Guangzhou, China (CHAKRA)—Japanese Buddhist monk, Kenki Sato received a gold medal for last Saturday for the title of eventing individual. He said the whole award and participation has to do with the “special life path” that he is on.
Toy Boy, Kenki Sato’s horse rode him into first place ahead of South Korea’s Choen Jai-Sik as well as ahead of defending champion and teammate Yoshiaki Oiwa.
According to Sato, horse riding “gels well with Buddhism” and thus he has been horse riding since the age of 7. He said that Buddhism is so important to him that he tends to naturally get attracted to activities that other Buddhist monks also take part in, which includes horse riding. He takes both horse riding and being a monk very seriously.
He completed one year of study in Buddhism at a Buddhist monastery where his father is the clerical head. He is confident that he is good at both horse riding as well as being a Buddhist monk. His goal is to combine his two passions—being a monk and horse rider so that they can become one—and this is the special life path he is on.
Last October, at the World Equestrian Games in the United States, he was the best Japanese performer. He trained in equestrian in Germany just after leaving his temple school.
He followed his father’s footsteps of being a horse rider and wishes to fulfill a dream his father was not able to. His father Shodo, was once chosen as a representative of Japan to participate in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow but his dreams were shattered when the Moscow Games were boycotted that year.
He is very caring of his horse and thanked him sincerely saying that neither of them could be where they are today without each other.
Dharmakara says
Maybe this misguided person needs to refamilarize himself with monastic discipline or disrobe if he doesn’t understand how inappropriate his participation was in riding a horse.
sarah ashwell says
as a horse sitter from oxfordshire and wiltshire im impressed and could offer horse sitting