HIS Karate-Do

I sometimes compare the open pavilion where we conduct our karate training to working out in a park.  All around us are trees, open green space, complete with sun, tradewinds, and singing birds.  Of course, it’s not quite the same as training out on the grass – and there is a group that does use those environs for just such a purpose.  Every once in a while, on an early weekend morning, I’ll be driving past some quiet park and notice a group of folks slowly moving about in what appears to be synchronized dance.  Generally, they’ll be dressed in regular, comfortable clothing, with an average age demographic that is several decades removed from high school.  You’ve probably seen such groups in the park before – you know them – the tai chi practitioners. Let’s face it, many of us think of tai chi as some “old folks” activity, usually found in such parks, community center elderly programs, or hospital rehab programs.  The truth is, it’s a very excellent program for conditioning, mind-body-chi development, cultural appreciation, and especially for the elderly – aids in fall protection.  It also seems to be on the opposite end of the martial arts spectrum [...]

I suppose that my greatest past-time for enjoyment, based upon the number of hours I spend doing it each week is…reading.  A form of relaxation/development that I’m sure is shared with many in our group.  I do have a bad habit of reading, perhaps, a half-dozen books simultaneously.  No, I don’t have multiple books open, reading them together, like those chess masters who play multiple game boards with multiple opponents, haha.  It’s more like watching various TV series in a given night or week.  I’ll pick up one book and read a score of pages one night, and the next night, I’ll do the same with one or two others.  I think that many folks have a hard time keeping up with what’s going on in any particular book if they put it down for a week or two.  Like I said, for me, it’s no different than watching a continuing episode of Hawaii 5-0, then switching to Last Man Standing and finishing up with the news. Anyways, my usual areas of interest are: history, science, social science, etc.  About the only fiction I read is the type that got me started on reading back when I was about 10 [...]

Like most activities, you meet and train with all sorts of folks in the karate line-up. Young, old, men, women, professionals, craftsmen, college students, housewives, retirees….and so on. The karateka in our group look like anyone you might pass on the street or at the mall. Karate-do, of course, is not so much about how one looks on the outside, but what one carries on the inside. In my many years of training and teaching, there is one guy who always stuck out in my mind as what a mature asian martial artist should look like. Actually, with his short stocky build, close cropped hair, weathered tanned face, and quiet, serious eyes; I always thought that he resembled a buddhist monk. All he needed was a robe and bo to complete the image. In later years he often sported a goatee that added even more to this image. At 51, he was the oldest member of our dojo – ironically, he’d be about the youngest in our current second class, haha. When he first entered our SKC dojo nearly twenty years ago, it was after a long, long break from Shotokan training. A humble man, he entered our dojo, asking [...]