An Extraordinary Gift

On Saturday, I received an extraordinary gift from Sean Robinson, one of our newest black belts at the Okinawan Karate Club of Dallas. He presented me with a bamboo bo (six-foot staff) hand-worked in great detail with martial arts sayings in both English and kanji, figures demonstrating waza (martial arts techniques), and artwork from my life like my name and that of my extended family, other  hobbies such as archery, music - even some Irish bits!

I'm very touched and grateful to Sean (hey, us Seans Of The Correct Spelling have to stick together). But I'm especially grateful to Sean's father, Van Herron. Van is a martial artist and teacher of some 40 years' experience, and he crafted the bo as a favor to Sean. He is a member of that generation of Vietnam-era veterans who grew up in martial arts while stationed on Okinawa; some the finest martial artists this country has ever seen toiled as students in small dojos there at the same time as Van. Sean, you must be in hock to him for a loonngg time!

I've taken a number of photographs of the bo here, where you can see all the details. Take the time to read the sayings; there's a lot of good thought there.

I've also done an experimental Photosynth of the bo, which is a 3D representation created from regular 2D photos. It's 77% "synthy", which is pretty good, but it could definitely be better.

Thanks again Sean - and thank you very much Van!