The Tiger Awakens

[Croco†]

Arthur C. Simmons Junior High School
Highland Hills, California - Circa April 2002


"All right class, who can tell me how long the period of civil war in Japan lasted?"

Another long Friday was winding down at Simmons Middle School as the students in Thomas Hirota's history class kept one eye on the whiteboard in front of them and one eye on the clock. And they knew they had one more period to go before the freedom that was the weekend would come upon them. To some of the twenty-six students in the class, Hirota was a hard-nosed slavedriver that didn't give an inch and took more than he gave. To others, he was an inspiration as his parents were born in the internment camps of the American West during World War II. He was an older teacher that pushed his pupils to bring the best out of them, but contrary to those that don't like him, he cared about his students and made sure that no one fell off the proverbial wagon.

He was teaching seventh-graders, which meant that they were to the point in the year where they would cover the history of the Far East. Coming off the heels of India, the start of the segment covered China and locales such as Thailand and Malaysia...two areas that had no appeal to Kazuhiko Takeda. The spike-haired young man was waiting for the segment on Japan; he was told after fifth-grade that he was born there along with his sister, Natsumi. But he took notes in the language of his adopted nation, and spoke English better than he spoke Japanese. He embraced pizza and hamburgers with an equal enthusiasm as he did sushi and rice. But there were things he could love equally in California than he could in Japan...and one of those things was the game of baseball. He had the jersey of his favorite player, Ichiro Suzuki, hung up on his wall, proudly displaying the autograph he got when the Mariners came to town to play the Dodgers. As he was thinking about the game his family would go to that Saturday night, the question came back to him as another kid nudged him with his elbow.

"Hey, Kaz," he whispered, "you should know this one." Kaz turned to him and rolled his shoulders.

"What was it, Aaron?"

"He asked how long the civil war in Japan was...Sammie said ten years and was off." Just then, Hirota eyed the two boys.

"Mr. Thornton," he said in his booming baritone, "would you know the answer?"

Aaron rolled his shoulders. "I dunno...fifty years?" Hirota shook his head.

"That's incorrect...pay attention. How about you, Mr. Takeda?" Kaz glanced down at his textbook, then his notes before bringing his head up.

"About one-hundred-fifty years," he announced.

"That's good." The teacher looked up at the time, then began writing down names on the board...the names Yoshihisa Ashikaga, Soun Hojo, Ujitsuna Hojo, Shingen Takeda, Kenshin Uesugi, Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu Tokugawa. "These were among some of the leaders of the samurai clans and referred to as 'daimyos'. For Monday, we will start at the beginning with Ashikaga and work our way forward in time." Just as he said that, the bell rang and the kids began a frantic scramble to pack their belongings into their bookbags and make a dash for the door.

However, he had a surprise in hand for one of his students. "Kaz, I need to see you after class."

Kaz's eyes widened; he did not know what he could have done wrong as he approached the teacher's desk. "What did I do this time, Mr. Hirota?"

"It's not what you did...but rather, who you are..." The teacher erased all of the names but one...Shingen Takeda. "Have you ever thought much about your family history...your background?" Kaz shook his head.

"No...not really..."

He still had a confused look on his face, which allowed Hirota to further drive his point home. "My grandparents came to America from Japan, just like many others in that era...with the hopes of prosperity in their eyes. I'm sure they'll teach you about the internment camps during World War II next year in American history...but that is not of importance."

"What is?" asked an impatient Kaz, eyeing the clock as sixth-graders started filing in, "I'm gonna be late!" A smile began to form on Hirota's face as he stood up.

"Kaz Takeda...to know the past is to also know your future," he told him as he pulled a pad out of a drawer in his desk. He set it down and drew a downward arrow beneath the name Shingen, then wrote 'Kazuhiko' beneath the head. "I want you to think about that...and I want you to find out your past if your parents will allow you to. Have them help you...and then tell me what you find on Monday." Kaz nodded as Hirota wrote him a pass to excuse him from being marked tardy.

That weekend, Kaz slaved away on his computer, trying to find if there was a link between him and the warlord Hirota mentioned. He was sure that his father, Katsuro, would have mentioned it to him sooner or later, but he either didn't know or was saving it for a later time. However, the fire of curiosity had been lit and he poured out over site after site of genealogy and family trees. The only time he stopped was to go out to Dodger Stadium to take in the baseball game; other than that, he spend the whole weekend in front of the computer. Finally, he caught a break when he was able to trace his lineage back to the late 16th-century.

Kaz saw a name that he didn't recognize...Nishina Morinobu. He gazed up at his mother, Sumiko, and gave her a questioning look."Mom...do you recognize that name?" he asked. Sumiko thought about it for a moment, then shook her head.

"No...but you can do a search on that name," she told him. As quick as Sumiko could give the instruction, Kaz was looking up the name on his preferred search engine. When he came across the first site with that name, his jaw dropped to the desk.

"Mom! Mom!"

"What is it?" Kaz's eyes were wide as he read the passage.

"It says here...Morinobu Nishina was adopted in 1561...it also says that he was also called Takeda Harukiyo." Katsuro came up the stairs to watch what his son was doing with a keen interest as well.

"And what have we found here?" asked Katsuro.

"Well, Dad...Harukiyo's father's name...was Takeda...Shingen...Hirota was right all along."

Katsuro then excused his wife so he could sit down on the bed and address his son. "Kaz...I wanted to wait until you turned fifteen to tell you that...your grandfather told me at that age. He was especially proud to know that Shingen's blood ran in our family, whereas I was oblivious. I consider it one of the greatest honors in the world...and I know you will too...to know that the great Tiger of Kai lives in your spirit." Kaz nodded and smiled. The next day, he would go to Mr. Hirota's history class and proudly announce his findings to him, then to the class.

The tiger had awoken, and the Kazuhiko Takeda that woke up Sunday morning would be put to bed forever. On Monday, Kaz would wake up with a new vigor...and a feeling of pride that he had never felt in his life.