 |
 |
|
|
||
 |
 |
|
Episode 9: Departure - With mixed feelings " I will train in Taiwan..." I decided and began to prepare. Once I had made up my mind, I moved quickly. First, I started part-time work at a Chinese restaurant to obtain the necessary funds. The restaurant, run by an overseas Chinese resident, was in Toranomon. The owner's wife understood my earnest desire and kindly accepted me. When I started working, I had less time to practice, but I made up for lack of practice by running my commute from my house in Shinjuku to the restaurant and back. Of course, my tenacity for the sport was on full display here as well. I ran wearing a supporter with lead sewn into it and weighted shoes. In between work, I applied for a visa to Taiwan at the embassy, and preparations for my departure was steadily being made. The desire to meet a Bagua Zhang master in Taiwan was burning unquenchably in my heart. I wanted to learn and become strong in that mystical martial art that has been handed down from generation to generation! Above all, the desire to "experience the real thing" was my driving force. --- A few months passed. My departure was coming very close to being a reality. However, humans are selfish. Even though I was dissatisfied with the training environment and had made the decision to go to Taiwan with great determination, when I was faced with the reality of the situation, I found the feeling of regret and loneliness coming up in me. It was the flip side of how fulfilling my days at the dojo had been. I knew I would miss the dojo’s master who had kindly guided me. His sincere attitude and passion for the martial arts helped me develop the core of my martial arts training. And he was not the only one I would miss. The senior students who treated me as an equal, even though I was the youngest and cockiest of the group. And my martial arts friends who shared the pain and suffering and passion for the same path. I had already left the dojo but I could still see them when I closed my eyes, and it shook my resolve to leave. “I want to enter the gates of the dojo like I used to...” “I want to participate in the martial arts discussions after practice, and in the special trainings on the street that lasted until the last train....” Such thoughts welled up in my heart. It was such a precious time for me to talk about the same path with the friends who had trained together. Those days were lost forever.... My heart was aching as I realized this. "I can still turn back now…" But no matter how many times the thoughts tried to make me look back...in the end, they could not make me go back. My determination that day would not let me do so. Taiwan...it was the door to a new mystery for me at that time. Sometimes the door had been found in nature, sometimes on a bookshelf of a used bookstore.... The mysterious door to Taiwan was about to open. It is my way of life that if there is a door, I open it and dive in. “To meet the masters.... To become stronger.... To follow my curiosity for wonder.... I will risk everything to go to Taiwan!” With a strong determination filling my heart, I set out on the first step with all my might. ～The End The road to tai chi: Led by twinkling of a giant star, Complete. |