Tezuka Akira Shihan: In Memoriam

Tezuka Akira Shihan, Kokusai Budo Seifukai, Aikido 8th dan, passed away Nov. 9, 2008 at 11 PM, of liver cancer in Shizuoka City, Japan. He was 63 years old.

Tezuka Sensei was the long time right arm of Kokusai Budo Yoseikan founder Mochizuki Minoru Kancho. He provided dynamic management and leadership of national and international students under the name of Kokusai Budo Seifukai, after Mochizuki Sensei’s passing in 2003.

We students take pride in his contribution to the development of Kokusai Budo Seifukai Aikido and hereby notify all those who are concerned of this tragic news.

We pray for the repose of his soul.

 

8 comments

  • What shocking and very sad news!

    When I saw the name Tezuka Akira, I guessed I would read some very interesting update of his activities and thoughts. He was a mainstay at the Yoseikan hombu dojo in Shizuoka for many, many years and Mochizuki Sensei relied on him for anything at any time. Tezuka Sensei was a small man, but fierce, providing an unyielding definition of budo character and skill for people from all countries who came to the yoseikan to learn about Mochizuki Sensei’s aikido. Though fierce and unyielding, he devoted himself to the well-being of Mochizuki Sensei and Sensei’s wife, as well as to all those who came to the dojo.

    Not only that dojo, but the world has lost a great man and I will join the Seifukai monjin in prayer for him.

  • Tezuka Sensei was a very dedicated, technical, skilled, and kind man. The times I trained with him at the Yoseikan dojo were very special to me. He was a person who always helped in showing you the correct way an aikdo technique should be executed. It was by doing the technique and not talking about it that you learned from him on how to do things. He was a very respected man and the aikido world has lost a true technician and gentleman.

    My sincere sympathies go out to his family, as well as my prayers.

  • I was very sad to read that Tezuka Sensei left for his final trip with no way back. Many souvenirs came to my mind and all of them brought joy to my heart. He will be missed by everyone and the Yoseikan have lost another great man.

    My condolences go first to his family but also to the great Yoseikan/Seifukai fellow members. As requested, all practices were done in silence yesterday to honor his memory.

    Yoseikan Aikido Academy of Montreal

  • What sad and shocking news. Tezuka Sensei was a wonderful man of budo. His heart was in his teaching and freely gave of himself for others to learn. At the hombu in 1994, I watched as he would repeatedly re-attack until his partner got the detail of the technique he was trying to convey. This was very giving as he was uke taking hard sutemi again and again helping the students to learn.
    My prayers and thoughts are with his family and all those that grieve his death.

    Huntsville Aikido
    Alabama, USA

  • A Tezuka Sensei

    Cher Maître,
    c’est avec une profonde tristesse que j’ai appris votre départ. Je n’oublierai pas votre enseignement durant toutes ces années de pratique. Je me souviendrai longtemps de mon stage à Shizuoka en 1997 durant lequel vous m’avez accueilli avec gentillesse. Je garderai en mémoire votre esprit et votre bonne humeur.

    A votre famille, je transmets mes sincères condoléances.

    Mariangela Guyot
    Neuchâtel – Switzerland

  • C’est avec étonnement et tristesse que j’ai appris cette nouvelle.
    Toutefois grâce à lui je garde de très bons souvenirs de mes passages à Shizuoka . Il nous accueillait comme si nous faisions parti de la famille. Je me rappelle encore ses conseils précieux et son dévouement.
    J’aimerais transmettre mes sincères condoléances à la famille immédiate ainsi qu’aux membres de la Budo Sefukaï

    It is with astonishment and sadness that I learned the news.
    Because of him, I have great memories from my visits at Shizuoka.
    He welcomed us as if we were part of his family.
    I still remember his wisdom and devotion.
    I would like to offer my deepest sympathy to his family as well as to the Budo Seifukaï members.

    Aïkido Mochizuki, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

  • Tezuka sensei,
    Domo arigatou gozaimashita. We met only occasionally, at the shinsas, but at every meeting you offered your pointers with a warm heart and motivated spirit. When Sugiyama sensei announced your passing, I remembered you and immediately regretted I would never have the chance to train with you again. Each moment and chance truly is ichi-go-ichi-e. Now, as the enshukarakaze blows outside, my kotatsu seems to suck me in and my motivation to feel the cold, hard tatami wanes. But remembering my teachers and all the experience they patiently offer gives me the motivation to receive their teaching to the best of my skill, in each moment, at every opportunity. korekaramo, yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

  • Dear Sir,

    Since a certain time I’m trying to get in contact with the Seifukai, for me the former IFNB under Minoru Mochizuki, sensei with whom I was very close, to renew the contact and to have an Association with a serious Japanese Budo Federation.

    We are badly in need of a serious contact as we don’t have any contact with Japan Budo anymore.

    My name is André LE CAPITAINE
    6th Dan Judo, 4th Dan Iaido, 2nd Dan Jujutsu
    Co-founder under Minoru Mochizuki sensei and Yoshio SUgino sensei.
    General Secretary of IMAF EUROPE H.Q. (not the Kokusai)
    General Secretary of IMAF BELGIUM
    Honorary President of IMAF SPAIN

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