Glimpses of Young Tezuka Kunimitsu
Summary:
Glimpses of Tezuka's life before he enters Seishun Gakuen Junior High School.
Age 0
"Congratulations, Tezuka-san. You have a healthy baby boy."
"Don't make that strange face, Kuniharu. All babies look like that when they are born." Ayana chided her husband.
"Kunimitsu is a fine looking baby, Ayana," Kunikazu said. He thought his grandson took after his mother's features. He sometimes wondered how his clumsy son managed to marry a beautiful wife like Ayana.
Age 3
"Otousan, what are you doing?"
"He has good balance for judo. All right, Kunimitsu. Do the kata again. Punch harder this time."
Age 5
"Tezuka-san, thank you for coming. Kunimitsu had been fighting with some of the older boys."
"Ah ... is he all right, sensei?"
"He is fine. Just some small scratch. The other boys though ... we have to send them home."
"Ah ... that's ..." Kuniharu scratched his head sheepishly.
"Is your son trained in martial arts?" At Kuniharu's embarrassed nod, the headmaster continued, "I hope you will impress upon your son to not use violence as means of resolution. The school is concerned that he will not know how to hold back and hurt one of the children badly."
"Yes, sensei."
Kunimitsu had a fierce fiery look in his eyes as his father picked him up from the nurse's room. He had a plaster on his knee and grass stains on his shirt. Ayana would have a lot of words to say to Kuniharu. He did not look forward to them.
"But they were mean! They made Mika-chan cry."
"Kunimitsu, you must find other ways to make them stop. It's not acceptable to hit other children, especially with what Ojiisan teaches you in Judo."
If his grandfather said so, it must be obeyed. Kunimitsu never raised his hand against another person ever again. Not even when they hit him or make fun of him.
"Otousan. Kuniharu. You must find less violent hobbies to teach Kunimitsu."
"Fine. I'll teach him fishing," said Kunikazu. He did not say that while they were waiting for the fish to bite, he would teach Kunimitsu to play shougi.
Ayana nudged her husband meaningfully.
"Ah ... I have work."
"Kuniharu, you should spend some time with your son."
"All right ... in the weekend ... I'll ... ah."
"Don't worry, dear, I'll arrange something for both of you," his wife smiled innocently.
On Sunday, Kuniharu and son found out that Ayana had signed them up for six months of tennis lessons. Kuniharu was terrible at tennis. He couldn't hit any ball at all. He quit after two weeks. Kunimitsu took to it like fish to water. He entered the club's tennis tournament after six months and took consolation prize, six months free intermediate tennis lessons. He refused to play tennis with his father. His mother was a better player.
Age 6
Kuniharu checked the harness and ropes on Kunimitsu one last time.
"Good. You're all set." He pointed to the steep cliff in front of them. "Now, climb!"
Kuniharu helped his son set up his first tent on the top of the mountain. They had a campfire and ate burnt ramen for dinner. At 9pm, Kunimitsu slept cuddled snugly in his father's sleeping bag. He was warm and safe in his father's arms.
"This is the proper Tezuka-male activity," Kuniharu said proudly. He didn't say 'Tennis is for sissies' even though he wanted to. He didn't want Kunimitsu to blurt it out to his wife.
Age 7
Kunimitsu won his first inter-club tournament. He used the prize money to buy new racket, new shoes (his current ones were getting too tight) and tennis books with pictures in them. He can't read all the words, but it's okay. He could understand the pictures. His okaasan helped him read the difficult words and even explain their meaning.
As a reward, his family went to snow mountain for holidays. His grandfather spent the time ice-fishing. His mother cooked and taught him how to ski. His father took him mountain climbing every day. His mother scolded them when they came home late for dinner.
Age 9
Kunimitsu started buying English tennis books. He had exhausted the books written in Japanese. He didn't understand most of the words. The pictures helped. His okaasan taught him how to use a dictionary. He loved his new dictionary. He bought non-tennis English books so he could learn more new words.
Ayana noticed that Kunimitsu was squinting rather often lately. She took him to see an optician. One week later, Kunimitsu had new glasses. He got teased by his classmates, but he liked them anyway. They make him look grown up. It didn't stop him from reading too much. He was called a bookworm for the first time.
Age 10
Kunimitsu had been entering various private club tournaments for four years. His mother helped him save his prize money to fund his passion. It paid for his court rentals, practice lessons, and equipment. He liked that he could use it to buy birthday presents for his family too.
Ayana entered Kunimitsu into the under-12 Tokyo Tennis Tournament. It was his first open public tournament against serious players. He won first prize. The journalists were so surprised at the sudden emergence of a dark horse. They had never heard of the short little boy that won against older players. Ayana bought two copies of every magazine and newspaper in town. She cut out all the articles about Kunimitsu and started a scrapbook.
As a reward, Kuniharu took the family to Europe for vacation. He left his wife and father at Zermatt as he took Kunimitsu up the Matterhorn. He can't help but smile smugly when Kunimitsu skipped past all the trinkets in the souvenir shop to zoom in on a large Matterhorn poster, showing the sharp steep pyramidal peak.
Age 11
Kunimitsu went to watch Japan's National Tennis Tournament for Primary Schools. He did not participate because his school did not have a tennis club or team. He wanted to play in the tournament. He thought he could win against the champion school. He gave his mother a slip and approached the winning team. He played against two of their best players. They were the most exhilarating games he ever played.
Age 12
Kunimitsu asked to be enrolled into Seishun Gakuen. It was the nearest school with a tennis program. This time, he was going to the National Tennis Tournament. Not as a spectator. He wanted to play with people like Sanada and Yukimura again.
Note:
This is an experimental writing. Please feel free to comment on what you like, or don't like or how I can improve it in the future. Thank you.