Mar 29 2006
Story: Keito
Wakai (Youthful)
As a child, balancing on a wood beam was never my favorite pastime, but now that I’ve become the teacher I see more than ever that the spaces in an untrained mind are at best left empty, at worst filled with ignorance. Sharing the wisdom I’ve learned over so many years, seeing the young and impressionable become aged and hardened, I gauge my worth.
My pupils come in all forms, shapes, sizes and temperaments with minds like sponges waiting to soak up the words as they dribble from my mouth. They come in and sit with such intent, focused on me and my teachings, yet at the same time, thinking of adventure. As I look over the group, scanning each of them one by one, I realize that even as I grow older, I can identify with them because of my own search for adventure. And while they’re all special, Keito stands out like a shining.
“Eat coconuts while you have teeth”, my Father would say. “No use in mixing a young mind with so many of life’s troubles. They will soon find us all in time. It is in our youth we must find the strength and courage to set us on good footing with our futures.” And while I teach with my Father’s words, as taught to him by his Father and his Father’s before him, I remember back to a time when I was Keito.
Kyouryoku (Strength)
Pebbles line the roads in this town, so round and smooth, almost perfect in their shape. It’s said that a town with stones of such natural form provide a special unity that binds the people together. It wasn’t until many years later that I’d learn what truths stood alive in that old wisdom.
My Father sent me here, to Mihuro, to visit my Uncle. I was to spend the summer studying the arts with him and, after years of hearing stories about my Uncle’s ways, I was excited to see the reality of him. As my Father’s fish were always much bigger in his stories, I could hardly expect a true to word description of my Uncle, but I had always hoped that everything I heard was true. As I walked through town with that hope in mind, I dropped back in memories, relaxing near a burning fire as my Father spoke of my Uncle’s adventures.
“Kyouryoku, inside”, my Father rambled. There were stories of my Uncle being the glue that bound people together and how wisdom and strength was in him through and through. My Father would flash back to tales of their youth, reflecting on catching loose chickens and their honest work on my Grandfather’s farm. There were times he would remember on wars they fought in together, but he rarely did. It would always seem as if he were somehow ashamed of his part in them although I never did ask him why.
Kyuujou (Hilltop)
“Find the house on the hilltop near the southern edge of Mihuro and you will find your Uncle Hogo”, he said. “It’s a small town and many will know you when they see you.” Thinking about my Father’s words as I walked through the town, I realized it was as if I’d been to this place before. Greetings, smiles and welcomes, from people I had never met, came from every angle. Each step provoked thoughts of my Uncle and having not seen him for many years, different faces came to my mind. I tried to imagine how he might look after all this time, but each effort I made seemed to end in a struggle, frustrated with blurring faces from my past all mixing together.
Approaching the southern tip, I find a ridge of which it seemed nothing could fall off and live. It was the gradual, curving slope to my Uncle’s home, exactly as my Father had described it. The artful, almost perfect stones still lining the road seemed to guide me and somehow seemed to multiply from glance to glance. Every so often the occasional thistle of grass sprung up through them and I found myself drifting back again to some of my Father’s wisdom. “Weeds hold this ground together with their roots much like the pretty and sweet scented”, he said. “So think twice before you pull with all your might, as you must be careful to know the Earth it holds may fail and give way.”
As I reached the top, I paused to look across the plateau of bright green grass. A seemingly immovable stone, nearly five times my size, sat to the left of what seemed to be my Uncle Hogo’s home which was centered with the road’s entrance just 50 paces ahead of me. I took quick notice to the other buildings lying to the rear sides of the center structure and I wondered in which one I might find my Uncle. I searched the center structure, calling out to him, but he wasn’t there. I searched the other buildings, but he was no where to be found. Instead as I looked over my left shoulder towards the road, to the backside of the boulder, I noticed a dog lying quietly watching me. As I slowly approached the dog I could plainly see something at its paws.
Kagayaki (Shining)
He seemed calm enough to me as I approached, but I wasn’t satisfied enough to let my guard down. Cautiously I stood between the main house and the rock, peering into the eyes of the animal. I tried to understand its intention, but made no movements as he bore his focus on me. After a few moments I dared to move closer and then I stopped calling to the dog to come. The dog’s gaze remained fixed on me and its muscles began to wind tight in its back legs, twisting to face me dead on. It was after my next step the dog leaped towards me with great speed, swerving to my right, disappearing into the distance before I had a moment to prepare.
Shocked and frightened I sat down in the very same spot the dog sat moments before. A look out over the ridge, directly in front of me, seemed like an endless race towards a horizon being swallowed by the night’s approach. Once again I couldn’t help but think back to my Father’s wisdoms. He’d say, “Stay true to one’s self. There is hope even as the last shining of the sun says its peace to this world. Night is just a shade of day.”
It was at that very moment, breaking from the wonderful scene the ridge and sun had created for me, that I realized the item the dog had been somehow protecting had been left behind. It was an envelope bearing one simple word on its front. It was my name, “Shijin”.
Kunreisha (Pilgrim)
As I picked it up to read, I was astonished to see that the dog returned to sit where I once stood moments before. A look in his eyes almost beckoned me to open the envelope.
It read, “Please forgive my not being here. By this time I expect I must be a pilgrim of another world and your Father has sent you to look over this place as we had planned many years ago.
The people of this town are wise and good and have lived along side our family for many generations in this town. They will no doubt become to know you as the teacher I have been and as our ancestors have been before me and before your Father and our Father’s Father. They will send you their sons and daughters and you will be true to them.
It is with this wish that I leave you with what is dearest to me.
My old dog and your new dog’s name is Aijou.
Your Uncle Hogo”
Kenmei (Wisdom)
Suddenly breaking back into present day, looking over my class, the memory of Aijou and that letter slowly fade into the background. One day soon I expect the letter I keep ready to be passed to my niece. She will no doubt fill my shoes and continue this tradition. And as I push downwards and into this ground slowly, I hope to build strength and courage into these porous minds so as they may take my place. I will continue to teach upon this hilltop until my body gives way and my old dog delivers a new dog to Keito in the not so distant future.
