There is hope for us, Tony!!!

These gentlemen are in their 70's! 10+ more years I will be in the same bracket. I hope I can move around much less throw a kick or two! (^^). Kiryoku, Seishinryoku, Tairyoku. These senior citizens haven't dropped their youth somewhere on the path. Inspiring!
Hmmmm. I wonder if any of the full contact organization have a 70+ bracket.
Let's keep on chugging, Tony! 生涯現役、武道には引退と言う言葉は無い！
Forever Active! No such word as retired in Budo!
OSU. This video made my day. Thanks You Tube!

True Goal of Budo

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned.
Dag Hammarskjold

Why do we pursue the path of Budo? To be a champion? To gain wealth? To gain recognition? To be the "King of the Mountain"? Probably all these. Depending on the person it can either be good or bad. The commonality of all these is that eventually it disappears. I believe that it is not the true goal of Budo.


The true goal of Budo is to stop all conflicts so that we may all live in harmony and peace. Realistic?
Perhaps not, but as Dag Hammarskjold states it should never be abandoned.

Budo teaches us perseverance, the "stick to it, don't give up" spirit. By going through our own shugyo we learn to appreciate the pains of others. Not just the pain of martial arts training, but pains born of our regular lives. Each challenge of life we try to persevere and take another step forward.

Shugyo is not a smooth road, like life, it has its ups and downs. At times we lose sight and Heijoshin and it causes hate, despair and frustration. Some of us fall off the path. I know, I have. But, as long as we retain the spirit, we can get back up and pick up where we left. There is a Japanese saying, "Fall seven times, get up eight" 七転び、八起き。Better to persevere than give up.

Through our own shugyo we learn to have an open mind towards others. To be able to accept the fact there are differences in the world. To be able to live with others who are different. This will eventually lead to world peace. Optimistic? Certainly. My time in Judo and Karate has taught me this. There are no borders in martial arts and if we all pursue the true meaning of Budo then we have the chance to live in harmony and peace.

It all begins with us.

SUMMER VACATION!!!! (^^)

Summer vacation started this past week in Japan. The school year in Japan begins in April and the school year consists of three terms, which are separated by short holidays in spring and winter, and a one month long summer break. The kids do have school assignments to complete (- -#) in the form of diaries which they turn in when they return to school. It is a funny sight to see kids madly writing in their diaries one day before start of school (^^). Meanwhile kids do their best to enjoy the summer.such as the pool and ennichis
縁日neighborhood fairs.

Average crowd at the pool!

Fishing for water balloons at the ennichi.

During the summer break is the Obon season which is an annual Buddhist event for commemorating one's ancestors. It is believed that each year during obon, the ancestors' spirits return to this world in order to visit their relatives.  Traditionally, lanterns are hung in front of houses to guide the ancestors' spirits, obon dances (bon odori) are performed, graves are visited and food offerings are made at house altars and temples. At the end of Obon, floating lanterns are put into rivers, lakes and seas in order to guide the spirits back into their world. The customs followed vary strongly from region to region.

Tooro nagashi in Hawaii.

Summer in Japan also brings out various regional festivities and fireworks!

Fireworks in Tokyo .

Nebuta Festival in Aomori Prefecture

Awa Odori in Tokushima Prefecture

                          

Sanja Matsuri in Downtown Tokyo carrying a portable shrine.

Teamwork is absolutely necessary! It requires a group rhythm. It is not good to be taller than the rest as the weight of the shrine falls on you shoulder! Or you move in a squatting position! Burns the thighs for sure!

I ended up duck walking for a long time (^^) Not to mention the BIG blister on my shoulder.

Vegetables and Jita Kyoei

Good morning readers! Aloha Kakahiaka! Ohayou gozaimasu!  Actually it is Good afternoon in New York and everybody is still sleeping in Yokohama. Another start of a wonderful day in Honolulu.  I hope that the weather is just as fine in Yokohama and New York.  The vegetables in the picture were grown by Sensei Tony in his backyard. What a green thumb! I could have used that jar of relish on the greasy burger I had last night. Maybe I can start a mini-garden on the veranda. I sure miss the times I actually was able to grow some veges in the backyard!

 Karate to me is like growing vegetables. Without the attention and proper care,  vegetables wither on the vines. On the other hand too much water or fertilizer can kill the vegetables as well. Our karate students are the same. As instructors,  we need to teach with love and care. We need to continuously monitor their progress and ensure the amount and quality of training is proper and suited to the individual student's needs. Tomatoes have different requirements from zucchinis just as apples have different requirements from potatoes.  Likewise, our students are not all the same. We cannot just put them all in one barrel and have the "survival of the fittest" mentality. That is not what Budo is about. With the proper love and care students will grow into fine outstanding members of the community. That is the goal of Budo.

Fellow students need to look after one another. A competitive spirit is fine and has its place, but we should never forget the spirit of Jita Kyoei. One progresses only because he has others that help him progress.

