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At O’Sensei’s invitation, Suenaka remained at the Hombu that day. Nobuyoshi Tamura, at the time one of O’Sensei’s uchi deshi (live-in disciples) and whom Suenaka had briefly met with O’Sensei in Hawaii, was kind enough to give him a tour of the Hombu and to make arrangements for Suenaka to stay the night, seeing to it he had a room and could find his way. After managing to squeeze a bit of practice into what was already a very full day, Suenaka was preparing to retire when O’Sensei happened by and extended an invitation to join him at breakfast the next morning. Suenaka went to bed a happy man.

Suenaka Sensei with O’Sensei at Iwama, home of the Aiki Jinja (shrine); April, 1964.

What was originally intended to be a brief afternoon visit turned into a three-day stay. Suenaka rose the next morning, making sure he was at table by seven o’clock sharp for breakfast with the Founder. “I was overwhelmed by the honor,” Suenaka recalls. “I don’t remember much about it other than that. The fact that my Japanese wasn’t all that great kept me from really carrying on a conversation, but I did ask him many questions. It was just a very honorable event to be there.”