Monterey Branch, U.S.A / May 2012 - Contributor: Branch Master Kazuki Arita

On May 11th (Fri), 2012, ten kenshi of Monterey Branch joined in a Shorinji Kempo demonstration for "Language Day" at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, U.S.A. The participants were Mr. Fumio Nishimura, Mr. Merced Rodriguez, Mr. Cleto Fernandez, Mr. Teeger Blasheck, Mr. Russell Canty, Ms. Azalea Canty, Ms. Daisy Canty, Mr. Armed Osman, Ms. Raghad Osman, and Kazuki Arita.



















DLI is the world's largest language school managed by the U.S. Federal Government (the Department of Defense). It is located in Monterey along the central coast of California. There are more than 3500 military and U.S. Federal Government officials who study in the 26 different foreign language and dialects courses. (http://www.dliflc.edu/index.html.) I (Kazuki Arita) teach the Japanese language at DLI. I used to teach Shorinji Kempo at the gym of DLI in 2005 before the branch was moved into Monterey town in 2006.

"Language Day" is an open house to general public in order to introduce the language school and many languages and cultures. The Shorinji Kempo demonstration collaborated with Kendo demonstration was held in order to introduce Japanese Martial Arts as Japanese culture on behalf of the Japanese Branch having 70 years' history at DLI since 1942.






First, I briefly explained the philosophy of Japanese martial arts and Shorinji Kempo while emphasizing that the purpose is not for fighting or making money, but for education and better society. Then, we showed Chinkon. After that, we demonstrated Kihon from Kaisoku-Chudan, and Goho and Juho techniques in pairs.















I was very happy to see that 5 children participated in the demonstration. When I demonstrated the Language Day demonstration for the first time in 2005, I was the only person who did Embu. The number of kenshi who demonstrated has increased year after year. This year, the 10 kenshi including 5 children successfully demonstrated on the stage in front of more than 300 audiences. The children told that they felt nervous on the stage, but they enjoyed it very much. The demonstration was a great experience for them as well as a good opportunity to have strong mind. They recognized that they felt less nervous and could show techniques in the same way as they usually practice in the dojo if they train to have strong mind.









I really appreciate the participants' precious time, effort, and great kindness to join in the demonstration. We plan to continue demonstrating Shorinji Kempo at DLI in order to help spread the name and philosophy of Shorinji Kempo and the Founder Doshin So in the U.S.

 

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