Decoding Karate’s twisting and turning history.

Decoding Karate’s twisting and turning history.

                So, I am a Karate nerd! I am a history nutter and I basically research the history of Karate for fun, but something’s end up at dead ends, which I don’t like, and other mysteries pop up, or answers for questions I never had get flung at me!  Some things I can say for sure would be that the history of Karate all depends on your perspective and goals and what you get out of it is that we have been lied to a fair bit over the years.

                Lie number one….Funakoshi was a student of Azato and Itosu. Well, its not so much a lie as it is a stretching of the truth and some very shady misrepresentations or very suspicious omissions of facts. But we really need not be surprised, the third and fourth generation Karate instructors saw a franchise opportunity and they were implementing their own versions of history so they could take advantage of this and make a living, I mean you cant blame a guy for trying.

                Now when I say they omitted things, lied and replaced real history with their own versions I am not talking that silly sales pitch garbage about the Karate systems being created by the poor peasants who were being attacked by the big strong Japanese Samurai that we all know now is BS and used to sucker us in, No I am taking about some really basic stuff that we take for granted.

                Also, looking at the history we can dig out some of the other common lies we end up getting force fed over the years, mostly convenient lies meant to keep us all training with just one instructor and following some kind of false sense of honor that never existed back in the beginning of Karate.

                Some of the things we can abolish right off the bat is the idea that the masters of old never left their own masters to train with others. It would appear that not only is this not correct, it was encouraged by the masters. People like Funakoshi trained under several masters including Matsumura, Azato, Itosu and others that Azato sent Funakoshi to so he could advance and enhance his knowledge and training in Te. Also people like Mabuni Kenwa trained outside of their own systems.

                See back in the day there were three main systems of Karate, Shuri-Te, Naha-Te and Tomare-Te. From what we know of the systems the styles themselves had big cross overs in some areas and shared Katas like Seisan between them, but had vastly different ideas in other directions. The vast differences really seem to be how the instructors learned their systems and what the systems brought to the table. Those that traveled to China to really fortify their studies, men like Higashionna and Ueichi brought back a softer more Chinese system than those that picked up fighting from the Chinese emissaries like Chatan Yara and Takahara Peichin passed down the shuri line.

                It has kind of been assumed, well actually told to us that the Shuri types did not cross pollinate with the Naha types or the Tomari types and at some point the Tomari types melted away and left just the two city styles of Shuri and Naha-te. Problem is that this is not true.  Matsumura Sokon himself trained under Iwah, who was Kojo Tatei, Higashionna and Kogusoku Isei’s instructor. This means that the linchpin of Shuri Karate, the center point of the style also trained with Naha te masters.

                People like Chotoku Kyan also trained with Tomari masters as well as people like Kentsu Yabu and the Motobu brothers. So, its more accurate to say that the Tomari system melded into the Shuri system through cross training and passing on the styles to the masters from Shuri.

                Just a quick look at Funakoshi can tell you much about the cross training and working with other instructors.  While Azato was his main instructor and he trained with him with a few fellow students, when Azato passed away he kind of went on his own, but he was sent out and trained with other masters while still a student with Azato.  Records show that while he was still training with Azato he trained under Itosu and Matsumura as well as Arakaki. These three masters along with Azato taught Funakoshi his Karate and developed his solid understanding of traditional Karate.  Not once did Azato show the kind of jealously that modern instructors show, but we also have different financial obligations. In the old days they trained in their back yards and small court yards, now we have lavish Dojo’s to train in, so keeping students happy and training is important to our clubs survival.

                While Funakoshi no doubt felt a lot of loyalty to Azato he did train with other masters and I am sure he showed them the same respect that he showed his first and most influential instructor, but they all knew that he trained with others and they did not covet him. In the case of Mabuni its known that he trained under many great masters from Shuri Te and Naha Te as well. No one master held his loyalty alone, and this story is common among Okinawan masters.

                The other falsehood that we get told a lot is regarding the set up of techniques or the applications ext that come along with the styles we train in. We are told that “this hand movement is done this way in Kata” and “if you change it, it is wrong”. Well not exactly. Not really at all actually. For as many different versions of a Kata that exist there are multiple variations on each that makes the one you are doing look very different, or makes them look very different from the one you are doing. The truth is that there are multiples of multiples of variations for each form and movement in Kata or in general Karate.

                An interesting event recently occurred in which I met and trained briefly a Tang Soo Do fighter named Paulo, really nice guy from Panama that came up here to go to a family wedding and he just kind of hung out. First off I knew little about TSD other than a smattering of its history and that Chuck Norris did it. The funny thing is that I keep hearing how we are basically the same style, just they have been “Korean-ized” and we were “Japaneses-ized” at some point. But if you watch him doing Kata you really did get the feeling that this was something totally different than what we were doing, even though we came from the same base.

