Читать книгу Empty Hand - Kenei Mabuni - Страница 14

Several times I had the experience of spontaneous reactions towards sudden danger. When I was 16 or 17 I went with a friend to the Shirahama beach in the Wakayama prefecture. We wanted to enjoy the view of the Senjōjiki cliffs. I was wearing a swimming suit, and I just turned my back to the sea and fixed my belt when I was suddenly hit by a huge wave. My friend, facing the sea, saw the wave coming and ran away. But I could not see it and was fully stricken. In this very moment I understood that a wave had swallowed me and that my body had lost its freedom, and so I clung instinctively to the rocks the breakers had thrown me against. Had I allowed the wave to draw me into the sea I would not have survived. Many people have lost their lives this way.

Towards the end of the Greater East Asia War9 I was stationed on the Philippine island of Cebu. When the American troops had landed there with considerable force, we had to flee together with the Japanese settlers to the central highlands. We had to march at night because in daylight American reconnaissance aircrafts were cruising over our heads. So we were marching in total darkness, one hand touching the belt or the shoulder of the man in front. Suddenly I slipped and fell down the slope. When I regained consciousness I found myself about 15 feet below the path, and I was gripping my knapsack. Astonishingly I had remained uninjured. I thought: “Maybe it’s not such a good idea to stay behind.” Then I climbed up the precipice as quick as I could and managed to join the others. I remember that again I thought how helpful it was to practice karate. Once more my body evidently had spontaneously reacted to the sudden danger so that I remained unharmed in spite of the deep fall.

There were many similar occasions, maybe less dramatic, in my life to make me realize that without karate I could have lost my life or at least would have been seriously injured. Some may say that my reactions were due to special training. But this is not correct because everyone can reach the same result if only the person’s karate practice is serious and continuing.