Article

The Road to Karate – A Budoka’s Way To Live
By Hiroshi Shoji. Shihan of the Japan Karate Association.

Part 16 - 8:20am

Fast Eater

The speed of my eating is so fast that they say that I eat a bowlful of rice in one mouthful.

They say that the ability to eat fast is one of the arts. My habit of eating fast began when I was a student and still remains with me, and this is well known among my colleagues. The speed of my eating is so fast that they say that I eat a bowlful of rice in one mouthful. But there was a good reason why I became a fast eater.

The eating of the meals at the dormitory of the Karate Club starts when the fourth year students pick up the chopsticks. The third year students then pick up their chopsticks, followed by the second year students and then followed by the first year students. My dormitory life started when I was a third year student. Therefore, unlike the first year students, I would pick up my chopsticks after the fourth year students. I would have had enough time to finish my meals before the call for “Thank you for the delicious meal” to finish the mealtime.

She went to school, passing by the dormitory without fail at 8:20 every morning.

However, the whole thing changed since we found a girl in school uniform passing by our dormitory. She was a pretty fresh girl and the school uniform looked nice on her. She went to school, passing by the dormitory without fail at 8:20 every morning. When it got close to 8:20 am, I became restless and as soon as the call for “Thank you for the delicious meal” was finished, I went to the window and waited for her to pass by. It was an innocent passionate feeling on my part. After a while, we started calling her the 8:20 am Princess. She became our Madonna and mascot girl. We were making a fuss about her, believing that she was the mascot girl only to us. However, I found out that in no time, she became famous among all the students and everybody became interested in her.

Naturally competition for her started among the students. My morning activities were adjusted, centring on 8:20 am. When the morning training lasted till after 8:00 am, I had to hurry. I started eating my breakfast as fast as I could as if it was a matter of importance to finish it in time for 8:20 am. As a result, the speed of my eating in the morning and in the evening became fast.

I have never been able to shake off my habit of fast eating that started due to her and it is still with me today.

Due to my habit of fast eating, at the time when I was a fourth year student (thus I would pick up my chopsticks first), I finished my meal even before the first year students picked up their chopsticks to start. I became very unpopular with the juniors due to my fast eating. I chuckled saying in my mind “Please direct your complaints to the 8:20 am Princess”. I have never been able to shake off my habit of fast eating that started due to her and it is still with me today.

Rival in Love
Miyazawa Sempai who was a member of the wrestling club - he is now a journalist - was a very approachable and understanding person whom I could address on friendly terms as Miya-san, even though at Takushoku University the Sempai - Kohai relationships were very strict. He also treated me kindly. This Miyazawa Sempai emerged as a rival for the 8:20 am Princess, and he was a formidable rival.

This incident made it clear to me that he was also one of my rivals for her.

When it got close to 8:20 am, we started hearing a record of music playing. The music played was particularly catered to suit the girls’ liking, such as “Fur Elise” and “La priere d’une vierge (The Maiden’s Prayer)”. I was curious to find out who was playing the record. It was Miyazawa Sempai, playing the record on a gramophone that was placed facing the window, dedicating the music to her. This incident made it clear to me that he was also one of my rivals for her.

One day three of us, i.e. Miyazawa Sempai, “S” and I, had a heated argument as to which one of us should approach her first. It was a half joke and a half serious argument. None of us gave ground to the others. It always came to the same self-assertion by each one of us without any agreement.

“It’s me who should approach her first.”

He started sweeping the street every morning just before she passed by our dormitory, trying to create an opportunity...

We ended up agreeing with one another that we should compete between us to the best of our ability. It was a competition of who was going to approach her first. It was hard to tell whether it was a serious race or a fun race. Miyazawa Sempai, who had social skills, was most aggressive. He started sweeping the street every morning just before she passed by our dormitory, trying to create an opportunity for him to approach her. Even though he was a rival in our love race, I had to take my hat off for his eagerness, because even on a rainy day he swept the street, holding an umbrella over himself.

“S” and I did not stand still in our competition against Miyazawa Sempai. In order to stop her coming in contact with Miyazawa Sempai, we needed to change her morning route to school. We waited for her in front of her house and when she came out, we guided her to another way, saying “This way please”, feeling a little triumph over our rival, Miyazawa Sempai. It would have been much better for us to make a direct approach to her, instead of diverting her away from Miyazawa Sempai. But we must have been quite naïve compared to today’s youth. Or we may have been simply too romantic to the extent that we did not wish anyone to approach our mascot girl.

To Get the Cavalry, Shoot His Horse First
Her family had a dog. Whenever we hang around in front of her house, the dog always barked at us. We made a plan to get this dog on our side. The university grounds were at the same level as the second floor of the Karate club’s dormitory. The mother of the 8:20 am Princess came quite often to the grounds walking the dog. We reached the conclusion to take advantage of it.

As we heard that dogs would become friendly and stop barking at the people whose saliva was on the food they ate, we put our spit on the croquette...

