Japan Report Nine 令和5年

Noguchi Sensei and Michael Glenn toast Hatsumi Sensei on his birthday

There are no classes today 令和5年12月2日 because we are celebrating Hatsumi Sensei’s birthday. This day always makes me reflective and nostalgic. It has been four years since I last trained with Soke in the dojō because of his retirement. But every time I’ve seen him in the last four years it has felt like a celebration full of humor, joy, and good conversation.

When I arrived at the party Niigata-San informed us that Hatsumi Sensei was in the hospital with a fever and could not join us. They said he was busy pestering the nurses and trying to smuggle in some wine for his birthday.

We still celebrated in his honor. I got to see many friends including some that I only see once a year at his party. The new Soke in attendance made speeches and shared stories of their memories of training with Hatsumi Sensei.

Noguchi Sensei gave us some inspiration when he compared training to forging a Japanese sword. He spoke about training at different ages in life. He said you must strike the sword while it is hot. During this “hot” period is when you train hard and build good form, and forge a good heart. He said that he didn’t know how much longer he could keep training, but he wanted to continue enjoying the training because he appreciates us all and the energy we bring him.

By chance, I sat next to Daisuke-San who I had not met before. He is a policeman and he surprised me by producing a bottle of liquor. Then he took a small appetizer plate and poured some into the saucer. He said this was Japanese mafia style. We drank together from the saucer and he said now we are family!

People stood in line to offer their gifts for Hatsumi Sensei’s birthday while my friend Yabunaka-San filled out labels to mark each gift and who it was from. I stood nearby and he walked up and wrote a label and stuck it on my chest. He started laughing hysterically. The label basically said one extra large gaijin for Hatsumi Sensei. What a thoughtful present!

They distributed some note cards for us to write birthday messages to Hatsumi Sensei. I wished him happy birthday but I also thanked him for the way he inspired my life. My life would be very different without him. He has provided me a path in life as well as budō. He has often said we are not just doing martial arts, we are studying how to live.

The morning after Hatsumi Sensei’s birthday I went to the 丸の内 Marunouchi district. Which means it is “inside the moat” of Edo Castle. I find it remarkable that I am able to just wander in these grounds. Just a few generations ago, I would have been killed or arrested if I was caught wandering Daimyō alley.

But today, Mitsubishi bought much of the land for a central business district and surrounded the moat with skyscrapers. I did manage to find a few remnants of the moat and walls marking the castle grounds. I entered by crossing the moat on a bridge to 和田倉門 Wadakura mon.

This gate was built in 元和6 (1620). The name implies it was used as a storehouse. Goods transported from the bay to the 倉前 kuramae (the street of Imperial granaries and rice stores) and into the gate. Later, when the Meiji Emperor first came to Edo, he passed through this gate.

When I passed through the gate, I came into a courtyard surrounded by heavy walls to form a 枡形 masugata (a place for soldiers to assemble). The feeling of being surrounded by these stones reminded me of something Soke said.

During a class where he was teaching 破術九法 Hajutsu Kyūhō and the forms of 蹴返 keri kaeshi, he said,

And in that instant you’re surrounding and controlling the opponent. These four kicks become just one ring. Don’t think of it as four kicks, think of it as a trap that you’re setting in the process. You’re not just kicking it out with the opponent. Otherwise it ends up being just like a carpenter. And you lose the art of it. We’re studying life.

I don’t know why the heavy walls of the square reminded me of this idea of surrounding an opponent with kicks. But during that class Soke instructed us,

I’m not teaching punching or kicking. It’s not that simple. I’m teaching the ability to live within the kukan. To survive within the kukan.

During my walk around this area, I came across a group of volunteers cleaning some stone monuments. I asked them what the monuments were for. They told me the one on the right was a 御製 Gyosei, or Imperial Poem written by Naruhito on his ascension to the throne. He wrote,

「学舎に　ひびかふ子らの　弾む声　さやけくあれと　ひたすら望む」When I hear the cheerful voices of children Resounding through their classrooms I hope from the bottom of my heart They have a bright and beautiful future ~ Emperor Naruhito

 Apparently every year the Imperial family composes poems in a ceremony they call 歌会始 utakai hajime. They have a reading broadcast on NHK to share with the public in Japan. Next to his monument there is also one for Naruhito’s Father, Akihito, written in 1991,

「いにしへ の人も守り 来し日の 本の森の栄え を共に願はむ」With the people I pray that the forests of our forefathers will be protected and may prosper in the Land of the Rising Sun. ~ Emperor Akihito

These are the “official” translations, and while they don’t match literally, they catch the spirit of the poetry. It was nice to see volunteers caring for these monuments. In what other country would poetry be displayed and looked after for so many decades? I am often amazed at the random depth of culture I discover just stumbling around Tokyo.