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A rendition of Tensho Kata called Ryu-Tsuru by Yokoyama Go Sensei, senior student of Ichikawa Sosui Sensei and founder of the Goju-ryu Karate-do Yokoyama Kai. Yokoyama Sensei gained celebrity status in Japan as a national hero during his youth by defeating, in a full-contact bout, a Muay Thai champion from Thailand whose specific goal was to humiliate the Japanese in the ring. As history tells it, the outcome was slightly different than the promoters predicted with a little help from Goju-ryu. Yokoyama Sensei was best known by his peers in Goju-ryu by his performance of his signature kata Tensho. Because Tensho was so important to Yokoyama Sensei and became such an intricate part of his Karate, Ichikawa Sensei granted him special permission to create his own version of the kata, called “Dragon Tensho,” that he would perform in addition to Ichikawa Sensei’s.
