May 10, 2014 - Komomoto Castle

Today we went to the Komomoto Castle. This castle was huge. It had very steep walls all around it. It was up on a big “mountain” or what we would call a nice hill. I think they put it on the hill so soldiers can see all around the castle. It was also in the center of the grounds. So it was easily protected. The castle was very well built. I really like looking at all the architecture and detail. The architecture is what made it really look Japanese. One thing that I have learned while being in Japan is that the Japanese people never do things half way. They always put their 100% into everything. They take very good care of everything too. I believe they chose an excellent spot to build this castle because they knew they would need water so they built it close to a river and they wanted it on high grounds.

 Later in the evening we went to Karate. I knew that people here participated in karate, but I didn’t realize how serious they actually take it. In the class we had a sensei which is the teacher with great respect. They treat it very much like a dance class here in the U.S. You start by warming up. You follow the teacher and his helpers to know what is going on. Just like in dance, there is no laughing or talking. This shows respect not only to everyone else in the class but to the teacher. The Karate class was two hours long. We learned a lot of self-defense techniques and how to punch well. One thing I noticed was that this class was all different ages and levels. They aren’t all split up. There was also only one girl in the class. All the children were extremely well behaved and good at karate. They did a lot of things that helped you relax and reach deep into the soul. One of my favorite parts in this class was punching the bags. I thought it was a good way to relieve stress and found it quite fun. At the end of Karate the sensei gave us gifts. The gifts were just little thoughtful gifts that I really appreciated. One of the boys in the class made us all an origami box. It just shows how much these people truly love to give.

After the karate class we went to a family dinner and visited with other families as well as sister missionaries. This group we visited was Shawn’s really good friends. They were extremely nice to us. The mother in this family was extremely outgoing and loved to be the center of attention. This isn’t the norm for Japanese people.