HIS Karate-Do

Well, my late dad’s birthday is right around the corner.  If he were alive, he’d be 102 this year.  That got me to thinking (as usual) about life and about karate, haha. Dad was active and enjoyed a good life during his retirement years.  He had retired at 62 years old and everything went smoothly until he suffered a stroke when he was 74.  He recovered and lived, albeit at a slower pace until the ripe old age of 88.  I mention this because I recall the physical therapists and nurses who guided him through therapy would sometimes comment to me about how muscular he was for his age, especially his legs.  I guess medical professionals notice things like that.  When asked, he replied that he had spent 36 years as a milk deliveryman, carrying bottles and crates filled with milk or juice.  It’s interesting to me that so much of the muscle and strength he had built over his younger years were still visible in his 74-year-old body a dozen years after he had retired. When I was young, Dad had often advised me to find a career using my brain and not my body if I possible.  He [...]

Since HISKF started in 2001, I guess this must be the twenty-third time that I’m sending out New Year salutations to our group. Man, that’s a lot of celebratory notes eh? This time, I wanted to take an excerpt from one of my old New Year notes from back in 2011 (Hey, if the Star Advertiser can recycle old photos from their archives every day, why can’t I “regift” an old note? haha). Aside from wishes for a good new year, it also contained a short origin story about how your senseis ended up training in Karate-Do. Excerpt from New Year’s Note Dec 2011… Back in 1963, when I was just twelve years old, my dad had decided that I should learn the art of Aikido (not well-known then). I asked dad if I could invite a friend. After he said yes, I quickly called up my best friend from school and told him how neat it would be, to start training and learning a martial art together. In the few days before we joined, we sat in the living room of his home and weaved all kinds of fanciful scenarios of how our new-found skills would wow the girls [...]

Well once again, it’s that season for reflection, or my usual Deep Thoughts, haha. Especially at this time of year, I feel extra blessed that Sensei Peter, Wayne, and I can continue to share karate with you all at HISKF. It’s been over 23 years since I started this club and am very aware that we won’t be able to do this forever. Today, your senseis would all be considered “elderly men” in our seventies. Now, it’s not purely about one’s chronological age and being “young at heart” (like us, haha) is a real phenomenon. If one’s age were the only life factor, I’d have some trepidations since the average male life expectancy in Hawaii is (wait for it)…77.6 years! And Hawaii’s average lifespan is ranked among the highest in the U.S. A pretty sobering statistic eh? Hey, no one lives forever, but it’s not just about living for a long time, but rather, it’s living in good health that makes it worthwhile. I’ve seen some estimates that the average “healthspan” (how long one can remain healthy) in the U.S. is a mere 63 years…a milestone that your senseis passed a decade ago. Just what is good health as applied [...]