Dennis Hooker

I guess I am an exception then. I have interacted with most of the Japanese Shihan in America over the last 4 decades or so in one fashion or another. I have not been treated with malevolence. On one occasion where bad feelings existed I just did not dress out. I have seen high ranking people do such things and I have worked with their senior students in some cases that would have like to hurt me but I never gave them the opportunity. I have been ask to leave a mat a time or two for defending myself in a rather proactive ways but hay that is part of the life we live is it not. To paraphrase old Abe you can't trust all the people all the time and you can't trust some of the people any of the time. I'll be damned if I just let someone hurt me if I can prevent it, I don't care who it is. If I see such abuse in my dojo or any class I control that person is gone and will never be welcome in my space again. Years ago I did let a godan from another organization train in the dojo and he gained my trust. The first time I let him teach when I was not there he dislocated a sandan's shoulder after the sandan had tapped out. The jerk then left and has not been back. I think if I saw someone deliberately injure some one to the point of disability I would seriously consider legal action. We are not immune from assault and battery because we practice this art. Being a Shihan of any nationality does not immune one from civil responsibility.