松の木

Bonsai  ( Miniature )Japanese Pine Tree

Sakabe Sensei, my Judo teacher, often spoke of the pine tree. He said , "Judokas have to be like a pine tree. So strong and deeply rooted that even a typhoon could not uproot it." For a very long time I thought that Sakabe Sensei was referring to our balance in Judo. That no matter how strong and skilfully the opponent was we could not be thrown. Alas! How shallow my thoughts were! So many years passed, when I realized Sakabe Sensei was referring not only about the physical attributes of a Judoka, but the mental aspects of being strong in our own beliefs, so that we would not stray off our selected paths.
柔道の恩師坂部八段は何時も松の木のことを口にした。かれは、“柔道家は松の木みたいに強く、根を深いもって台風にも倒されないように成らなければならない”。長い間自分は柔道に必要なバランスのことを言ってと思ってた。どんなに相手が強かろうが、技が巧みだろうか投げられない。なんって未熟だったのだろう。年月が流れ、ようやく分かった。坂部先生は柔道家の肉体の事をだけでなく、精神面で自分の信念を迷わずに選んだ道を逸れない事も言ってたのだ。
In Japanese there is term, "Ne wo haru"　根を張るliterally  "set your roots" In any martial asrt I interpret this as getting the Kihon or Basics down. No questioning of why. After all what is all preschooler asked"Why is A an A?" (^^) Questioning comes after you have grasped the basics. 基本は奥が深い。Basics are "deep".
日本語で「根を張る」と言う。武道に関しては基本をを身に付ける事だと思う。疑問を持たずに。保育園児が「なぜＡがＡあの？」と聞くのとの同じ。質問は基本を全うしてかれで良い。
基本は奥が深い。
Take for instance the chudan tsuki or middle punch. You first start off by just throwing in you arms out left and right, right and left. Then as you progress you start employing various muscles of you body to stabilize and make powerful the punch. You then start adding the mysterious tanden and breathing. Hmmm do you breathe out when you punch or do you make short and sharp exhales? Do you tighten the back, stomach and leg muscles in that order or was it the opposite? So you can see a punch is not just a punch. I am no scientist, I cannot write about things like velocity and such but I can tell yo if there is a difference in my tsuki with or without certain elements. So you can see if a simple tsuki is actually not simple, then think of all your other kihon wazas! 長い修行ですね。A very long road of training. (^^)
中段突きを取ってみよう。最初は両腕を交代に突き出すだけ。そのうちに他の筋肉を使い突きを安定させ、強くする。それから丹田と呼吸を追加する。付くとき息を吐く？それとも短く鋭く吐く？
背中、お腹、足の筋肉を絞める？それとも逆の順番？突きはただの突きではない。自分は学者ではないなら専門的に突進力とかは説明できない。しかし突きの違いは分かる。突きがそうだあるように他の基本技を考えてたら修行の道は長い。本当に長い。
Back to the pine tree. As mentioned above, Kihon is not simple.Then think of he mental perseverance that is required to grasp the kihon. Often times we seek the easier path or what appears to be more economical and start stripping various kihons from our curriculum. Are we doing ourselves a favor? I think not.
Would you prefer to live in a prefab structure or a well engineered and constructed structure made of solid materials? Sure a prefab would be up in a blink of an eye.  It also disappears in a blink of an eye in face of a typhoon. I always wondered why many of the houses  in Okinawa were made of solid concrete. After my first typhoon I understood.
松の木に戻ろう。上記で書いたように基本は単純ではない。基本を全うする精神力を考えてもらいたい。元楽な道、合理的な道で基本を減らす。これで良いのか？プレハブ建築と確り作られた家、どっちに住みたい？プレハブは簡単に崩れる。台風であれば一瞬の内に消える。沖縄の家はなぜコンクリで作られているのかと不思議に思った。初めての台風で理解した。
Ooops nuff rambling for this morning, Got to go search for Yuta aka Michael (Micky)'s dog food! (**:)
I say give him scraps, then we'll have a quasi-vegetarian dog! Hmmmmm not a bad idea.
今朝はこのぐらいにしとこう。雄太の餌を買いに行かねば。家の残り物で充分だと思うが。。。
そうしたら菜食主義犬になれるのに。。。悪くないと思うが。


**Note: Because of its resistance to pollution and salt, it is a popular horticultural tree. In Japan it is widely used as a garden tree both trained as Niwaki and untrained growing as an overstory tree. The trunks and branches are trained from a young age to be elegant and interesting to view. It is one of the classic bonsai subjects, requiring great patience over many years to train properly.  Taken from Wikipedia.
Hmmmm there seems to be a similarity with Martial Arts training.






