My principal let me leave a day early for Spring Break so that I could avoid all of the travel craziness of the holiday so I flew to Chicago the night before my flight to Japan. After missing our flight because of other plane delays in Norfolk last year, I decided that from now on, we needed to fly up the night before, stay in a hotel and then we would be there to catch the flight to Okinawa.

I checked in the the Shereton Gateway Suites O'Hare which was only 3 miles from the airport and a very nice hotel with reasonable rates. I had a huge room to myself and went across the street to a restaurant called Harry Carry's for a quick bite . After returning to the hotel, I had a quick drink in the hotel bar, watched "The Office" and went to bed.

I woke up about six in the morning, packed and left for the airport on the shuttle. At baggage check-in, I upgraded to Economy Plus for only $75 dollars and made my way to the terminal. I ended up getting bumped to an aisle seat and had a quick lunch before boarding the plane. I sat next to a young Marine who was actually stationed at Futenma in Okinawa and we talked about the island a bit.

We sat down in his tatami area in the living room and caught up with each other. After reading my speech for Hanshi Gibu's 10th dan party, he presented me with a new Butokukan Kyokai shirt like Tamaki Sensei wore at the airport. He had me practice my speech again(it was in Japanese only) and then informed me that I was going to be formally introduced at the ceremony and presented with a very expensive Okinawan Bingata piece.

After Hiroko and the kids went to sleep, we headed down to the dojo and spent about 2 hours doing bunkai and talking about teaching techniques. We came back up and continued to laugh and talk until about 4 am. He went to bed and I still was wide awake and could not sleep.

Izumi Sensei returned and we enjoyed Hiroko San's wonderful lunch of somen and Daikon radish. Izumi Sensei had to go to work for a little while and Hiroko san and talked for a long time about our families. She told me about how her mother was orphaned during the battle of Okinawa after her father(Hiroko's grandfather), a fisherman, accidently collided his boat to a leftover water mine and was killed. She was forced to raise her family and went to work reselling scrap metal that she would get from the military to other Okinawan people. Through the strength of the Okinawan spirit, she made enough money to open a live house/GI bar on Park Avenue and then moved her family on the second floor.

Hiroko san told me that one day, a GI entered the bar during the day who had just returned from Vietnam. He looked very distraught, had long hair, a beard and seemed if he was emotionally lost. He told her that he did have any money and needed some food. Hiroko san's mother brought him in, let him use their bathroom to take a bath, and then fed him. He thanked her for her kindness, left and they never saw him again.

Years later, a businessman in a suit came into the live house and asked for Hiroko-san's mother. When she came out, he asked her "Do you remember me?" She replied no and when he told her who that he was the man she had helped, Hiroko's mother was very surprised. The man presented Hiroko san's mother with an envelope full of money and said that she had saved his life. He was now a very successful man and wanted to give her something for helping a stranger. When she tried to refuse and said that it was Okinawan custom to be kind to everyone, he thanked her, left quickly and they never saw him again.

I was so moved by Hiroko san's stories and afterwards, she took me to meet her mother and father who now live about Izumi Sensei and Hiroko san's photo studio/hair salon that used to be the Live House.

Izumi Sensei returned and we left for the ANA Ginowan hotel to help set up for Hanshi Gibu's 10th dan celebration. We stopped by his brother's photo developing shop in Futenma to pick up risers for the formal picture at the party.

After getting everything set up, Hanshi Gibu arrived looking very formal and with his trademark smile. It was great to see him again and he told me to come have cheesecake and coffee with him so that we could catch up. We discussed family, karate and other things in the hotel kisaten and he told me how much he like the Murasaki tonfa that I had given him.

