花は桜木人は武士
Hana wa sakura gi hito wa bushi
Sakura among flowers, warriors among men.
On April 24th, the legendary martial artist, Fumio Demura Sensei passed away (9/15/38 - 4/24/23).
The best martial artist is someone to look up to. To be a paragon or someone to look up to in Japanese is bushinokagami (武士の鑑). Bushinokagami translates as “warrior mirror.” Understanding this, the best martial artists act as a mirror and reflect back on others a better version of themselves. Demura Sensei and Furuya Sensei were very good friends for many decades. Most people think that practitioners of different styles of martial arts would be rivals, but at the highest level, there is nothing but respect. However, here’s a story about the time that Demura Sensei defeated Furuya Sensei. For about two decades, Furuya Sensei used to organize martial arts demonstrations in the Japanese American community and invited Demura Sensei’s group to demonstrate Karate. One year, Furuya Sensei organized a huge formal demonstration at the now Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo and invited Demura Sensei to demonstrate. At one point during the performance, our two groups met backstage. To the uninitiated, it might have looked like the beginning of some sort of gang fight as our two groups met face-to-face as we passed each other just before Demura Sensei was about to go on. Furuya Sensei walked up to Demura Sensei and formally greeted him. We all stood behind Furuya Sensei and Demura Sensei’s students all stood behind him. As they talked, Demura Sensei ever so slightly turned his head and in the most quiet and subtle way said something that I think was, “chairs.” Immediately, all Demura Sensei’s students quietly ran off in different directions. In response, Furuya Sensei turned to us with a gritted teeth smile and angrily said, “get some chairs” and we all loudly and chaotically ran off in search of chairs. In what seemed like forever, everyone was searching for chairs in the crowded backstage area filled with theatre equipment. Comically, all the students came running back all at once holding chairs or something to sit on. No sooner than we all arrived, they both bowed to each other and just walked away. Dumbfounded, all the Karate and Aikido students just stood there holding their chairs with sheepish grins. I was the last one to return with my chair and I ran up to Furuya Sensei gasping for air and said, “I got a chair.” Sensei walked past me and angrily said, “Put it back!” Later that day, Sensei chided us on our poor performance and said, “Man, you guys have to be more on the ball like Demura Sensei’s students.” By the way Sensei said that and the look on his face, it was clear that he admired Demura Sensei, but it was also clear that he was bested. Over the next two decades we demonstrated with Demura Sensei many times and Sensei always used Demura Sensei’s demonstration as the example of how to demonstrate well. The misconception is that the martial arts are about winning and losing or developing the physical skill to dominate others. This might be true at the superficial or beginner’s level. However, at its highest level, the true measure of one’s prowess is that in their presence, they make you want to be a better person. Most people don’t know that the Mr. Miyagi character in the Karate Kid film franchise is based upon Demura Sensei. The Mr. Miyagi character or Demura Sensei has gone on to influence several generations of martial artists and martial arts teachers. To reach this level, dictates the true greatness of Demura Sensei. Demura Sensei will forever be the example of what it means to be a great martial artist and a great teacher. He was truly a warrior among men.
Today’s goal: Be someone that is worthy of being a role model.
Watch the trailer from The Real Miyagi the documentary about Fumio Demura’s life