講道館柔道 （Karate Kid）

So I'm looking at the website for the Kodokan, the dojo that founded Judo.  Apparently its the only thing in the world I want.

My attempts to find a dojo in Yokohama have been frustrating.  The classes sponsored by most dojos around here are meant for little kids (equal parts daycare as judo class), and then the open sparring time is targeted towards adult black belts.  Most young men make the transition from white belt to black belt through judo clubs at their schools, meaning those training options are off limits to me

The Kodokan in Tokyo, aside from being renowned for having the highest level of instruction anywhere in the world, sponsors intensive courses with classes meeting every day.  (Most I've done was twice a week, and even that was pretty intense.)  They even have a hostel for those enrolled in their programs to stay at.  The level is such that after a year of training, I could take a black belt.

Its a full hour of travel to get there, so I doubt with my current class schedule I could enter any class, but I'm toying with the idea of taking the month long winter break as a kind of judo pilgrimage, living at the Kodokan and doing all judo all day erryday.

The idea of that is especially appealing in the sense of a spiritual retreat.  When I rowed crew, spring training had two-a-day practices everyday.  So I would wake up, row, nap, eat, row, eat, and sleep.  That would be my entire day.  No planning ahead for deadlines or doing homework or anything.  And it was beautifully zenlike.  It was only a week, but it felt so profound.

When I was writing my senior essay on samurai, something triggered that memory, and connected it to a samurai's training.  And I wanted to be a samurai so much, rather than holed up in the library.  The following notes scribbled on the margins of a draft (induced by bibliography madness) convey what I went through over the course of one day.
I wish I were a samurai.  I'd be great at the warrior's life of virtue and perfection through physical training.  I want to do two-a-days all day, every day.  Klingons are like samurai except blacker.  Pokemon is racist, because Black and White are separate but equal.  Jersey shore is the most amazing thing ever.  I really want to get a spray tan.  WHAT AM I DOING TOMORROW, do I have time for a spray tan before hockey?  New haven Tanning.  Angry birds is much more fun with sound effects, apparently.  Beer is the salvation of all bibliographies.

So now I'm mesmerized by this idea of living and training at the Kodokan.  If I could throw out all this anxiety I have about not being satisfied with my Japanese ability, and the unease I have about being alone in a foreign country, and all those little things that are wearing me down everyday...  I don't know.  I can't stop thinking about it.

And also a spray tan would be neat.