Hidetaka Nishiyama Sensei

[Killer Miller]

With the recent passing of Nishiyama Sensei, I thought I would post this small collection of videos of him in action. I trained with him for many, many years. The clips bring back many memories. He was known for breaking you down to the most basic level and rebuilding you back up to his preferred standards. If you noticed in the Dojo where everyone would bow to the Picture of Funikoshi, but if you watched Nishiyama, he was truly bowing to his Sensei and had a great deal of personal meaning to him.

Most know him on the seminar level at a distance, but I knew him on the regular basis on a personal level and remember many of his serious/joking comments. It was hard to determine sometimes if he was serious, or kidding around a little... He was a great man to respect and had a great family as well.

Anyhow, here's some of the clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=189VBCjHyHQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8HN0oBgrUU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdC5K4hg5FA

[bushido_man96]

Thanks for sharing these clips. Its very cool that you got to have so many experiences with someone like him.

[Kuma]

I agree, I'm incredibly jealous right now. Thanks for these awesome video clips though!

[sensei8]

I bow to you Killer Miller! I bow to you for having shared the floor with a Karateka of his caliber! I only knew Nishiyama Sensei from afar through print/videos/etc, but, I never shared the floor with him...that would've been an honor! I'm a Karateka...birthed from a fantastic Sensei myself, yet, my Martial Arts journey is incomplete for not having to have attended any of Nishiyama's seminars. You're exceptionally fortunate to have known/trained with Nishiyama Sensei as you have! Oss!

Thank you so much for the videos...they will always hold a special place in my heart...thank you!

[Killer Miller]

Thank you Sensei8,

Yes I was very fortunate to have trained with him and I will always think if him as well as all the other great karate-ka that trained at Central with him - they were all a great bunch of guys/gals. Note: Central is what we all called Nishiyama's dojo in LA.

My contribution and tribute to Nishiyama is to give you guys a little bit of Nishiyama and his training concepts here on the forum. Also, if any of you have questions about Nishiyama's training concepts, etc., feel free to ask me.

Osu.

I bow to you Killer Miller! I bow to you for having shared the floor with a Karateka of his caliber! I only knew Nishiyama Sensei from afar through print/videos/etc, but, I never shared the floor with him...that would've been an honor! I'm a Karateka...birthed from a fantastic Sensei myself, yet, my Martial Arts journey is incomplete for not having to have attended any of Nishiyama's seminars. You're exceptionally fortunate to have known/trained with Nishiyama Sensei as you have! Oss!

Thank you so much for the videos...they will always hold a special place in my heart...thank you!

[Kuma]

Thank you Sensei8,

Yes I was very fortunate to have trained with him and I will always think if him as well as all the other great karate-ka that trained at Central with him - they were all a great bunch of guys/gals. Note: Central is what we all called Nishiyama's dojo in LA.

My contribution and tribute to Nishiyama is to give you guys a little bit of Nishiyama and his training concepts here on the forum. Also, if any of you have questions about Nishiyama's training concepts, etc., feel free to ask me.

What was a "typical" class structure for him? (i.e. warm-up, kihon, kata, kumite, etc. or whatever he used the most)

[Killer Miller]

He really never had a typical. You would think it was going to be typical, then he would push you far beyond what you thought you could do.

For example, he would have you do 5-way kicking until your legs burned and you couldn't lift them any more. Then he would tell you to use breathing from your lower diaphragm and make you do it until you could lift your legs correctly. Like I said, break you down, then build you up...

A common work out would be about 15 minutes of stretching, 15 to 30 minutes of warm-up with basic kicks, punches, etc., then a new concept of the day in almost every variation you could think of, timing training applying the concept of the day, some sparring applying the concept of the day, warm down, the a really good stretch at the end. This would be typical in a general sense. Every class was a new day pretty much as to what you learned.

- Killer -

[Killer Miller]

Also, for those of you that missed it, here's a link to the Article I wrote 4 years ago about training with Nishiyama.

http://www.karateforums.com/an-evening-with-hidetaka-nishiyama-vt15063.html

- Killer -

[sensei8]

Also, for those of you that missed it, here's a link to the Article I wrote 4 years ago about training with Nishiyama.

http://www.karateforums.com/an-evening-with-hidetaka-nishiyama-vt15063.html

- Killer -

Powerful article. I had goose-pimples upon goose-pimples, I've only one word...WOW! I lied...WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for sharing that article Killer Miller...I thank you so very much!!!!!!!!!

[Patrick]

Great thread, Killer.