HIS Karate-Do

COMBINED TRAINING WITH SENSEI ED THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 7 Talk about God’s timing. A few days ago, I sent Sensei Ed Fujiwara a note suggesting that his group and us, having a combined karate training together. In case you don’t know, Sensei Ed was my instructor for a period of 7-8 years and I can’t describe how much about Shotokan I learned from him during that time. Today, he’s the ministry leader of the New Hope Mililani Karate Club. Now, here’s where the Lord’s timing comes into play: At the same time that I sent him my note, suggesting joint training, the NHM Karate Club was temporarily without a training location…this past Saturday was the last time they were able to use Mililani Waena. Not to worry, their pastor secured Mililani Iki for their use, but that commences on Saturday, three weeks from now. So, at the exact same time that the NHM group was temporarily without their Saturday training place, NHPC’s offer of combined training at Momilani Rec Center was made. Neat, eh? This Saturday is also the first one of the month, which means everyone is invited for two hours of training. Please try to make it…I’m not [...]

Click to see the full panoramic photo The other day, as we were cleaning our old home, I came across a thick, old, rolled up poster…or so I thought. Upon unrolling the “poster”, I discovered that it was an old loooong black and white photo from my dad’s house, that I hadn’t ever seen before. Some you older folks have seen these before; the super-wide funeral photo that used to be taken at old-style Japanese funerals in Hawaii. Staring back at me in suits and black dresses were the stern faces of perhaps 150 mourners (the only time, I think, when the photographer doesn’t say “Smile!” or “Cheese!”). It was dated Feb 7, 1958; a half-century ago and captured the large group of friends and relatives who attended the service for Shunshin Shimabukuro – my Okinawan grandfather. My very capable IT friend was able to scan the long narrow photo into a 15 megabyte file and Voila! I was able to view it on my PC. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I was able to to magnify the image by 700% without losing hardly any clarity. I looked in wonder, as my mom’s face filled the screen, gazing [...]

In any normal dojo, one always notices the sensei, the sempais, the color belts, and the white belts. It’s natural; they’re moving and kiai-ing the whole time. The folks one never really notices are those few who are sitting on the sidelines, just watching class. You know, the parents or older siblings who drove the kids to practice, or perhaps a student from another class, spouses, or friends, etc. Anyways, they’ll faithfully come and watch for so many classes and hours that they end up blending into and become part of the walls and furniture. For example, my wife has watched karate so much, over the years, that by osmosis, she has actually become knowledgeable about many of the techniques and can generally tell if a karateka is any good, just by watching for a moment. Anyways, I’d like to talk about one of these faithful watchers who was sometimes a member of our dojo’s sparse audience nearly twenty years ago. Mr. Young was an elderly Chinese gentleman, who would quietly come through our dojo (by weekday, a school cafeteria) doors and take a seat at one of the long dining tables. I probably didn’t even notice him the first [...]