Sadly, Kawahara Sensei has left us far too early.



As you are aware, I practised together with Kawahara Sensei in the dojo of Tanaka Bansen,
where Kawahara sensei was an uchideshi.
Subsequently he was my special practice partner for more than half a century;
in Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Okayama, Iwama, Vancouver and Taiwan.
Without him I could never have developed my own aikido style as Ban Sen Ryu. I owe him a great deal.



Sadly, he has left us far too early.
I still remember the marvellous mature or ENJUKU demonstrations he gave,
in particular when he visited Brussels on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of our school, the Ban Sen Juku.
I feel I have lost my partner in our aikido life. It seems a tremendous pity that someone so valuable has been lost to us so soon.

We will miss him.


Tomita Seiji
Ban Sen Juku