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Aikido,
a New Wind in Morocco; a Woman’s Perspective.
By Emily Busch
AHAN President
March 27th, 2005
The town of Fez, has a history of over 1000 years. Today the
hustle and bustle of life in Fez remains a living testament to
its long
and colorful past. Fez, the Arabic name for “the town of
profits”, is divided into sections, the oldest of which
are the medinas or walled cities. To protect from enemies centuries
ago, this ancient part of the city is an elaborate labyrinth
of
shopped lined narrow streets and pathways which lead travelers
not only into another world, but another century all together.
The
labyrinth of streets (so narrow that it was difficult at times
to avoid brushing the shoulder of an oncoming pedestrian as
they passed), is organized into a system of souks. Souks are
areas
specifically designated for the selling of goods and crafts,
and one souk would
be specifically designated for the weavers, or the tanners,
the brass and silversmiths or for the selling of fresh meats,
sea
foods and vegetables. There were hundreds and hundreds of wonderful
tiny
shops filled with everything imaginable. The only problem was
trying to find a shop against once you had passed it by. There
were many
I never did find again!
The only other method of transportation
besides walking permitted or practical in the medina is by
donkey or burros which are
used for carrying goods. If a donkey laden with goods is
coming your
way, the only prudent thing to do, (I learned by experience)
is to jump quickly into an open shop or be run down where
you stood.
Hurling oneself into a nearby shop I discovered was a great
way to find that “perfect” pillow or scarf that
might have otherwise gone unnoticed.
In the medina…
The shopkeepers are always friendly
and eager to show you their wares. But a warning, if you find
something you
like, the BARGAINING
begins! Seizing on the opportunity, the shopkeepers
would call out a “first price”. Not knowing exactly what the
item of interest was suppose to cost, we learned quickly that a good
rule of thumb was to counter-offer with about half
the amount. From there you work your way down, not up! Even if you think
that
the shopkeeper couldn’t possibly accept a lower
offer it is not time to stop. One more offer, and if
it is accepted it
is time to call it a sale!
Traveling with me was Mrs.
Kazumi Yoshimura, a Nippon Kan student and staff
member. We stopped at one shop
piled
high with the
most beautiful Berber rugs and blankets. The shopkeeper
became very
busy showing us his wares, and one of the rugs caught
Kazumi’s
eye. After thinking about it for a moment, Kazumi,
being the honest person that she is, began to explain
to the merchant that she really
shouldn’t buy anything for herself, that any
extra funds she wanted to save for her daughter.
Kazumi had no idea that she
was actually bargaining with the keeper as she honestly
tried to explain why she couldn’t buy the rug.
The shopkeeper however thought she was bargaining
and kept lowering the price! Finally
he said “okay, okay, last price...for your
kid’s
sake”.
Kazumi looked a little startled as she realized that
she had actually bargained very successfully for
the rug she ended up purchasing
for substantially less that the “first price”.
From that moment on, Kazumi became a great bargainer,
and ended up
doing much of the negotiating for all of us!
First
it is important to experience the culture…
The medina was a fascinating
world, and as ancient as it seemed, it was very clean and orderly.
I still have
trouble believing
that out of the total current population of Fez
at 320,000 people, over
_ of the population live in this medina and the “new
medina” nearby.
At the heart of the medina
is a centuries old mosque and theological university.
Near the mosque were
many tiled
fountains where
families and craftsmen alike came to fetch
their daily water. Echoing down
the walled pathways were the sounds of children
reading from the Koran in schools tucked out
of sight. Every
turn brought
an image
timeless in its humanity. It was a world behind
walls and behind veils, but as I began to learn
about this
culture,
especially
from the women I met in this country, a glimpse
of a deep culture emerged.
Deep in the medina.
We arrived in the city
of Casablanca at 6:30 am. Mrs. Teruyo Sanyo had driven an
hour and a half
from the city of
Rabat to meet us
at the airport. Teruyo-san is a friend
of Mrs. Nanayo Sasaya who originally asked Homma Sensei
to visit Morocco
and
coordinated our visit. Mrs. Sasaya, from
Japan is an active member of
the World
Peace Women’s’ Association
and recently spent three years in Morocco
as
a peace volunteer.
It was Teruyo-san who
acted as host for our week in Morocco.
Teryo-san is also
from Japan,
but
married a man from
Morocco and has lived
in Morocco for over twenty five years.
She has four children, and she and her
husband
run a
busy Asian
restaurant named
the Hong
Kong Café. Her name Teruyo is
difficult to pronounce in Arabic, so
she is nicknamed “Churia”.
