Sawai Atsuhiro Sensei was born in 1939 in Japan. At the age of 18, he entered one of Kyoto's top universities.
Like many college students, Sawai Sensei was filled with dreams, aspirations, and ambitions, only to fall seriously ill. Despite the efforts of many doctors, he could not find a cure for his sickness. Filled with despair, he stopped going to university classes.
Thinking that his illness might eventually result in his death, Sawai Sensei read books on Buddhism and Christianity to attempt to discover what will become of a human being after he or she dies. He thought constantly about the purpose of life, and he reached a conclusion that amounted to nihilism. In short, Sawai Sensei felt that there was no such purpose of life, in that we are born without the knowledge of where we came from, where we are going, and why we are here. He felt completely lost.
Sawai Sensei's aunt advised him to attend the lectures of Nakamura Tempu Sensei, the founder of Shin-shin-toitsu-do. Sawai Sensei listened to one of his lectures, and he was fortunate enough to meet him. He began to study with Nakamura Sensei at that time, and he felt awakened by the universal truths that he taught. More than this, he felt revived. It was in the spring of 1958.
In a short time, after beginning to practice Japanese yoga, Sawai Sensei's health completely recovered. Sawai Sensei continued learning the philosophy of mind and body unification from Nakamura Tempu Sensei for 11 years until he passed away in 1968.
In addition to regular training sessions in Japanese yoga, every summer for 11 years Sawai Sensei participated in a special multiple-day intensive summer training session, where he received Nakamura Sensei's teachings. Three years after joining Tempu-Kai ("The Tempu Society"), he was chosen as an Assistant Teacher, or Hodo, to Nakamura Sensei. He still considered himself to be just a student of Japanese yoga, but he was also asked to contribute to the Tempu-Kai magazine, Shirube.
Eventually, Sawai Sensei began to write poems inspired by Nakamura Sensei's teachings, teachings that acted as a catalyst for a wide variety of artistic expressions by his students. His first collection of poetry, Seishun no Ma (Devils of Adolescence), was published in 1967. In it, he reflected on the insights he experienced when he overcame the "devilish" sufferings of his adolescence.
The collection was highly praised in various newspapers in Japan by Kuroda Saburo, the chairman of Japanese Modern Poets Association (Nihon Gendai Shijin Kai), and Sawai Sensei received a letter from Nakamura Sensei, who praised his poems and tried to encourage him: "...Something beautiful from the poet's mind seems to stream into my mind. I will read your poems again and again."
The next year his teacher Nakamura Tempu Sensei passed away. Even after his death, Sawai Sensei continued to practice Japanese yoga (Shin-shin-toitsu-do). He presently practices every day as Nakamura Sensei personally taught him.
Sawai Sensei eventually became a full Lecturer for the Tempu-Kai, which is the highest teaching credential issued by this group. He became a Councilor for Tempu-Kai and Tempu-Kai Branch Manager of Kyoto in 1998. In 1999, he became Director of Publishing for Tempu-Kai and Editor of their magazine, Tempu. He also wrote regular articles for this publication.
Professionally, Sawai Sensei was a full professor of English at Kyoto Sangyo University for 23 years, and he taught at the university for 33 years. He entered semi-retirement and became Professor Emeritus of English in March 2004. He has also had the following books published:
Devils of Adolescence (poetry collection), 1967
The Mirror (poetry collection), 1973
The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke (translation), 1984
British Colonization of New Zealand (collected research essays), 2003
The Mirror (poetry collection), 1973
The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke (translation), 1984
British Colonization of New Zealand (collected research essays), 2003
In the summer of 2004, Sawai Sensei accepted a position as a special Senior Advisor to the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts (http://www.senninfoundation.com/), which is a dojo lead by H. E. Davey Sensei, a fellow Tempu-Kai member as well as Sawai Sensei's friend and colleague in Shin-shin-toitsu-do. Since the beginning of 2004, Sawai Atsuhiro Sensei has been contributing short articles to the Sennin Foundation Newsletter, visiting the Sennin Foundation Center, and helping Davey Sensei with his work on a new book tentatively titled The Teachings of Tempu: Practical Meditation for Daily Life. We hope to be able to post Sawai Sensei's articles about Nakamura Tempu Sensei and Japanese yoga to this blog.
