On first seeing him, it's hard to understand why people cross continents to meet this diminutive 65-year-old wiry gray-haired man, shaking his head in dismay as some of his karate students struggle to get a grip on the art of fighting with sticks.

But come they do, in droves, from across the world to pay homage to Tetsuhiro Hokama at his karate dojo in Okinawa. Housed in an anonymous four-story concrete building, on a street full of four-story concrete buildings, in a suburb of Nishihara in the southern part of the island, the dojo is surprisingly small — about 10 by 15 meters.

One clue to Hokama's magnetism is the ragged, faded pink belt around his uniform — many moons (and washing cycles) ago it was red, identifying him as a 10th "dan," the highest possible rank in the Gojuryu style. While he is clearly in great shape for his age, he no longer has the same physical presence he once had — aging posters and newspaper photographs all around the dojo walls show a formidable-looking fighter.