We watched out from the second floor window for her mother to come to the grounds with the dog. We followed the saying “To get the cavalry, shoot his horse first”. We used all the money we had in our purse and bought croquette for the dog to eat and patted him on the head. As we heard that dogs would become friendly and stop barking at the people whose saliva was on the food they ate, we put our spit on the croquette and forced the reluctant dog to eat it. We made our desperate efforts.

“What an interesting dog you have!”

We complimented her on the dog and tried to find a subject to talk to her mother, so that we could establish a rapport with her. “S” was a sociable talker and able to maintain the flow of our conversation with her. I was grateful to him. As a result of such efforts, we managed to become friendly with her mother.

“Shoot the horse first.”

In this case, the family dog and her mother were the horse for us to aim at first in order to get the 8:20 am Princess.

Friendship
Occasionally, the 8:20 am Princess walked the dog herself. When it happened, scouts dispatched messages immediately and “S” took me out. We pretended that we ran into her by chance and talked to her. The circumstances did not permit me to express my feelings to her. Even if I could have been alone with her, as I was normally quiet, my strong passion towards her would have made me more silent than usual. Also, I was scared to face a rejection that I might receive from her if I told her about my passion for her.

....due to the frustration that I could not confess my feelings to her, I became restless and lost weight.

The barometer of my feelings towards her was rising very high at that time. I was not aware myself, but due to the frustration that I could not confess my feelings to her, I became restless and lost weight. “S” noticed the changes in me and felt sorry for me. He was the sort of a person who felt that he had to do something for me. As Miya san (Miyazawa Sempai) was still repeating his aggressive campaign towards her, “S” decided to retire from the race and help me instead.

“S” first tried to create an opportunity to speak to her himself for me. Although, he was more aggressive than me, it appeared that he was still too shy to speak to her directly. One morning, he waited at the back gate of the university for her to appear, with a message paper in his hand. When he saw her coming, he started dashing towards her.

“Oss. This ……..”

We quite often joke that we use Oss on all occasions, but what a convenient word Oss is.

He handed the paper and dashed away. The fact that she received the paper seemed to confirm that he was more likeable than me. We quite often joke that we use Oss on all occasions, but what a convenient word Oss is. We can use it even on this kind of occasion. And, alas! He went to her house to talk to her about me. Many man’s friendships are broken because of their fight over women. I felt deeply a true man’s friendship offered by him and was very grateful to him.

Finale
I was friendly with children in our neighbourhood. When I went out, children came to me, calling my name “Shoji san”. We played together. For some reason, I was popular with them. Among them was a girl who had just finished junior high school. As she said she knew the 8:20 am Princess very well, I asked her to stay friendly with the 8:20 am Princess and go to a film with her. Then we got the information from the girl about which film theatre they were going to and then we also went to the same film theatre. “S” continued to create every opportunity for me to get in touch with the 8:20 am Princess.

One rainy day, we heard a lady’s voice together with the sound of the rain falling on to the paper umbrella. I peeped over the window to find out who it was. It was the mother of the 8:20 am Princess.

“Can I help you?”

“Today is my daughter’s birthday. I would like to invite you all to our place to thank you for your kindness that you have been showing to my daughter.”

This invitation might have been a mother’s defensive ploy to protect her daughter from the wolves, but we jumped with excitement. This was the result of our great and painful efforts. This was a great opportunity to have full access to the 8:20 am Princess. As this was my first visit to her house, I wanted to make it meaningful to myself only. But my nature to value man’s friendships more than my own individual gains prevailed. So I also asked Miya san, my rival in the love race, to come with us and we all went to her place together. We were well treated with nice food and drinks. We chatted a lot with her. It was a great day. However, when she said “I feel as if all of you were my big brothers”, three of us were extremely disappointed and looked at one another, realising that we were all clowns.

When I ran into her by chance several years later, she had become a good mother with two children. But she had not lost her beauty which we admired at that time. When I think back, I was in love with the concept that I was in love. What a pure love story that I had. It confirms that I am romantic.

After words
One evening when I was talking over drinks with one of my Kohai who had hobbies other than Karate, he said to me.

“Sempai, I think you should have some other hobby apart from Karate.”

“Um……” I replied half-heartedly.

I have Karate and I am not so old to have a hobby. Besides, I don’t have time to spend on a hobby.

“Sempai, just think. If Karate is removed from you, what else will be left in you? Nothing.”

Even if it’s a joke, how could he talk about taking Karate away from me whose entire life is immersed in it. I am contented with myself because I have Karate. I won’t need anything else. I was a little cross. But, the Kohai went on saying;

“You have no money and you are not popular with ladies either. What have you got apart from karate?”

This really got me. Particularly I could not agree with the last part of his statement. I had a pride that I was popular with ladies. I also experienced exciting moments as a youth, such as my story about the 8:20 am Princess. Therefore, I was going to say to him that he was wrong. But the words did not come out. Instead, I mumbled unconfidently to him and decided not to protest. To be continued...

Editor's Note The Kohai who was bold enough to say to Shoji Sensei “You have no money and you are not popular with ladies either. What have you got apart from karate?” was Yoshioka Sensei who visited JKA Melbourne in 1996.

Read our Tribute to Shoji Sensei from November 2003

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