The Senior Sensei's Taikai By
Kathy Nekomoto Once upon a time, the Senior Sensei's
were known affectionately as the "over the hill gang,” a name
they referred to themselves. Every
Sunday when they met at godogeiko,
they devoted their time to teaching the students which left them with
no time to practice among themselves. They
would meet annually on a selected Sunday in December, very early and
before the others came to godogeiko to
compete with each other. This
was "their time." As
the years went by, the students recognized the importance of this event
and began honoring them by dedicating a day of practice in December
to them. The total number of years their ages
combined equals 488 years. They
have had many experiences in their lifetime and they "pass" on
these lessons to us by showing us by being the example. They
share information whenever asked and guide us back to basics when we
begin to go astray. They have
a wealth of information that we can learn from. All sensei's share
a commitment to teach. The taikai consisted of 6 teams: Yoshinaga Sensei: Y.
Furutani, K. Yamada, J. Shishido, M. Furutani, H. Smalls Muramoto Sensei: Yamamoto Sensei: K.
Maeda, T. Buntin, S. Harris, A. Furutani, K. Chun Okaji Sensei: D.
Okaji, W. Fujimoto, T. Lee, J. Chun, H. Kobata Konishi Sensei: T.
Ueno, D. Teshima, M. Nishino,
L. Chun, S. Coulter Akagi Sensei: N.
Akagi, J. Tokeshi, M. Kurosawa, T. Furutani, G.Gates The winners of the taikai were Yoshinaga Sensei's team first
place, Okaji Sensei's team second place and Muramoto Sensei's team
was third place. The senseis were given gifts contributed by Dr. Jinichi Tokeshi. President Terushi Ueno made closing remarks. As the years pass by, the "youth" of
the senior sensei's emerge. These
are the members of the next generation of senior sensei's and
they like others before them continue the tradition of teaching bushido and the fundamentals of kendo. |