Seattle Branch, U.S.A. / March 2011 - Contributor: Jesse Fukumoto, 1st Kyu

Japanese Culture Camp at Seattle High Schools

On March 19th in Seattle, Washington the Seattle branch demonstrated Shorinji Kempo and taught key principles of the martial art to students at a Japanese culture camp. The camp, called Japanese Language Culture Camp, is an annual event where students who are taking Japanese language classes in local high schools attend. This year almost 100 students from over 13 high schools in the greater Seattle area attended. The purpose of the camp is to immerse the students in Japanese culture. Practitioners of traditional Japanese arts attended, such as Kendo, calligraphy, and Taiko drumming.

Onaka Sensei, 6th degree black belt and branch master of the Seattle branch, began the Chinkon of praying the disaster which happened over a week ago in Japan and by referring to the six characteristics of Shorinji Kempo. The overview was followed with a demonstration of Goho techniques by Keiji Fukumoto, 3rd degree black belt, and Jesse Fukumoto, 1st degree brown belt. After Onaka Sensei called out each technique the pair demonstrated it in front of the students who were becoming more engrossed in the martial art that most of them had not heard of before. This was a momentous occasion as it was the first father son enbu from the Seattle Dojo.

After the embu Onaka Sensei slowly described fundamental Goho techniques such as uchi-uke-tsuki and asked the students to partner up with Seattle Kenshi to practice the technique; Kumite Shutai. The students timidly removed themselves from their spots on the floor and began to practice. One of the rules of the camp is no English allowed. This proved to be quite a challenge for some of our non Japanese speaking Kenshi. Within no time the students were engaged and enjoying the simple techniques. The quick intro to Goho was followed by another short demonstration by Keiji and Jesse Fukumoto in which they did Juho techniques. After the Juho demonstration the students were asked to do simple Juho techniques such as kote-nuki and yori-nuki. While these techniques were simple to well practice Kenshi, watching the students fumble with the techniques was a glimpse into the past and a reminder that we all started in humble beginnings.

Before the 80 minute class was over Onaka Sensei, and Junichi Tsuneoka, 3rd degree black belt and sub-branch Master of the Seattle University branch, preformed an embu. While the embu that the Fukumoto Kenshi preformed must have appeared advanced to the student audience, the embu preformed by Jun and Onaka Sensei was truly awesome to the students.

Onaka Sensei ended the class with a short lecture on the word "Okagesama". Okagesama means to be thankful, to be grateful for all of the things around you: your parents, your friends, the nature around you, your local community etc. It is especially important to remember the term "Okagesama" and to not take things for granted in times like this where so many people are suffering in Japan from the Tsunami. It is Onaka-sensei's passion to make the word "Okagesama" more popular than "Tsunami" when referring to Japan.

The demonstration was successful in every aspect. The students who entered the room with no idea of what Shorinji Kempo was or what the term "Okagesama" meant left the room with new insight into life. For the students who truly understood and felt the desire to embrace the idea of "Okagesama" perhaps they will pass it onto people around them and create a chain like effect. For me I gained the opportunity to practice and grow as a person with my father through the enbu. Moments of joy and satisfaction like these are especially important in times when people are suffering and provide evidence that happiness and life as a whole may continue in times like these.

Kesshu,

Jesse Fukumoto
Seattle Branch

 

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