His family began to arrive and I found a changing room so that I could put on my suit and look more presentable. There was a wedding reception on the same floor and I got to see the bride come out in her traditional gown and "helmet." the Butokukan members started to arrive and I got to meet most of them for the first time. Their were very friendly but also very "stand-offish" as I was a new member of their private association and didn't know much about me at all. The first was Naka Sensei who was a feared kumite champion since his early days as Hanshi Gibu's student in the 70's. Hanshi Gibu told me that his demonstration specialty was breaking baseball bats-in the middle. Oshiro Sensei taught a small dojo in Naha and was again, cordial but eyed me suspiciously. I knew that I would have to earn all of the kyokai's respect and that would understandably take time. There was only one other dojo outside of Okinawa and that was in Argentina. The Butokukan was a very closed association and the members were very protective of it and their great teacher.

I was asked to present my speech in Japanese to the group and to Hanshi Gibu. My Japanese teacher had helped me translate it to proper Japanese in the most polite form. Although I had written it, there was a way that speeches are given and some things needed to be worded VERY specifically. She also drilled me relentlessly on certain inflections and patterns in the sentences and I will always be very grateful for her dedication to my study of Japanese.

He then thanked his wife also for making him the man he was today. Hanshi Gibu became very emotional when he spoke of his deep love for his wife and how "she accepted and loved him when he was young and had nothing." He said that he is where he is today because of her. He then thanked his son and daughter for their support in his life.

We all presented Hanshi Gibu with gifts following the speech and then Sunagawa Sumino Sensei narrated a great Powerpoint show about Hanshi Gibu's life.

Shimabukuro Daigo Sensei-Kusanku Dai

Matsuda Sensei-Chinto and yakusoku kumite

Naka Hidemitsu Sensei-Shushi no kun

Hiroshi Gibu and Ryoko Gibu-Kumite waza

Makoto Gibu, Hiroshi Gibu and Ryoko Gibu-Naihanchi Shodan

It was during the dancing when I noticed something interesting. During one of the upbeat songs, the Okinawans almost worked themselves into a "organized slamdance." It was amazing to see them so wound up into their fun and dancing that they would accidently slam into each other without issue. In the States, fists would fly, people would shove and shout. Here, they would bump into each other, turn around and laugh, smile and exchange looks that could only mean"Isn't this so much fun!" It was certainly a lesson in life and how we should all act towards each other and to live in the moment.

I woke up at 5:30 amd went to the roof to watch the sun come up. My stomach was going through the normal jet lag fun and Hiroko san made me soup for breakfast with mushrooms and vegetables to help with the dehydration.

I went with Izumi Sensei and Hiroko san to Camp Foster to help with the distribution of the base school's class pictures that they had taken. I helped with translating the people's names from Japanese to English and visa versa as they were logged differently. We went to the base food court and I got a Baskin &Robbins milk shake just to have something sweet in my stomach. Probably not the best idea but it sure tasted great!

We went back to the Izumi Sensei's photo studio and I looked through old karate photo albums while he took pictures of a family from Kadena Air Base. We had one of Hiroko San's wonderful bento lunches and then I went back to the house to try to nap before training at the hombu that evening. Of course that was impossible as the jets were doing flight exercises out of Kadena and over Izumi Sensei's house.

It was a wonderful dinner with an Okinawan soup served with a raw chicken egg and plenty of yaki tori. We talked about association responsibities, curriculum, testing guidelines and kobudo. Makoto Sensei kindly took me back to Izumi Sensei's house and I had no problem falling asleep.

Afterwards, we ran down to Shureido for the usual visit on any trip to Okinawa. Izumi Sensei drove us by the Goju-Ryu Jundokan, which was closed, but still exciting to see such a historic dojo.

He asked me to demonstrate Naihanchi Shodan, Gojushiho, Sakugawa no kun and Nakaima no kama. It was very interested to see the kids reactions when I announced Gojushiho. Unlike in the States, Gojushiho is not tested on until Sandan level. Students see it occasionally in the dojo on Okinawa but not often.

The Okinawans, unlike most Westerners, realize that it is impossible to master so many kata up to shodan level and that quality is more important than quantity. In the West, too many people feel that that the more kata they know, the better they are or the better they are than others. A famous Japanese Sensei once said "Knowing countless kata does not make someone a better karateka no more than having 5 cars in your garage makes you a better driver."

