Funny thing happened on the way home from school...

1/4/2016

it was back in 1963, walking home from school at age 11 as a 6th-grader in Elementary school. Suddenly surrounded by 8 older High School kids. It was a classic case of bullying, frightening at the time, but directly led me to a lifelong interest in Aikido, and eventually to move to Japan.

And here in Manga form, is the rest of the story...

In English
http://www.williamreed.jp/profile/manga-story/

In Japanese
http://www.williamreed.jp/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/William-Reed-J-Manga.pdf

Now over half a century later, as a 7th-degree black belt in Aikido living in Japan, if I could meet those bullies once again…I'd like to shake their hands for putting me on the path to Aikido and Japan!

1 Comment

Clev Seccionalmerida link

6/20/2023 04:29:49 pm

This was great too read

A poem is born, or reborn?

A piece of calligraphy comes to life. Short version.

May 1987?
My teacher Morioka Koshu paints a Tehon for our monthly Shodo magazine in the Sogeikai in the 1980s, and of course I have kept them all as a treasure.

Feb 2017
30 years later I meet Rogier Uitenboogaart in the mountains of Kochi at Yusuhara, where he himself has been making Japanese Washi paper by hand for 30 years!

April 2017
Almost exactly 30 years after I first saw the Tehon shown here, my friend Iwamoto-san at iWeave kindly presents me with the work I painted in February, wonderfully mounted on a scroll, which now hangs in my office.

Here is my translation of the the Chinese poem:

Laughing in the Spring breeze
The dancer swirls in veils of silk.
This is the time to drink up!
How can you leave now,
When we have hardly begun?

I am not sure who wrote the original Chinese poem, but I have an idea that it was 白居易 Bai_Juyi, a Tang Dynasty poet from about 1200 years ago.

A poem is born, and reborn across time and many communication platforms.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai_Juyi

Author

William Reed is a full time professor at iCLA (International College of Liberal Arts) Yamanashi Gakuin University in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. He is a 7th-dan in Aikido, and a Shihan in both Shodo and Nanba Jutsu. He teaches these arts at iCLA, in addition to a course on Spiritual Dimensions and Traditions in the Japanese Martial Arts. Detailed Profile on the About Page.