Reunion:
The other day, I met with my respected teacher in Fukuoka for the first time in 20-odd years. I owe her so much for first motivating me to seek a way of teaching. But in fact I have met her only three times and have been exchanging New Year’s greetings only. What makes me address her as my respected teacher is her strong attractiveness that never allows people to forget her and her powerful and tender personality.

This is how I came to meet her for the first time. When I was 19 years old, my mother showed me a book and said, “Why don’t you read this book? I think it’s just fantastic.” The title of the book was Why Do You Not Scold Me? It was based on her personal experience of teaching handicapped children. I read it in one sitting and wrote a passionate “love letter” to her soon after. My eagerness obviously communicated itself to her. She informed me of her lecture schedule in Kobe. That is how we met for the first time. She was dressed in a pure pink pantaloon suit. Her age was a top secret. Being a fantastic conversationalist, she never stopped making people burst out laughing. I remember it as if it happened only yesterday. After finishing the speech, she told me that she had been carrying my letter in her bag and looking forward to meeting me. Moreover, she brought so many presents for me that I could hardly carry in both hands. She really attached much importance to each person she came into contact with. This respectable personality never changed over years.

Unaffected and Natural:
She is now 89 years old. (Sorry for giving away your age, my teacher.) When she found me at the ticket barrier at the station in Fukuoka, she yelled at me in her resounding voice.
How astonished I was to see her! She looked so young, indeed, with almost completely black hair (she says she has almost no white hair), gentle expression with no wrinkles at all. Her complexion was that of a woman 20 or 30 years younger. The only problem was her knee that she said had been injured when she tumbled from a battery-assisted bicycle. I went to take care of her. Everything looked almost perfect and well balanced except for the knee problem.
As we kept talking, I found that she was now a volunteer instructor of taijiquan and related Chinese physical exercise systems (called “Renko 18). She even thinks of riding a 750-cc motorcycle, if possible. What an idea! The secret of her “youth” is keeping unaffected and natural at all times. So, when I am with her, her stance of relaxation conveys itself to me and helps me relax as well. So, this meeting with my respected teacher was a most wondrous experience for me.

Paying back Indebtedness:
She has a noted artist among her relatives. I bought some valued works by the artist. Some paintings of fruits based on red in oils and some of flowers in watercolors. Nobuko, the painter, is 97 years old and still keeps painting. Astounding, indeed. A large beautiful garden of roses provides a unique atmosphere of her residence. Her family welcomed me and made me relax as if we had known each other for a long time.
I felt happy to be able to pay back my debt to her in this way giving her my acupuncture treatment. My late mother’s smile came back alive in my memory.