It is always difficult to be asked to write a few words on the passing of an old friend so I shall be brief.
My wife and I knew Bob from a distance through his interest in ‘Things Japanese’ more or less all his adult life. It was about forty years ago that we first invited him to contribute an intermittent book review to the Journal of the British Kendo Renmei on cultural publications on Japanese subjects that would interest our Members. About this time he began practice in these arts and many of our older students remember him. I should add ‘from a distance’ because Peterborough lies a long way from our centre here in the South so it was not so easy to meet on any sort of regular basis. But, thanks to the invention of email we kept up our correspondence until a couple of months ago.
His erudite understanding was always great help to us all and deeply appreciated. It is such a pity that he never achieved his ambition to visit that country.
Our sincere condolences go out to Sara and his family.
Roald Knutsen and The British Kendo Renmei