We achieved a lot in 7 days.
I've done a separate post for Kume-Jima and I will be doing a separate post for the South East Botanical Gardens because that was such a good find it deserves it.
So on the first day i picked up the hire car and met sensei from the Airport. We had a quick coffee and then went back to the dojo because I had to teach the kids class.
After the kids we hopped back into the car and went to Arakaki Sensei's Shikina Dojo for training.
After training we went for Ramen before getting an early night.
Tuesday we got up early and went to two shrine sites- The first was Gusukuma (Shinpan) Shiroma's grave site and the second was a place where Itosu Anko maybe lived and/ or worked.
Then we went to training lunch with sensei.
After that we drove north to Higashi Village where we were looking for the memorial to Kaneshima Shinsuke - The founder of Tozan Ryu Karate.
I've looked for this one before but have never really had the right information or area- now I know that!
We had a rough map and 'park' it is in- However the park is enormous with many roads, forested parts and buildings.
We eventually found it- But only with the help of the museum and the mayor. The part of Higashi that it is in is only open for one month of the year- when the flowers are in bloom. So if you want to see this one only March is your time window- unless you ask the Mayor very nicely.
We took a picture of the Pineapple Bridge because we went across this bridge so many times in the search for the memorial. And it is a pretty good idea to make a bridge look nice.
Again, we got so close but just needed a little help to get into the restricted section at the end. If you see the pineapple bridge- go straight across it. You are close!
On Wednesday after morning training we went over to Ozato - Right near where Toshimune's Dojo is. Besides this being a beautiful site, there is a connection to the Ozato Dojo.
This beautiful Painting that is on the wall, and one I've spent many many sweaty, difficult nights looking at is less than five minutes away from the Dojo- And right near where we did one of our group bonding days- the Park Golf one. On a clear blue day, this is the exact image.
We decided that here would be a really cool place to take a couple of pictures because we would always understand the connection.
At this point, I'm feeling pretty sick and my cold is just getting worse. However- I had to teach the kids and work in the bar tonight so Steve Sensei will go to Shikina to train alone and borrow Hilda to get there.
The next few days go by and we train and eat and visit the gardens and before we know it, it's Thursday night and we are having the group training and gathering- usually it is a goodbye party but sensei is busy preparing for his trip to Australia next week.
Steve Sensei bought the dojo, group T-Shirts which everyone was very appreciative of, and we all look pretty cool
Friday, we went to Kume-Jima which got it's own blog post- It really deserved it.
Saturday was training in the morning (Which i missed because i was sick still) and then I had to teach the kids and work at the bar.
Sunday, we had a little disaster with the hire car battery dying and having to get hold of the rental place and the rescue truck coming to jump start it. We were going to visit the botanical gardens and the Uechi Kanbun Sensei memorial but we lost so much time in the morning that we didn't make it to the other botanical gardens- only the Uechi Kanbun statue. That's good though, that area is always pretty and getting out of Naha is always good.
We came back and dropped the hire car off before walking back from sensei's house. It's only 3.5 km away from the bar. isnt it amazing how the car and taxi journeys always make it seem so much longer than that?!
We had a rest for a while and then met Sensei in the bar for a final drink in the evening.
Besides Monday morning where we went for French Toast and a walk around to do some final shopping, That was the week gone. It went by far too fast.
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