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3.19.2003some years ago i trained in martial arts. i gave it up for a few reasons, none of them really having anything to do with this story but who knew there were so many politics involved in womens martial arts?! i had the great fortune of meeting my friend Jenny and consequently some of her friends. i had 2 completely separate connections with jenny. She was great friends with jhhg but she was also a great martial artist. I had recently started training when i met her and she had been completely emersed in her training for some years. she introduced me to some of the most amazing women i have ever met (including Jenny herself). They trained in so many different styles that i had never even heard of. They taught. They organized self defense schools and groups and they did this all over the world. One of those women was Akko Nishimura I was so new to Martial arts and she was not condescending and she spoke to me about the mental and spiritual side of training as opposed to the physical side. THAT appealed to me. I swear when i looked at her you could see the little hearts shooting out of my eyes. We spent a very little time together but in that time i came to see her as a mentor. So when she told me that she and her partner Jen were moving to California I was sad but knew that i would get out to see them at some point. We went out merengue dancing the night before they left....well that not entirely true. we watched while she and yuko danced. some of my most vivid memories in my adult life are watching Akko and Yuko dance. Akko and Jen left for Oakland the next day. We emailed back and forth. I had decided to leave my dojo and she trained there YEARS before and had seen a lot of the drama that occurred there and understood. She encouraged me to find another school. i told her i didn't want to yet. The last e-mail that i received from her was short and sweet. It said: you should see it jenn, I have a FIG tree growing in my back yard. Can you believe it? About 2 months later she was killed in a hit and run accident in oakland. so this story does have an ending...i promise! akko grew up in atlanta, which i knew but hadn't thought much of in the process of the big move. but when i first started thinking about moving there, one of my first thoughts was, "i should find a new dojo". so today i started to do a little research. and i came across a Wing Chun school and figured that jenny knows everyone and might know the sifu there. she emailed me back that he was Akko's primary teacher and that i HAD to go train with him. it might not seem like much to you but it felt like a little tap on the head from an amazing woman and damn it, its my site .: posted by landry 5:32 PM
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