I presented Izumi Sensei at the end of class with formal gifts from our dojo and a pair of purpleheart tonfa from Murasaki Kobudo.

However, this did not disuade me from being cliche-ish and having to take a picture doing kobudo on the island's shores!!

Come on, every karateka still has to do the tourist karate checklist.(i.e.: go to Shuri Castle and take picture in your gi or in a karate kamae, spend all of your money in Shureido, see the Budokan, swim in the ocean, see the aquarium, drink Orion beer---oh and take a self-indulgent picture in your gi at a "historically important karate/kobudo site".

Hey, I don't care, it was fun and I won't forget seeing the place that I had read so much about.

We all chatted until about 1:00 a.m. and then called it a night. Miyazato San asked Izumi Sensei if he could take me out for a day of sightseeing tomorrow and he agreed as he would be very busy with appointments.

Miyazato-san picked me up at 1:00 and we left for Yomitan. Our first stop was the Yachimon no Sato or Yomitan Pottery Village. It reminded me a lot of Colonial Williamsburg in how glass is traditionally blown however, the Yomitan glassware has look all of it's own and it resembles the ocean in many ways.

Hanshi Gibu than checked all of my kata and went over corrections involving the eyes and hand positions. Yagi Sensei showed up after we were finished and I had an opportunity to meet him and chat for a few minutes before class began. Yagi Sensei is one of a kind! A year older than Hanshi Gibu, he has been a loyal student of the Butokukan from the opening of the dojo in the 70's. He is a 7th dan and is very "old school" in his karate. I had to keep my jaw from falling to the ground when I watched him from a standing position, drop to floor and land in the full splits and then rest his chest on the floor. He began to rabbit hop around the perimeter of the dojo floor and I was amazed at his speed and endurance.

We both ended up at the kigu undo area with me on the makiwara and he on the double sand bag. The next thing I saw was truely awe-inspiring. First, I must explain that the double sand bag in Hanshi's dojo has an upper bag for striking and a lower bag for ashi tanren. The "sand" that is in these bags settles and becomes like concrete. Most people cannot kick them very hard or very long when first attempting it. As I took a break from the makiwara, I glanced over to Yagi Sensei to watch his routine of ude and ashi tanren. I couldn't believe my eyes when I watched him kick the lower bag until he PARTED the hard sand and then when there was nothing left, he would move to the left or right and kick the sand back to the middle. I knew that one kick from this gentleman meant certain harm and considering how flexible and agile he was, he would be able to put that kick wherever he chose.

Ude and ashi tanren are neglected a great deal in many dojos in the US and provide numbers of benefits but most importantly it "psychologically hardens" the mind, not just the striking surfaces of the body. For example, when people are sparring, there is two types of hesitancy that occurs. One is where the person is either reluctant of hitting their partner or fearful of being hit themselves. The other is where students hestitate or stop techniques mid-execution because there is a fear of injury due to collision with the partner's attacking limb, knee, elbow, etc. Through intellegent and consistant tanren, the hands, feet, and other surfaces do not feel pain and therefore the student executes techniques without hesitation. If a person blocks, then the partner kicks or punches through the block with no fear of injury by the blocking arm or leg. It also teaches us to deal with pain and not let it alter our purpose in training or defense.

Izumi Sensei and Hiroko left to go vote in one of the local elections while I packed and brought my bags down to the front hall. Everyone had given me so many nice gifts that my bags felt WAY over the limit that United allows and I was sure that I would be paying a hefty charge. After checking in at the airport, there was no problem with bags and even though they were overweight, the airline didn't give me a problem.

We went to the top floor of the airport to have lunch and Toshinari-san played with my IPOD checking out Reggae songs. It was time for me to go and everyone saw me off and laughed at my usual pat down by security when my hips set off the alarm.

This was an incredible trip and I feel so fortunate everytime that I put on my dogi and look at the Butokukan patch.

In the current state of some Okinawan karate organizations that are plagued with personality-driven problems and money issues, I am so proud of where my feet are planted and honored to call such an incredible man my teacher.