June 7th, 2003
Nippon Kan Spring Volunteer Project

Every spring and fall for the past twelve years, Nippon Kan members have volunteered their time in projects organized by the Denver Parks and Recreation Department. A dynamic work force, Nippon Kan Volunteers have been nicknamed the “Nippon Kan Army” by Parks and Recreation officials.

This year, the spring volunteer project was held in Bear Creek Park, south of the Denver city limits. Heavy snows this year had damaged some of the nature trails, and Nippon Kan volunteers spent the morning laying crusher fine compound on washed out trails. When this task was completed, Nippon Kan members spent the rest of the morning pulling weeds in designated wilderness areas.

At 8:30 am, the skies were still gray from an overnight rain. Many regular faces appeared at the park check-in along with new members, families and friends. This year Children’s class graduates Brendan Sullivan and Talia Moore joined in as new young adult members. As is tradition, we started the day with stretch exercises, before donning gloves, shovels and wheelbarrows for the work ahead.

This spring volunteer project is run by “Hands on Denver”, the volunteer branch of the Denver Parks Department. “Hands on Denver” is now a city wide program that supports projects such as “Putting the Beds to Bed” each fall to turn the cities flowerbeds for winter, and Trails Day each spring. Twelve years ago this program began with Nippon Kan who was the first group to assist in turning the beds in Cheesman Park in Denver in 1991.

Many thanks to Nippon Kan senior volunteer coordinator Mary Powell and all Nippon Kan volunteers for a job well done! Please read the accompanying articles by Gaku Homma Kancho and senior Nippon Kan student and advisor, Patty Kelly.








Brendan, Talia and Sophia enjoy lunch
after the work is finished.

Pulling up a giant Burdock weed from Bear Creek.
Nippon Kan Volunteer Coordinator Mary Powell



Message from Gaku Homma Nippon Kan Kancho
Memories of Gishi-gishi Weed and Champagne Corks.

When I was younger, I spent my birthdays quite differently than I do now. With the bravado only youth can bring, I used to drink champagne to celebrate the occasion from morning until late into the night. I remember, if somewhat fuzzily, making a necklace of champagne corks that wound around my neck not once but twice. One day I awoke the next morning from one of these celebrations, and knew that that was enough. Champagne costs $20.00 a bottle, I mused. What a waste of time and money. Birthdays come only once a year, and should be an occasion to produce more than an empty wallet and a headache. Birthdays should be celebrated by doing something worthwhile, doing something that will be there after the “morning after”…like planting a tree! So that was it. The party was over. No regrets, no second thoughts, not even a temptation. I was committed to making a change.

This was the beginning of Nippon Kan’s community volunteer programs. No inspired deep philosophical thinking brought about these programs, just one thought, that it was time for a change. Next came action, finding programs to serve. Much later a theme and philosophy of community service as an extension of Aikido practice developed on its own accord. This was over twelve years ago, and these programs have grown until now, the Nippon Kan staff do a great job of organizing efficiently and effectively all on their own.

This year one of our tasks was to pull weeds from the designated wilderness areas in Bear Creek Park that threatened to overgrow other plants in these protected areas. We pulled weeds, some of which had already grown over four feet tall, with roots that threatened never to let go. It was tough going. One of the targeted weeds turned out to be burdock, whose roots are eaten as a delicacy in Japan. One of our native Japanese students remarked that only one of these roots would cost over $3.00 in a Japanese grocery store, and here we were pulling them up by the hundreds! The ones we were pulling up were too old and too big to eat, even at this stage some of the roots were as thick as a human wrist.

Another weed we pulled had to be bagged so that the plants would not release the thousands of seeds they held. In Japan we call this plant gishi-gishi. I have a very bad memory of gishi-gishi, one that came rushing back to me as we worked the park in search of the evil weed.

About twenty five years ago, on a fine spring day in Denver, I was out gathering spring buds to make a “salad”. Why? Well it sounded like a good plan, it was a nice day to enjoy the outside air, and there was of course the fact that I did not have enough money to get my salad fixings from the grocery store. I ran across some young buds that looked very much like plants I had eaten in Japan as a child. These buds however turned out to be from the gishi-gishi plant…which is not meant for human consumption.

I didn’t know this yet, so I took my gathering of buds home to boil and season with vinegar for dinner. It tasted a little bitter as I ate it, and that should have been my first clue…for three days, I was doubled over with stomach cramps.

