When I was at the Kainan Middle School, I was crazy about Japanese fencing (kendō). Although I was not exceptionally good at my studies, I liked going to school, because when classes were over, I could to go the kendō gym and practice with my bamboo “sword” until I was worn out. My specialties were a jumping body attack and a side attack to the body. My teacher, Eizaburō Sasaki, was sixth rank at the time, and he taught me those two techniques thoroughly. Sasaki was a small man but was reputed to be the most skillful kendō expert in all of Wakayama Prefecture. I myself was only five feet tall then, the smallest boy in the class, and it was a foregone conclusion that anybody I fought against would make straight for my mask. At just the moment when my opponent, having brandished his sword above my head for a time, started to bring it down on my forehead, I would dodge and thrust at his chest. Sasaki took great pains teaching me this technique. There was one boy in my class I just could not beat.
