The Nest

Well, after nearly a quarter century of training under the man, Taika is gone.  What to do.  If you look back at what made Taika so great, as if we could somehow quantify it, I believe one of the things was that he was pushed out of the nest at some point.  He trained with Uhugushiku Tan Mei and Wakinaguri Tan Mei, both of which died.  He was forced to do some growing on his own.  He did train with other people, learning from them as they learned from him, but as many great instructors do he learned by training and teaching. 

I've had a couple of months to reflect now.  I miss the man dearly and think of him most every day.  I go to his gravesite to check on the progress of the grass growing there, and help tend it for his family.  Seems quite odd all the RyuTe® seeds he sewed in my head and then there I am literally sewing seeds at his grave to make a nice green lawn.  I go there for my healing process.  But my old teacher, coach, father, and friend isn't there to coach me anymore, in RyuTe® or in my personal dealings in life.  That doesn't mean he cannot still give me inspiration and knowledge.  Over the passing of time since his departure, I realize that he gave me nearly 25 years of knowledge that I have accrued in various books, videos, seminar notes, class notes, and other various documents.  He himself received a scroll from one of his instructors prior to his death and analyzed it from the 1950's all the way up to his death in 2012.  Taika was constantly improving his own skills, pushing his own boundaries.  Taika never forgot his instructors and continually strove all the way up to his last breath to train, even in the hospital.

In all these documents I have accumulated, whether paper or digital media of some sort, I have accumulated somewhat of a RyuTe® Bible if you will.  In the last three months I have been reviewing my notes and videos.  There is so much content there, I doubt that I can really study it all in my lifetime.  Perhaps I can pass it on to my students and let them continue to carry this torch when someday I depart (hopefully not for quite some time).  The truly remarkable man has passed from this earth, but his knowledge remains in the brains, bodies, documents and videos of his students that carry on.  Though we have been pushed from the nest, perhaps this will help us grow as it did him.

/chirp chirp

And hopefully not splat on the sidewalk....just saying.