          

Shin Nen (Belief)

“Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn't have it in the beginning.”  Mahatma Ghandi

男達は自分がどのような人間だと信じている人間に大半成る。自分が出来ないと信じたらならば出来ないようになる。しかし出来ると信じれば、初めは無かった能力でも得られる。
マハッタマ　ガンジー

This month's Kanji is Shinnen (belief). Let's do a bunkai of the Kanji first.
今月の漢字は信念。まずは漢字の分解をしてみよう。

Shin 信 The radical or root is 人（person）with 言 (speak) added next to it to make (Shin/believe) Hmmm A person speaking out his belief.
信は人偏に言。人が自分の思った事を話す。

Then we have 念。The root being 心(kokoro/heart) with 今 (ima/now) on top to make (Nen/inner thoughts) The mind of the present or now
そこに念。心の上に今を載せる。今の心かな。

So we have a person speaking out his inner thoughts or mind at present which adds up to belief.
合わせると人が自分の思いを語ると成る。

This is an important part of our Shugyo in what ever path we decide top take. Belief in ourselves, belief in out teachers, belief in the path we chose. Our training supports and fuels this belief. 
What we choose to believe, we become.  If we choose not to believe then all will fail.Our behaviour and thoughts follow our beliefs or shinnen. In martial arts we also call it the "I can" mentality.
どの道を取るにせよこれは修行に取って大事な部分である。自分を信じる、先生を信じる、選んだ道を信じる。稽古はこれを支えながら燃料となる。自分で信てそうなる。信じ無ければ敗北。
自分の行動や思いは信念に元付く。武道では”俺は出来る”とも言う。

What can help us follow our beliefs in Budo training?
武道に対する信念を何が補助するのだろう？

Accoding to Huang and Lynch in their book " Thinking Body, Dancing Mind", a process of affirmation can help us. 
フアング・リンチの本“考える体、踊る思考”の中にAffirmation「断言」のプロセスがある。
1. What I beleive、 I recieve.　信じれば、得られる
2. I am (fill in whatever reflects your direction or who you are)　自分は（自分の方向性、自己）
3. Beliefs are limits; stretch and go beyond.　信念は限界、もっと伸ばし、枠を突破すべし。
4. Fixed minds detract from potential. Flexible minds are the essential.　固定観念は可能性を妨害する、柔軟な思考が基本。
5. Visualization (Never doubt yourself and your ability to succeed) はっきりと思い浮かべる。自分の成功できる能力を信じる。

Hmmm, to translate or not to translate for Yokohama, that is the question.............
I think I'll take a java break first........and a peanut butter/marmalade sandwich on ten grain toast.
(Fufu, sound reasonably healthy enough?)
翻訳すべしか、しないか、それが問題だ。
まー先にコーヒーブレーク。。。。と十種類米パンのトーストにピーナツバターとまーまあレイドをたっぷり縫ってからするかな？（ふふ、健康的でしょう）



Child's Safety

What can a child do?

