Shorinji Kempo

Shorinji Kempo was founded by Doshin So in Tadotsu in 1947. Doshin So (known as "Kaiso" or "founder") returned to Japan after the Russians entered Manchuria, a Japanese colony in China during WWII. When he saw the terrible condition of the Japanese people, he was determined to find a way to restore their morality and pride. He decided that the best way to do this would be through a martial art rooted in Zen Buddhist principles. So, he took the various forms of Kempo that he had studied in China (mainly Shaolin Kempo) and synthesized them into what he called Shorinji Kempo. To learn more, you can visit the Shorinji Kempo website.

Over the weekend, I visited the Shorinji Kempo Headquarters (Hombu) in Tadotsu, Kagawa Prefecture. I've been practicing Shorinji Kempo for a little over a year so my sensei thought it would be a good experience for me to practice at headquarters and to see the origins of the martial art before I leave Japan.

The day started early- we met at 7 am and drove about an hour and a half to Tadotsu. On the way, we crossed the Seto Ohashi, which is the longest 2-tiered bridge in the world. It took 20 minutes to cross! After arrival, we changed into our uniforms and went to the opening ceremony. Every practice of Shorinji Kempo starts with the recitation of the creed, which is a summary of the philosophy behind the art, and a meditation session. After that, we went to an hour-long philosophy lecture, of which I understood, "Michael Jackson died." When everyone was settling in for another lecture, my sensei and I went sightseeing around the dojo and the town. We returned just in time for lunch. In the afternoon, I took part in a practice. When my friend introduced me to the person leading the practice, he said that it was for black belts only. I only have a brown belt so I was sad but then he just said to put on a black belt and join in. So... I was in over my head but my friend lent me a black belt and I did my best. We practiced a lot of advanced techniques but they were based on things I had learned before so, with a lot of help from the others, I figured most of them out in the end. The rest of the day was spent waiting around while the senior members of my dojo had a secret practice. Only 4th degree black belts and above were allowed in the training room. I would have liked to see it but during this time I did catch a glimpse of Yuki So, the daughter of Kaiso and the current head of the organization! On the way home, we stopped at Ikkaku, a famous chicken restaurant, and ate huge, peppery chicken legs. In all, it was an incredible experience.

Here are some photos from my trip:
Me and Kaiso.
Me and Baba-sensei in front of the hombu.
Me in the main dojo.
Hombu.
The original dojo. Notice that there is a swastika on the building. For western people, swastikas are usually associated with Nazism and white supremacists. You may be interested to know that the swastika originated as a religious symbol. In Japan, swastikas are used to mark Buddhist temples on maps and are called "manji." In general, it symbolizes eternity, harmony, and balance but, depending on the direction it faces, the meaning changes slightly. In this photo, it is facing right so it represents strength and intelligence.

Fishing

I went fishing on the Seto Inland Sea with some friends. See photos here. Vegetarians are warned that the album contains graphic images of worm, fish, and octopus slaughter.

Nikko

More photos!

Shikoku and Kyushu Trip

During Golden Week, we went to Shikoku and Kyushu. Look at our photos here!

We started in Takamatsu, where we visited Ritsurin Park. The ponds in the park are home to hundreds of hungry koi. The garden was really beautiful and it was warm and sunny so it was a nice way to start the trip.

Next, we got on a train and went to Tokushima. We didn't have a lot of time there, so we went to an evening performance of the famous Tokushima dance and then went to bed.

The next day, we were up early and on a train to Awa Ikeda which is in the beautiful Iya Valley. We took a bus tour of the area which included a boat ride on the river, a visit to one of the vine bridges, and a drive way up high in the mountains. The scenery was incredible but the bus tour was not. Due to traffic, it took 4 hours longer than planned (which they did not warn us about) and the lunch that they provided was terrible. The delay made us miss our bus so we had to take a late bus and train to our final destination of the day. When we called our hotel to inform them of our late arrival, they cancelled our room! Luckily, we found a room at a business hotel right next to the station. It did not cost much more and was extremely clean and comfortable so it ended up being a blessing.

The next morning, we took a train to a port and took the ferry from Shikoku to Kyushu. It was a 2 hour ferry ride and the boat was nice but crowded.

In Kyushu, our first stop was Beppu, which is famous for its hot springs. The town is literally steaming. In some places, the ground was so hot you couldn't touch it without buring yourself. In Beppu, we saw the Jigoku which roughly translates to "hell" in English. They are a series of hot springs with unique properties (color, bubbling, steaming, etc.). Everything was set up to be really touristy but it was still cool. Some of the places offered foods that had been cooked using the jigoku. We ate some steamed pork buns and a hardboiled egg.

The next morning, we were up early and on a train to Mt. Aso. The trains in Kyushu are extremely inconvenient. In many places, they only have one track so trains have to wait at stations to allow trains going the other way to pass. Once, our train driver "forgot" to stop so we had to back up! Incredible!

It was all worth it once we got to Aso. It is the largest active volcano in Japan and absolutely incredible. We took a bus up the volcano from the train station. The foot of the volcano is covered in forest. As you go up higher, you reach beautiful plains where they keep cattle. As we got close to the top, we could smell the sulfur. Luckily, the gas from the volcano wasn't too strong, so we were permitted to go up to the rim.

