I tried to get to the Rochester seminars whenever I could after that. When the Kanazawa No Bo DVD was launched Kanazawa Sensei was asked to include a Bo-Jutsu class as part of the seminars. He agreed, and asked me to teach those classes for him, with him observing and going around the class correcting students. We did this during several seminars.
On one occasion Kanazawa Sensei and Nobuaki Sensei were going to Las Vegas after the seminar in Rochester. My friend Paul Walker, who I had met at the Honbu Dojo on my first trip to Japan and was now living in the USA, had helped organise the Las Vegas seminar, and he invited me to come along for the weekend as their guest.
My wife Nicola and I travelled together with Kanazawa Sensei and Nobuaki Sensei to Las Vegas. We flew first from Boston to Detroit, and then on to Las Vegas. On the first leg of the journey Kanazawa Sensei was flying first class, which he had to do because of his back pain. Before he hurt his back he used to fly economy. Nicola and I had economy tickets, but because of our frequent-flyer status in the USA we received complimentary upgrades to first class. Poor Nobuaki Sensei was left on his own in economy!
Nicola felt sorry for Nobuaki Sensei, so when the cabin crew came round first class with lots of snacks, Nicola grabbed a handful of packs and walked right to the back of the plane to give them to him. And she didn’t stop at that. When we got to Detroit, she and I again received complimentary upgrades from the airline. Nicola went up to the ticket desk and told the lady that Kanazawa Sensei was a karate VIP, and that Nobuaki Sensei was a world champion. She asked the lady if she had heard of Bruce Lee, to which the response was ‘Bruce Lee? Of course! My husband loves Bruce Lee!’ Nicola calmly told her that our travelling companions were better than Bruce Lee, and ‘Surely you must have another seat available in first class?’ A little charm goes a long way, and within seconds Nicola was handing Nobuaki Sensei a replacement boarding card with a first-class seat beside his father, much to his delight.
Kanazawa Sensei was badly injured in a skiing accident in 2009 and suffers from back, hip and knee pain as a result. People don’t realise it because he never made a big deal about it, and continued to travel and teach as much as possible. But on that flight to Las Vegas I saw him doubled over with pain, and Nobuaki Sensei looked very worried about his father.
Nicola came to the rescue again. She had a couple of strong painkillers and a heat patch that we gave to Kanazawa Sensei, and it offered him enough relief to be able to get some sleep on the flight. Of course, when we got to Las Vegas he never complained about being in pain, and patiently sat signing autographs or stood for photos for anyone that wanted one, and taught every class with the energy and vigour of a man in the prime of his health. He truly is a great man.
The USA, and particularly Rochester, had become a second home, and I made a lot of friends during seminars there, with people from all over SKIF-USA and Canada. I loved that the senior instructors there were all as interested in the Bo-Jutsu and T’ai Chi teachings of Kanazawa Sensei as they were his karate teachings. I was very honoured to be involved in helping them with that, and delighted to take part in many T’ai Chi classes with Kanazawa Sensei, and to do my fourth and fifth T’ai Chi grading examinations with him there.
Sensei’s Jim, Mike and Steve even organised to bring me to Rochester to teach a couple of seminars. It worked well because I could combine it with a business trip to my office, which kept the costs down. I visited New Hampshire and also Montreal several times in this way. Unfortunately my work in the USA dried up and the office closed, which in turn curtailed my travelling to the seminars in the USA – at least for a while.
36. 2008 – JAPAN
In 2008 we proved that dreams can come true. It started with a phone call. It was May, and I had just received an email telling me that the SKIF thirtieth anniversary would be celebrated in Japan that October. There was to be a seminar, a function and grading examinations. So I rang Garry. I had been to Japan several times already, but Garry had never been, and it was his dream to make it there one day.
‘Here’s one for you.’ I didn’t even say hello when Garry answered the phone. He listened in stunned silence as I proposed that we take a little trip later in the year.