                I also had a chance a few years ago to train with a Gima-Ha Shoto-Ryu student that came to the Dojo. Sensei let them train with us (about four people from my memory) and we were to study them a bit to see what they were doing. Makoto Gima was a direct student of Funakoshi Sensei after he came to Japan and he adopted many of Funakoshi’s technical points. But if you looked at what JKA people were doing compared to Gima people, its like we learned from a different source. The changes are great.

                The other “annual event” that normally used to set me afire with training and implementing change was the annual summer camps. This year I sat back and watched as our members came back with the latest “Changes” or “Corrections” that the JKA had handed down. The new members were really jazzed and wanted to implement the changes right away, they wanted to show me the changes and get me on board, and I think one of them was a tad put off that I was not falling all over myself to learn the new changes. The reason….next year they will be completely different again. I am going to keep doing it my way and the way that Dingman sensei taught me and I will wait to see what the next Karate “Master” brings to the table for me to learn and implement along the way.

                The point being is everyone thinks they are doing the “Right Karate” or “Correct form” of something, but the reality is that there are far to many variations out there that we should be paying attention to and not worrying about who is right, study from all of them and build your own Karate.

                One of the other falsehoods that you read a lot is how Funakoshi was one of Itosu’s Uchi Deshi and how he was a senior student of his. But this statement is not really true from what I can tell. See, it explains a whole lot more when you realize that he was Azato’s heir and student and not Itosu.  Why else would many of the socially awkward events be allowed to occur if Itosu was Funakoshi’s instructor?  Look at it this way, Okinawa shared a cultural palet with Japan and Honor of seniors was HUGE to them.

Funakoshi was born in 1868, Mabuni was born in 1889, making him 21 years younger than Funakoshi. Yet, when Mabuni visited Funakoshi, his elder, he was pictured sitting while Funakoshi was pictured standing. In Okinawa/Japan if Funakoshi was 21 years older than Mabuni and he had been training with Itosu regularly enough to be seen as a primary student, this would have easily made Funakoshi Gichin….Mabuni’s Sempai….and their would be NO way that Mabuni would take a seat and relax for a picture while his elder and Sempai stood behind him. However, if Funakoshi was not from the same Dojo/School as Mabuni it is conceivable that Funakoshi was extending a nicety to a visiting senior from a different school of Karate.

In fact it is noted that both Mabuni and Funakoshi maintained a friendship and did not share what would appear to be a Sempai/Kohai relationship at all. Funakoshi considered Mabuni to be an intelligent and gifted Kata person and Mabuni saw the brilliance of Funakoshi’s in changing Karate practice and traditions to spread Karate and help grow the arts. He also saw that Funakoshi was a great political mind and dedicated to Karate. However, it has been shown that while Funakoshi may have trained under Itosu, it is suggested that Funakoshi picked up much of the Itosu Karate ideology and practice from Mabuni himself and not Itosu in the training exchanges long after Itosu died. So, no Funakoshi was not a student of Itosu’s of any great relation. He was more than likely sent to train with Itosu for the conditioning that Itosu was known for.

The other misconception that has slunk into our understanding of Karate is that Kobudo is a separate art from Karate.  Or that it was made up by peasants to fight Samurai (similar to the lie told that Karate was created for this purpose.)…..well that’s just not true! If you read the history of Karate and Kobudo some similar names seem to creep into the conversation a few times. Names like Chatan Yara, Sakukawa Kanga, Taira Shinken and even Kenwa Mabuni. Heck even Funakoshi Sensei taught Sai-Jutsu when he got to Japan from Okinawa along with Bo staff fighting.

The fact is that we have enough proof to suggest that prior to Funakoshi Senseis generation Kobudo and Karate were one and the same. You would train empty hand and then with weapons. Some of the Kobudo systems taught today trace their lineage back to Sakukawa Kanga himself. It appears that the early training in Karate was steeped in Kobudo weapons training.

 Karate may have become much more palatable to the aristocrats that were training in the arts when the Kobudo was shaved off of it however. Remember that these nobility were stuck in a world between Chinese culture and forced Japanese Immersive culture. They were traditionally closer to Chinese in Culture with a strong native cultural flavor for most of the Ryukyu kingdoms existence, then the Japanese came and invaded, physically and culturally. When the Japanese came they brought their sword culture and influenced the Okinawan or Ryukyu people.  It was at that time that the Okinawans would have started to see Japanese weapons as being superior, but physically and spiritually, and the training in Kobudo would have changed and been separated from the empty hand arts.

