A saddening aspect about not going home for Christmas this year is that I’ll be missing Misogi. You can read more about it on Wikipedia. When I left Florida, I left behind my father’s dojo where I had learned martial arts since I could walk. The training has been severe, empowering and very remarkable and I’m a better person having gone through my father’s teachings. Every year, we would celebrate the new years by gathering with all of the martial art students at the beach on January 1st. We were instructed to eat no meat a day before the ritual and in all white, our group would march down to the beach.
The ceremony consisted of meditation, prayer, incense burning and basic exercises to build up our body heat. Temperature was generally 40-50 degrees and water temperature was around 50 degrees. We would march into the water, gather in a circle and Ki-ai in unison. You don’t feel the cold and your body has no been cleansed for the new year. That afternoon, the entire group meets for sushi and sake and I only wish we could do that ritual everyday.
This year, I’m missing it. I’ll be doing the ritual myself and biking to ocean beach, dressing in my Aikido uniform, taking a bottle of sake and following the steps alone. There’s something powerful about doing it as a group and those who don’t do misogi are those that generally don’t stay around very long.
Something else that is saddening but makes me equally as proud. My training partner, Matthew, will be stepping up to lead in Misogi with my father. It’s Matt’s first time leading the group and I’m honored that he’ll be there in my absence. I’ve trained with Matt for nearly 7 years and he’s been a great partner and friend. I don’ think Dad will ever appoint Matt to be the class leader aka Sempai but if he does, I know that Matt is completely deserving of it. When I left on June 1st, I had a flight at 2PM and I spent the morning teaching the kids Aikido class as I have for the past 5 years. Matt had to really step up when I left and he has the bruises and broken fingers that I had when I was first put in my role at the age of 14 as Sempai but he’s ready now and this misogi will be his chance to show it.
