Sensei liam herzberg

My name is Liam Herzberg and I first started karate at the Sylvan club in 1993, which at the time was under Kyokushin Kai. The head instructor at the time was Bernard Creton. My instructors at Sylvan were Mark Simmons and Pete Farina. During my time training here I attended a summer camp in Denmark where I graded. I worked my way up the grades acheiving my black belt in 1998 at our Isle of Wight camp. I did a number of competitions on my way to 1st Dan, winning a team competition in Ashford as a blue belt and coming 3rd in both knockdown and Kata competitions.

In 1999 at our summer camp on the isle of Wight I  first met Chris Clifford who had been invited to visit by our chief instructor Albert Burton.I was amazed when I saw what Chris could do and his understanding of karate was way beyond any of our instructors. After the camp I was invited to a special lesson at Chris’ dojo in Bromley and then I was allowed to join his school shortly after. We would train 2/3 times a week at the dojo as well as daily personal practice. Once a month Chris would have a special lesson where we could ask questions and look deeper into our Kata and how to use it in kumite. Sometimes guests would be allowed and during the lesson we would drink beer as this often relaxed people. When the lesson finished we would have a party were everyone brought food and drink, with Chris and his family. We would talk about the lesson and this sometimes would result in people going off the balcony or through cupboards, luckily my cousin is a carpenter so he would repair anything broken. Once a year Sensei Yonemoto would come over and stay at Chris’ house. We would train and have a big party after, with a big hog roast and many beers. This way of training was much different from the other schools that I had trained in, but I learnt a lot and my karate was the real one. In 2000 Chris awarded me my 2nd Dan and in 2002 my 3rd Dan.

In 2001 I went with Chris and some other students including Bill Stone to Japan, where we stayed at Sensei Yonemoto house and trained every day. We visited Grandmaster Ichikawa’s dojo in Tokyo on three occasions. I remember the first time I entered the dojo seeing lots of old Gi’s on the shelf, Chris told me later that they were from past students. We gave presents to Grandmaster Ichikawa when we arrived. He was sitting on a platform slightly above the dojo floor where he would instruct the senior grades. Before one of our visits I bought a replica katana. When Sensei Chris saw this he told me to hide it. Otherwise GM might get out his collection of real swords, which were razor sharp. I was honoured to be allowed to attend GM Ichikawa’s dojo and saw him demonstrate many things including putting most of us to sleep, strangling someone through the air. He could move better than all of us even though he was 80.

I continued to study under Sensei Chris Clifford at his Bromley dojo until 2007/8. When the Bromley dojo closed I continued to study on my own, trying to look at my karate in depth and trying to find my own path. Throughout this time I felt that Chris and GM Ichikawa were still guiding me. In 2020 I reconnected with Chris and through zoom and phone calls received teaching and correction from my teacher. In 2021 Chris returned to the UK and we had a party in Kent where all of the senior grades attended. We received correction of our techniques and finished with kumite as we always do. At the end of the lesson I was honored to be given my own copy of the Bubishi and graded to 5th Dan.