So, this was my revenge, hacking our way through Bear Creek. I was finally able to pay back the gishi-gishi plants for all of the suffering they had caused me. I can laugh about it now, but back then, being poor and sick did not feel like a laughing matter. Those around me as we pulled the gishi-gishi had no idea what it meant to me, but they helped me achieve my revenge with enthusiasm.

Now that I have spent a few more years on this earth, it is easier for me to readily associate current situations with memories from my past experiences. Looking back, life’s lessons have taught me well, usually of course through painful recourse. Each lesson in its way has been like pulling weeds from my spirit. Possibly a whole lifetime is the process of pulling weeds…

As I write this article, I am sitting at one of the cafeteria style tables in the basement of the Denver Rescue Mission and Recovery facility where meals are served to mission residents and outside guest three times a day. It is the third Sunday in June, and the day every month that Nippon Kan serves meals to the homeless. We just finished serving an early dinner to about sixty residents and in about an hour or so there will be about 300 outside guests lined up for the late evening meal. Some of these people have been standing outside the building all day, waiting for a meal and if they are lucky a bed for sleep.

As I sit writing, I am joined at the table by one of the residents of the mission. He tells me with pride that he has just finished his resident rehabilitation program. He is so happy that he gives me a hug! I can only think that experiencing the lows in life that he has experienced must enable him to feel great joy.

Like clockwork, at a few minutes past seven o’clock, regular Nippon Kan volunteers arrive, and without fanfare, don an apron and begin preparing for the late meal service. Thinking back over the last thirteen years that Nippon Kan has been serving meals at this mission, some things have changed, and some things have not changed at all. One important difference as I watch our crew place napkins and fill water cups, is that what started so long ago with only myself is now supported by a staff of Nippon Kan volunteers that do an outstanding job, month after month. It is volunteer students and friends like these that have make Nippon Kan what it is today, and in the park pulling weeds or here at the mission serving dinner, I appreciate very much all of the talent and support they give.

Thank you
Nippon Kan Kancho
Gaku Homma



One Root
By Patty Kelly, Nippon Kan Senior Advisor

For the past several years in Colorado, we have been in the midst of a severe drought, with low snow pack, fires, and dried riverbeds, streams, and lakes. The earth has become hardened and our trees and bushes have suffered. And so during this wetter than usual spring, and after a night of rain, it was with great delight and wonder that our Nippon Kan volunteers spent a day in the Bear Creek Park doing trail work. The creek was running full. Small pockets and ponds of water surprised us as we walked through the park’s many meadows. Green, violet, yellow and scarlet native grasses burst forth across the fields as we looked to the great mountains still covered with snow. Gulls, sparrows and ducks greeted us with their songs, the constant bubbling of water filled our ears with music and in the distance, between the tall cottonwoods, we could see the crisp white stones of Fort Logan Military Cemetery, a solid reminder of those who walked before us.

Our work consisted of placing and raking gravel across the pathways that meandered throughout the park’s many secret places. We worked in teams, with our leaders giving us direction and instruction so that the work was done correctly and with precision. The many hands together made the work go quickly and efficiently.

After the trail work was completed, we were instructed to pull weeds from the meadow areas and place them on the trails for pickup. Certain plants can spread more rapidly than others and soon take over the native grasses and so by removing them, the natural plant patterns can survive. There were two types of plants that we removed; one was called elephant leaves and indeed, the leaves were just like the large, soft, floppy ears of the elephant - and so soft too! Another plant was the thistle, which grew straight up and had large thorny spikes, making it difficult to grab and pull out. We had to have our gloves on, and be very careful when removing these hardy plants; it was no fun to get one of those thorns in your hand! But interestingly enough, the thistles had beautiful white flowers, almost like a cactus or desert flower, indicating that in some areas of the world, this plant may be considered a beautiful native grass and not a “weed”.

Sensei told us about a plant that he stumbled upon that is native in Japan and very edible and delicious. It has a single study root that grows deep into the soft earth, straight and firm, growing in one direction. If the earth is hard and dry, the roots grow haphazardly with many small, disorganized branches sprouting in various ways. One cannot eat this type of plant, for it breaks and crumbles and it does not provide sustenance. The cool rains that have recently moistened our earth have allowed this root to grow straight and true, flavorful and delicious. And so here in Colorado, we have gratitude for the rain and the moisture that it provides to our native grasses, bushes and trees. For it is they that give us shade and coolness and a place to rest.