This is a page entirely about Kiru and is a compilation of what several of us have to say. Some of us have known him for a long time. Some were in school with him. Some saw him training at the park long before meeting him. But together, we're able to tell more details about him.
As a person, Kiru is friendly, honest, reliable, and definitely somebody to admire. I've seen him change peoples lives shortly after getting to know them. As a Martial Artist he's quick, powerful, knowledgeable, and very focused. As a man, he is unique. To him, every moment of every day should be charrished. He's the guy you'll see smiling in the worst circumstances. He'll refuse to be defeated, overcoming incredibly difficult odds. In fact, part of his daily routine is to get himself into frightening situations (usually involving rock climbing) and find ways to get up or down without falling.
Kiru began his Martial Arts training when he was 5-years-old, having been noticed by a master who had no students. While most children wished only to play and can seem impossible to get to focus, Kiru seemed to crave the training. Every technique he learned so quickly it was as though he were already born with the knowledge.
Since the moment he began, Kiru wanted to do nothing but train. Of course, kids have their toys. So, what did he ask for? Toy swords, nunchaku, Ninja figurines, anything Japanese, story books having anything to do with Martial Arts, and so forth. His entire life was Martial Arts. He'd come home from school and head straight for his bedroom and practice his kicks and punches. When there was a playground outback, he'd use the monkey bars fo pull-ups and other exercises. But most of his time was spent in the woods at a creek a short distance from his home. Though his mother hated when he'd go off alone into the woods, he'd sneak away to train.
Over the years, Kiru was able to learn several other arts from various teachers and sources. He learned Tae Kwon Do, Praying Mantis Kung Fu, Traditional Ju-Jutsu, and a few others. Then, at the age of 10 Kiru learned about the Centurion Judo Club. His grandmother agreed to pay for his lessons there, and so he joined. Every Saturday was spent at the Centurion Judo Club, while the rest of the week was spent on his other Martial Arts training.
The best part of joining the Judo Club wasn't even the training. Actually, he got bored with the training, being used to the freedom of outdoor training and hard core fighting. The best part of joining was that he got to go to Judo Tournaments. And, as one might expect of Kiru, he would bring home first place awards. The tournaments were exciting. But only one stands out. He was faced against an opponent who was from another dojo and had been beating all the people from Kiru's dojo. It was a long and hard fight, but suddenly Kiru countered a movement and tossed his opponent. He applied a strong hold for 30 seconds for a win.
A particular match that may forever stand out in Kiru's mind is one that was not even a tournament fight. It was a randori (free-style practice fighting), where he went up against the best fighter in the club who he watched beat adult black-belt at the age of nine. It was a girl who was one year younger than Kiru. He faced her when he was 13 and she was 12. A long fight, definitely. Certainly a vicious one, as well. He fought hard, as did she. Every technique countered by one another. Eventually, the sensei stopped the fight. They came out equally, as neither could overcome the other. And to this very day, no other fighter has proven as much a challenge as that one small girl.
In school there were many people Kiru had to deal with, but he'd always had to deal with the rule that he must keep out of fights as much as possible, and not show his skills. Still, he would find himself stuck in fights. Yet he wouldn't show his actual skills. Well, usually. There were a few occasions when he'd get pushed too far and teach the bullies a lesson. For instance, a teen who liked pushing around all the younger kids. One day, being pushed too far, Kiru was dealing with him and his friend. He tossed the guy's friend like he was nothing and went after the other guy, who ran away as a coward.
There are many stories to be told of Kiru's childhood years, when he would give a quick glimpse of his skill. Here are a couple. At around 11 or 12 years, Kiru saw someone about to get beat down by a base ball bat. He jump kicked the attacker. Of course, this only pushed away the attack, but the attacker was still ready to give somebody a very harmful blow. Swinging the bat again, with a new target, Kiru blocked it with his forearm. This enraged him, though he remained still. The attacker grew fearful, and as Kiru began to step toward him, he ran away fast.
In another event, where Kiru demonstrated his leaning toward cockiness and showing off, there were two other kids harassing him and his brother. So, he said he'd fight them both if they'd leave them alone afterward. They agreed, thinking they'd easily take this one kid who obviously would pose no threat. Kiru then leaned toward his younger brother and said, "watch this". He then proceeded to manhandle the two other boys. After this, he was given greater respect by the two, and his brother got a glimpse at how good a fighter Kiru could be, if he chose to be.
After a while, Kiru began using his brother as a test subject for ideas he had, and also would teach him techniques here and there. He really enjoyed teaching, but would get frustrated with the way his brother couldn't execute a proper kick. It took him a long time to realize that others couldn't do this so easily, but had to learn to move properly. Have began at age five, Kiru seemed as though he'd automatically had such skills.
In 7th grade, Kiru upset a school gang, which lead to him being targeted for daily harassment. But he was able to let it fly. It hardly affected him, as he was trained to overcome such things. However, one day he was confronted by 3 of them. They kept pushing him into his own locker until Kiru couldn't handle anymore. He turned and... well... never got harassed by that entire gang ever again.
