The style of karate that Ashihara developed has been acclaimed as the most practical; he taught at several police academies and brought on a number of Japanese karate champions. Because of his popularity, Ashihara's image was featured as a character in a mainstream Japanese comic series.
Ashihara was highly skilled in throwing kama (sickles) and knives and often performed this at demonstrations. To develop his lighting speed, he would stand in front of a window with the light shining in. He would watch his shadow while snapping out punches. Many people said his punches were so fast that his shadow did not move, but they could hear the snap of his gi. Another of his training regimes involved standing on his head in a train for 15 minutes. The jerking movement of the train puts tremendous pressure on his neck muscles which he said he wanted to make so strong that he could be never knocked out.
Some of Kancho Ashihara's former students are now highly respected karateka in various styles. Amongst them are Kazuyoshi Ishii, founder of Seidokaikan Karate and the K-1 organization, Joko Ninomiya, founder of Enshin Karate and Makoto Hirohara, founder of Shintaiikudo.
Kancho Ashihara himself will always be remembered not just as an extraordinary karateka, but also as a superb human being. He always made karate enjoyable and loved to make jokes. His jokes would often have everyone in fits of laughter. One day, during a class, he said to a student, "I'm sorry about your car accident." The student replied, "Kancho, I haven't been in an accident." Kancho Ashihara replied, "With a face like that, I thought you must have put your head through the windscreen!" Everyone broke into fits of laughter, including the student. Another time, Shihan Ninomiya recalls: "I was a brown belt at the time and in kumite practice I was constantly dropping my guard. Kancho paired up with me. I had a badly decayed molar on each side of my mouth. In a blur, Kancho stepped to my right side and punched me on the jaw with a lighting jab I didn't even see. The next time I was prepared, but Kancho moved to the left this time and punched me in the jaw on the other side. My mouth was now filled with gritty pieces. Yes, Kancho had knocked out both decayed molars!" He said, "Open wide!" and inspected the inside of my mouth and said, "You should be grateful: no shots, no gas and I didn't even make you sit in the waiting room." Such was Kancho Ashihara's humor.
