In between all the other stuff (work, life, family, sleeping) I am, very slowly, learning Japanese. Not very seriously, it's a hobby, but I'm enjoying it.

My interest in things Japanese goes back to the 1980s when I got into martial arts, and through that developed an interest in Samurai, and through that an interest in Japanese film, and that led also, eventually, to an interest in some Japanese manga and anime.

As a karate teacher (I'm testing for my 5th dan next weekend, gulp!) I have some Japanese already, so it's nice to work out from there into more of the language. Also, as an artist, it's nice to be able to write it, the kana forms are very satisfying. At the moment just hiragana, but I'm currently working on katakana, and then I'll dive into some kanji.

a page from my workbook - Japanese names and karate kata written as hiragana

Years ago I came up wih the name for our karate club, Kanzenki, which consists of three characters for kanzen (perfect, complete, whole) and ki (spirit, life essence), reflecting the idea that through karate you can improve all aspects of your life.

This past summer one of our club members went to Okinawa to train with Hokama Sensei, whose bojutsu (staff) sytem we practice. Whilst there Hokama Sensei brushed calligraphy for our club - at the same time confirming my Japanese was correct (phew!). We now have banners featuring the kanji (Kanzenki dojo).

Kanzenki dojo banners and Hokama Tetsuhiro Sensei brushing the calligraphy