Asashoryu  announced his retirement. He has already been involved in several scandals and his recent violent behavior toward a man has provoked this consequence. Some are great fans of him and others think of him as a disgusting guy. I think he is a very interesting sumo wrestler so I miss him. Of course he should have behaved better but I don’t think we can only blame him because sumo society and outside of sumo society couldn’t stop his behavior and they just let him do as he wanted. I always wonder why sumo wrestlers can often go for a drink so late at night, as late as the wee hours of the morning.  Originally sumo was a sacred event to foretell if the following year would bring an abundant harvest or not. It was a kind of ritual art. Then it turned into a martial art. Now look what it has become! In many parts of the world, merely making money is not enough to gain any respect any more. Asashoryu won the Emperor’s Cup as many as 25 times . The authorities told him to behave with more class as a sumo Grand Champion but they didn’t show him or make him understand what class was.  We have some traditional sports and games such as kendo, judo, or shogi.  Being strong is important but being polite and fair is essential. Whenever Asasyoryu won a Championship, Takasago sake brewery in Fujinomiya ( this is my favorite ) received an order and sent a lot of sake to the Takasago stable to which he is attached.

 I went to Yamagata Zao hot spring. Yamagata’s hot spring is different from the spring on the Miyagi side of Zao. The hot spring is very effective. It’s really good for your skin, stomach, après-ski bruises and cuts, high blood pressure and nervous tension. Since it contains hydrogen sulfide , if the water gets in your eyes it causes smarting. It’s better to take off any metal things such as rings. The water will rust the metal. Or if you soak cloth in the water the cloth will weaken.  I am a bath fanatic and whenever I stay at a hot spring resort I take baths for too long and too often. It is said on the first day, one should take a bath just  once or twice for a short time and on the second day one can take more and stay in longer. I wish I could stay at that resort for a week without doing anything.I also sleep long hours when I go there. I could sleep 10 hours in a row. Am I too lazy ?

I joined the Sunday Zazen meeting in Hara ( numazu, Shizuoka). I got up early and drove to the temple.

On my way to the temple I saw a beautiful sunrise illuminating Mt. Fuji splendidly so I pulled over my car and took some photos of the mountain. I wanted take some photos of the sunrise too, but I didn’t have enough time to do that.

People say ” The early bird catches the worms.” And I think it’s true. I often sleep late on Sundays and I feel bad having done so. Particularly in winter because daytime is shorter so getting up late only emphasises this. I hate my lazyness. But I feel happy tody. I did zazen and became totally refreshed.

The people at the meeting are all nice and calm. The priest told me not to think when I do zazen. But it’s not easy for me. I have a lot of things in my mind. To have peace in the mind I have to make it clear and empty.It may takes ages for me to accompliah it. The priest recommended me the book ” Wild Ivy ” written by Zen master Hakuin and translated by Nrman Waddell. We are going to have a reading class on this book in English. If you are interested in this study meeting feel free to ask me.

I heard the basketball player, Michael Jordan practices zen and it makes him happy. Why don’t we try,too ?

Izu is located to the South of Hakone. It’s a peninsula with many hot spring spots, beautiful waterfalls, beaches and mountains.

I used to go scuba diving when I was younger but I stopped doing that for various reasons. Somehow I went diving again for the first time in many years.

Izu is known as one of the best diving spots in Japan. Particularly ” Ose Zaki ” in Numazu is known for its various kinds of fishes. It’s a part of the Suruga Bay and the cove faces to the north, so even if a tyhoon approaches that sea is calm .

I saw a little of Mt. Fuji. This time of the year, you can’t see it very often and Mt. Fuji in Summer doesn’t have snow on the top so it looks very different from winter one. Also the part is on the west side of the peninsula so we can see a beautiful sunset over the ocean.

Each tme I dive in the ocean I always feel something interesting about the sense of time. I don’t know how to put it. It always riminds me of the old Japanese folk tale ” Urashima Taro “. I’m going to write the plot roughly and if you know anything similar please let me know. I guess the author of this folk tale must have been a diver.

Urashima Taro saw a turtle on the beach. The turtle was being tormented by a group of children. He felt sorry for the turtle and made the children stop. The turtle was so thankful that he took Urashima Taro to a casttle at the bottom of the ocean. There Urashima met a pricess Otohime and they had a big party.Urashima stayed there having a lot of fun. But eventually chose to go back to the ” real world “. Otohime gave him a jewel-encrusted chest to take back to the land. She told him not to open it. When Urashima got back, he was confused because he couldn’t find anyone that he knew. In fact , 300  years had passed instead of three years ! Finally, he opened the chest and a cloud of smoke enveloped him. Then he turned into 300-year-old man.

Unlike this story, by my experience when I came back from diving I felt more energetic and younger , though.