his karate knowledge.

“I’ve been teaching some clubs but it’s difficult to make money. That’s why I decided to do other businesses,” he said.

Perhaps the reason for not finding much money in such an activity was because of a commitment he made in the late 1970s when he was using a building along Nairobi’s Tom Mboya Street for training karate.

“My aim is not to make money but to continue promoting the sport in Kenya,” he told the Daily Nation in 1979.

He told Lifestyle that he used to earn “a little” money while working for Jica. But after his contract expired, he had to look for his own means.

Karate could have been one of his cash inlets but he says he chose not to press too hard for cash.

“I’ve been doing things voluntarily. I’ve been doing the training with the national team and everything was voluntary,” he said.

At the moment, he relies on savings and money sent from Japan. He said he owns some inheritance from his late parents and that he visits the Asian country once in a while.

During the training session we attended, one could hear dedication in the ageing man’s voice. One could also sense respect in the few trainees in the room who were taking his instructions.

COUNTRY OF EXTREMES

“I take new people for training twice each year. Always, over 200 people apply; but we take about 80. But even after that it reduces by half. After six months, they reduce to 10 or 15,”  he said.

The class he was teaching, he explained, was in the third month and they were only a handful. The reason the number of those attending classes reduces, he said, is because of the demanding nature of the art. His students say he has instilled discipline in them among other virtues.

Ms Sophie Wandiga, a businesswoman in Nairobi, has been attending his classes for the last nine years and she is now a brown belt on the verge of becoming a black belt — the highest rank in karate.

“The one thing that has always impressed me about him is his age and determination to always exercise,” said Ms Wandiga. “Most importantly for anyone who has ever met Tamura, what stands out is how fit and young he looks, compared to his actual age.”

Ms Wandiga has also observed many other qualities in the karate master: “He’s a very down-to-earth person; very humble; very funny even with his limited English. As a foreigner, he tries to speak Swahili as much as possible, better than he would English so that he can relate better to the local people,” she said.

Mr Aguta Onsando, who is a karate instructor in Nairobi, has been attending Mr Tamura’s classes for the last seven years.

“He’s a jolly good man. He is very strict. I must insist on ‘very strict’. But if you take it positively, you’ll see why he’s strict: he wants the best from his students,” he said.

Mr Onsando, who also runs an IT business, is a black belt. He has come to appreciate why Mr Tamura always insists on his students mastering the karate basics.

“When you go to Tamura, you have to start with the beginners, even if you are a black belt in whatever style. So, he has to watch you from a distance. Then if he sees your standards are close to his, he’ll promote you. But you have to start from the very beginning,” he said.

Mr Mutuku, the KKF secretary-general who is also a coach with Kenya Police, has also been a student of Mr Tamura’s. He first met the master in 1984 while training at Kenya Prisons.

“He is the one who brought the Gojyu-ryu style in Kenya,” he said. “Gojyu-ryu is one of the most competitive styles in the world, alongside Shotokan. The world champions emerge from the two styles, the most widely practised.”

A question that emerged during the interview with Mr Tamura is whether criminal-minded elements were using his free karate lessons to toughen themselves for breaking the law. He said it would be very difficult for a crook to continue taking karate classes.

“It requires you to be disciplined. It’s very difficult to continue,” he said.

He added that a person who is really dedicated to karate training will not have time to engage in crime.

It is on the same note that he downplayed the perception of karate as a self-defence sport.

“Okay, sometimes. But it’s not the first thing. For example, if somebody grabs you by the neck you can’t [use karate]. And also you know, fighting is a risk. I don’t recommend self-defence,” he said.

He was equally dismissive of the contribution of martial artists famous in Kenya for movies depicting high-octane karate fights — among them Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan.

“Many of them make up many things. They do things I’ve never seen or heard,” he said.

Asked if he would recommend any karate student to watch them, he replied: “I don’t think so. That’s a show anyway. They are made up for fun.”

During his stay in Kenya, Mr Tamura has made many observations about the country, among them the changes in the security situation.

“In the 1970s, security in Kenya was very good. There was no problem. Even at night I could go everywhere, even up to Kibera, Mathare. That time the only slums were Majengo. It was the so-called slum but it was not like these days. That time I could walk even in Majengo,” he said, adding that nowadays such thought of walking at night is inconceivable.

He has also known Kenya to be a country of extremes.

“Japan is average; not so much difference. But in Kenya, the clever people are extremely clever and lazy people are so lazy. So much differences. Same with the sports world,” he said.

The Japanese embassy recognises Mr Tamura on its website as a karate master but, with a shrug, he downplayed the prestige that comes with the title.

“I don’t mind being called that; but just an ordinary karate instructor. That’s all,” he said.

“Culturally, it is somehow senior people who are called ‘Master’ especially in Japan. I don’t see myself as a master. I’m not rich,” Mr Tamura added, laughing.