Today's Schedule:

7:45-8:45am Iaido

9:00-10:00am Children's Class

10:15-11:15am Aikido

Tomorrow, September 4, Labor Day, Monday, the Dojo will be closed for the Holiday.

Daikokuten: the God of Happiness & Success

Just the other day, I was doing some research and came across a very old depiction of Daikokuten. For Japanese, Daikokuten is the god of happiness and success. He is often paired with Ebisu who is another god of happiness.

Generally these two gods are depicted with big smiling faces and often found in Japanese homes to insure family prosperity and happiness. However, this old depiction of Daikokuten showed a very angry, stern looking god. When I thought about it for a minute, I thought to mysef, "Yes this is true. Happiness and success does not come easy as we often think. Of course, Daikokuten is very stern and mean looking because he must encourage us to work hard and be devoted to our families - only in this way, can real happiness and success come about for us."