Sempai Claus

For those of you that haven't seen Sempai Sean Connery and Kohai Wesley Snipes in Rising Sun, sempai is the word for people in your dojo/group/company, that are your superiors. This relationship between sempai and their kohai is very important in Japanese circles.

Following in this tradtion, my main battoujutsu sempai (and I think the senior student/assistant sensei), Yamahara-san, has given me several things: two books, oranges, apples, persimmons, and now, a new (used) obi and a new (used?) suburi-to.

The obi and the suburi-to. On the bottom is a regular bok-to so you can get a size comparison. Suburi means "swing" and to (tou) means "sword." Bok means "wooden." A suburi-to is used to develop sword arm muscles. This particular style of wooden sword is patterned after a boat oar which was made famous by Miyamoto Musashi and his duel on Ganryu Island.

Closeup of the design on the obi. It's either a rooster or some type of phoenix imagery. The same bird is on the sword bag that Noriko made for me from an old kimono obi.

Condo For Rent

The family has been renting out a condo to a serviceman. A real estate company handles the tenant finding and all the paperwork. We just found out that the current tenant and his growing family need more space. I went with J-Pop to inspect the place before he signed off on the tenant's contract.

There's a chance that Noriko and I will be moving into it. It all depends on if the real estate company can find a new renter. It would be a nice place to live but I'd rather rent money go into the in-laws' bank account. The ceiling on some servicemen's rental allowance is about $1,600 per month and coincidentally, that is about what most places charge them. A civillian or a Japanese citizen could get it for a few yen less. Some real esate companies specialize in housefinding for military people and their families.

The front and back side of the building. Our condo is on the second floor, third from the end.

A view of the walkway in front and of the front door.

Looking down the hall toward the front door and of the living room area (taken from a similar looking spot that would be the dining area).

Halfway down the hall is the room holding the tub/shower, the dual washer/dryer machine, and the sink. The toilet has it's own little broom closet room, next door.

Here's the tatami room. Only brand new houses with progressive Japanese people don't have them. There are two more rooms that have some kind of cushiony faux wood look to them.

And finally, here is a view of the balcony and from the balcony. It overlooks a little neighborhood park.

It would be kind of scary to move into it. That would be one more action suggesting a longer term stay, over here. On the other hand, I could finally have some privacy, guests could actually come visit, and I could finally make good on my offer to friends and family of, "Of course, you can stay with us!" The condo is about 10 minutes from the nearest station (as opposed to my current 29 minutes) and about 20 minutes closer to Tokyo. For you students of Miura Peninsula geography, we are south of Yokosuka, now. This condo is between Yokosuka and Yokohama.

International Cultural Fair

November 26th, I met up with a new friend of mine, Jeff (from Idaho) and a student of mine, Shigeharu (American Name: Mr. Rapids, from Japan). We all attended an culture fair that was going on downtown. The main reason I attended was because my samurai sword sensei was going to be doing a cutting demonstration.

Soga Sensei bowing at the start of his demonstration

I was able to record the action and now, for the first time on Yokie from Muskogee, you can see video! Many of you already got an email from me with a link to this video.

They also performed a jodo (short staff) demo and a local jr. high did a kendo demo.

Later, we ran into another student of mine. She is a sado (tea ceremony teacher). Shigeharu treated Jeff and I to cup of tea.

Left to right, Endo san, old lady, Shigeharu san, Jeff san

S.T.I.L.O.W.I.Y.A.E. (Martial Arts Update)

Aikido:

Lately, I've been happy that I didn't give up on Nishimura Sensei. A few months ago, he seemed to be going downhill. Recently, he's been showing me a few more tricks up his sleeve.


We've been working on what I call "sensing the invisible lines of weakness in your attacker's energy (stilowiyae)." I'm sure there is an aikido term for this, but that wouldn't make much sense for any of you non-aikido people. At the end of class, for lack of correct terminology, I told him, "I can't see your power line." or "I can't see your power direction."


He promptly had me grab him some more to demonstrate that he understood my issue. I knew he understood, from the way he repeatedly "stilowi(my)e."


The reason I brought it up at the end of class was so that he might remember our conversation during tomorrow's class.


It's frustrating to not be able to exactly do it. (Today's new word is frustration/yokkyuufuman/欲求不満/よっきゅうふまん.)

But through this softer kind of sensitivity training, I can see how easy a strong attack could be defeated by someone that can sense these things. Aikido can get really mindblowing, at times.


Sometimes you feel like your partner or sensei is somehow shutting you down on purpose (they do know what you are going to do, after all), but then you try to kind of shut them down (well.. more like resist a little bit/lot) and you just make their job easier. For all of you non-aiki people, it's really not something that's easy to explain. It almost has to be felt.

Takakura Ken from "The Yakuza."

Toyama Ryu/Soga Ryu Battou-Jutsu

We had another round of tameshigiri (test cutting), last night. Sensei brings in rolled up tatami mats for cutting. We stick them on Christmas tree stand contraptions and cut them to pieces. It was my third time to attend a tameshigiri night. The first time, I only worked on kesa giri cuts (diagonal downward cuts). The second time, I did kesa giri and kiri age (upward diagonal cuts). This time, I worked on kesa giri and kiri age, again. These cuts are designed to enter a human body at the neck and leave below the armpit on the other side of the enemy's body (kesa giri) or to enter from below the armpit and exit on the other side, from the neck (kiri age). So, during my second time at doing the upward cut, my sword kept getting stuck in the target. It looks so easy on the Samurai Channel! When you mess up, it feels like you tried to hack through a tree branch with a dull machete.


Last night, though, I was able to cut through the targets. When you perform a successful cut, it feels like cutting air. The first thing I thought was "Wow, I guess performing hundreds of practice swings does help!" I frequently see men in parking lots or at bus stops performing practice "air" golf swings. Lately, I've been doing "air" sword swings. Or, when nobody's looking, I use my umbrella.

Mostly Engrish! (Slightly Television and Cooking)

For those of you that don't like your coffee "perky," how but a cup o' depression?

What are you looking at?

If you're happy and you know it, c_ap your hands!

F...oxxy lady!

Human Man keep out!

Here's a shot of the new tv. HD is pretty clear!

I finally offered my assistance in the kitchen. The parents are pretty sure about my skill and usually keep me out. I always do the dishes, but sometimes, the food is just sooo good that I'd also like to help out in preparing it. J-Pop entrusted me with the job of slicing cucumbers for the salad. I got started right away and marveled at the thin slices our new slicer could produce. I failed to notice my middle finger (positioned on the bottom side of the cucumber) was in line to be next sliced. I finished up the salads and then pointed to the last one. "The one on the right is mine," I said to J-Pop. "Why?" he wanted to know. I showed him my finger and said, "Because a piece of my finger is in it." They haven't let me back, since. Sashimi is raw fish. Basashi is raw horse. I wonder what the word for raw human is?

round-flat-round

P.S. The quiz in the last post is still going! I demand some participants (diferent from smartypants)!