In the last few years of his life, my dad would often lean back and exclaim, “Time waits for no man…”  Yes, Dad was the original man of deep (and trite) thoughts.  By then, in his late eighties, his eyes closed, I’m sure he could see himself when he was young, muscular, and as he would describe himself, “athletically inclined”.  Dad was also an honest, if not too humble, man. Last Monday night, our old sensei, Shihan Kenneth Funakoshi held a rare seminar in Hawaii.  Sensei’s Wayne, Peter, Trisha and myself all attended (Sempai Kevin too).  They all trained – I trained in vicarious fashion sitting in a comfortable chair.  I apologized to Shihan in advance, and let him know that I would have loved joining in the line but didn’t want to risk re-injuring my achilles tendon. Needless to say, it was nice to see him, feel his charisma, hear his booming commands, and feel like it was 1974 in the old Pucks Alley dojo. Shihan is the same age as Sempai James, they’ll be 79 years old this year.  Although he has aged and his legs seemed rather stiff, his great strength and confidence were still evident in [...]

That old song (sung to Auld Lang Syne) “We’re here because we’re here…”  always runs through my head at this time of year.  It does have some extra meaning to me, and speaks to me of perseverance.  Four decades ago when Sensei Wayne, Peter and I were part of the KAH, it contained some of the best karateka in Hawaii and I daresay, in the US.  We were proud to be a part of the organization and while we could hold our own with our fellow black belts, there were definitely some that were better than us.  Recently, we reminisced about the old days and the quickness of one, or the power and technique of another and so on.  You know, for every hundred white belts who started training in the old days, one or two might make it to black belt.  Out of these, just a few would ever be selected for the old KAH’s special training.  And within that elite group, there were a few who were quite amazing to us.  As we were talking story, we also acknowledged how few of these gifted and tempered karateka were still involved in the art.  I suppose that it’s only [...]

A while back, I shared a story entitled “Karate in Strange Places”, describing the surreal experience of observing from a mile away, a solitary figure performing the familiar Shotokan kata, Kankudai on the isolated beach of Kalalau Valley, while the early morning sun was rising.  By the time we reached the beach, he was long gone. Years later, while talking story with a fellow seated next to me at a mutual friend’s wedding reception, I was to discover that he was the unknown karateka who performed the kata – on the same beach where he was married, shortly thereafter.  I have always thought about what a coincidence that was and that it was a fitting end to a mystery that had bothered me for years.  Well, it turns out, that wasn’t quite the end of the story. Last weekend, my old mentor, Sensei Ed was guest instructor at our place as he does once a quarter.  Afterwards, over lunch, we were discussing the recent passing of a mutual karate friend, Sensei Richard Lovell.  Anyways, that reminded Ed that one of Richard’s assistant instructors was the first karateka that he had ever promoted to black belt many years ago.  His name [...]