5. From the Five and a Half Mat Dojo to the 60 Mat Dojo
The Five and a Half Mat Dojo soon grew cramped. Although the membership of Shorinji Kempo had reached a hundred, it was tough to manage the dojo, and finances were extremely tight. The entire group of students made a gift of their labor, and it was decided to set to work to build a new dojo.
The new dojo was established on a plot of empty land to the rear of Kaiso's house.
This dojo, called the 60 Mat Dojo, was completed in April of 1950. 16th Class member Dobun Kondo, after meeting Japan's surrender in Manchuria, became a captive of the Soviet Army and was imprisoned in Siberia. He returned home safely and was restored to his original job with the National Railway. However, while he had been living in Siberia, his burned native land of Japan had become a Darwinian hell where injustice and violence were the rule of the day, and the strong fed on the weak. Mr. Kondo had already halfway given up, but when he heard Kaiso speak, "Do you want to join with me to try making in trying to make Japan a better place? Do you want to make a world where honesty does pay?" Mr. Kondo recalls that he resolved without hesitation, "I want to stick with this person for life."
So, half a year after starting off as an organization, people who had heard through the grapevine about the attractions of Shorinji Kempo and wanted to join increased rapidly. So it came to pass that every month on an appointed day, more than 30 youth would join.