Article
The
Road to Karate – A Budoka’s Way To Live
By
Hiroshi Shoji. Shihan of the Japan Karate Association.
Part 14 - Self
Training
...I
wanted to be strong and become a black belt as soon as possible and
taste the pride of wearing a black belt.... |
Those who are
natural in Karate will become ordinary in Karate if they do not train. We
need to constantly train physically and mentally over and over again.
This was
a story around the time when I was in the 2nd year, at a time when the dormitory
was not yet established. Since I had started Karate, I wanted to be strong
and become a black belt as soon as possible and taste the pride of wearing
a black belt. Grading examinations for dan (black belts) were held twice a
year at that time, in spring and autumn. I was due for a grading examination
for my first dan.
The Karate
Club had a summer break after that year’s summer gasshuku*34. I was
helping my father with his shop located in Kabuki-cho. As the revenue of the
shop was not big enough for me to nick some money to go out and have fun with,
my legs voluntarily (sounds good) and naturally headed for the dojo at university.
Despite
the fact that we were pushed and tested extremely hard in the dojo, when I
thought that I would not see the members of the Karate Club for two months,
strangely enough I started missing the smell of our sweat. I stood at the
entrance to the dojo and the thought of calling out the names of the seniors
and shouting at them, who always treated us badly, in the empty dojo excited
me.
“You.
Step forwards! Why are you so slow?” “Get this Mawashi Geri*35.”
“Here comes my Uraken*36 this
time.”
“What
a thrill!”
“You’ve
come too.” Someone emerged all of a sudden from a dim corner of the
dojo.
It was
“M” sempai, who was the captain for that year. When I was looked
at by his friendly eyes, despite his huge physical size (he was 180 cm tall),
I was embarrassed as if he had read my mischievous thought.
....he
was well known among other universities with a reputation that there
would be no one in the university Karate circle who could match him. |
“Yes. As
I was just passing by, I have just popped in.” I said to try to hide
my thought. I also warned myself unconsciously that I should be careful of
those friendly eyes of his, otherwise I would be in trouble. As “M”
sempai was also due for a grading examination for his 3rd dan that autumn,
he came to the dojo to train for the grading examination. He was not natural
in Karate, but with his physical size, efforts and inquisitive mind for progress,
he was well known among other universities with a reputation that there would
be no one in the university Karate circle who could match him.
His ability
was built on the training that he underwent on his own even during the summer
break. It made me realise how important it was to train regularly. I was like
a frog stared at by a snake. Unfolded in the dojo was a battle between a blue
snake and a red frog. Without realising that the blue snake was playing with
the red frog, the red frog attacked the blue snake with all the might he had.
“Well
done.” I was desperately serious. When I managed to score one out of
ten times, he praised me.
“Come
again tomorrow.” He patted me on the shoulders in a friendly manner.
My training
with “M” sempai continued in this manner for a while. He always
finished the training at 4 pm, even when I was late to come to training due
to my work at my father’s shop.
“Sempai,
shall we go home together?”
I
headed for home with my knees clattering as if they had lost their fluids. |
“Ah….
But I am going a different way to you……” He
mumbled and went home on his own. We normally headed the same way on our way
home till a certain point. Both of us would take the metropolitan tram to
Okachimachi where I would head for Ueno and “M” sempai would head
for Akihabara and change trains for Ichikawa. I was puzzled and left the dojo
which was like a steam bath, hot with the heat coming from the corrugated
tin roof. I headed for home with my knees clattering as if they had lost their
fluids.
I knew
I would fall asleep and miss my station if I got on the train straight away,
I decided to go to a film theatre and have a nap before going home. I went
out to Ikebukuro and chose a film with the most uninteresting title and entered
the theatre. The uninteresting film to me was a film of a love story. I could
not be bothered to read the subtitles and watch the scene of lovers’
conversations, which would make me sleepy as well. It worked perfectly well
as a sleeping pill for me.
I did not know
how long I had been asleep. When I woke up with the noise around me, the theatre
was already lit and bright. I was a little embarrassed and looked around.
Then I saw “M” sempai with a female, probably his girlfriend,
sitting diagonally in front of me.
“Hew!”
I ducked
quickly, but the curiosity to find out what kind of a girl she was overcame
me. I stretched my neck out slowly and hesitantly.
“Wow…”
It was the daughter
from the photo shop in the tram street. She was known for her beauty. Sometime
in the past, more than ten of us, junior members of the Karate Club, stripped
naked on the roof of the university building and took photos of ourselves.
We took the negatives to her photo shop and grinned at the thought of how
she would react when the photos of us being naked were developed.
“I see. This is what’s happening.” Now I know why “M”
sempai was rather strange at the dojo. This was humorous and I was thrilled
to know his secret. I got out of the film theatre as soon as the light was
turned off and it got dark inside again.
“It’s not appropriate for him to come to the dojo to kill time
for his date.”
“Or perhaps it’s the other way round. “M” sempai comes
to the dojo for training and since he is there, he goes on a date with her.
That’s good.”
I went home asking myself such trivial questions and answering myself.
“M” sempai was successful in his grading examination that autumn
and became third dan. It reinforced the fact that training was most important.
I also trained hard towards the then target of becoming a black belt so as
not to get behind “M” sempai. To
be continued...
Notes
*34 Gasshuku is a Japanese term for an intensive training session where members
lodge together, eat together and train together. A typical duration of gasshuku
of a Japanese university Karate club is 7 to 10 days.
*35 Mawashi Geri is round-house kick.
*36 Uraken is the back of a fist and it commonly means a back fist strike.
Read
our Tribute to Shoji Sensei from November 2003
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© Japan Karate Association of Australia (Victoria) Limited 2006