     A very disturbing act of crime took place in my hometown of Wahiawa this morning. A 59 years old teacher who was preparing for her class in her classroom at 6:30 am was beaten, robbed and sexually assaulted by two suspects. The suspects are still at large. I naively thought that such heinous crimes only took place in the "Big Cities" on the mainland. How foolish I was.
とても酷い犯罪が自分の育ったワヒアワで今朝起きた。５９歳の先生が朝六時半、二人の男に性的暴行を受け、強盗にあった。彼女はその日の授業の準備をしてた。被疑者はまだ捕まっていない。単純にこのような犯罪は本土の大都市でしか起きないと思ってた。おろかだった。
     I had just had a mini-reunion with two of my high school classmates (Class of '68) just the other day.  reminiscing of the "good old days" in our hometown. The only "hard" things that popped up were our classmates that ended up in a faraway place known as Vietnam. Crime was not in our vocabulary. What peaceful lives we had back then.
つい最近、高校の同級生とミニ同窓会があった(６８年卒）そして昔話の良き時代に沸いた。
唯一しびやな課題は誰があの時遠いベトナムに行ったかであった。犯罪って単語は無かった。
本当昔は平和な日々を過ごした。
     Naturally, after the news came out, the commentary section was filled with speculation, innuendos, dissertations on the causes, mostly based on emotions. Some even hinted guilt of the victim for being in school at 6:30 am! Such rubbish!
そして、事件が報道されたら色々はコッメンとが流れた。主に感情的な推測とか論文もどきコッメンとだった。中には朝６時半に学校に居たから先生に責任があるとまで！くだらん！
     Back to the point I wanted to make. In this case a 59 years old female was the victim. Now, what if the victim was an elementary school student?  Add to that a martial arts student. Do we really expect the child to be able to defend his/her self against an adult? Readers know my feelings about "seminars".
話を戻そう。この件では被害者が５９歳の女性だった。これが小学生だったら？それに武道を学んでいたとしたら？子供が大人に抵抗して自分を守れると本当に思うのだろうか。読者が私がセミナー類をどう思っているか知っていると思う。
Is self protection the sole responsibility of a child?  I do not think so. The best thing we can do as adults is to teach the children to be aware of danger and to quickly disengage from the situation and seek help.
It is also the parents responsibility not to drop off the children earlier than necessary before school starts or to have them wait long after school ends. Granted, once a child is on school property then it would the school's responsibility to ensure their safety. But then, what are the time limits? In this age of budget cuts and  less funding is it realistic to to expect schools to be able to do that outside of school operating hours? Sigh, so many issues to deal with. Pros and Cons.
自己防衛は子供の責任だろうか？自分はそうは思わない。大人として出来る事は子供に危機意識を持たせ速やかに危険から逃げ助けを求めることを教えることだとおもう。子供を早く送ったり、遅くまで待たせないのは親の責任でｓる。確かに構内に入ったら生徒の安全は学校に責任である。しかし時間の枠は？現在の予算削で時間外まで学校に子供も面倒を見てもらうのは現実的だろうか？色々な課題が残る。賛否様論。
       I know that in Japan, safety of kids to and from school became a major issue when several incidents of kidnapping and murder of children took place. Measures such as group movement to and from school were implemented. Parents taking turns being at the school at start and ending times, emergency buzzers attached to school bags, GPS locators became the norm for children to carry. Self Defense classes for kids popped up like mushrooms (**;).
二本でいくつかの誘拐殺害事件の後子供の安全が問われ、集団徒校が実地されている。親たちが交代で発校、退校時間に行ったり、警報ブザーをランドセルにつけたり、ＧＰＳが通常になったりした。子供の護身術もきのこのように出来た。
      What I would like to propose is to gather all the retirees in the neighborhood and form groups to patrol the campus prior to and after school hours. Provide them with com gear so that they can contact the local PD. They should work in pairs. Overt presence is a big deterrence. After all how many retirees I see at McDonald's from early in the morning drinking coffee and shooting the breeze. Make use of our senior citizens. We are not asking them to confront perpetrators, just to report suspicious activities or people on the school grounds. Leave the handling of suspects to the police.
時分は近所の退職者を集めて構内のパトロールを発校、退校時間にすればいい。無線機をもたせすぐに警察に連絡が出来るようにする。ペアーで巡回する。見える防衛手段は効果がある。
朝早くからマックでコーヒー飲みながら世間話をしている退職者は沢山いる。そのような人を動員するべきだ。犯罪者と対抗するのではなく、怪しいことや人を構内に見たら即報告するだけでいい。対応は警察に任せる。
      Yes, we can push for emergency funding and put in security cameras on campus. But unless there is a control desk where someone is monitoring the cameras, the it becomes "after the fact". It aids in apprehending the perpetrators but the crime has already been committed. Security cameras may serve as a deterrent but are not fail proof.
緊急予算を請求し防犯カメラなどを構内に置くこともできる。だが誰かか常にそれを見ていなければ“後の祭り”になる。被疑者逮捕に繋がるかもしれないが犯罪は行われたあと。犯罪防止には役にたうだろう、しかし完璧ではない。

      As Sensei Tony and anyone else in the Law Enforcement knows, the incident has not ended for the victim. The pain of going through an investigation and when  the perpatrators are caught, the pain of going through the legal proceedings is something I do not wish on anyone. In order to bring the perpetrator to justice the victim has to "relive" the attack over and over again. My heart goes out to her.
トニー先生と長年の法律執行経験者は承知のとおり事件は被害者にとってまだ終わっていない。
捜査、逮捕後の裁判の痛い経験は誰にも味わいさせたくない。有罪までにもってきくには何回もあの悲劇を体験するからである。心が痛む。

By the way...Shaka Brah!



SHAKA, BRAH!

      You may have noticed the Hawaii Kids displaying a hand sign similar to UT's Longhorn's symbol. The Japanese- American 442nd Battalion and 100th Regiment did save a group of Texans in WWII but Hawaii did not adおpt the Longhorns hand symbol. (^^)

ハワイの子供達がテキサス大学の似た手の表現をしているに気付いたかな？昔第二次世界大戦で日系舞台の４４２部隊と１００連隊がテキサスの部隊を救助したが手の表現は受け継いでうない。ふふ。

Taken from Wikipedia as follows.下記はウィキペヂアからです、

     The Shaka Sign is a common greeting gesture. It is often associated with Hawaii. It consists of extending the thumb and smallest finger while keeping the three middle fingers curled, and raising the hand as in salutation with the back of the hand facing the person that is being greeted; sometimes the hand is rotated back and forth to emphasize the sign.

