Shorinji Kempo

It must be over 20 years since the town of Derry NH hosted a group of Japanese students for two weeks when they came to Derry to work on their English. Parents around the town did the hosting. For those two weeks we hosted Haji Takeda one of the teachers accompanying the students.

One of Haji interests was that he had studied Shorinji Kempo when he was a student at University. That art is different from karate, which he did not know much about. He enjoyed reading about it from the various Japanese language books I had acquired. We had many adventures and all were sad when those students departed.

The following year he returned for a different reason. He was going to take a motorcycle trip to Sturgis, starting in Windham, the town just south of Derry. We went down to visit him at a party just prior to his trip.

When I was there he gave me several books in Japanese on Shorinji Kempo. They were a gift for me.

While I cannot read the Japanese I can understand the photographs.

One of the books was a large paperback photo book on Shorinji Kempo. I would observe it might have been about the founder's trip to the Chinese Shaolin Temple. The photos are stunning, it also contains several large plates of Shaolin Temple murals.

Shorinji Kempo

(extra edition world Pictorial)