Model Role.

Nothing in the world can take place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not;unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

-Calvin Coolidge

Kind of thought of Kyokushin and Sosai reading this.... ^^ Like people in tournaments and people trying for 100 men kumite~ just simply not giving up. They don't slack and they don't look for short cuts. 
To do a job you don't have to be asked. You just do. 

Night time view of the park near Honbu. 

Alignment.

One subject I am asked about on Sosai's philosophy is about not quitting.

Those that are succeeding and are thrilled and joyful in the unfolding will often tell you, "I've dreamed this since I was little. I imagined it, I pretended it, I used to practice with the hairbrush pretending it was a microphone." Purity is the alignment of energy. Doesn't matter what anybody else thinks about anything. It only matters what you think about it. ^^

Just need to train your mind to focus, focus, focus!

Friend.

I have great admiration for one of my BFF who currently is in the States...  she is one of those people who possess traits I find so admirable...

She seems to do everything well and I asked her what motivates her...

She said she does not have motivation but she just does it- and when she does she puts all her effort in it.

I thanked her for putting up with me for close to 20 some  years, having the patience....  and sticking around...

And she said it is easy when you love someone and think dearly of them ^^.

I am blessed to have a friend like her...

うれしい〜〜！


This is random photo I took today of the Tokyo Tower... the very pointed part of the antenna slightly got crooked after the 3/11 earthquake... dunno if you can see it though...

Tournament...

I went to watch another groups tournament today. It was nice to see people who knew me since I was a toddler... (^^)

17th Memorial.

Today is our Sosai's 17th year since his passing. We held a traditional Shinto ceremony at Honbu on Sunday, April 24th.

It was raining quite a lot the evening before and probably due to the 3/11 disaster, many understandably did not respond to the invitation. So ordering food was easy and since this ceremony also included praying for all the victims from the EarthQ/ Tsunami, we made little gifts for the guests. (^^)

Anyway just 5 minutes before, people started to tickle in and continue to come 5 minutes after the ceremony! (No, it is not good to come in later for a formal ceremony I was really happy some were running into Honbu!)                  

It was great energy because more than for me, a lot of these people have not seen each other for one reason or another.... and each had their own version of saying the missed each other and reminisced the old days.

I missed a lot of opportunity to take great pic's b/c I was running about.... ;@; but some picture's are uploaded on mas-oyama.com so please take a look. 

Scrubbing the grave..... ^^ so many incense was burned over the past few days the incense plate was black and tarred!

Cats napping in the sun.... at the temple...