シャカサインは通常の挨拶の表現です。ハワイの表現と知られています。親指と小指を伸ばして真ん中の三盆は曲げたまま、手を上げ甲を相手に向け挨拶をする。時には揺する事もある。

 

      Hawaiian locals use the shaka to convey what locals in Hawaii call the "Aloha Spirit," a gesture of friendship and understanding between the various ethnic cultures that reside within Hawaii, and thus it does not have a direct semantic to literal translation. Depending on context it can also be used to communicate notions such as "all right," "cool," "smooth," and the like. Residents of states other than Hawaii who use the shaka may describe it as meaning "hang loose," and in Florida the symbol itself is more commonly called the "hang loose" sign rather than the shaka sign. It can also be used to signal "hello," "goodbye," " till next time," "take care," or "all right!" In sign language, the shaka is one of the two signs used to refer to surfing.

ハワイの現地人は“アロハスピリット”を表現する為に使う。いろんな人種や文化が存在するハワイでお互いに友情や理解を表す。直接な翻訳や言語には繋がらない。“良いね”、“格好良いじゃん”とかを表す。他の州では“ゆっくりしようぜ”の意味もある。フロリダ州では“Hang Loose"

｛気楽に行こうぜ｝として使われている。こんにちわ、さよなら、またね、お大事に、とかにも使われる。手話ではサーヒングの意味も有る。

     The shaka sign resembles the American Sign Language letter for Y.The sign is often followed by waving as a greeting or acknowledgement. It can be used when driving as a signal of thanks to other drivers (for example, someone who stopped to let another driver onto the road from a driveway).

　　このシャカはアメリカのい手話で”Y"に似ている。手を振って挨拶や認識を表す。運転中たのドアリバーに有難うを表現する（例：道に出るさい止まってくれたドライバーに感謝するととき）

ALOHA and OSU!

Y'all New Yorkers and Hamakos (浜子）have any hand signs in your areas?

ニューヨークと浜子達、自分の地域に同じような手での表現ありますか？





Overtraining????



MODERATION! MODERATION! MODERATION! MODERATION!
or as Yachi would put it, "You're not young anymore! Act your age!!" (^^)

                        

      Tony Sensei, with his long career as a competitor, would be more knowledgeable on this topic. (^^)

I won't write physiological stuff here as I am certainly no expert on it. My good friend Hayashi Sensei just finished competing in the WTF World Poomsae Championships in Ubezistkan and placed 5th.

I know she practiced hard in preparation for this tournament and she has the qualities of a champion.

So I wonder what was the difference between her gold medal performance and this year's? I am waiting for World Poomsae Championships videos to start popping up on You Tube. Now, I am not saying that she over trained as I was not privy her training. I have seen and participated in Tamura Sensei's training for the AAU and have a good idea of the shortfalls of his training.  Now there are countless factors which affect our performance. Travel, Diet, Pressures, Injuries,  local food just to mention a few.

      I want to address injuries. Often we carry with us various forms of injuries. Some minor while some requires major medical attention. The questions arise how much do we train while carrying those injuries. Naturally if a part of your body is not capable of moving normally then common sense will tell us not to put pressure on it? But do we? Our egos often get in the way. "Heck, I'm a karateka, I live with pain, I can deal with it". Hmmm. I am guilty of it. I have to accept that pain is a message from my body to "stop and check it out".  Especially at my age, I no longer have tournaments to train for. At least here in Hawaii. How many full contact  tournaments do they have for 60 and above? So I train for the pleasure of training and try not to lose the 30+ years of Budo training. How much should I push myself?

     As some of you know I have begun a new life style starting with my dietary habits. More veges and less meats. I am also going to the gym doing weights and cardio as supplemental conditioning. This , along with my usual karate training,  does not compare anywhere to what I did in my 20's and 30's.  Reality is the adult population in my Hawaii Dojo is very limited. So basically my own training is centered around non-partner training or solo training. Yachi's work schedule does not allow her the time to train with me on any regular basis. Oh well, back to the topic.

    So, I have been feeling a lot better recently and caught myself "pushing" for more despite the little messages from various parts of my body. (**:) What I mean by "pushing" is probably better expressed as "greedy". Putting on more weights on the barbell instead of sticking to a controlled sensible routine.