‘Not a chance!’ was his initial reaction. ‘Impossible! It will cost too much, and I won’t be able to take that amount of time off work.’ He didn’t believe that he (or we) could make it happen. But Garry knew that I didn’t believe in impossible. Not only was I determined that we get to go, but also that we would get to do a grading examination together in Japan.
Over the next couple of months we both worked to overcome the various obstacles, and by August we had succeeded in clearing the way. We had even persuaded Sensei Ray to come with us. I made the travel arrangements. I was very excited about this trip, partly because it would be Garry’s first trip to Japan, but also because I would get to share the trip with two karate-ka I thoroughly respected. The three of us were on the same wavelength: we loved karate training, and that would be our focus. We would go to all the classes we could, and we would make the most of this opportunity to experience Japanese culture first-hand.
Garry and I were granted permission from the organisation attempt the Godan (5th Dan) grading examination in Japan. This was a big deal for both of us. I had already done my Yondan (4th Dan) examination in Japan several years earlier, but it is always special to test in Japan. Garry was especially pleased. Just a few months earlier he thought that a trip to Japan was an impossible dream, but now it was actually going to happen.
The night before we left Sensei Ray and Garry came and stayed at my house because we had an early flight, and my house was close to the airport. There wasn’t a lot of sleeping done, because we stayed up late making plans for what we were going to do during the trip, and then we had to get up at five to go to the airport. But who needed sleep? Armed with tea bags and chocolate, we were off to Japan for serious training and a lot of laughs.
Even though Sensei Ray had been to Japan several times in the past, this trip was different. For his previous trips, there had always been a specific agenda, such as a World Championships. This was his first time going there just for training and to experience the country, and his first time without the responsibility of looking after a group.
I was able to organise funding for the accommodation, so we checked in early at the luxurious Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku and got a couple of hours rest before heading out to experience a bit of Tokyo; then it was off to the SKIF Honbu Dojo for our first training session.
Training at the Honbu Dojo is always special, but the first time is always extra special. Garry was like a child at Christmas when we got to the dojo. We were early. In fact, Murakami Sensei had just arrived and opened up the dojo, so we were able to look around and enjoy the peace before anyone else arrived. Every dojo has a special atmosphere, whether it is a humble school hall or a full-time dojo, but it is an exceptional experience to visit the Honbu Dojo of whatever association you belong to. It is the karate equivalent of making a pilgrimage. We certainly had a sense of that on that evening. Although I had done this several times already, we knew that we were privileged to be able to make such a trip together.
Murakami Sensei gave a great class. There were many other visitors there, as well as quite a few locals. People from the international SKIF community had started to gather in Tokyo for the anniversary celebrations, so it was natural that there was a large crowd at the dojo. Three of the senior foreigners were selected by Murakami Sensei to teach a short section of the class on a topic of their own choosing. It is an honour to be invited to teach at the Honbu Dojo. The chief instructor from Belgium, the chief instructor from Chile and Sensei Ray were selected, and each taught a different aspect of training for about ten minutes. It was most enjoyable.
After the class Murakami Sensei invited about twelve of us to go out for a meal with him, so we spent the next few hours in good company. Garry kept looking at me as if to say, ‘I can’t believe that we are rea
lly here’. We had permanent grins on our faces.
There were about 250 black belts from Japan and around the world at the weekend seminar. It was great, as always, to see so many members of our karate family. All of the Honbu Dojo instructors were there, assisting Kanazawa Sensei because of the large numbers of students, and also teaching or demonstrating different segments themselves.
On the last day we were doing some Jiyu-Ippon Kumite (semi-freestyle). One of the defences involves a jumping kick. Kanazawa Sensei was saying that people were not getting up high enough and not doing the kick properly. He was close to me and seemed to stop to watch, so I felt under pressure to execute the technique well. I launched myself into the air and extended my kick a fully as possible. Unfortunately I extended too much, and felt an excruciating pain in the back of my leg. I knew immediately that I had torn my hamstring. Kanazawa Sensei had turned away before I hit the ground, but I collapsed in severe pain. Murakami Sensei saw me drop to the floor, and immediately sent someone to go and get ice.
