There is an awkward stillness in the dojo. What seems like at least thirty seconds must have only been two. I am a guest at the Suginami-ku Dojo in Tokyo, Japan and the class is headed by none other than Yamaguchi Goshi – Saiko Shihan, the patriarch of one of the world’s most renowned Karate organizations. My speech is a little slurred and I am clumsy. It seems that I’m already drunk with nervous energy visiting Saiko Shihan as a representative of the Meibukan Hombu Dojo. Like an ambassador, I am faced with trying to decipher the code of protocol. Protocol is such an integral part of Japanese culture that what would be considered obsessive in the west is systemically normal in Japan. Making it even more perplexing is that protocol within each organization is a little different. Now here I am in Tokyo, a naturalized Canadian citizen (read: immigrant) representing a top Okinawan pedigree association in the dojo of another top Japanese association. So, I’m standing here by myself and I feel like I’m wearing a pink tutu in an arm wrestlers’ convention and everyone’s looking at me. Then I realize everyone is really looking at me.
To my periphery, I am being coaxed by a glance to kneel. On the shomen side of the tatami was Saiko Shihan, on the opposite side were what seemed like his regular students. On the right side of the tatami were the international and native senior ranks and on the left side was – just me. I thought this was the place for foreigners so that they would not be in the way of the class which, was definitely okay with me. Silly me, it was a place of honor and after Saiko-Shihan initiates class with a kneel, it was supposed to be my turn to follow. As it turns out I am the one causing the awkward stillness since everyone was waiting for me. As everyone sits in seiza, my imaginary pink tutu just got pinker and bigger.
This visit was arranged by Master Yagi Meitetsu Sensei of the Meibukan Hombu Dojo. Saiko Shihan had graciously written a congratulatory letter for Master Yagi’s latest book and on this visit, I had been asked to follow up with an interview for another book. In preparing to meet Yamaguchi Saiko Shihan, I called up his Canadian representative, John Preigert, for advice. In addition, I spoke with other individuals who had previously met Saiko Shihan and everyone basically said the same thing. He is professional and a nice man. During my two hours with him, I can confirm this. He had to be in order to put up with all of my protocol “faux pas”. For one, I kept calling him Sensei over and over again while everyone else referred to him as Saiko Shihan and while taking pictures, I sat closer to him than his senior students. I am sure that I must have committed dozens of mistakes. By the end of class, I felt as though I had morphed into a clumsy Charlie Chaplin of the Karate world – still wearing a tutu. If a Japanese stranger had peeked his head into the dojo, he would have shaken his head wondering who the hell is that gaijin.
Like many great Japanese masters however, Saiko Shihan and his students went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. As much as I tried not to mess up, their efforts are equal in exercising understanding and patience. Just like Meibukan Hombu Dojo, if one is lucky, the dojo will go further out of their way to correct you which sometimes may seem a little blunt to us in the west. We might not take too well to it but I suppose, like any relationship, we should also exercise understanding and patience too. Understanding each nation’s protocol is one aspect of developing good diplomatic relations as is forgiving each other when one makes an honest mistake. It’s a lot like the Asian custom of fighting for the bill. Each person knows which party is to pay but it would be rude not to offer to help.
Thank goodness I get scrutinized all the time. Is this because of their graciousness or my social ineptness? Likely a little of both. Either way, applying well meaning corrections have always helped me socialize better in Japan which opens up a whole different world of cultural understanding to me. From what it seems, I will probably be making a lot more visits to other dojos in the near future. So if you happen see a bumbling black belt making a fool of himself in one of your classes, it will likely be me so please don’t hesitate to correct me. I promise though that I’ll only be wearing the pink tutus in my mind.
