Tag: shodan

Belts, Imagination and Kumite

Wednesday September 2nd, 2020

Last week we celebrated four birthdays (my nephew, my sister-in-law, my husband D and me), and we saw Sensei in the park last Saturday morning. He spoke words of encouragement to all of us, and handed out belts and certificates.

We arrived home to a pancake breakfast prepared by my nephew from Northern California. It was also D’s birthday, so we got take out from our favorite restaurant, shared it with D’s brother’s family and the grandparents. Afterwards, we watched Zodiac. D had worked with Aaron, the son of Robert Graysmith, who authored the original book. It was disturbing, mainly because it is a true story, but a good movie.

On Sunday, we peformed those chores neglected while entertaining out-of-town guests and celebrating birthdays. On Monday, we were off running.

I want to share my entry from Saturday.

Ceremony of Belt Awards

Today is D’s birthday. He slept in. The kids and I rose at 7 am. We were at the Figure 8 park by 8:30 am. T, TF, B, Sensei AJ and our Sensei were all there, as well as many of the kids. Sensei brought a large box, filled with certificates and belts. With help from T and B, he arranged them in a row on the green. His certificates this time were issued by the California Budoshinkai Association, the new style he is in the process of creating. We are still an IFK affiliate.

It was an emotional experience, seeing so many friends and my own children receiving their belts. Certainly I felt emotional upon receiving my own belt. Obviously this ceremony was not the one I imagined a year ago. Kyokushin, however, is about seeking absolute truth, or absolute reality–this is our preferred translation in our dojo community. Buddhism teaches us to let go of illusion, including and especially self-delusion. Wisdom will bring us to recognize beauty in that reality, when we can strip away enough self-delusion to see it.

Imagination versus Reality

Before the pandemic, I imagined a ten-person kumite match: most of the folks whipping my tail would be good friends from the dojo. I imagined it within the dojo building that Sensei no longer rents, along with board or brick breaking to demonstrate our skills, along with a party afterwards. But the reality is we gathered in the morning, outdoors, in a neighborhood park, under blooming crepe myrtle trees, standing on grass, surrounded by our greater Burbank community. Sensei announced that two persons from our dojo have been diagnosed with Covid-19. I hope they are coping okay and not seriously ill.

Many of us gathered there in the park, distanced but well, dressed in street clothes instead of gis. Despite the pandemic and the many woes inflicted upon our group that might have pulled us apart, we were there together, at least, those of us who could be there. Some others do join us over Zoom that were not at liberty to come to a park. One pair of children were allowed to come only briefly to receive their belts, and had to leave right away. Three members of their family are immunocompromised, so these children, understandably, kept their contact brief.

We are fortunate to be together, mostly over Zoom but sometimes in the park, like this gathering. We are fortunate to not have lost anyone in our little dojo community to this disease at this time. Granted, preserving our community through this crisis took a lot of work.

Kumite

This was our real fight: our kumite match was against a plague that would pull us apart with fear, illness and financial troubles, all against a backdrop of political unrest and dissension. Though we’ve received our belts and certificates, this particular kumite match is far from over. We have to support each other in the face of this plague, build harmony from discord, and hold our little community, along with Burbank, California, the United States and the free world and finally, the whole world, together. We are a world community of humans, with more binding us together than separating us. Also, all living things in this world are interdependent upon keeping our environment, and each other, in good health. We’ve made it this far.

Sensei saw fit to honor many of us with belts and certificates for our hard work. He also gave high honors to T and AJ by asking our dojo community to address them now as “Sensei,” or Teacher. They well deserve this honor.

Performing Breaks

Yesterday, in our own back yard, F, S and I broke up chunks of concrete and rocks with shuto hands. So we did our breaks before receiving our belts. That evening, S and I showed his young cousin the rocks and chunks of concrete that we’d broken. He was actually more impressed by the concrete breaks, since the rocks looked more “breakable” to him. S and I found a thinner piece of concrete and demonstrated how to break it on the patio. S’s young cousin listened carefully, and, using the technique we demonstrated for him, he broke it!