Picking up the speed on the treadmill prematurely. Fufu. The little messages have now become bigger in intensity and increase in body parts affected (creaky hip sockets, inflamed knee joints, pain in the small of the back!)  It actually got to a point where just walking is becoming a an inconvenience. Now, not to worry, I can walk to the bathroom in time!  But I think you get the idea. Tiger Balm is now a "must item".  Gahahaha. To think of the days I literally "dragged" myself home from practice in my younger days, then went back the next day with little to worry! (^^) It seemed as my body adapted to the pain well back then!??! Why not now???

     Just yesterday at Tamura Sensei's Dojo,  we were practicing Saifa/Saiha( Goju Version). I just wasn't satisfied with my Morote Tsuki in the kata. My version is not the same as Tamura Sensei's competition form of kata. I have always done it with speed without the "pauses" or what I call "theatrical poses" often seen in competition Kata. Now remember that I am feeling good from my "renewal" and also was receiving those little messages from my body. My mental "High" overwhelms my physical reality but I just had to get that feeling of power in the Morote Tsukis. Something that I wanted to feel  would have knocked down a bear!  Now after a night gone by,  I am having difficulty with any type of shoulder movement. Hopefully with a good spread of Tiger Balm I will be ready to teach my class tonight. BUT, I was able to get satisfied with my Morote Tsukis! (^^). Of course at the cost of my well being. Sooooo, I can tell I am not learning from my own lessons well. (**#) 

Make sure y'all listen to your body well. Train with moderation and appropriate intensity suited for your reasons in taking up martial arts.

AHHHHH! RELIEF!!!!
(for the time being)

 

   



Budo and Business

Roushiiichi, I have been away so long don't know where to start.

First, The new picture of the month looks great! That looks like one "ruff group" group of little budo-ka. I also notice that Shihan Kimura as lost much of his "Shihan's Hara"; fruits and veggies look good on you my friend.

Second, about the actions and writings of the Kyokushin leaders on the web sites: Due to my engagement, and work, school and karate, I have not been at the computer in over a week. I have been reading this morning, trying to catch up. The one statement that resonates with me this morning, I found reading Kuristina Oyama quoting her father "When I became a leader of an organization, I could not live as (a) Budo ka", by Kuristina Oyama » Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:35 am. To me, it speaks volumes of the actions of many of the current high-ranking dans. I would like to think that all of these man and woman, started with hearts true to budo. I would also like to think that these leaders make their decisions only in the best interest of their students. In short in my limited knowledge of all this, Budo and Business do not “workout” or “work out” together. I know that Sosai, like all of us suffer from this condition we call incurable humanism with all its good and evil, but He sure did have a way of pairing things down to there true core. One of my bootcamp ladies gave me a check yesterday and said, “Tony I want you to know that this is far to little for what you do”. It was very kind. I am sure that many budo-ka the world over, just as you Roushiichi (and I hope me) treat money like food. We take just what we need, and live as modestly as possible.

I will be reading the all your writings this morning, and will then start getting back to writing …..your lost pen pal Tony…

Only in Japan

Ahhh. The commute to work. I am still amazed not only that all those bodies got in, but all the luggage!
Nothing to wakes you up better than a briefcase digging into you from the front and the back. (0_0!)
Nothing starts your day when the person squished against you obviously had dinner at "Ninniku Ya" (a famous garlic restaurant) along with lots of imo shochu! (*-*;)
あああ。通勤時間。よくもあんなに体がはいったものだ、しかも荷物まで！朝起きには前と後ろから鞄がねじ込まれるのは効くね。あとは隣の人は前の晩、ニンニク屋で夕食と芋焼酎を飲んだ時にうは。。。。
You also have to be careful where you have your hands1 (^^) Upsetting to have to sit in the Police Box trying to explain that you were not taking liberties with the gal in front of you! It was the other guy!
NO ONE would beleive me if I say, "I'm the VICTIM!!!) (0-0?) Miracles do happen you know....
それから手の置き場所に要注意！あとで交番で何で前に居た彼女に触れたかの説明はやだね。
”俺が被害者なんだ！”なんて誰も信じないだろう。まーたまに奇跡もあるが。。。




No need to call the SPCA. According to Japanese Laws covering animals, the monkeys work only two hours a day in rotating shifts. According to the story the owner brought them along to the pub and the monkeys picked up on the work on their own. Well they beat some of the waiters/waitresses in Hawaii, that's for sure!
動物保護団体に連絡は無用。日本の法律に元付いて猿達は一日二時間勤務。店主によれな猿達は自然に仕事を覚えたとか。まーハワイのウェイターよりましだね。