嚆矢 Koushi

Yeah, I have given too much thought to this...

Imagine for a second, Ancient China. As a noble General astride your warhorse you look on and see your troops standing around you, battle-ready in anxious silence. The wind silently dashes across the plain and the lack of sound makes a tomb seem deafening. Distant shadowy figures pass in and out of sight as your foe looms in the distance. The planned time arrives. You draw your faithful sword and wave your armored hand. In response, a lone archer steps forward grim with destiny, and stretching the sinews of his bow back readies a single arrow. He lets it go and as it pierces the sky, the silence is filled with a sharp whistling noise. It begins.

That is a more fantastical defintion of the title of my first post here. It is basically a whistling arrow used to signal the beginning of a battle, or more functionally "the start of things." Which this trip I am on here in Japan for a year is most certainly a start for me.

It has been nearly two months since I have arrived here and while I would like to bring you entirely up to speed, but that is going to take some time. I will try to post near daily about something, even if it is really short.

Two things I will mention in this post are probably the most significant things that have happened since I arrived here. I joined the Karate Circle and appeared on Stage with them at the school festival (祭りmatsuri). The other is that I went to Tokyo to meet a someone who had stayed at my house as a homestay when I was younger.

The Karate circle people are really cool and I am having fun experiencing Kata (かた) or form. I was introduced to the group one week by a office worker here that I know. The introduction went as follows, "This is Ed," "Alright good luck" and then he left. So, from day one I have been having to kind of get used to functioning on my own with this group. The interesting part of this story is that that week, the second time I went to a club activity, I was able to memorize heian shodan(平安初段). The third time I showed up I was able to memorize heian nidan (平安二段) equally fast and spent the rest of the time trying to improve my excecution of the form. Because I was able to figure it out that fast, they asked me if I wanted to appear with them at the Matsuri(祭 festival). So, thus only having been at four club activities appeared with them on stage at the matsuri and did Heian nidan as their "International Connection."

Switching gears and cities, my trip to Tokyo was a lot of fun. I took the highway bus there and back, its about a three and a half hour long trip one way. For the 2 days I was there my friend showed me around. With her and her boyfriend the first day we went to Asakusa Shrine, Tokyo Tower, and had shabu-shabu/sukiyaki for supper. The next day we went down to a newer section of Tokyo called Odaiba that apparently was ocean at one time but now looks like land to me. There we checked out The Dream big bridge (夢の大橋), rode what was the largest ferris wheel(観覧車) in the world about 8 years ago. After the sigtseeing we hung out at a mall for a bit before I was sent on my return trip home from Tokyo Station.

よろしくね！　Yoroshiku!


日本語で　手短に:
嚆矢「こうし」は　昔の中国の開戦の時　かぶら矢。　発端。　この　こう　は　この言葉しか使っていないと思う。
毎日ぐらい　ポストするつもりだけど。。
東京へ九年振りの友達を会いに行った！　　そして　空手サークルが入ったり　大祭で　出ったり　した。