All though we met in the smoky haze of "the Sanctuary" bar under the lubricating effect of some of Miyazaki's fine shochu, I knew I'd found both a friend and a teacher.

Suzuki Katsu was enjoying a resbit in our little paradise while sea kayaking around the main body of Japanese archipelago. He d already travell from the Shizuoka, where he'd left last autumn and it was now early in spring here in the south. 

To me this was the first thing to really wake me up to the awesome nature of his quest, when I compared it my ordeal of braving my first winter in The valley of Takaharu. While I was thinking "this cold is enough..." he was braving the far harsher northern climes in an open canoe, buffeted by the freezing winds and high swell that accompany that time of year in this part of our globe.

 

To be continued...