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Mario Topolsek Sensei |
Van Canna Sensei |
On Thursday, January 21, 2021, the American Uechi-Ryu family lost one of the most respectful masters and a martial arts pioneer. Van Canna Sensei (10 Dan) was Mattson Sensei’s most senior student. He began his Uechi training in the early 1960s. During the sixties and early seventies, Van Canna contributed a lot in the promotion and spreading of Uechi-Ryu through his numerous tournament victories and championships. Van Canna was a specialist in the field of personal safety, and he is regarded by many as a karate instructor with great insight in real-world, effective karate practice.
No more than 24 hours after the spreading of the sad news about the loss of Van Canna Sensei, on Friday, January 22, 2021, the European Uechi-Ryu family mourns the loss of the iconic Karate pioneer, Mario Topolsek Sensei. Topolsek Sensei started his training in Uechi-Ryu in the mid-1960s. In the early 1970s, he went to Okinawa where he was accepted as a student of Kanei Uechi. Topolsek Sensei founded one of the first Uechi-Ryu Dojos in Europe and he is the teacher to many of today’s high-ranked teachers around Europe and the Balkans. He received his 5Dan instructor’s license from Kanei Uechi Sensei in 1983.
On behalf of Uechiryu.eu I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families and students of those two prominent martial artists.
Antonis Tzounis