But it was now Saturday and I could relax a little again, having the luxury of enjoying my new lifestyle.  I was really looking forward to jogging in the park since physical exercise had been limited to short walks to the station. It was a huge park with a pond at one end, lots of benches, and the usual assortment of strongly build climbers, horizontal bars, and children’s playground equipment.  I was able to relax after jogging and stretch my body and do my push-ups, sit-ups, and other exercises.  I was feeling strong and was ready to have my first Saturday evening meal in my apartment, most of it eaten while spending time communicating with my wife via AIM.  Sunday was spent just relaxing and exploring more around the station area.

I was looking forward to training Tuesday night.  After work, I stopped at my apartment to change clothes and grab my karate bag, then took the train to Kobe and walked the 15 minutes to the YMCA.  There was a membership fee to pay and the monthly tuition of 7000 yen (about $65.00 at that time).  Wandering up to the second floor, I found the training room which was good size with a wood floor.  No one was there yet so I changed into my gi in the locker room, which was down one floor directly under the training room, went back upstairs and started stretching.  Eventually, students started drifting in, shouting OSU as they bowed and walked through the door, some of them walking over to say hello and introducing themselves.

Uno sensei arrived and the senior student yelled for us to line up which everyone did quickly, pushing me further and further to the head of the line, which I tried futilely to resist.  We bowed in and sensei asked me to lead the warmups.  Then class started.Sensei had us run through a series of basic drills, starting with simple san-bon-tsuki (step in and punch three times) and graduating to more complicated, multi-combination and switch back drills.  It was a great training.  After a 2-minute break, we started in on kata (forms).  Sensei picked Kankudai.  We went through it a couple times slowly as sensei walked around and made corrections.  Then we did the kata at regular speed.  The second kata was Bassai Dai, again the same pattern.  I remember sensei walking up to me and saying “keiko yatteiru ne” (you have been training).   Guess he had been watching me, the new guy.

Another 2 minutes break.  Then kumite.  For the rest of the year and a half, this would be the pattern.  It was predictable and hard-just perfect for me!  The kumite portion is always, for me, intimidating when visiting other dojos.  They don’t know you but they see a somewhat worn black belt.  Some are just respectful, but some see it as a challenge.  It is the same in all dojos but especially scary in Japan for the foreigner.  We went through a few one step sparring drills and then sensei had us line up with a different partner.

The scary thing about visiting other dojos, is that you can count on at least one black belt to be over zealous at the thought of pairing up with a new black belt.  The reprieve is that you know it will happen and can be ready.  You can force yourself to relax more and soft focus your vision to better see incoming techniques.  You can work your blocks better by using your whole body (hips, tanden etc.) and stay low to the ground when possible.  Also, you can protect against sweeps more proactively by trying to use your calf and thigh muscles in a timely manner. These things you learn by a traveling.  But you also learn how the Shotokan world both attracts and makes, through its basic philosophy, a more tolerant, respectful, passionate, and interesting human being.  Try it sometime.  Set up some (nan-karate) conversation with folks both from the karate world and not.  You tell me what you discover.

So-it was easy to predict who my first jyu-kumite (free sparring) partner would be. He was strong and fast and pushed me hard during the drills. Hatori-san bowed and we both stood in yoi (ready) position. Sensei shouted “hajime” (start), and immediately Hatori-san leapt out of yoi position with a mae-geri (front kick), which was a feign, and then a jodan (face/upper level) punch, which caught me squarely on the jaw.  In all my years of traveling, that had never happened. No use calling foul-I should have been ready. Another great lesson. The drunk guy in the bar or crazy person on the street won’t take a stance before attacking.We continued lightly at first as sensei had told us to do. But quickly our sparring intensified to some pretty serious exchanges. Uno sensei walked over to calm us down.

We settled down a bit and started using some better combinations and exploring. Then the class changed partners and I spent about five minutes with each student until the end of class. For the two hours class we had two 2-minute breaks. I was exhausted and ready to head back to my Hyogo apartment, jump into the wonderful Ofuro (Japanese bath), and relax the muscles, with a cold Ebisu beer sitting on the floor next to me.

The pattern was set. I would train on Tuesdays and Thursdays with the entire class. After a couple of weeks, sensei invited me to their Saturday evening trainings. This class was held on the street level in a smaller room. Just the upper level students were allowed to train and it was mostly kata and kumite, with some really good, tough encounters. After class, about six of us would go to an izakaya (pub) and talk along with eating great food and drinking a couple of beers. I was usually home by 11pm, just in time to AIM with my wife in Michigan. We enjoyed our Saturday night (for me-Sunday morning for her) texting which lasted for an hour on the average, me drinking beer or wine, her drinking ocha (Japanese green tea). It was an excellent life, except of course being away from my wife. But, after the first six weeks, my routine became three to four weeks in Japan and two weeks back home. I rarely trained when home, wanting to spend as much time as possible with my wife.

That training in 2007 was directly responsible for me finally testing for and passing my san-dan (third degree black belt) test in front of Okazaki sensei at The Ohio State regional clinic.I had attempted my san-dan test a few years before in New Orleans and had failed. Though I kept training, I gave up on the idea of testing. This ended the previous year at the Michigan Summer Karate Camp. Takashina sensei was the visiting instructor. After the last class of a wonderful camp, Takashina sensei went down the line as we stood before bowing out. He asked everyone “ima-nan dan?” (what rank are you?). When he came to me, I answered “nidan (2^nd degree) sensei”.

He responded “eh…why nidan?

When I returned to Kobe for my first training the week after my san-dan test (see my san-dan sparring on my Shotokan Karate and Gallery page), Uno sensei announced my promotion to the class (I had thanked him for his excellent training that helped me pass). From then on, I had to stand next to the senior student in line. I think mostly to harass me, sensei made me shout out the dojo kun (maxims) in Japanese, which was quite an honor, if a little nerve wracking. But I did my best and shouted it with passion. The other students all exclaimed how good my Japanese was. This, of course, was just tatemae (being generous, polite and respectful).That year and a half was a time of great growth for my karate. I was living alone with no responsibility other than work. I could train three times a week at the dojo and get some extra workouts in the park near my apartment. At the age of about 55, I felt like a new man.