I had to sit out the rest of the training session, but that was the least of my worries. I was due to test for 5th Dan the following day, and I knew that this was a serious muscle tear. Sensei Ray, Garry and I were all very subdued as I hobbled back to the hotel. I followed the proper procedures for treating a torn muscle, but the following morning the whole back of my leg was black and blue from the internal bleeding, which confirmed the extent of the tear. Walking was painful. I didn’t know if I would be able to do any karate.
I was reluctant to tell Sensei Ray and Garry that I didn’t think I could do the examination, because Garry was due to test with me that morning. I knew if I withdrew from the examination that he would not want to do it without me. We had trained together for so long and had come this far together. So I said nothing, and went to the dojo with them: had I been alone I may not have gone.
There was a large crowd at the dojo as a lot of students were grading that day. The atmosphere was tense but exhilarating. Garry had given me a bandage and I strapped up my leg tightly. It felt a little better, or maybe adrenalin was starting to mask the pain. Or maybe I was just fooling myself. I went and spoke to Nobuaki Sensei, and asked him if he thought I would be able to make adjustments to the techniques in my kata. He looked surprised, and asked why: I showed him my leg and he winced. He suggested that maybe I could ask Kanazawa Sensei to make a special allowance for me. I thanked him for the suggestion, but something made me decide not to ask for special favours. This was the Honbu Dojo, with some of the most senior grades in the organisation present. If I wanted 5th Dan, I was going to earn it properly. I was in a lot of pain, but I knew that the pain was temporary. I also knew I would regret it later if I asked for special treatment. As always, I wanted to earn my grade or not get it at all. I recalled feeling that I had not properly earned my 3rd Dan.
I made my decision, and all the nerves and fear vanished immediately. I would not ask for a special allowance. I would not make adjustments to the kata. I would do the full examination and deal with the pain later. I walked over to Garry and said, ‘Let’s get this done.’ It was the most positive and determined I had felt since the previous afternoon.
Garry grinned at me. ‘We’ve come too far to stop now,’ he told me, and he was right.
It seemed that the next couple of hours were spent warming up and cooling down again. There were a lot of people grading for the lower Dan grades, so it was a long time before we were called out onto the floor. When we eventually went out to do our basics, I managed to ignore any pain and focused only on getting the karate right.
I had a fright during the first part of the examination, which was a combination of basic techniques. Kanazawa Sensei stopped us after a couple of repetitions and asked me to do one part of the combination again. I thought I must have been doing it wrong, and was desperately trying to figure out why, but it turned out that he wanted me to demonstrate it for the person beside me because he was the one not doing it correctly. Phew…
After the basics, we had another long wait before being called out again for kata. This involved another cycle of warming up and cooling down, which was not doing my leg any good. However, when we were called out again I completely forgot about my injury and just did the best kata that I could. Then we demonstrated the bunkai for the kata. Adrenalin is a powerful thing. I didn’t feel any pain while on the floor going through the grading itself. The lower grades all had kumite to do: Garry and I were also all set for kumite, but it was not required, and neither was the special demonstration we had prepared.
After the examination was over we all lined up for the results. Quite a few students in the lower grades were told to try again. Others were told that they would get the result later, as further deliberation was necessary. Only about 50 per cent of students were being told that they had been successful.
My name was called out, followed by ‘Pass’. Relief. Then Garry’s name was called out. Kanazawa Sensei said ‘Pass’, but then retracted that and said ‘Oh sorry, result later.’ We were stunned; we thought that he had done a good grading.
