Okinawa is a little island near Japan, the bigger island, in
a string of islands in the East China Sea.
Okinawa has a long history, as does much of the area, and one aspect of
that is its martial arts. Way back when,
about 1477 give or take a few years, Okinawa was a kingdom called Ryukyu that
had been made up of 3 smaller kingdoms when they unified about 50 years earlier. After 50 years of doing well a new king came
into power and he decided to ban the practice of martial arts and weapons
because he had a little bit of anxiety about people rising up and over throwing
him.
Then some Japanese samurai landed in Okinawa and took over
the island and kept the ban going because, well, they took it without asking! Samurai had mad skills with a sword and since
the Okinawans had their weapons taken away, they got really creative and turned
everyday things into ways to defend themselves.
By combining their martial arts history, secretive trainings and
creative introduction of simple weapons, what became known as Karate (open
hand) is something that is now practiced all over the world.
What does this have to do with my 7 year old? It goes something like this…
Max has been taking karate since he was about 4 years old
because he needed to work on being more assertive and self-confident. Well it worked and now he is a fearless
little karate master who loves it and seems to pick it up so easily. Because he is so into it, I drive him to a
dojo every Saturday where for the next 3 hours he practices his martial
art. This past Saturday we did what we
do every week but this time when I went to pick him up he was going about a
million miles a second and it was all about Okinawa.
“In Okinawa…..” “Did
you know that Okinawa karate….” “When I’m
in Okinawa…”
“WHOA! When you are
IN Okinawa?”
“Yea, I am going to Okinawa!”
“Oh really?” (Isn’t that just such a mom thing to say!) Over the drive home Max explained to me all
about the special invitation that his dojo got from a grandmaster in Okinawa
and how he was going to go to Okinawa and study karate everyday for a
week. “And it only costs a few thousand
dollars!!” “Wow! Great!” was all I could say.
It is now Friday and we have implemented a fundraising plan
to see if, over the next year, we can actually set aside enough money to get at
least two people to Okinawa so that Max can do Karate everyday for a week. Am I crazy?
I don’t think so. Max understands
how this works, we aim ourselves down the path to Okinawa and we move forward
as if it WILL happen. At some point
along this journey, there may be a sign that says we have to abandon our
current path to follow another and Okinawa will move out of our sites. Till that time, we are on the road to Okinawa
and the filing cabinet outside of my cubicle will be a mini snack shop (with
very reasonable prices) till further notice.
Max will probably continue to sell his toys to the neighbor children and
practice his Japanese. “Arigotu Mom.” Whether we ever actually get to Okinawa,
there are great lessons to be learned from working toward the possibility.
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