Sensei had told us that receiving a black belt is about teaching, sharing what you know. I was so excited to see my ten year old nephew present the fragments of his shattered hunk of concrete to his own father with pride. His was a clean, straight break.

The Loss of Chadwick Boseman

Our family was saddened to read about the death of Chadwick Boseman. Sometimes we fight hard and do not win. Not winning the battle, or even the war, does not make you less of a warrior. On screen, Chadwick fought super-villains. In real life, he had more formidable foes: racism, on top of the usual demons faced by artists and other creatives, and finally, cancer. He deserves his own black belt for tenacity and his drive to share his gifts with the world.

If you have not watched his speech to the Screen Actors’ Guild, it is well worth your time.

This is another kumite match we, as a society, need to take on and defeat: racism, including systemic racism and unconscious bias.  Exacerbating these situations is the problem of poverty, another formidable foe, but one we can defeat, if we have the will.

Competency and Writing as a Shodan

How is a shodan different from an ichi kyu? The answer may surprise you.

Sunday, August 23rd, 2020

As you will hopefully see, I’ve created a new category for posting thoughts as a shodan. I will try to keep this up to date. Honestly, I found it helpful to both my karate and my writing practices to keep this on-line journal up-to-date. At the same time, I also feel that the transition from ichi kyu to shodan deserves a “marker,” so creating a new category to post under helps with that psychological transition.

Photo taken in my yard after our Shodan test, August 8th

I have continued to keep a personal written journal of daily ten minute writes, and have not missed any days. My first journal entry after the shodan test, however, was a bit tongue in cheek.

Of course I’d like to draw a line at the shodan test, and say,”On August 7th, I was an ichi kyu, and now, on August 9th, I am a shodan!” While this is true, it is only partially true. First, Sensei will normally invite folks to promote who have done the work to be ready to promote. So typically, you are ready to test for shodan when you finally have the skills to do that test. But also, shodan really means “first rank,” or “competent.” Again, when absorb that information, it is more a reason for humility than for pride. I’ve moved out of kindergarten and into first grade, in the karate world. Yay me!

This entry is actually from August 9th, the day after my shodan test.

Shodan versus ichi kyu

So what does a new shodan need to do, besides finish Masutatsu Oyama’s book?

  1. Laundry! But how would laundry be different for a shodan than an ichi kyu? Perhaps a shodan will pull the laundry out of the dryer when it finishes, rather than restarting the dryer in the “fluff” cycle a few times throughout the day before getting around to taking it out and folding it, like an ichi kyu.
  2. Yard work! Perhaps a shodan will carefully examine the old collection of ocean rocks on the patio for one she can break, rather than pushing the rock box out of the way of the weed eater.
  3. Parenting! The shodan shall take the other shodan and junior shodan to Baskin Robbins to choose a celebratory ice cream.
  4. Dishes! A shodan will part with Tupperware that has no lid, rather than shove it back under the cabinet to deal with later. Unless, of course, this particular lidless Tupperware would work as a replacement for the cardboard box holding ocean rocks.
  5. Cooking! A shodan will pull the old, frozen fruit from the freezer and use it for cooking a large batch of oatmeal, knowing that my junior shodan and young adult shodan like oatmeal. An ichi kyu might put it off for another week.

Why would a shodan be better at chores than an ichi kyu? A shodan understands performing time-consuming, tedious chores can build character, and that these will not become easier if more time is allowed to pass before tackling them. Also, some of these chores will result in happy children with ready-made breakfast for the next several days.

So that was it: my first journal entry as a shodan.

Saturday August 8th, 2020

Shodan Test

F and I both passed! It was difficult, but also really cool, and so great to see Sensei, his wife (who is another kind of Sensei in her own right) and the other senpais there to test. We all made it through.

Photo from 9/7/2020: my old ichi kyu belt under my new shodan belt; we waited
a couple weeks before our belts arrived. See 9/2/2020 for belt ceremony description

I had help from an earthworm. I’ll explain tomorrow.

We also made it back home to participate in the karate Zoom class.

And I probably spent an hour on the phone (and F, too) with our fantastic Senpai/Sensei who moved to Rochester, NY.

The grandparents bought Vietnamese take-out for the family to celebrate, and that was fantastic and filling.

I cannot stay awake.

Tuesday June 9th, 2020

My paper journal and this blog have diverged as of late. Part of me wants to write in order to inspire others, rather than simply recording my personal ups and downs. That part of me, on some level, I’m sure, wants to put my “best” self forward. Granted, that doesn’t always make for good writing. So I’ll have to wrestle with that demon. However, I have no idea who, if anyone, is reading this. I have not emailed many friends and family about this site, or taken advantage of any of the tracking plug-ins provided with WordPress or Bluehost.

I did not have a lot of time for writing this morning. In addition to my usual kitchen cleaning and sanitizing, I watered the kids’ bonsai and cleaned the glass door leading out to the back yard. After cleaning the glass, it was really nice to be able to see out. But in any case, I started writing when I had eleven minutes remaining before needing to log into work.

And speaking of home projects: I have a major one in mind: dismantling the trampoline. S likes jumping on it with company, but he won’t go on it by himself. F doesn’t really get on it very much. S will jump if I or one of his school buddies comes over. I don’t know when that will happen, since we’re still in this pandemic. If we took it down, however, we’d have the whole back yard as space for karate practice. If F and I are going to test in August, we will need space for kata practice.

B, our sixteen year old adult Shodan, lead the karate class over Zoom. She has a free account, so class was only forty minutes. She is also still in school this week, so none of us can blame her for keeping the class short. I did exercises after class, and watered a kumquat tree at the same time. It’s pleasant to do exercises outside, though the concrete on the knuckles does give me sore knuckles.

Sensei announced a beach workout for this Saturday. We are all looking forward to it. We’ll have to bring masks, but I’m guessing no one will wear masks in the ocean. I am really hoping we will have many more beach workouts together as a dojo community with Sensei. The karate beach workouts are some of our fondest memories as a family.

Tuesday June 2nd, 2020

And another summary

Three of us, a Shodan/Sensei of another style who taught the Kyoku Kids on Saturday morning, a Shodan who’s approaching his second stripe, and me, met with Sensei over Zoom to talk about preserving the community as a club. We asked his guidance in this endeavor, as well as if we could hire him as a consultant.

We convened a second meeting with him and the donor group, and finalized some of the details of hiring him. He offered to guide us through the process of re-forming the dojo community as a club. The three of us envisioned a member-run, non-profit as a likely scenario. Sensei also agreed to continue to teach over Zoom for a period, while we transitioned.

That was a relief. We held a third meeting with the greater dojo community last Sunday, in order to plan the actual forming of the club, create a mission statement and by-laws, put together a roster of teachers, etc. Various members volunteered for tasks in order to formally bring this new incarnation of our community into existence. We now have committees focused on various aspects of the club. My daughter attended, along with our sixteen year old adult Shodan, B, who also teaches. They liked the idea of a youth council that will be analogous to the adult board.

We’re hopeful that by the end of the month, we will exist as a karate club.

As for me, my week of meditation and “rest” is over, though, admittedly, given both the dojo closure and the unrest in Los Angeles, last week was hardly restful.

I will say one thing about the protestors in Los Angeles and across this nation: I have tremendous respect for persons willing to risk both their lives and their health in order to stand for justice. My family is with them in spirit.

However, if we want to have four adults from my household able to vote for candidates who support their causes in November, we have to stay home. We will show our support through donations to good causes and kind words of encouragement to friends who march.

This is my “ku” week, so 90 sit-ups and squats. I’m doing 50 push-ups on my fists and toes on the ground, then 10 the same way on the matte, and adding 30 more on my knees, when I can. I got in my exercises twice yesterday and twice today. Yesterday I also ran for 20 minutes with an additional 10 minutes walking to warm-up and cool down. Today the kids and I attended karate with Sensei over Zoom.

I have been keeping my paper journal daily. New goal: return to posting those daily writes here.

Saturday May 2nd, 2020

I woke up in time for karate class at 10am. While half-asleep, I remember arguing with my alarm: “I don’t want to get up! I’m so tired!” But I crawled out of bed, sprayed down the kitchen with disinfectant, setup the older laptop outside, and followed the link to the karate Zoom session. Both kids slept in.

