Getting Started
Hello everyone, my
name is Marc Waterfield. I am originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada.
I first came to Japan in 1999 and have been in Kumamoto, Japan since
2001.
Let me start by telling you a little about myself and my journey to Japan
I began practicing Chito-Ryu Karate Do
in 1988 in Halifax, NS under the guidance of Michael S. Delaney Sensei.I feel very fortunate and grateful to have met and learn from many amazing Sensei
during my 26 years of practicing Chito-Ryu Karate Do. Recently I have become more involved with the Senior High School Division of the Japan Karate Do Federation (JKF) and have learned many things about how Karate Do is taught in schools across Japan.
At the age of 15 I
had a dream to go to Japan and learn from the Japanese Sensei there. As a young
boy I wanted to be the best 空手家 Karateka, that I could be and paid close
attention whenever anyone was willing to share their knowledge or experience on
the subject of Martial Arts and most especially Karate Do. I paid very
close attention and listened with excitement, joy、 and wonder the way only a
child can when my Senpai returned from Japan and told stories of their
experiences training there. I know that this sounds a little over the top, but I can't think of any other way to describe the feelings that I felt bubbling up inside me when they spoke of Japan. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. Ask anyone who knew me then and they will tell you just how interested I was in anything and everything Japanese. There was never any doubt that there was a strong desire in me to one
day travel to Japan and experience it for myself. But, Japan is the farthest
place a boy from Halifax, Nova Scotia can go in this world. It
is ccompletely on the other side of the planet and Western and Eastern Cultural views are also wolds apart. Geographically,
to go any farther than Japan would actually bring me closer to Halifax again.
In short, this was a huge undertaking for me physically, financially, and emotionally.
Even at that young age,
something inside me told me that I needed to learn the language and understand more
about the culture if I really wanted to learn from the Sensei whom my Senpai
and
Sensei spoke of in their stories of their experiences.
As I mentioned earlier, financially this was a huge undertaking for me as well. It was
a reality that my family was not wealthy enough to foot the bill, which in
the late 1990s was a lot higher than it is today. I could
have taken this as a reason why I couldn't go to Japan, and given into the setbacks and
excuses to keep me from realizing my dream. But, for one reason or another,
my drive or passion for Karate Do and the sense of fulfillment
that came with learning this art kept me focused on going to Japan. I didn't want to visit Japan honestly, a part of me always knew that I would go to Japan to live and work
there, this reconfirmed within me the need for language skills and some level of
cultural understanding before I made the first trip. The study wasn't easy, but it never felt like work to me.
Jumping
a head a few years...
After graduating
from high school I decided to take a year off of school
(1996 ~1997). I got a part-time job at a call center in Halifax and started
something that, in retrospect could have been a dangerously comfortable 9 to 5
existence. But, the whole time my inner voice was screaming out to me advising
me not to give up my dream. In 1998 I quit my job and enrolled at Saint
Mary's University (SMU) in the faculty of Asian Studies (ASN).
Not only did the school offer courses in all of the things that interested me
related to Japanese language and culture, it also offered an opportunity
to go and study in Japan at Hakodate University of Education in Hokkaido for
one year.
In the end of my
second year at SMU, I applied for the one year scholarship and was
accepted. The scholarship provided me with airfare to and from Japan, tuition
for the year and a Monthly income for living expenses. But, more importantly
for me I WAS GOING TO JAPAN!!! It was a dream come true, this was my ‘ticket’,
the opportunity that I had been dreaming about since I was 15 years old and I
was psyched to make the most of it!
It
was
in the academic year of 1999~2000 when I first came to Japan.
I was 21 years old and ready to soak up as much as I could. I made a lot of
mistakes but, was fortunate enough to also make a lot of great friends who saw
the purity of my intention and the honesty in my willingness to learn. If
nothing else, these were the two qualities that helped me the most during my
early and awkward years in Japan. In this blog I would like
to tell you about the various experiences and moments of growth that
affected my life in profound ways. All of these were either directly or
indirectly related to my study and practice of Karate Do as well as personal
growth and my level of understanding of the Japanese social values in general.
15
years later, I am still in Japan following my dreams and making new ones. I
would like to share with you the experiences that facilitated a deeper
understanding of Karate Do and the lessons that I have learned while
studying Japanese language and important cultural aspects because
these things are deeply rooted in this martial art.
The Purpose of this Blog
In this blog I will share with you various experiences as well as some of the relevant terminology such as 先生 Sensei, 先輩 Senpai, 後輩 Kohai, and some important philosophical concepts of Karate Do.
The
reason I want to share with you my story and the experiences I have had in
Japan is two-fold. First, a couple of years ago friends of mine from Australia
suggested that I write a book on this very topic. I was interested and intrigued
by the idea but, at the same time, I felt a little guarded of my experiences and,
to be honest, a little afraid of what people would think. I didn’t want to
offend or come across pompous in any way. I also considered the possibility of
the project being a complete failure, even though I hadn’t even written one word yet.
Again, the reasons ‘why not’ to do something that could potentially be very
fulfilling, that we are all burdened with, came flooding into my mind. I did
what anyone in this kind of situation would do, I put it off. I procrastinated,
but thought frequently of what I should write. Then on one summer evening
after a training session with the high school team that I was coaching for a
major competition, while on my way to pick up my daughter from daycare, I was
hit from behind and everything changed.
I would like to tell you more about
this accident and how it profoundly impacted my life in a future blog.
Right now, I just want to say that this incident set me in motion to begin the
book project. Now, after a year of writing, I have the second reason for starting this
blog. I am well aware of the size of the project that I am trying to pursue. I
am hoping that this blog will help me to get pieces of the book out to the
public earlier, inspire me to keep writing and provide me with feedback from my
potential audience.
This my first attempt at blogging and I am still trying to find my
way around and get my bearings. But, I am looking forward to this new and
exciting opportunity to share ideas and experiences in this way.
Congrats on starting this blog! I'll be reading it :-)
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