At first sight, it was like meeting a
friend we had known
forever.
photo 10 4818.jpg Shopping in
the local market, Teruyo- san and Emily.
Teruyo-san and Emily Busch shopping
in the local markets. |
We met Homma Sensei in Rabat, where
he had journeyed from a week long
trip in
Italy.
Teruyo-san’s family restaurant,
the Hong Kong Café, became
our base of operations. The restaurant
was
located in a busy retail
center of Rabat,
and not only was
the food great, but the access to
local points of interest and the
train station to Fez
and other cities was close
by. During
our stay, Teruyo-san took care of
us like family.
One unforgettable
experience we had with Teruyo-san
was to go shopping
with her
for the restaurant
at the local
farmers
market
in Rabat.
All of the vegetable venders, butchers,
fishermen and craftsmen knew her
by sight, and called
her name “Churia, Churia” as
we entered the market. She was
a tough shopper, and not the lease
bit intimidated by the local merchants.
She bantered easily in
Arabic and walked away more than
once to ensure she got the “last
price” she was looking for.
She was very at home in this Moroccan
culture and
blended
easily into the
color and excitement
of the market. I thought as I watched
her what a journey her life must
have been, to
have traveled
so far from
her home country
and
taken on the customs, culture,
language, religion and other practices
of this
country so successfully.
The
fact that she has raised
four kids here would be quite an
accomplishment for anyone, and
a testimony
to her resilience and inner wisdom.
Even with the support of her husband,
it is a
lot to accomplish
so far from
home for so
long.
Today in Morocco, some of
the traditions, rights and roles
of the past are
changing; especially
for women. Women today
in the more
urban areas of Morocco are taking
places in business and government
and taking
on greater
roles in education
and
policy making.
In the cities of Rabat and Casablanca
not all women covered their
hair with a turban, and most
wore Western styled clothing. The styling
was still
modest, and
I saw very few skirts,
but I did
notice a great difference in
these modern cities than in smaller towns
and villages.
In Rabat
and Casablanca, Western
music
could be heard from time to time,
and I did see an American fast
food
chain or two. One step out of
the cities however, not only was it
stepping into
a foreign land,
but it was like stepping
back
into another century.
As I learned
more about Morocco where the
contrasts between old
and new were
so vivid,
I thought
again of Teruyo-san,
and the strong
spirit she must have to be
able to raise four children, argue
with vegetable
vendors,
run
a restaurant
and be happy in
this land so
different than her own.
Teruyo-san
has earned her 1st degree black belt certification
in Shotokan
Karate in
Rabat, and
she has practiced
Aikido in Morocco
as well. One might think
that it might be her martial art
training that has
made her spirit
strong. I
think it is
the opposite.
I think it is because her
spirit is so strong that she has accomplished
so much and has earned her
black belt
degree. I bet she is a little
wildcat
in Karate
class! Unlike
a
foreign businessman
or government
worker stationed in Morocco
for a year or two, Teruyo-san
is
a native born
Japanese-Moroccan,
and a diplomat
with tremendous
talents
at bridging the relationship
between these two countries.
Teruyo-san
accompanied us as we moved
on to Casablanca
where
we
made our
residence in a
hotel near the
medina arranged
for us by
the Moroccan Aikido Association.
The hotel
was classic, with lots
of white tile and hardwoods.
The rooms
were big, and
the hallways
and staircases wide and
sweeping. I kept expecting to meet
Humphrey Bogart
on
the stairs!
Practice that
evening was held in a large sports arena
and
was attended
by about
150 students.
Five women attended
that
evening
which compared to the number
of women who attend practice
in the
United States,
the
number was
quite low. Considering
the
history
and culture of Morocco
however, five women students was a
good number, and
I enjoyed
practicing with
them. They
all
were very
skilled and practiced quite
well. After practice I
asked one of
our hosts about
women practicing
Aikido in Morocco
and was
told
that although women were
not usually barred from
practice, it was not
yet a fully accepted
practice;
that it was still
early in the
development of women and
Aikido
in Morocco. The lifestyle
in Morocco for
most women,
I was told,
still focused
mainly in
the home and
that this strict lifestyle
especially once they were
married with children
made it
a very difficult
to
pursue outside
interests. I learned that
some dojos still do not
allow women
to practice
there and others hold separate
classes for women. These
rules applied
to groups that held stricter
religious believes and
adhered strictly to
custom and tradition.
Thinking about it, I
had noticed that
custom seemed to dictate
the very distinct and separate
roles for men and women
here, so separately held classes
made sense
in accordance
with other aspects of their
lives.
