Tonight's class was a bit less structured than the regular classes I normally go to... upon arrival, I did spot checks, just looked around, seeing how our dojo would look should a complete stranger come into it... in the entrance way, I saw the floor could use a sweeping... as I walked in, I saw the observation area needed to be picked up, magazines were piled, but not stacked nicely, walked down the hallway to our change room, sniffing the air, noticing the slight musty smell of many workouts mixed with dust... walking towards the back where our restrooms are, taking a quick peek into the ladies bathroom... and then going into the men's... saw some things that needed tending to... made mental notes as I walked back to the ladies change room. I changed quickly, and walked to the observation area and straightened the messy magazines, all the while, I had noticed that Sensei wasn't teaching... probably still in Houston TX.
In the martial arts, its the students responsiblity to clean the dojo, not because its written in stone anywhere, it's just a respect thing between student and teacher. When strangers come to your dojo, they notice these things, that's if they are practitioners of the arts... for just common folk who are interested in the classes, it's just pleasant to walk into.
Hanchi's visit tomorrow sparked this memory. Hanshi Ridgely Abele is Sensei's teacher, our dojo is a reflection of Hanchi's teachings and also it shows that we care for our sensei and respect his belongings.
After the kid's class, it was my class. Since Sensei wasn't there, Tom, a brown belt, was our instructor for the evening. Before we even bowed in I addressed him to see what was on the agenda this evening. He had a confused look on his face. I said, "With Hanshi's visit maybe we should clean the dojo, and get things in order for tomorrow and this weekend." Tom said we would practice our current stuff, get questions answered and then go from there... well before we knew it, we were discussing Hanshi's visit.. Carla and I haven't ever met Hanshi so we weren't quite sure how formal he was going to be. On the literature I've read, err on the side of caution and be overly polite. Tom has met him many times so knew his personality and his training style. Of course he gave us some pretty bizarre examples from his experiences, and pretty much scared the crap out of me and Carla, so we will make our own opinions when we meet him on Friday night. After bowing out, I was confused. We didn't clean, we didn't straighten up, I was just confused. Hanshi is a respected man in the black belt community WORLDWIDE, and we aren't doing the courtesy of cleaning our dojo for his visit... as I walked into the change room, I was disappointed, not because I wanted to clean, but just a bit sad because it seemed like my advanced brother and sister in the martial arts wasn't on the same page as me. When I got into the change room, Carla was in there, she whispered to me, "I have a key, and I will stay to help." So we stayed and cleaned the dojo, top to bottom, cleaned all the areas I saw when I first entered the building... as I was vaccuuming the last leg of floor, Carla came running down the hall, she motions me to stop vaccuuming. I turn it off, and she whispers to me frantically, "Sensei's here!!!" Carla ducks into the change room as he comes into the main entrance. He waves to me and say hi and then ducks into his office. I'm thinking to myself, "OH CRAP!!! OH CRAP!! BUSTED!!!" I feel like a school girl doing something wrong. Then I say to myself, oh well, I'm caught anyway, so lets just finish this job. I turn on the vaccuum cleaner and finish. After putting stuff away, I walk by his office and meekly say, "Good Night Sensei, see you tomorrow night!" and try to sneak away before he stops me... he turns and looks, a smile of pride on his face and tells me to drive safely. Not sure what happened to Carla... I was busy getting things done, for all I know, she may be still hiding in our change room.... LOL
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