My Sensei - Mr. Chojiro Tani

When Mr. Yamada was 18, he and his family moved to Kobe. Shortly after, he knocked at the door of the headquarters of Tani-ha Shito-ryu Shukokai, he met Tani sensei there for the first time. Mr. Yamada started to train under Tani sensei on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and train Judo on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays while attending the technical college to become a bonesetter of Judo.

Looking back on those days, Mr. Yamada said "I learned so many things from Tani sensei besides karate. Tani sensei used to say, 'there are three chances waiting to unfold in one's life. If one would catch even one out of three, then one would be a winner, that is what our daily training is there for.' Tani sensei often said this to me and this was what I learned from Tani sensei most."
In 1965, Mr. Yamada founded The Karate-Do Association of Amagasaki City. However, as the association grew, this name became a little awkward for the students who belong to a club, which had one of cities and town's name in local district, and yet they resided out of Amagasaki City. In 1971, Mr. Yamada changed the name to "Gishinkan". The name of Gishinkan comes from the words, "Gi (justice) makes mind and Shin (mind) makes personality." "It definitely doesn't come after my name, I am not that great (laugh)," said Mr. Yamada *[His first name 'yoshi' is another pronunciation of Gi]

"Tani sensei is my only sensei," said Mr. Yamada. "Tani sensei was the one who was always seeking his original style of karate. In his later life, he even tried to stay away under the name of Shito-ryu, he practiced simply Tani-ha (Tani style of karate) karate-do. Tani sensei also sought a karate-do in an artist aspect, experimented innovative katas with Noh mask (a mask worn in traditional Japanese dance) which is accompany by music. On the other hand, since he deeply devoted himself to his originality, he showed little interest in Japan Karate-Do Federation (JKF) which started promote competitions and which was going to be a major influence on the growth of karate. Mr. Yamada, however, had a different idea from Tani sense in this matter. Mr. Yamada believed that JKF would be criteria for the future of karate-do, so he instructed all his students to take their dan degrees by JKF recognition, just in the final year when all dan grades by other associations were able to shift to JKF.
"I was positive even I would be dismissed by the association for doing this, I believed if I did otherwise there would be no future in karate-do," said Mr. Yamada, who took a leadership role to persuade the members of the association to take their dan grades by JKF recognitions.