We were in what appeared to be a yard, O'Sensei and myself, on a warm and bright afternoon. He was old; I couldn't see myself. Before us, stuck somehow to a high wall, were the credentials of many he had once elevated to positions of honor and responsibility. Without saying a word, he handed me a board brush and began to soak the certificates with his. I joined in. The ink ran down the certificates and down the wall to the ground, until the paper and the wall were all white in the afternoon sun.