On our last night in
Morocco, we were invited
to Alaoui
M’berak
Sensei’s home for
dinner. He lived inside
the medina in Casablanca,
and we were
escorted
to his home
through
another
maze of winding
narrow streets by a group
of his
senior students. I am
absolutely certain that
if we were supposed
to find
his
home by ourselves
we never would have found
it. As we walked deeper
and deeper into
the medina, a thought
did cross
my mind
about ever being
able to
find our way out. When
we arrived, we climbed
a narrow staircase to
his home. I had no
idea what to expect,
but was fascinated
to have the chance to
visit a home
inside the medina.
The
narrow staircase led
us to what I can
only think
of
as a
palace! Alaoui
Sensei
and his
wife were there
to greet
us as we looked
around in awe at our
surroundings. The
walls and floors were
laid with beautiful
Moroccan tiles. There were crystal
chandeliers hanging
from the ceiling and
rich
carpets on
the floors. The living
room was lined on all
sides with
a continuous bench
couch decorated elaborately
with matching pillows.
Soon about thirty people
had
joined us for this
gathering and everyone sat comfortably
talking
and laughing
over mint
tea, dates and nuts.
The
women and children
were seated at one
end of the
room while
the men sat
at the
other.
Kazumi
and I joined Homma
Sensei
and the men for the
first part of the
meal. We
were served
vegetable couscous
out of gigantic dishes
placed
on low tables at
both ends of the room. Everyone
ate
from the
giant dishes,
very
skillfully
rolling the couscous
into bite sized balls
which
they popped
into their
mouths with
ease.
After the main
course was finished,
Kazumi
and I
went to the other
end of the room
to join the
women
and
children for tea
and fruits.
Despite a serious
lack of command
of either
Arabic or French
on my part, we
did manage to communicate
quite
well, and
I found the
women to be quite
wise and
strong spirited
with a great sense of
humor. The conversation
focused
mainly
on
family, children,
weddings,
fashion and jewelry.
They asked me how
many children
I had,
and were
a little
perplexed
to hear that
I had no
children
of my
own; that my only “son” was
actually a puppy
named Genbei!
Alaoui
Sensei’s
wife brought out
the photo album
of their daughter’s
wedding and we
all had a great
time pouring over
the
photos together.
Most of
the women
and children there
that
evening were in
the wedding photos,
so it was fun trying
to match the faces
in the
photos with
the faces surrounding
us in the
room.
photo 13 4978.jpg
Welcomed by the
entire family!
At
some point it dawned on
me that
two of the
women in the
photos,
and also
in the room
were both wives
of
Alaoui Sensei.
I must
have had quite
a quizzical
look on
my face, because
everyone burst
out laughing!
I was very
impressed with
the fact that
everyone seemed
to get along
so well
and seemed
very comfortable
with their
positions. Everyone seemed
so
happy! Knowing
that this custom
would not
be
well accepted
in the
United States did
not matter
here.
Sitting closely
with
this large
extended family eating
couscous,
drinking
tea, laughing
and talking
together, it seemed
perfectly natural…I
definitely
was a long
way from
home.
As Vice
President
of Nippon Kan
and President
of AHAN,
I have
had many
opportunities
to visit
other lands
and experience
other cultures.
In Japan,
Nippon Kan has had
a cross-cultural
exchange
program
with a small
village
in Northern
Honshu
called Higashi
Naruse Village.
Every year
in May, the
village holds
a spring
festival
in hopes
of a successful
rice planting
season. I
have been to
this
festival
five times on cross-cultural
tours with
Nippon
Kan
and have
spent a great deal
of time in
family homes
for this
festival.
A Tradition
in Higashi
Naruse Village
dictates
that village
residents
to go
home to home
stopping
to visit, celebrate
and otherwise “eat,
drink and
be merry”.
Each family
presents
an incredible
array of
food
and drink
for their
guests,
and the hospitality
is always
incredible.
On these
tours, it
never fails
for other
Americans
to ask me, “Where
are the women,
why are they
not at the
party”?
At each home,
long tables
are set
up in the
center
of the
house and
covered
end
to end
with foods
and beverage.
Lined up
on both
sides of the table
would
be
twenty
to
thirty
men, enjoying
the
festival
foods,
each others
company,
and the
hopeful mood of the
planting
season
to come.
Looking
at the scene
at
hand, the
question
was not
unreasonable. This was
a
special
celebration, and it would
seem that
the
women
and children
should
be included.
I had this
same
question the
first
couple of times
I visited
Higashi
Naruse
Village,
and
from
an American
perspective,
it seemed
to me
a little “repressive” to
say the
least.
