F and I got up around 6:45 am to check on S. For him, it was the big day: promotion and/or confirmation for junior shodans. I cooked him an egg, packed a snack bag and filled a cooler with ice and bottled waters. F looked up 4th kyu syllabus for him and went over it with him, since he worried about not remembering it properly. I dropped him off at the figure eight park. Some kids were already running down the dirt path. While S joined them, I deposited his cooler and snack bag under a tree along the strip. I went home. In the car, I realized I’d forgotten to put sunscreen in his bag. Given how early it was, I hoped he would not need it.
F and I went back to bed for an hour. Promotion began at 7:00 am. I texted him at 8:30, to see if he needed anything (like sunscreen.) Closer to 9:00am, he answered to ask for a ride home. When I arrived, he was drinking a Gatorade from a friend, relaxing on the grass with his good buddies, N and G. L’s mom was there; NG, who is part of the Club’s planning group, arrived to pick up her son and his friend. I snapped a few photos of the kids.
S did well but, as soon as the test ended, he felt nauseous. Gatorade helped with that. He was perky by the time I arrived.
When we arrived home, I set up both computers: one in the yard and another in the dining room. F monitored while Sensei taught. Sensei asked me to lead kihon. I did. I planned to have us do twenties, until I heard that T and TF’s son, a very accomplished young karateka who had attended this morning’s promotion, was there in class! He impressed all of us with his tenacity and dedication. In his honor, I alternated twenties and tens during kihon, instead of doing straight twenties for everything. So as not to exhaust him further, we only did 10 of the kicking exercises and those done in kiba dachi. I did a little instructing, too. F, however, did a good job of catching problems. Sensei instructed, watched and gave everyone feedback. It was so nice to have in him class!
At the end of class, Sensei spoke about his interest in the “grandfather” of karate, Kung Fu. His own teacher in that style had an interesting comment, that Sensei shared with us: his teacher regards Japanese karate highly, but only has one issue with it: it emphasizes the “hard” arts and places less emphasis on the “softer” arts; for balance, we need these too.
While Sensei was telling us this, almost as if to emphasize his teacher’s point, he was caring for a bonsai.
Both F and S had studied bonsai with Sensei. This one actually belongs to our Senpai M, who had moved to New York. F has been caring for it.
Back in 2017, Sensei and his bonsai students put together a show. I’ll close with a couple pictures of Sensei’s bonsai, because he is truly a master.
And one more, just because I love the little Buddha statue under one of Sensei’s bonsai trees.
It seems appropriate to give Lao Tzu the last word, since he wrote about softness and hardness in Tao Te Ching . (According to Wikipedia, there’s some debate over authorship, compilation of the work and dates.) (Oh, and if you want a modern yet poetic recent translation of Tao Te Ching, Ursula K. Le Guin’s translation is fantastic, and available over Amazon. I’m using publicly available sources, but I highly recommend her version.)
Water is the softest thing, yet it can penetrate mountains and earth. This shows clearly the principle of softness overcoming hardness. — Lao Tsu