Читать книгу Complete Aikido. Aikido Kyohan: The Definitive Guide to the Way of Harmony онлайн

63 страница из 78

Less frequent but no less educational were Suenaka’s occasional visits to Masutatsu Oyama’s Kyokushin-kai karate hombu, his first introduction to that rather brutal and unforgiving martial art form. All three of his brothers had studied Kyokushin-kai in Hawaii under Edward “Bobby” Lowe, one of Mas Oyama’s chief pupils, but Suenaka himself had been too busy with his other martial studies to join them. Fit and experienced as he was, Suenaka was forced to limit his study to a maximum of two hours a week, lest he risk injuries that would interfere with his judo and aikido studies. Still, he relished his time there, and the hard lessons learned.

Despite his outside studies, Suenaka’s heart remained true to aikido, and the more time he spent with O’Sensei, the more their relationship grew. The Founder seemed to have a distinct fondness for “Suenaka-kun” (kun is an affectionate term; roughly, “Young Suenaka”), perhaps because of their unique first meetings. Regardless of the reasons, Suenaka found himself spending a lot of time with O’Sensei. He often served as his kaban mochi (personal valet) when O’Sensei traveled; carrying his bags, holding doors open, or assisting the vigorous but nevertheless aged Founder up and down stairs. Often, O’Sensei personally requested that Suenaka accompany him. Other times, Suenaka was chosen by Tendokan founder Kenji Shimizu, a favorite uchi deshi of O’Sensei. Suenaka was also lucky enough to be invited to join O’Sensei from time to time as the Founder visited area temples to meditate, or traveled to the Aiki Jinja (aikido shrine) at his country home in Iwama, for practice and meditation. (Morihiro Saito Sensei, at the time in his early 30s, was the assigned caretaker of the jinja, a duty he maintains today.) Though an enviable honor, traveling with O’Sensei was pretty much a formal affair, as Suenaka recalls: