On April 23rd the Seattle Branch participated in the 31st Annual Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival. We have taken a part in this festival over the past 9 years. Many people look forward to seeing our performance every year. Here is an overview of our demonstration.

• Chinkon with an introduction of Shorinji Kempo during the meditation.
• Group kihon demonstration.
• Ido kihon demonstration using punching mitts, kicking mitts, and do protectors.
• Solo embu demonstration by Seattle Branch Master Hiroshi Onaka.
• 2 kumi embu performed by white belt pair and green belt pair.
• Appo demonstration by Joichi Tagami Sensei from Gifu Ogaki Branch in Japan, who has been our guest instructor for the past few yearsÕ Cherry Blossom Festival, and his student Kumakura Kenshi.
• 2 kumi embu performed by brown belt pair, and brown and black Belt mixed pair.
• Sotai demonstration performed by Onaka-Sensei and Tagami-Sensei.
• 2 kumi embu performed by 2 black belt pairs.
• Howa by Onaka Sensei.

We believe that we had another successful demonstration this year.

After an hour's lunch break, we had a special seminar on the grass outdoors at the foot of The Space Needle Tower. Fortunately it was very nice weather , so we could take the advantage of this precious day (Seattle is well known as a rainy city) practicing Shorinji Kempo outside and not only enjoying the weather but also introducing Shorinji Kempo to people who missed our demonstration on the stage in the Center House. The seminar was divided into two groups (black belts and non-black belts), and taught by Onaka-Sensei, Tagami-Sensei, and Sato-Sensei who just moved into Yakima, Washington with his family from Japan. Sato-sensei is 4th-Dan at Adachi Doin in Tokyo in March and he came to see our demonstration. Yokota-sensei, the Boise Branch Master, joined the seminar as well. While we practiced for 2.5 hours, many people visiting the Cherry Blossom Festival stopped by and watched . We practiced many techniques in a very short time and enjoyed that great gentle spring sunshine in Seattle.

Through participation in the Festival we felt we could contribute something to our community, and felt stronger and closer ties among the Seattle kenshi and our guests. Last year we performed the embu with our neighbor branches from Canada, Boise, Oregon and Washington Stage for the special 30th anniversary and we plann to keep holding this kind of semi-camp among neighbor branches to keep the same relationships as within our own branch.

It is our honor and pride to enjoy these kinds of family ties over Shorinji Kempo practice with kenshi and their families.

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On April 23rd and 24th the Seattle branch took part in the 30th Annual Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival. It was the eighth year in a row that the Seattle branch had taken part in the Festival. This year's Festival was important for other reasons than the anniversary: the theme of the Festival was "legacy," recognizing the history of the Japanese community in Seattle; it was also the first year that the martial arts demonstrations at the Festival were held in a dedicated space, a so-called Budo pavilion.

Seattle branch master Hiroshi Onaka recognized the special nature of this yearÕs Festival and used it to launch a new event. Seattle hosted the first Northwest Shorinji Kempo Camp, and invited branches from the northwest US and southwest Canada. The theme of the camp was "family," the family-like ties between kenshi in the same branch, and among branches.

In all there were almost 50 persons who took part in the Camp. Besides Seattle, six branches from the US and Canada participated in the event: Boise, Idaho; Portland, Oregon; Spokane, Washington; Vancouver BC; Vancouver BC Tozenj; Victoria BC. Joichi Tagami sensei of Ogaki doin from Gifu Prefecture, Japan has taken part in the festival for the past several years and is a good friend of the Seattle branch. This year he was joined by branch master Shoichi Goto, and three other kenshi.

On the morning of Saturday the 23rd, there were two hours of open mat time, then in the afternoon a half-day training session at the Seattle Center, the venue for the Cherry Blossom Festival. Goto sensei, Tagami sensei, Hashimoto sensei of Vancouver, and Onaka sensei offered advanced instruction. In the evening there was a party and potluck dinner off site, which gave all the participants a chance to mingle in a more casual setting.

On Sunday the 24th the camp participants took part in a demonstration of technique as part of the Cherry Blossom Festival. The demonstration showed many aspects of Shorinji Kempo. There was dantai embu by the whole group; ido kihon by branch; embu by groups of two, three, and four people; randori; and howa.

We in Seattle felt it was a successful event and hope it is the start of an annual tradition in the region. We were honored to host the event, and we were very moved by the strong support we received from our friends in the region and from Japan.

On September 12th, 2004, seventeen kenshi from the Seattle Branch participated in the 7th annual Aki Matsuri (autumn festival of Japanese culture) held in Bellevue, the town immediately to the east of Seattle.

Our half-hour demonstration followed a customary sequence: chinkon, solo and paired kihon, embu, and finally seiho/appo. The segments were punctuated with narration explaining the nature of Shorinji Kempo. For this year's event we adjusted our presentation so that during the chinkon and kihon segments, the front row of kenshi was not made up only of black belts but instead showed a mix of grades. The idea was to give the audience a side-by-side comparison of different skill levels, as well as to show that we are just as proud of our beginners as we are of our advanced students.

The demonstration was well received by the audience, and the effort we put into preparation has surely cemented the bonds between our branch members. After the demonstration we gathered with family and friends at a local restaurant to further strengthen our ties--always a vital part of any Shorinji Kempo event!

In other Seattle Branch news, we are pleased to report that over the past several months we have been able to establish a solid routine of one special practice session every month for black belt kenshi. Onaka-sensei has adopted the Busen curriculum as a guide, although not with any illusion of being able to recreate a proper Busen experience for us. At the recent WSKO seminar in San Francisco, several various branch masters from the Pacific Northwest region of North America--that is, from Vancouver, Tozen-ji, Portland, Spokane and Seattle branches--discussed ways to train together and cooperatively advance Shorinji Kempo in our region. Our black belt study sessions have just become part of that effort: now, whenever a session date is set, we notify the other branch masters as well as a couple of "homeless" kenshi from the state of Idaho. Those Idaho kenshi must drive for 8 hours each way to attend our sessions, but they have committed to try, and have already made a good start!

The distances between our branches are not small, yet they are not so large that we cannot grow together. Where there is a will, there is a way.

At the end of March 2004 we received a telephone call from a Ms Cuñada, a teacher at a local middle school. The students of Ms Cuñada and her colleague, Ms Bailey, were either reading or preparing to read a novel featuring a teenage character from San Francisco who happens to practice Shorinji Kempo and who travels to Japan as an exchange student. (The novel is Gary Soto's Pacific Crossing.) Ms Cuñada and Ms Bailey looked up Shorinji Kempo on the internet and were able to find the Seattle Branch website, whereupon they contacted us to request a demonstration.

Accordingly, on May 17, branch master Hiroshi Onaka and kenshi Colin May spent a day introducing Shorinji Kempo to over 200 sixth-grade students, divided into three group sessions. Each presentation lasted 70 to 80 minutes. Two took place in the cafeteria; one was held in the library. To grab the students' interest from the outset, we began, without speaking, with a short kumi-embu. After the embu and brief self-introductions, we launched the history of Shorinji Kempo's establishment, then introduced the three divisions of waza: goho, juho, appo/seiho. In this segment the students and teachers were able to participate physically, resulting in some happy chaos. From there we proceeded to introduce the 6 characteristics of Shorinji Kempo, the purpose of Shorinji Kempo training, the idea of true strength, the meaning of 'bu' (_), and finally a Q&A session.

We had wondered whether or not six-grade students could understand the philosophy and goals of Shorinji Kempo, but they showed comprehension beyond our expectations. We were surprised at students' responses to our questions. Here are some examples.

Q : The Kanji for 'destiny' (‰^–½) represents "to carry a life." Who is responsible to carry your own life?
A: "Myself!"

Q: The character for 'bu' (•�) is composed from three different kanji: 'two,' 'sword,' and 'stop.' What does "two swords" mean?
A: "Fighting!"

At each session, we emphasized that along with our self-discipline, we need to respect and help each other to enrich our lives because nobody alone can make their dream happen, but only with all other people's cooperation and help. We should try to become people who can be trusted by others. Through these sessions we were very confident that the kids have every single possibility to make their life and society happy, as per Kaiso's, "The person, the person, the person; everything depends of quality of the person." They are innocent and it is the most important and difficult to teach beginners (white belt kenshi) with good care at the start.

This was our first opportunity to demonstrate Shorinji Kempo in the schools. Of course there were some glitches to overcome, and as we went along we tinkered with the presentation's order and content here and there. We had to do without the computer-projected photos we had prepared, due to technical difficulties. But on the whole, although we were quite tired out by the end of the day, the experience was a lot of fun and highly rewarding. The students really did seem intrigued and excited, and we regret the fact that our branch is not located close enough to the school to accomodate the interest we stirred up.

Our thanks go to the teachers and students of Showalter Middle School for this special opportunity to introduce our art in a region where Shorinji Kempo remains relatively unknown. We felt very welcome, and we look forward to the chance to do it all again next year!