Over time,
I grew
to know
many
people
in the
village
and became
more familiar
with their
lives and
their culture,
and the
question
seemed
to answer
itself.
The culture
and traditions
in
Higashi
Naruse
are centuries
old,
and
while
a satellite
dish
can
be seen
on
the
rooftops
of many
homes,
the Village
office
has
an
official
website,
and a
rock
and
roll
band
plays
at
some
of the
village
functions,
many
of Higashi
Naruse’s
customs
have
not been
changed
by modern
influences.
The village
is still
isolated
geographically
by the
ranges
of
mountains
that
surround
it, and
in so
many
ways
these
mountains
have
protected
the purity
and the
innocence
and the
wonderful
nature
of these
people.
The roles
in
their society
are
still separate
for
men and women
in
ways that
have
disappeared
in
more
modern
parts
of
Japan
and
other parts
of
the world.
While
women
do
work
in
the
Village offices,
the
role of
the
woman, (and
the
man) in
the
home remain
as
it
has
for hundreds
of
years.
At
these
celebrations
I
soon discovered
that
the
women
could
be
found
in
the
kitchen,
(having
a
party of
their
own
mind
you)
as
they
worked
to
keep
the
endless
plates
of
Japanese
delicacies
flowing
towards
the
party
outside.
Like
I
experienced
in
Morocco,
this
arrangement
while
not
the
environment
that
I
grew up
in,
is
accepted
and
natural
here.
If
you
planted
the
women
at
the
table
outside
to
talk
about
local
politics,
future
village
plans
or
farming
conditions,
I
don’t
think
anyone
would
feel
very
comfortable
with
the
arrangement!
When I
was a
college student,
I spent
a year
in Japan
and attended
Jochi (Sophia)
University in
Tokyo. I
also participated
in independent
study projects
in very
rural parts
of Southern
Japan. After
my year
spent in
Japan, I
traveled through
Southeast Asia
with friends
for a
year on
a budget
of $1000.00.
Obviously it
was a
low budget
tour of
the countries
we visited,
which we
experienced from
a very “local” perspective.
My
travels have
taught me
not to
judge. That
what is
right for
some is
not right
for others
at different
times in
their own
cultural development.
I have
never personally
experienced any
cruelty or
the feeling
of severe
oppression in
my travels
even though
by American
standards some
of what
I have
described in
this article
might be
termed as
such. I
believe in
the human
rights of
women, of
all people,
and like
to see
education and
health and
freedom developed
in places
where it
has not
been. It
was my
hope on
this trip
to Morocco
that Aikido
would be
a new
wind in
Morocco for
the women
there, but
a gentle
one that
rose from
their own
culture and
in their
own time.
Morocco
remains a
men’s society today,
but the women I met in Morocco had a wonderful strength and
wisdom
that I could feel.
I practiced Aikido with women in Morocco, and whether their
hair was covered or they chose
not to, there was a power within them.
I met one woman in Casablanca who wore no
scarf,
braided her hair in cornrows and rode a motor scooter. She
was
the exception however,
a little ahead of her time!
Sometimes
if we
measure the
traditions, economic
standards, religion
and lifestyles
of others
by the
way we
were raised,
it can
lead to
unfair judgments.
To try
to force
our standards
on others
is not
an approach
that will
be readily
accepted. On
this trip
I was
able to
meet many
women from
Morocco. Some
of those
women were
covered except
for their
eyes, and
in the
little time
I was
able to
spend there,
I could
not possibly
learn the
totality of
their experience.
I did
experience the
kindness and
wisdom in
those eyes,
and experienced
the kindness
and hospitality
that was
extended towards
us. Experiencing
openly the
heart of
another country
affords a
communication that
goes beyond
language; it
is the
heart to
heart communication
of respect.
I
learned on
this trip
that many
of the
preconceived ideas
that I
had held
were just
that, preconceived
ideas based
on distant
information. Visiting
the ancient
Islamic culture
of Morocco
was a
revelation to
me, and
very eye
opening.
In
this land
of many
different customs
and traditions
I want
to that
Alaoui M’berak
Sensei for his wisdom,
his kindness and his understanding
of Aikido, past present
and future. Through
Aikido,
I hope a new wind comes
to the women of Morocco.
Sincere
thanks to
all of
the people
I had
the opportunity
to meet
in Morocco
who made
this experience
unforgettable.
Hope
to see
you again
soon!
Related articles:
A
Friend for Life; Women I met in Morocco.
Nippon
Kan Vice President, AHAN President Visits Morocco.
Preserving Our Traditional Heritage.
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