Boy and karate

Who is the main character that finally appears? It is Boy.

Who is a fine 4^th grade child? It is Boy.

Who loves sports and games? It is Boy.

Such Boy, like I heard from his mother, he was childlike and mischievous.

He caused a few troubles as soon as we met, therefore I struggled to take care of him.

Apparently, the boy is learning karate.

I thought karate is rare in Australia but karate seems to be a most familiar martial art here.

By the way I have seen wall art which was of people who were doing karate in the Gold Coast.

While picking up and dropping off, I decided to watch the karate lesson.

This time, the practice place is the public school’s gym which is close to home.

 The size is about the size of one basketball court and there were 3 or 4 children, 2 adults who tied black belt and they seemed to be teachers and there were another a few adults.

And then, the practice started.

Today, they practiced 形(Kata). Kata is not the game with others, they practice alone and show others techniques which are decided as Kata.

they practice over and over again while counting.

「レイRei、ヤスメYasume。」(Take a bow, leave your feet shoulder-width apart.)

「ハジメHazime。イチIchi、二Ni、サンSan、シShi…」(Start. One, two, three, four…)

Surprisingly, Japanese was used in many parts of their movements.

I had a strange feeling because I never thought I would hear Japanese in this way in a place like this.

Otherwise, they used easy Japanese words,「センセイSensei」(Teacher),「ハイHi」(Yes) and so on.

Well, I’ll talk about Boy.

I thought he would be practicing karate casually with a sense of play from his usual behavior.

However,

His behavior had changed completely from usual.

He concentrates seriously and executes each technique carefully and powerfully.

He was the best of all the children there.

Pretty good – way to go, Boy.