Report of my fathers ceremony in Japan on the 27th march 2005
By Sachiko Kase
It was bright and sunny that day of 27th march 2005. The closest family and a few close students who especially came for the occasion were all gathered at Ichikawa cemetery for the final trip of my father. The Buddhist priest came at 10am and began the ceremony.
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After his prayer, each member of the family said their last good-bye by offering incense in front of the grave. Then, we put some water on the tombstone which has a meaning of purification. Now, my father rests in peace beside his ancestors in the family grave forever.
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Then, we had a lunch-shinobukai which took place at the Royal Park hotel. All our family (both sides), friends and people from the karate came to share this moment.
The lunch began with the Kenka, a white rose laid by each guest in front of the photo of my father. Then M. Takagi, a friend of my father and belonging to the karate club of the Chuo University and a former good rival, made the first speech. Then followed by the vice-president of the Japanese karate federation, M. Hasumi and finally M. Murata, a friend at the college.Both told that my father left Japan 40 years ago to spread the karate all around the world, and that he was maybe the last Samurai.
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Jean-Pierre Lavorato, the oldest french student who also represented the French federation of karate said some words, told that he wanted to thank my father for the huge work and knowledge he brought to the French karate, and that 80% of the French teachers were directly or indirectly trained by him.
The European students who came for this occasion were:
Jean-Pierre Lavorato, Christian Babille, Jean-Marc Lopez, Pascal Lecourt (representative of Shotokan Ryu Kase Ha Instructor Academy), Christian Leromancer, Bruno Garnero and his wife Frédérique.
Among the guests in karate, we could recognize M. Someya, M. Naka and M. Suimon of the Senshu University;
From the JKA: M. Setoguchi, M. Ueki, M. Iida, M. Kato, M. Aragane, M. Sugiura; And of course M. Kon, one of his closest friend.
At the end of the lunch, Kimihiko, my brother-in-law spoke in the name of our family to thank everybody.
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