On our way back down the mountain, it started to rain and then hail. Hail is very rare in Japan so everyone else on the bus was really worked up about it.

We took the train to our last destination- Kumamoto. We didn't have much time there and we were exhausted so we just found some food to eat and went to bed.

The next day, we took the long train ride back home. I really wish we had taken more time in some places but I'm really happy that we saw it all!

New Beginnings and Hanami

April 1st marked the start of a new fiscal and school year in Japan. All of my schools had major staff changes- some good, some bad. The teacher I worked with the most was transferred and I miss her a great deal. My librarian friend was transferred as well (librarians change schools every year) but I lucked out and she is working at my technical school now.

My new students are... new. They still behave like junior high school students but I am certain that a couple of weeks of high school will get them to act their age. I am also hoping that a large group of them will join English Club and we can continue to have our hilarious snack and conversation parties.

April 5th was the first real day of spring weather. In Japan, it seems to change from winter to spring very suddenly. In Minnesota, it yo-yo's back and forth between winter and spring for weeks but Japan makes the switch in a day. Luckily, April 5th was the date of the Cherry Blossom Viewing Party (Hanami) on our island.

The Hanami party was incredible. We arrived at the ferry port on Shiraishi only to be greeted by one of the locals who was charged with driving us up the mountain to the cherry tree grove. We all piled into the back of his truck and rode through the town's NARROW streets. Along the way, we picked up the famous Manchan, who would later entertain us with music and dancing.

We arrived at the site and were blown away by the beauty. We went to the party last year but, after the cold, gray winter, the pink and green setting was still a surprise. The bbq had been going so we were immediately given plates of meat, vegetables, fried noodles, and drinks. The islanders are familiar with us so we made some brief greetings before sitting down to eat.
Later, there was music and *interesting* dancing. The star of the day was 84 year-old Manchan who played guitar (without touching the fingerboard), sang, and danced with a surprise prop attached to a piece of fishing line (see my photos).

When the party ended (i.e. they ran out of beer), we rode back down to the beach and spent some time there. Activities included beach soccer, drinking, playing buckets as drums, and moving a dock out so the tide could take it out.

In all, it was a perfect day. I haven't smiled or laughed that much in a long time.


The next weekend, we took an impromptu trip to Kyoto, which is the cherry blossom capital of Japan. The blossoms were past their peak so Kyoto was raining pink petals!

Seoul

Check out our photos from our trip to Seoul, South Korea!

Bobby and I escaped to Seoul for a couple of days in March. Seoul is almost the same distance from us as Tokyo so we thought it would be ridiculous to not go there.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and wasted a lot of time trying to find our hotel. Eventually, we just got a taxi with GPS which took us down some tiny back streets to the hotel. There is no way we would have found it by ourselves. In the end, the trouble was worth it. The hotel was the nicest place I have ever stayed! The room was larger than our apartment and fully stocked with anything you could ask for. It was also in a very convenient location (once we found it!) so we could easily get to where we needed to go.

That night we ate at Pizza Hut. You may find that disappointing but we have been living in the countryside so, given the opportunity, we eat the foods that we miss. We got a 1/2 cheese, 1/2 bulgogi beef pizza.

After dinner, we went to look around at Namdaemun Market. It was packed with people, both Koreans and tourists. They had a wide variety of shops, from fake designer handbags to traditional Korean pharmacies. We picked up the obligatory souvenirs for our co-workers- seaweed chocolates!

The next day, we tried to hit the 3 major tourist sites in Seoul- the palaces. They were huge complexes which you can see in my photos. The highlight was the "Secret Garden" at Changdeokgung.

We ate Korean food on this day. We had Korean BBQ, kimchi, bibimbap (my favorite), jeon, dumplings, etc. I like Korean food but it was a little spicy to my Minnesotan/Japanese palate.

On the third day, we met my friend from university, Pulum. She and I had a lot of classes together at UMM so we became good friends. It was really nice to see her after 2 years! We decided to go shopping. Since the yen is very strong compared to the won, everything was really cheap. I also liked Korean styles much more than Japanese. For lunch, we had Mexican food! After lunch, we went to an aquarium and did a little more shopping. Before Pulum left, we had a Korean dinner (Pulum chose the dishes).

Korea was very similar to Japan in some ways and very different in others.
Similarities:
1. It was very clean with efficient mass transportation.
2. They use Chinese characters sometimes.
3. Rice is the staple food in their diet.
4. People seem to work very hard for long hours.
5. The architecture is very similar.

Differences:
1. The people were more relaxed and generally happier.
2. They eat more meat and less fish.
3. Since Japan has invaded and destroyed Korea so many times, there is very little of "old" Korea left in the cities.
4. The military is everywhere.
5. Things are open late at night. You can go clothes shopping at 2 am if you want!



In all, we really liked Korea. Our trip was much too short and we were sad to leave. We hope to go back someday!

Interesting Japanese

I was sick this week but I managed to learn some interesting things:

Gastroenteritis (aka stomach flu) in Japanese is 胃腸炎, which literally means "stomach intestine flame."

The character for vomit is 吐 which is a combination of 口,meaning "mouth," and 土, meaning "ground."