Meet Musashi

A Japanese Samurai Peace-walker.

While the world listens to threats of nuclear war, he walks to spread the message of world peace. His name is Musashi, a visitor fromTokyo, Japan. My friend Greta met him on a recent stroll along the Venice Boardwalk. Her curious nature made her stop and strike up a conversation with him. Inspired, Greta took his picture and information and sent them to me, knowing I am an American Peace-walker and would want to meet my counterpart from so far away.

I contacted Musashi and invited him to my peace garden at my home in Venice Beach. I couldn’t wait to meet him and exchange stories and discuss how we went about reminding people the importance of solving our problems in a peaceful way.

My roommate Maureen greeted him at the gate. I was proud to wear his hat and hold his flag while we took pictures. Over a cup of tea, this man in his thirties, shared his mission with us.

“My mission is to get people interested in world peace and create positive change. In my case, I go to places where many people are and I have a dialogue with as many as I can. I take pictures with the people I meet and post them to Instagram. (samurai__musashi).

This is to appeal for world peace and to share the Bushido – The Samurai Spirit with others. By increasing the number of people who understand and act Bushido, we will be a step closer to world peace.” My curiosity was peaked and I asked him to give me some specifics. He shared with me the seven virtues of Bushido.

It is about making sure that we do not become indecisive and that our decisions are made and based on the right reasons.

By choosing compassion over confrontation, and benevolence over belligerence, Bushido demonstrates ageless qualities we all admire. Today this lesson could not be more timely. I got it. All these qualities would decrease the amount of anger in the world. I felt connected to this man. We shared the same values.

As John Lennon once said, “Peace is not something you wish for. Its something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” For our second meeting, I suggested we drive to the San Fernando Valley to participate in the Interfaith Solidarity March which was on Sunday September 10th, The event was also a memorial for the 9-11-01 attack on World Trade Center. The walk was 2 miles long and started at our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, and continued on to theTemple Judea, and finally to the Islamic Center to reject violence. More than 500 people attended. It was a good feeling to see the commonality as people drove by beeping their horns and cheering us on. Others along the way just started walking with us.

Once we made it to the Islamic Center we ran into friends from Venice Beach.

Another reminder that even our neighbors in Venice share the same values. They were curious about his traditional Japanese clothing. He explained he wears a shade hat made by knitting stems such as rice straw and Makomo. His clothing is one of the oldest Japanese style clothes, called Hakama. It is clothing worn from the waist to the bottom.

Later as we enjoyed a bowl of noodles and shared our pictures, I felt satisfied to know that a simple task like walking is a fundamental activity for humans, from all walks of life.

In closing, I would like to quote Peace Pilgrim, “We the people of the world need to find new ways to get to know one another for then we will recognize that our likenesses are so much greater than our differences may seem. Every Cell, every human being, is of equal importance and has work to do in the world.”

I challenge you to find yours.

Peace

Logan Mote (Eartheart)