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I was thinking about this incident a few days ago, and wanted to include it in my blog.
While I was in Japan, I was training very hard in Aikido. I would wake up at 4:00 am to make it to the dojo by 6:00 am everyday. After training I would go to Sophia University campus and go to class or read books in the library.
In the afternoon, I'd head back to honbu dojo for some more training, or I would go to the Sophia Aikikai club at the Yotusya campus to train some more.
In all, I believe I would put in 4 to 5 hours per day of training.
Well, I'd get home most days after 11:00 PM, so most days I was sleepy, even though I kept pushing myself as hard as I could.
One day, on my way to honbu dojo with Junichi, he just happened to save my life.
I was in a daze, just walking and talking with him. We were getting close to the street, to cross.
I saw green, and to this day I swear I saw green, but the light was actually red. I stepped into the street about to cross. Junichi reached out grabbed me has hard as he could and pulled me down to the ground before I took that step. That step that would have put me infront of a yellow taxi cab speeding around the curve. He would have never seen me, and I would be dead, if Junichi had not been there walking by my side.
I owe him my life. He was a wonderful person and very sincere Aikidoist. I'll never forget that day.
Erik Sasha Calderon
aikido shinkikan
www.shinkikan.com
07-04-2007 06:48 PM 