And the end of our exploring will be.....?

Shugoro Nakazato sensei - teaching senior students at the his Shorinkan dojo - Aja, Okinawa

I took this photo, along with a few others, when I visited Nakazato sensei at his Shorinkan dojo back in 2005. Training in the morning class were four of Nakazato sensei's senior students, the most junior of them ranked 7th dan.  I was informed that this class took place most mornings and I have to say, at the time, I was impressed by the seriousness of the training as well as the informality of the atmosphere in which it was taking place. Nothing spectacular went on, it was all kihon, kata, and a little kobudo; watching the student's practise, the thought occurred to me..."At their level, what are they getting from such training?"

As I walked back to my lodgings in Tomari an hour or so later, that famous quote from the writer T.S. Eliot came to mind...you know the one: "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of our exploring will be, to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time." I've come to appreciate these words in relation to my karate a hundred times, and more, over the years; and I still remember smiling to myself that day, as the penny dropped..."Ah, so that's it!"

I'll end this post with a quote from another, long-dead writer, Rudyard Kipling, who, way back in 1909 wrote; "Funny how the new things, are the old things."