Legends of the Martial Arts Masters by Susan Lynn Peterson

mysterious than a cat climbing a tree.”
    “But what about their invisibility?” said the first student. “How do you explain that?”
    “Camouflage,” said the second student. “Black clothes at night, green clothes for hiding in trees, white clothes for hiding in snow. The army does the same thing.”
    “But what about their ability to disappear?” “Like I said, camouflage,” said the second.
    “No I mean to really disappear, to vanish into thin air,” said the first. “That,” said the second, “is not possible.”
    “Mmm,” said Ueshiba Osensei, who had been listening in on the conversation. The students’ heads all turned to look at their sensei.
    “It isn’t,” said the student. “It isn’t possible. People don’t just disappear.”
    “You’re quick to label something impossible,” Ueshiba Osensei said. “Have you tried it?”
    “No,” said the student, a little less sure of himself now.
    “Do you know anyone who has spent years of his life trying to learn how to do it?”
    “No.” The student began to squirm.
    “I see,” Ueshiba Osensei said. “But still you believe it is impossible?” The student was silent.
    Ueshiba Osensei stood gracefully, then walked to an open place on the floor. “Come,” he said to the student. “Come.” He motioned for the rest of the students to stand and join him.
    The students stood and faced their teacher.
    “Attack me, all of you at once,” Ueshiba Osensei commanded.
    The students knew what their teacher was asking. They had attacked many times as a group on the training floor. It didn’t seem to make a difference to Ueshiba Osensei whether he was attacked by one person or by a mob; he always managed to throw off his attackers and free himself. The students looked around at the furniture, trying to gauge whether they had room to roll out of the throws Osensei would be doing.
    “Attack me,” Osensei said again.
    The students converged, each trying to grab a wrist, or a shoulder, or a lapel. They came together on all sides of their teacher, a large, teeming mass of hands reaching out for the grab.
     
    Slowly, steadily, the students stepped back from the group. They looked around. All they saw were other students. Osensei was nowhere to be seen.
    “So,” they heard the voice from the top of the stairs. “So,” Osensei said, “do you still believe it’s impossible?”
    The students tripped over each other to get to the base of the stairs. Looking up they saw their teacher sitting casually at the top.
    “How?” asked several students at once.
    “Can you teach us?” asked another. Heads nodded throughout the group.
    “It’s a matter of the proper use of ki, or energy,” Osensei said descending the stairs. “Once you’ve developed your ki to a sufficient degree, no explanation will be necessary. Until that time, no explanation will be sufficient.”
    “Would you do it again?” a student asked.
    “Am I a circus act?” Osensei asked. “No, these things take a great deal of energy. I won’t expend that kind of energy just to satisfy your curiosity.”
    The students were silent.
    “Maybe some other time,” Osensei said with a smile. “Right now it’s time for me to disappear into my bed for a good night’s sleep. I suggest you do the same.”

 
    M asutatsu (Mas) Oyama is the founder of Kyokushinkai Karate. When he was a boy, he studied the Eighteen Hands, a Chinese martial art. At age fifteen, he left Korea, where he had been born, and China, where he had grown up, for Japan. He wanted to become a fighter pilot and test his courage serving inWorldWar II. But the w ar ended before he could sign up, and Mas Oyama turned to the martial ar ts to provide him with the challenges he sought.
     
     
     
     Why Mas Oyama Shaved His Head Twice
     
     
    Mas knew that most of his friends thought he was crazy. They all gathered at a local Tokyo restaurant to see him off.
    “I like the haircut, Mas,” one of his friends commented. “It