Learning to respect resources

As his junior students practice their karate stances and footwork at the Jundokan International dojo on lower-south Perry Street, Sensei Teruo Chinen explains why he’s spent most of his life training young people in this ancient art.

“Karate develops personality, character, and discipline,” he says. “But most of all – respect.”

Near the dojo is the Sensei’s home. It’s a reflection in stone and wood of the respect taught at the dojo.

Sensei Chinen, who was raised in both Okinawa and Japan, has a deep respect for craftsmen of both stone and wood. That deference, he says, comes from growing up in a 2,000-year-old culture, one where 600-year-old pagodas yet stand, where even today you can still see, high up on a rafter, the builder’s signature. The Sensei admires such craftsmens’ skill and labor. Out of that respect, he says, he salvages and purchases stonework that has been touched and carved by “big senior people” to pass the legacy of their minds and hands down to future generations.

Integrated into the Sensei’s home and its grounds are a wealth of ornamental stones from demolished or renovated Spokane buildings. When the Spokane School District 81 administration building burned, he recovered decorative masonry from it. When the Cataldo School was made into a retirement home, he reclaimed stepping stones and columns. Granite pillars at the entrance to his garage came from Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church. Adorning his front porch foundation are 16-square-inch carved sandstone rosettes from a nearby city maintenance building that was demolished and hauled to the landfill.

Hand-hewn stones blossom in native basalt retaining walls that the Sensei built. He’s used them as bench seats in his garden. They anchor his fireplace and buttress the brick archway between his dining room and living room. And everywhere in his house and terraced gardens, stone fragments from the old Grant Elementary School appear. “They’re part of the legacy of this neighborhood,” Sensei Chinen says. “Using them, displaying them, is a way of preserving local history and people’s efforts, showing them respect.”

For many years, a productive source for the Sensei in obtaining historical stones has been Brown Building Materials.

“We reclaim ornate pieces of older facades whenever possible,” says Ron Brown, owner. “These architectural pieces can range from ledges to window sills to slate roofing. Even seldom-found gargoyles to attractive marble carvings”

Brown says his father Richard, who started the business, was originally a building contractor. After getting into the demolition business, Brown says his father found he just didn’t want to throw away perfectly good things from buildings he was dismantling. So, in 1959 he began selling salvaged materials to the public.

“Values. That’s how it got started,” Brown says. “Helping reuse quality resources; providing customers with cost savings.” Today, many people doing restoration work come to Brown for hard-to-find replacements, but the main clientele is do-it-yourselfers.

Sensei Chinen’s “humble house,” too, is a do-it-yourself project-in-progress that continues to benefit from Brown components. The carport’s laminated beams came from Brown’s. The beams in the Sensei’s personal dojo are from Brown’s, as is his front door. Even the 6-foot by 8-foot living room window is from Brown’s. It came out of the ONB Building when that structure was reglazed.

Twice each summer, the Sensei conducts karate camps at his home for boys and girls. So he’s built a parlor, or social room, for them. In its floor are eight large, slate stones from Brown. He says the stones are there to remind students of the eight important precepts of Kung Fu karate they’re to study for a lifetime – from philosophy to breathing methods to sparring and defensive skills.

“In karate you’re taught to look after your friend and he’ll look after you,” Sensei Chinen says. “Craftsmen are like that – woodworkers, stone carvers, the ceramic-tile roofers – respecting each other’s skills, all working together to integrate temple, shrine, garden, pond.

“We must preserve that knowledge passed down from yesterday,” he adds. “Today and tomorrow are our responsibility. Respect for valuable resources – that’s looking out for tomorrow.”