It was lunchtime by the time we had showered, changed and left the dojo in a very sombre mood. Garry was naturally disappointed, and Sensei Ray and I sympathised. It was strange that when we walked into the dojo that morning they were feeling bad for me, and on the way out we were feeling even worse for Garry. We were low for the whole afternoon. Garry didn’t really want to talk to anyone, but at the same time he felt guilty about not celebrating my success. But then again, none of us felt like celebrating. We dissected the whole examination over and over again.
We had to cheer up by evening as we were attending the formal function to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the organisation. On went our best clothes and best smiles, and off we headed to the function room. Shortly after our arrival, we got talking to Suzuki Sensei, one of the Honbu Dojo instructors, who congratulated me on passing my grading. I took the opportunity to ask if he knew what Garry had done wrong. He looked surprised and said that he thought Garry had passed. He went to check the paperwork, and came back a couple of minutes later to say that yes, Garry had passed: it had been a mistake. Now we could celebrate! Our mood immediately turned to delight. In fact, we left the function room and went to the main hotel bar for about an hour, where we drank several jugs of hot saké.
Over the past fourteen years, since we started training together at my new dojo, Garry and I had become ‘brothers in karate’. We had been through a lot together. As we chatted in that hotel bar in Tokyo, we reminisced about how far we had come and how much we had somehow managed to achieve over the years.
The following day, our last in Japan, we went to the dojo in the morning for a final training session. My leg was very sore, but I didn’t want to miss my last day at the Honbu Dojo. Tanaka Sensei taught the class. We expected that perhaps he would give us a tough time, being our first class after the grading, but he didn’t. Instead, he gave a wonderfully technical kata class, in which we were reminded just how much we still have to learn. After the class Tanaka Sensei and Nobuaki Sensei took us out to lunch as their treat, and then we had to go back to our hotel and pack for the long journey home.
37. 2008 – MAKING THE DVD
Once the contract for the Kanazawa No Bo DVD was finalised I set about organising how to get it made, and engaged the services of a professional movie production company. They told me that I would have to do a storyboard and a script before we even started (things about which I knew nothing) and we looked for suitable locations to do the filming. Eventually it was decided that the best thing to do was to build a fake dojo in a movie studio and do the filming there. I wanted cameras at multiple angles so that we could easily show the kata from different sides. There was an enormous amount of work and planning to be done before we even got near the cameras.
Kanazawa Sensei and Nobuaki Sensei came to Dublin for the filming, just one week after Sensei Ray, Garry and I had been in Japan with them. I collected them
at Dublin Airport and brought them to my home. I had a little surprise in store, because I had had a dojo built at my house, which had been completed a few days before they arrived. I was hoping that Kanazawa Sensei would teach the first class in my new dojo. I also had my ‘crew’ lined up: Sensei Ray, Garry, and my students, Kevin Flanagan, Alan Cleary and Dara Clear, all of whom were going to help on the DVD.
When we arrived at my house I welcomed Kanazawa Sensei and Nobuaki Sensei and showed them around, leaving the dojo for the end of the ‘tour’. When they eventually saw it, they were very surprised and impressed, and Kanazawa Sensei readily agreed to teach a class there that evening for me.
There were ten of us in the class: all those who were going to help with the DVD, plus another of my black-belt students, and my five-year-old son, Conall! It was Conall’s first time putting on a karate suit, and he was – for once – very shy and refused to do very much, but I didn’t care. I was delighted that his first-ever karate class was with Kanazawa Sensei, and that it took place at our home dojo. In fact, Kanazawa Sensei announced at the beginning of the class that the first class at a dojo was always a special occasion. He said that he would teach part of the class, Nobuaki Sensei would teach part of the class, and that I was to also teach part of the class. It was an incredible memory for us all. After Kanazawa Sensei finished teaching his segment and Nobuaki Sensei took over, Kanazawa Sensei lined up with the rest of us and simply trained alongside us! The spirit and inspiration he exuded was like nothing I had ever experienced before, and we all kept looking at each other in disbelief. For my part, it was a dream come true – and then some.
A Karate Story Page 17