2024-07-03

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Several years ago, when I’d just moved to the Phoenix valley and was training at a local dojo, I was handed a new white belt - an older gentleman - and asked to show him the ropes. But something was odd. While he was wearing a white belt, he wasn’t moving like a white belt. It was less than five mintues before I stopped and asked him where he’d trained before. It turns out he was a black belt in Wado-ryu karate, but he hadn’t trained for the last 30 years. Okay, cool. He was a bit surprised I’d heard of Wado-ryu, so I explained that I didn’t know much … just that Wado-ryu was founded by one of Gichin Funakoshi’s students named Hironori Otsuka. He smiled and said, “Let me show you something.” Then he retrieved his phone from his gym bag, pulled up a picture of his shodan certificate, and zoomed in to show me that it was signed by Hironori Otsuka, himself! How cool is that!

I mention this because that same gentleman showed up to my dojo this week and started training with me. In the few years since I met him he’s progressed to brown belt in Shotokan. Whatever his reasons for joining me, I’m really happy to have him.