As a martial arts teacher, you’ll find that some of your students will benefit from being an assistant instructor, etc. Some may complain about others when the going gets tough for them, forgetting the benefits they got from the martial arts. Genhachi Komatsu was one of them.

Genhachi was a rather obscure martial artist. He was a born samurai and specialized in archery. True to Japanese tradition, his older brother was the head of the dojo. Up to the age of eighteen, Genhachi helped his brother run the dojo and everything was good. His older brother made everything easy for him so he didn’t realize what he had.

When Genhachi was eighteen, a scandal concerning graft broke. It happened in the town that Genhachi’s family controlled. Japan didn’t tolerate graft and they also believed that the head man was responsible for his subordinates, so parents were held responsible for their children. When word came from the Shogun that the brother, being head of the family, would be executed, naturally his family was disgraced.

Genhachi got mad at the injustice of it and ran away to a forest near a farm village. He gave up on people, decided to hell with them. He closed the gym when he ran away. When the villagers found out about this situation, they felt sorry for him and would leave food for him which he refused to eat most of the time. Although he was eighteen, he looked much older. He never bathed.

A widowed woman with a son, who found it difficult to remarry, got interested in Genhachi. Having heard his story she felt sorry for him. She was ten years older than him. She told him, “Genhachi! I want to talk to you.”
“Who’s there?” asked Genhachi.

“I’m a neighbor. I want to tell you something. I know your problem. You had it good and now you’re feeling sorry for yourself; you think everybody let you down. Well, you can come out of it by having pride in yourself.” She kept working on him this way.

But Genhachi wouldn’t listen to her and refused to do anything, so she compromised him by sleeping with him. He couldn’t understand why she had done it, after all, he was filthy, not having had a bath for two years. She told him that she did it to let him know he was a human being. Genhachi felt ashamed upon hearing that and straightened up and began to practice archery. He got pretty good at it.

Then one day, thieves came into the village and the woman asked Genhachi for help. Genhachi wanted to know why he should help, so she told him to show gratitude, after all, the villagers had helped him by giving food. Genhachi agreed and was able to capture the thieves by shooting their heels with his arrows. Word got around about Genhachi’s skill and what he had done and he began to get jobs as a watchman and bodyguard.

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When Genhachi was twenty-eight years old, the Shogun expunged his brother’s record, since the original prosecutors had all died, reopened the case and found that his brother wasn’t really the guilty party. When that happened, Genhachi went back home. The villagers told the woman that she wouldn’t see him again, so she went back to her family.

Two years later a palaquin (a hand-carried carriage) stopped in front of her house and out stepped Genhachi. During the time he had been gone, he had given her his name by changing the records on their birth certificates, that was because she was of lower station than him.

Up to the age of sixty (at which time he retired) Genhachi taught archery. He would have his students shoot at a target which would be from 150 to 200 yards away. He had the ability to direct his students aim while watching them and without looking at the target. For instance he would say, “Move the bow up an inch; hold your breath; release the arrow now!” His students would hit the bull’s eye every time. Genhachi knew just what corrections to tell his students.

Then one day, when he was about sixty years of age he made a mistake. He told his wife that he was going to quit teaching because he lost that ability, but she said that he could still do it; but he couldn’t so he retired from teaching.

One day as Genhachi was shopping he came across some plates that he liked. They cost three ryo and since his eyesight was bad, he asked the shopkeeper: “Are there any flaws?”

“No.” replied the shopkeeper. “Are you sure?” asked Genhachi. “Yes,” said the shop keeper.

When he got home and showed them to his wife, his wife told him that that she noticed two tiny flaws in the plates. Genhachi took the plates back to the shopkeeper and showed him the two flaws, saying, “I’m returning these two plates because of the flaws but I want you to keep the money. I believe the best about people and I want to think that you didn’t try to swindle me. That’s why I want you to keep the money.”

Genhachi was an odd person. He lived his own life and didn’t let others influence him. He believed in the good in man. Another time he went to a merchant wanting to buy hachi. He asked him about it but the merchant couldn’t explain, he just said: “Well, sometimes it’s two ryo and sometimes three, depending.”

Genhachi’s wife thought that the merchant was trying to cheat him and said so but Genhachi said: “No. I’ll pay three ryo.” He tried to prove that the man was good. Word went around that Genhachi was an odd duck and consequently all the merchants started quoting him two prices with the same results – Genhachi always paid the higher price.

After a while the merchants became ashamed of themselves and so all got together and decided to return Genhachi’s money. Genhachi actually received more money than he had paid.

Genhachi could have deceived his students but instead choose to quit when his ability started to leave him. He was a true believer in the adage: “It’s what you are like when you’re old that’s important.”

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