..... Arriving in Bolton with my teacher to train with Shigeru Kimura sensei destroyed all my perconceptions on that
score for he turned out to be a giant of a man. Not only was he large in stature, his reputation amongst karate men
was legend too, and here I was ready to train with him. To be honest, I thought he looked a little scary.
He had a very relaxed manner about him, but it was clear he possessed a massive amount of power in those limbs
of his. The training I did was everything I hoped it would be, it was special, with ideas and concepts unlike any I had
come across to date.
Though we dealt only with a few basic kicking and punching techniques, it was the delivery of each one that formed
the focus of our efforts. Balance and bodyweight distribution came under the microscope, and how these things were
relevant, to the smooth transmission of power was at the core of his teaching that night.
Kimura sensei was a hard taskmaster and seemed to have little patience with those who failed to grasp his ideas but
I did enjoy the challenge of the training even though I found much of it hard going. His teaching method, as far as I
could tell, was to get people thinking about the way they were doing what they did. He could be a bit sarcastic
at times but I never saw him bully a student as I have seen other Japanese sensei do.
After training he was very approachable and pleased to answer any questions put to him. I had hundreds to ask, but
didn't have the bottle to ask them ! On that occasion I gave in to my sense of indecision, and as the moment passed,
the opportunity to ask Kimura sensei a question, slipped into history and was lost forever.
(Excerpt from Roaring Silence from Michael Clarke, Martial Arts Publishing 2005 USA)