On April 17, 2004, 20 kenshi participated in the Seattle Branch's seventh annual appearance at the Cherry Blossom & Japanese Cultural Festival. To date it was our largest contingent ever to publicly represent Shorinji Kempo in Seattle.

We were very fortunate to have Sensei Jun'ichi Tagami of Ohgaki Doin as our guest in Seattle for a second time (the first was in 2001). Tagami-sensei has a business connection with Seattle which he has fostered through the Cherry Blossom Festival, and we mutually seized upon this opportunity to study and demonstrate together. By coincidence, our branch master, Hiroshi Onaka, and Tagami-sensei discovered a significant connection to each other within the Shorinji Kempo family: their respective mentors, Nagata-sensei of Yamasaki-Saikyo Doin and Goto-sensei of Ohgaki Doin, are close friends.

Our festival demonstration began with chinkon and continued with stationary and moving (idou) kihon. This was followed by four paired embu by our rank-and-file kenshi: one goho embu, one juho embu, and two traditional mixed embu. Everyone gave their best effort and fortunately noone fell off the stage!

Since the festival organizers had kindly allotted us 45 minutes to demonstrate rather than our usual 30, Tagami-sensei and Onaka-sensei worked together to fill the extra time with individual tan'en, a demonstration of appo as waza and as seiho, and a short lecture on the aim of Shorinji Kempo to bring balance to individuals and to society at large. Some of our family members who came to support us noticed that many of the older people of Japanese descent in the audience were particularly impressed by the appo and lecture segments, often nodding and exclaiming, "So, so, so!"

All segments of the demonstration were punctuated with verbal introductions aimed at educating the general audience about Shorinji Kempo. Kyuu-kenshi Grace Campos deserves special mention for taking on the job of public speaking, against all her natural inclinations. Personal commitments had kept Grace from practicing with us recently, but she still found a way to contribute to the group effort. She did a fine job.

Also, for our first time ever, we were able to include children in our activities. Several months ago we altered our branch's policy to allow children to study Shorinji Kempo with us on the condition that one or more of their parents learns along with them. Congratulations to Taihei, Jesse, Hiroko and Kazumichi--our pioneering kids--for taking this important step for us and for themselves.

Tagami-sensei's Seattle stay was scheduled for a period of about two weeks, and during this time we were able to pursue many activities together. We enjoyed three ordinary practice sessions together, went out for drinks once afterwards, held a party for the branch at Onaka-sensei's house on the Saturday after the festival demonstration, and finally held a special study session oriented towards yuudansha on Sunday (April 25). The latter two events were attended by our friend Chad Brazington, branch master of WSKO Spokane Branch, who is always eager to access higher-level instruction even if he has to drive five hours each way to get it.

The past several weeks have been a time of strong development for us, both inside and outside. We look forward to continuing in this positive spirit. Our special thanks to Tagami-sensei for his excellent and generous guidance.

On September 13th, thirteen kenshi from the Seattle Branch participated in the Aki Matsuri ("fall festival") held in Bellevue, the town immediately to the east of Seattle. As a major point of trade on the Pacific Rim, the area around Seattle has a populous and vibrant Japanese community--vibrant enough to support two major Japanese community festivals every year, located within about 20 minutes' drive of each other. The Shorinji Kempo Seattle Branch performs demonstrations at each of these festivals.

Our goal was to introduce the thought behind Shorinji Kempo at the same time as showing the process by which technical skills are built up (tan-en, soutai and embu). To this end, we introduced Shorinji Kempo's founding and purpose while the group performed Chinkon-gyo meditation; demonstrated basic movements and Tenchiken Dai-ni; showed hokei for tsubame gaeshi, hangetsu gaeshi and uwauke nage performed by Sensei with a partner; presented embu; and finally demonstrated some appou for both combat and therapy.

A special congratulation goes to nikyuu kenshi Denys Klivak and Danny Norris. Danny attends practice regularly despite driving over an hour each way to and from the dojo; Denys, formerly of a Ukraine branch, only moved to Seattle and joined us in August. The two of them were given less than three weeks to create an embu using all of the techniques they will need for their ikkyuu examination. The result was excellent.

This Aki Matsuri demonstration had special meaning for our branch because it was the first demonstration presented under the guidance of our new branch master, Hiroshi Onaka. In spite of challenges such as short preparation time due to business trips by Onaka-sensei, and an unexpectedly carpeted demonstration space, the demonstration was well executed and well received. All of our kenshi are grateful to Onaka-sensei for his excellent instruction, and we are excited to continue learning and sharing Shorinji Kempo.