Article
The
Road to Karate – A Budoka’s Way To Live
By
Hiroshi Shoji. Shihan of the Japan Karate Association.
Part 11 - Unkempt Raffishness
Tradition
of Unkempt and Raffish Fashion
It is said that history repeats itself or fashion comes back after some years.
If you go against the current fashion, you will be regarded being a few years
ahead of the fashion or your fashion will be regarded as unique. Wearing baggy
trousers at a time when tight trousers are in fashion might be ahead of the
fashion, or to dress in an unkempt and raffish fashion, which disappeared
after the last war, may have been a sort of going ahead of fashion and represented
a typical desire of youth for being different to others.
To
dress in an unkempt and raffish fashion was a tradition at Takushoku
University |
To
dress in an unkempt and raffish fashion was a tradition at Takushoku University
and particularly for members of the Karate Club where the spirit of martial
arts was regarded as important, who very often wore the Japanese Kimono for
going out. For this reason, there was no photo of me from my university time
in a student uniform. I wore a crested haori (gown) and hakama (loose trousers).
It was not the crest of my family but the crest with the description of “Takudai”
(translator’s remarks: Takudai is an abbreviation of Takushoku Daigaku
or University). For the purpose of training my legs, I also wore iron clogs.
I felt a little embarrassed at midnight as they made a terrible noise. This
was how the members of the Cheer Club were dressed before the last war.
It was after the war when we went to university and the way we dressed must
have looked peculiar to the public. But it did not bother me at all. My mother
did not say anything to me against the way we were dressed. But she gave me
a piece of advice that I should always carry a neat and clean towel on my
hip.
“Just imagine the scene where you polish an apple with a white clean
towel. It looks so smart.”
The apple becomes shiny and reddish against the white towel. I found the fresh
contrast of white and red colours a feminine sense that my mother had. Despite
my mother’s advice, I kept carrying a rather dirty towel on my hip.
I never had an opportunity to adhere to her advice, maybe because I had never
met any woman to whom I wanted to give a polished apple.
The unique characteristics of universities have disappeared from today’s
students. During my student time, the respect for the spirit of the establishment
of a university and the traditional atmosphere of a university still remained
strongly among the students. There must have been a saucy tendency on our
part to regard unkempt clothes and torn school caps as fashionable.
Unkempt
and Raffish Fashion with Individual Characteristic
“H”
senpai, one year senior to me, came to Tokyo from Miyazaki in Kyushu to sit
for entrance examinations for Tokyo University. But for some reason, he entered
Takushoku University and joined the Karate Club. He laughed it off, saying
“Whether it’s Tokyo University or Takushoku University, in either
case it’s T University”. It was said that he was the ringleader
of a gang of tough boys in Miyazaki. Although he was confident in his physical
power, he was surprised how strong the senior members of the Karate Club were.
He believed that this was a difference between trained techniques of Karate
and mere street fighting.
Whenever
he ran out of money, “H” senpai pawned his student uniform... |
He
was unrivalled in his unkempt and raffish way of dressing. He was always mentioned
in the talks of unkempt and raffish dressing. Whenever he ran out of money,
“H” senpai pawned his student uniform and wore a cotton padded
coat instead to keep himself warm. He tied a straw rope over the coat around
his waist, which made him look like a highwayman. However, he never pawned
his university cap, which he always kept wearing. This showed his principle.
Under the cotton padded coat he wore trousers, the knees of which were worn
out. It was a hybrid of Japanese and western styles. In addition, he went
further - the colour of one of the shoes that he wore was black and the other
red, joking “the red card and the blue card” (translator’s
notes: It is a Japanese card gambling game), which made the shoe polisher
laugh. He had that kind of sense of humour. He got on the train dressed like
that. Girl students around him on the train giggled, but he never changed
his composure. His presence caused a strange phenomenon in the people around
him being embarrassed, but not him.
His eccentricity was absolute. He was unshaven and his sideburns and beard
grew long and dense. One day he went to the cosmetics section at a department
store and asked the lady who was demonstrating facial cosmetics to attend
to his beard. As he was the only man in a group of females, there was no doubt
that he was very popular with the women there. It was said that a large group
of people gathered to watch the scene.
Everything
about him, even his facial expression was changed. |
However,
we were all surprised at a complete change in him after his graduation. He
wore a smart business suit. Everything about him, even his facial expression
was changed. We doubted if this was the same person. He made a 180 degree
change. When we looked back, he always had displayed a clear line of discipline
which he would never compromise on.
It is your prerogative whether you try to find some meaning in an unkempt
and raffish style of dressing or denounce it. But, it is a part of our history.
I do not think that either an unkempt and raffish style of dressing or today’s
wearing of jeans is the best, but a style of dressing is an indicator of the
era in which we are living and the life of youth is symbolised in a way they
are dressed.
The way we get dressed is a strange thing. Like wearing a business suit with
a necktie puts our mind-set square, wearing a groovy Japanese traditional
coat with a hakama increases a spirit of Budo or martial art and the disciplined
attitudes it brings about within ourselves. The disciplined attitudes can
be expressed, for example, by the university cap in the case of “H”
senpai, or by a school uniform in the case of some other students.
What
is important is the intrinsic humanity of a person.. |
In
my case, I sometimes joke that Karate-gi*30
is my work clothes. People often comment that I look totally like a different
person when I am in Karate-gi as compared to when I am in a business suit
outside the dojo. I am not aware of such a change in myself, but it must be
due to my mind-set towards Karate. What is important is the intrinsic humanity
of a person wrapped in the outfit, rather than the extrinsic appearance of
a person that the outfit creates. One may have been a mischievous boy or may
have enjoyed his youth wearing unkempt and raffish clothes, but what is important
is his ability to positively accept such stages as a part of his life and
move forward. It is more important whether one can digest every moment of
his/her life and turn it into nourishment to elevate his/her own humanity.To
be continued...
Note
*30 Karate-gi is a Karate training uniform.
Read
our Tribute to Shoji Sensei from November 2003
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© Japan Karate Association of Australia (Victoria) Limited 2005