Even with the separation, training in weapons arts was still a big part of Okinawan culture and fighting arts. Funakoshi, when he came to the mainland (Japan) many photos of him using a Bo and a Sai were taken and even doing Kata with the Sai, and we may assume that its basically Shotokan Kata with the Sai, but maybe it was not. Mabuni is quoted and shown sing Okinawan weapons in some photos as well, but it seems that at some point the use of Kobudo became taboo as it was linked to Okinawa or Chinese martial arts and the new found want to be accepted in Japan meant abandoning everything Chinese and trying to make it all as Japanese as possible.

Funakoshi was not “Peers” with people like Mabuni and Kentsu Yabu, both of whom trained mostly with Itosu. From what we can see they had a healthy relationship, but they did not have a “Sempai/Kohai” relationship like some suggest. Actually those that are suggesting it are those that want to belittle Funakoshi or Mabuni by pointing out that in a few photos Funakoshi is shown standing and Mabuni sitting, suggesting either that the older Funakoshi was actually Mabuni’s junior or that Mabuni had a huge ego and insisted on being treated a specific way.

Neither of these are the truth! First off Funakoshi was actually taking his first job as a school teacher and had been training in Karate from the time he was a young lad before Mabuni was BORN! That’s right, a decade of training before Mabuni, the great Kata wiz, was even born. According to tradition, IF Funakoshi had a student of Itosu only, and had started training with him and was in the Dojo before Itosu….He would be Sempai or senior to Mabuni and would be viewed as this regardless.

The other item that is often used to show that Funakoshi was somehow less proficient or less skilled or a lower level than Mabuni would be Funakoshi’s admittance that he went to Mabuni to learn the Heian Kata and some advanced Kata.  When Funakoshi was training with Azato the regiment would have included Naihanchi, Kushanku, Passai, Wanshu, Seisan and Jion. But the Pinan (Heian) Katas were created by Itosu. When Azato died Funakoshi was already learning Kata from Itosu to help bring Karate to the student level with easier Kata to train in. He was also sent to Mabuni to learn these and some advanced Kata from Itosu’s Kata Catalog.

The fact is that when Funakoshi went to Japan to teach and spread Karate he only had the first 15 Kata and he had learned the Pinan Katas from Mabuni and Itosu to help spread the art. This is a case of him learning from a different style of Karate similar to his own, but different.

 Along this line of false hoods is that Funakoshi ONLY learned from Azato or Itosu or both, the truth is he had lots of chances to train with others and was well liked and respected for his training with other masters. His education in Martial arts was very diverse, he appears to have trained with Tomari Te masters, Shuri Te masters and others who had trained in Naha Te as well. He would have been exposed to many different systems and styles and while he may not have been a Kata encyclopedia like Mabuni was, he was known as a great instructor and technician.

                So, I have debunked a few of the common misconception, lies and half-truths that we suffer from in Shotokan, and in most Karate styles. The facts tend to become very inconvenient when they are trying to market the systems and styles that are coming out and supporting seniors and instructors. Sometimes the truth is far more interesting than the marketing stuff they make up. Here is some truths that are far more interesting than the half-baked lies that the seniors made up to sell the whole thing in Japan.

Matsumura Sokon was the center of Shuri style Karate and Higoanna Kanryo was the center of Naha Te. Matsumura was a wealthy aristocrat that worked in the royal palace as an assistant to the Sho family and trained under Sakukawa Kanga, a wealthy Royal associate as well. Matsumura also trained with Iwah, Chinto, Annan, Ason and his instructor, also some people suggest that he also trained with Kusanku, but the time line suggests that is not really possible. Sakukawa took Matsumura under his wing and taught him personally, it is suggested that Sakukawa had very few students and Matsumura was his Uchi Deshi (head student) and possibly the only person that passed on his art after Sakukawa passed away. 

                Matsumura however taught MANY different people and taught many of Itosu’s students as well, Itosu being his student for a time.  Matsumura however appears to have passed on most of his teachings to Anko Azato and a hand full of other students and Itosu went to train with others after a falling out with Matsumura. Because Matsumura spread his style to others on a larger scale and made it fashionable to teach groups of Karate students over just a few small groups we now see a lot more larger groups that we would have had he not taken up this practice.

Higoanna was a son of a wealthy business man and he traveled to China to study after taking Karate from a few local instructors, its form Higoanna however that the Naha flavor styles grew with his teaching people like Mabuni, Miyagi and Kyoda. He also began teaching more than just one or two people at a time and began giving people like Mabuni and Myagi permission to spread Naha te, