Friday, February 21, 2020
I first met Sensei in 1978 when I was seven years old and living in Charleston. We lived in South Windermere, on Chadwick Drive, not too far from his dojo on the Savannah Hwy. I was getting beat up by a bully in the neighborhood (true story) and my dad was getting tired of it. I He took me to Sensei's dojo where there was a kids class on weekends. In the winter the dojo was cold in the morning and changing into a gi would make me shiver. Sensei would say "think warm!" which I thought was magical. You have to realize that at the time Kung Fu was on TV and here was a real master....in Charleston of all places! The classes were a mix of karate, judo, aikido and chaos (with me, my brother, and my sister and Sensei's son, John, I think, not always behaving--I recall some chasing and putting a hole in a wall which drew Sensei's wrath). I don't recall how long I trained but it could not have been very long because we moved away in '79 or '80. But I recall loving the dojo and loving Sensei like a grandfather, though at the time he was probably in his 30s like my dad. I'm older than that now!
Anyway to make a long story short, not long after I'd started training with Sensei that bully tried to beat me up again on the playground and I have no idea what I did, but he fell down. Me and a bunch of other kids he'd bullied gave him some kicks while he was down (not proud of that) and he started crying. He never beat me up again and strangely felt compelled to befriend me (and explain that he really hadn't been crying but had the sun in his eyes). Life can be strange that way.
I had the good fortune to train again with Sensei, Chad Taylor, and his other students briefly again in Charleston as an adult in the early 2000s, and I'm still practicing Aikido. Sensei was the real deal and a ray of light in a world that can be tough. I know he inspired many students and will not be forgotten. Even my daughter knows about him. We always tell each other to "think warm!" when we're cold.
My condolences to the Suenaka family and all of his students.
Charles "Charlie" Robert Hughson