Sensei R lead the class, but our Shodan and Nidan Senpais were also on-line. He had us do the same one-leg challenge we had done in class last night” you balance on one leg, while Sensei keeps time, and see how many kicks you can do before you lose your balance or the time elapses. Usually he times us for one or two minutes. Last night, I was able to do fifty-five on my strong side. This morning it was closer to fifty.

Senpai Nidan understood, from Sensei’s instructions, that we should only be doing Mae geris, and to be fair, Sensei did say “front kicks.” During yesterday evening’s class, any kind of kick counted, and many of us followed that rule. Sensei had us do our second, weaker leg in the manner of our Nidan: only Mae geris. That was a lot harder.

For the “kyoku-kids,”or children six years and under, Sensei called the kicks. We then performed ten in a row, while balancing on one leg. I should mention that there were three and four year olds able to do this!

Both during last night’s class and this morning’s class, we went over Fifth Kyu Syllabus. Again.

Oh, oh, I forgot to mention: during last night’s kihon, Sensei asked me to call kihon. Both kids were with me, on either side. If I was too slow in remembering the Japanese name for a move, one kid would whisper it to me. I know the moves and the terminology, but am rusty. However, it came back and I needed little help at the end.

Also, Sensei complimented me on one technique. Unfortunately I do not recall which it was, since I was focused on remembering the terminology. Nevertheless, I will brag anyway: he said that particular technique was “perfect.” When, if ever, do you hear you did something perfectly? I was so proud!

After this morning’s karate class, I moved the kumquat bush closer to the back patio. It was in too much shade in its old location closer to the loquat tree. One day, perhaps, it will grow as large as the kumquat tree belonging to my friend’s mother!

I also ran on the treadmill: twenty minutes, with an additional ten minutes of walking.

All in all, today was a productive day!

Sunday April 26th, 2020

I’m writing very late. Today is almost over. I was so busy: cleaning, five loads of laundry, and cooking. One load is still in the dryer. I cooked a week’s worth of oatmeal and fruit compote for the kids’ breakfast and made two large veggie and cheese omelettes for dinner. Everyone, except for D, had the omelettes.

Our neighbor Jessica came to retrieve her gardening supplies, so I took that as an opportunity to pick fresh loquats for her and also gave her a container of prepared ones. She texted me when she came, and retrieved the fruit from where I left it in the driveway.

I also tidied up the front lawn: trimmed the grass and weeds with the weed eater, cut suckers from the rose bush, swept the sidewalk, chained two hoses together in the front yard to connect to the soaker hose across the median and used them to water the camphor tree. The long hose I normally keep in the front had burst the last time I used it.

Shannon called, but her phone cut out periodically. We decided to talk later.

Richard’s cousin, a doctor, called to talk about Karen. She was upset to hear Karen was diagnosed with COV-19. Karen’s diagnosis, however, was based on observation of symptoms, rather than a test for the presence of the virus. Richard’s cousin is very worried about Aunt Karen, even though we currently believe she has a mild case. Karen’s age, mid-eighties, puts her at a higher risk for complications.

Tonight I will skip the web entries. Perhaps tomorrow, when I am back on my schedule, I’ll catch up. Meditation week is always more difficult to keep on a schedule, though I plan to keep running on the treadmill.

My weight came back up a little: 109 pounds, so I need to pay more attention to what I eat. Maybe I need to add even more cardio to my schedule.

I forgot to mention we had a meeting with Sensei on Saturday morning: the Ichi Kyus, our Nidan, two Shodans, other high ranking students and Sensei. We talked about how to proceed with our black belt tests, given Kumite and Sanchin may not be options during the pandemic. Many cool ideas surfaced: a strenuous run up a mountain trail, or kata on the beach, while ocean waves roll in to add resistance, or Sanchin as Mas Oyama reputedly did it, while balancing jars of clay. I love the idea of doing a test in nature. Granted, most of us associate the ten man fight with the black belt. Could we, instead, battle ten elements of nature?