After this, he began teaching every guy in that school who would mess with him why it was no longer a good idea to do such a thing. Many fights that would end fast lead to Kiru becoming known as a dangerous person to upset. Though there was a lot behind every fight, all anyone saw was a guy bumped him in the hall and Kiru smashed the guy's head into a locker (this guy would purposely slam into Kiru every day). In fact, for that situation, he was asked by someone later on why he was slamming a guy's head into a locker. But Kiru merely answered with a grin. You can probably figure that Kiru never let anyone mess with him ever again at school.
At the age of 15, Kiru was given permission to take a serious student. For this, he chose his best friend. After a while of proving himself as an instructor, he was able to take another. He chose his brother. His friend went from being pushed around to being unbeatable in typical schoolyard fights. In fact, he got into so many fights at school that he ended up testing out a lot of the methods taught.
After a while, Kiru initiated his two students into the mysteries with a ceremony and gave them both names. His friend he named "Arashi", meaning "storm", and to his brother he gave the name "Awase", meaning "to blend". Awase was one of the best he'd known in the art of invisibility, while Arashi possessed the ferocity of the great storms.
At some point, Kiru decided that he wanted to start a club for Martial Artists to help each other with their skills and test one another by beating the crap out of each other. In other words, a fight club. The others liked the idea, and his master had no objections, and so they sought out other Martial Artists and fighters to join. Many did. Most would come and go, though there were several who stuck to it. Kiru's favorite thing to do was to get a few of them together to attack him at once. He loved to push himself and be tested. Though the club was basically free, all agreed that Kiru was their leader. No one dared question this.
At this time, Kiru also would teach others various Martial Arts, always keeping the deeper arts to his 2 chosen students.
Through short terms with many of the people in the neighborhood, he developed a reputation for being an expert in all Martial Arts. People respected his skills. Not because they heard, but because they'd see. At the nearest park he'd be seen doing acrobatics others had never seen before, such as running up walls, walking across high ropes and bars, leaping frop one high and narrow object to another, and so forth. The game of tag was played, and no one could catch him. His was fast and free. And not only that, he could evade a person's attempt to touch him when close by.
He possessed many weapons and displayed a mastery over them like others hadn't known possible. And he didn't even try showing this. He merely devoted a lot of time to practicing in the back yard and at the park, such as running laps and leaping over a rope each morning before school, on top of yoga exercises and qigong.
With his reputation for being an unbeatable force of power, and showing how effortlessly he could manipulate another person's movement, it can be expected that there were those who desired to learn some of his tricks in case they needed such a defense. This ranged from kids dealing with bullies to girls wanting self-defense for the streets. And he'd tailor the lessons to what was needed. In one instance, a girl beat the hell out of a rapist using what Kiru had shown her in just a short time. He focused on the most agonizing methods, also giving ways to escape the most likely holds and attacks.
Eventually, Kiru and Arashi discussed turning their fight club into a Warrior Society. Many in the club tried helping with a new name for it, but it was Mandy (a member), who spoke Japanese, who gave Kiru the word "Kouryou", a word meaning "Hidden Genius". Perfect!!! Kiru thought. And so that is what it's been called ever since.
After this, all the members were given the choice that they could either prove themselves worthy by suffering through various tests, or just choose not to follow along. The reason for this was that many secrets would be revealed, and only the elite were wanted.
The history of the Kouryou Kai is given elsewhere, so why tell it here? Let's get back to the main subject matter of this article.
Over the years, Kiru has proven himself to be intuitive, intelligent, a fast thinker, courageous, and crazy as hell. He'll do the things people fear, and he'll accomplish what others claimed was impossible. He's about 3 times stronger than he looks, which he does on purpose, desiring to appear weaker than he is.
But there is a whole other side to Kiru's lifestyle that needs to also be understood. He LOVES to studdy and learn. He's not even religious, yet could tell you where Islam's god began and prove it with recorded history, while showing also how the Hebrew god came about, quoting more biblical scripture than a priest could know. However, he prefers not to get into debates with fanatics. He is also a mathematics wizard, a good writer, and is even certified in reading blueprints, precision measurements, running metal shop machines, and several other things. He's also very spiritual, going deep within himself. He's a genius when it comes to Psychology, one of his favorite subjects.
Most of all, he seems to be skilled in just about everything. He redecorated a friend's room, explaining why certain things should be certain colors, describing the ways colors effect the psyche, and how certain objects caused certain effects. He got into detail about Feng Shui. There seems to be no end to his insight.
And as a philosopher, he is very wise. His wise insights come from within his own heart. Many refuse to believe they are from him, because he seemed too young to be so wise, and doesn't reflect their view of a wise man.
As a teacher, he's the best I've seen. He keeps it fun and interesting. He keeps everyone motivated. He constantly challenges everyone. And he's truly in love with his art.
