Fujii Hisaomi Sensei.

A time of great sadness in some old Wado ryu dojo this Xmas. The reason for this is the passing of a great gentleman: All Japan Champion Fujii Hisaomi sensei.

Fujii sensei - one of seven early resident Japanese Wado instructors in the Europe & UK from the late sixties as a part of the policy of Wado dissemination to the west.

oneya.

My condolences to Fujii Hisaomi Sensei's family and friends.

I have never met or seen Mr Fujii perform but of all the Japanese names that get mentioned his is always spoken about in a quiet and revered way. The word gentleman was consistently used and never a single negative said.

One of the original pioneers. A sad loss.

I don't know if this man is the Mr. Fuji that my sensei used to talk about, but I remember he said that the Japanese instructors used to train and do jiyu gumite together when they met.

My sensei said that he tried so hard and was so happy if he could only hit him one time. "I could never touch him" "he was so fast, no no, timing".

As I said, don't know if this is the same Mr. Fuji, but if he is, then it must have been a remarkable man.

It is with great sadness that I have heard about the news regarding Fuji Sensei. I knew that he was not well from Shiomitsu Sensei and Sensei told me just before Christmas when he came to visit our dojo that he was going to Japan the following week (last week) to visit Fuji Sensei, I do hope Sensei saw him in time. To the best of my knowledge all the Japanese Sensei who came to Europe in the 1960's held Fuji Sensei in the highest regard. I last saw and trained with Fuji Sensei at least fifteen years ago I think, in London. I arrived at Shiomitsu Sensei's old dojo in Wimbledon that day with Takamizawa Sensei who was so pleased to see Fuji Sensei as I think it was a surprise visit. At one point in the days training we were practising Pinan Godan and I will never forget the very calm but strong grip that held my left arm on the last move of this kata and very gently raised my arm slightly to the correct position. To this day every time I do that kata and get to that particular move I always think of that day and Fuji Sensei.
I would like to use this forum if I may to please express my great sadness at his passing and to give my condolences to his family and to all who ever where touched by the life of this true gentleman and Wado-ka of the highest order.

Rest in peace Sensei,

Peter Hill

Eloquently put Peter

Fujii sensei was a masterful teacher. Certainly one of the few great wado sensei, after a long long session of 'follow me like this' He used to teach everything there was to know about nuki as a physical experience without once mentioning the word.

He used to say: "Just leave impact with opponent."



oneya

Just to echo the sentiments expressed by others, I too have only ever heard good things said about him. Sakagami Sensei was influenced by him a lot and always spoke very highly of him. I once asked about the famous Mr Fujii and Sensei simply said he was "one of the best".

Jim Self - one of the very first black belt students of Suzuki Tatsuo - described him as possessing "a quite lethal reverse punch" and I have it on good authority that he used it to good effect.

Ben

Jim Self..!! Now there's a name that we don't hear very much these days. Jim was right about the reverse punch though but it was only part of your problem if you were on the wrong end of Fujii sensei's 'quite lethal reverse punch', whilst you were dealing with this impact the uraken rattling your temple seemed to happen in the same instant.


oneya