As his students moped and sadly walked around the dojo during a quiet Monday morning, boxing instructor Mitsura Yamashita realized that his class was in need of one of his patented, inspirational pep talks. The class listened and stood still.
Yamashita, 67, has been a boxing in instructor in EC for 47 years. “Mits” or “sensei” as his students refer to him, is well-liked and respected by his students for his positive attitude and for his motivational speeches.
“Mits (Yamashita) is very passionate at what he does and he is very caring of the students,” Steven Perez, business major said. “He makes the class fun and he will lighten your day when you are down.”
One of Yamashita’s approach in life is to never believe what society says what and you are. He thinks the media and other people’s perceptions of who you are as an individual doesn’t really matter. He said five percent of who we are is created by other people’s negative thoughts and we tend to listen.
“People believe what other people tell them,” Yamashita said. “It’s nonsense. People always try to impress others and when they fail, that’s when they get heartbroken.”
Yamashita’s passion to teach boxing dates all the way back when he trained with Chuck Norris during his early 20s. When Norris was just starting out his boxing/karate career, he ran a tiny dojo in old town Torrance about the size of a small bedroom. Yamashita recalls Norris as being intense and being passionate about the sport.
“Norris was really intense,” Yamashita said. “That intensity rubbed off on me. He had a dojo about the size of this (Yamashita’s) office and he we used to go back and forth in that tiny little room. I’ll never forget it. But I could never have imagined him being a movie star.”
Although he is very passionate about teaching his students the sport of boxing, he only utilizes the class as a tool to teach students and to mentor them in life. He acknowledges that his students are all different and came from different backrounds and some even broken families. Yamashita wants to help some of those students succeed not only in his class but especially in life.
He also recognizes the fact that some of the students are more talented than others and are also in better physical shape. That’s when he spends that extra time to coach those students the proper technique and proper form. Business student, Gevoni Pineda said that Yamashita is very dedicated to his students and will always coach them whenever they make a mistake. But he said that Yamashita does it in a way that is very helpful to the students.
“Yamashita is not strict at all,” Pineda, 20, said. “I mean he’ll make sure that you’re not messing up and he will correct you but he won’t be all up in your face unlike other sensei’s would. He is very helpful.”
Yamashita wants to use his class as an escape for the students. He knows that a lot of students, especially this time of the semester are worried and stressed out. He emphasized that the word “worry” is an enemy that we have to extremely fight hard against. He explained that worry is part of that five percent of our body that we are in combat against.
“Students don’t know how to handle being worried,” Yamashita said. “They are always worried. Worried about school, life, jobs, their grades and it takes a toll on them up to a point where even this class brings them stress. I don’t want that. I want them to come here, laugh and enjoy not just this class but life in general.”
He also described the importance of being happy in life. He questioned the students on why they were always miserable. Yamashita also describes how a certain spirit is guiding us each and every single day and we have to be in-tune with that spirit more often. He said the spirit knows us more than we know ourselves. Sometimes, life can be so tough and so challenging that we tend to push that spirit away and start worrying again about how dreadful life is instead of celebrating life and how glorious it could be.
“A lot of people, and not just students, don’t know that there is a certain spirit that follows us around,” Yamashita said. “Be in-tact with that spirit. It is there to make you happy, it is there to brighten you up and help you have a nice day. People should focus on the positive aspects of life a little bit more instead of focusing on the negatives because life is beautiful.”
Yamashita has this type of happy, go-lucky attitude because when he was younger, he had many rough stages in his life and all he did was worry. During problems especially the big events that happen in people’s lives such as death or financial hardship, Yamashita didn’t know how to handle those problems.
One day he just wondered why he consumed so much energy into worrying and being sad when he was just thankful to be alive. That’s when he started being optimistic and that’s also when he wanted to share it with his students.
“When I was around their (his students) age, I used to worry all the time so I know how they feel,” Yamashita said. “But for what? What did I worry for? nothing. I got old quick because of that and now that I’m really old, I am living life as it should be lived because life is beautiful.”
People’s happiness in this world are measured by society when they have a college degree, a nice house, a nice car and a family with lots of kids and money. Yamashita explained that material happiness is not what it’s all about. A lot of celebrities and athletes are making millions of dollars but are often the victims of assaults, robbery and sadly enough, suicide. Yamashita describes being happy as being able to appreciate who you are and not what you have in possessions.
As people, we tend to measure ourselves with everyone around us trying to compete for human supremacy as if life was a contest we were participating in. That is not what it is all about as Yamashita explained.
“In this day in age, especially the economy that we are in, it is all about money, respect, nice cars and houses,” Yamashita said. “But really, happiness is about being able to laugh at a joke , being able to be happy because you still have a house, a car and a family. Even though your possessions might not be the best and you might not have as much as others. That’s what happiness is all about. But people are spending a lot of their energy competing with others and using others as a measuring stick. That will make you old real quick.”
Yamashita is well liked by his students not only because of his ability to inspire others in the dojo or in life with his motivational speeches, but because he hangs out with his students to further relate and adapt to them. He is often invited by his students to go to parties or just to have a cup of coffee. It is the bond with his students that makes him who he is.
“I’ll just be walking around and a student would say, ‘hey Mits (Yamashita) you want to go to a party with us? Or you want to get some coffee with me?’, ” Yamashita explained. “I think it’s great when I do go with them because it gives me a better understanding of my students. It helps me relate to them more.
And on that Monday when his students were moping around the dojo, Yamashita, as always found a way to motivate his students.
“Come on you guys,” Yamashita said. “I know it’s Monday and you guys are sad and worrying about your problems but remember why you’re here. You have a purpose in life. If not, you’re going to get old real quick.”