Cassius Clay, did not become a champion on his own. He had a good coach and many other boxers that helped him train. The Dojo is like a vegetable garden, students grow depending on the attention and care the Senseis, Sempais, Douhais, and Kouhais provides them.  A pinch of "salt" or cayenne pepper once in a while to add a little "spice" to training. Not too little, not too much! Fufufu.

Under Tony Sensei's love and care his vegetables grew. Now he can enjoy his fruits of labor and be energized by the nutrition  his vegetables returns to his body. Jita Kyoei in a different form. (^^)

Have a beautiful day! Life is too short, enjoy every minute to the fullest!

Hmmmmm. Which greasy burger joint to try out today.

Good news! Yachi made a big sale yesterday! We can pay the electricity bill! Gahahahaha (^^)

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Kata and Competition Kata

Just returned from practice at Take's Dojo (^^).  Taught a newbie and his mom who were just vacationing in Hawaii from Japan and wanted to try karate out. Before practice the mom was asking all sorts of questions about breathing, etc, muscle control, etc.,so I invited to practice along with her son. Don't tell Yachi, but she was very attractive........Gahahaha. Senseis are human. Anyway,  an enjoyable hour teaching them. Hopefully when they return to Japan they will find a Dojo to continue karate. They will be back next summer. Sigh...nice to be rich....
Take brought up an interesting thing about AAU Kata competition and WKF. Up till now making snapping sounds brought points. The sounds were produced by deliberately slapping the Gi or body. Ibuki was done loud and dramatically. Now all that is being ruled as a minus factor. Hmmmm. Interesting.
The push behind this is that the WKF now wants to return to the roots of Kata. Easier said than done with the all the variations out there among styles. It seems that there is some discontent based on the fact that a certain style always wins the Kata competition.  It makes me wonder if the ugly head of factionalism and ego? Rather than returning to the roots of Kata? Oh well, it doesn't affect me or my Dojos.
This means all the fancy choreograph of bunkai goes out the window too. Please don't misunderstand me.
It takes a lot of practice to get to the competitive level and I admire the karatekas who do this.  When you have rules governing competition, a basic strategy is know what appeals the most to the judges. If the trend is making sharp noise then naturally you practice making sharp noises when doing the kata. In kumite,  if the hikite pose gains you points then you practice taking poses that attract the attention of judges. Nothing wrong with that.  Now with the rules changing, the winners will be the ones who can adapt to them.
If the changes are implemented,  then we will probably see a more "drab" version of the katas. (^^)
I hate to be on the rules and standards committee for next years AAU.  Mega headache! Interesting though.

Hot pot

One of the advantages of living in a multi-cultural environment like Hawaii is the FOOD! As you know aside from native Hawaiians, Hawaii's population is comprised of many different ethnicity. This was due to the labor demands for the sugar and pineapple industries starting back in the 1800's. Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Portuguese, Koreans immigrated to Hawaii to fill the labor needs.
Post WW2 and the Vietnam War we see Vietnamese, Thais, Laotian and Cambodians join the population.
This has led to a large variety of ethnic cuisine as well "nouveau cuisine"  a mixture of ethnic cooking.
One of the current fad in Hawaii is the hot pot. Originated in China families can gather around a pot filled with soup and cook meats and vegetables in it. Various dipping sauces.
are used. Really a fun way to have a meal with the family or friends.
Half the pot can be for meat eaters and the other half for vegetarians. Spicy and Not Spicy.

Gekisai dai Kata take II.

Rain here in New York. So I went to the dojo this morning for Kata Practice and I took my camera along to see if I could redo the Gekisai dai kata. I have learned that home made Video needs to be under 100MB and in the proper format. I know that avi. works for me. Now why video from the internet source does not have the same restrictions, I am not sure. I believe that these mysteries are as foreign and hidden as the Japanese Language is to me.

There was no one in the dojo this morning, years ago this would not have made me blink, but now days I always seem to have someone with me in the dojo. I wanted to do this last night at keiko but did not have the time. I worked on the Kihon Progression with a new karate-ka instead. In years past, I would have considered last nights practice a light workout. Two things now come to mind. First, I was wrong. Second, I still have poor kihon. I am sure that this is inpart due to the way I looked at kata and kihon. Get it done, so I can get to the important part of class, Kumite. Now with whiter and whiter hair, I am wishing that I was more concerted with kata and kihon. The way really comes about from teaching. You see, I never thought I would have a responsibility to instruct some one in karate. I never would have left my first karate, teacher! He stopped teaching which sent me on my way, searching. Now many of night I stop and say what do I know? I now know how important it is to have he basics to give to people. Roushiichi as taught me “Shoshin no moderu”…back to the basics. I know that there are many variation of this kata, that Roushiichi has already posted them for you to study. I have also learned there is no right or wrong way, and that we need to practice with conviction to our form of this kata. Yet, I would like to be critical of my dachi and te waza. I know that these will be needed so understand the oyou of the kata.

One question, as I watch this kata why the three chudan uchi uke. If we follow the rules of oyo...there should be a block and a counter.....why three blocks ( two in Goju). I am thinking that like Pinan sono ichi ( three jodan uke) maybe they are not blocks at all...then what are they?

Hope upload works, it took about 34 mins…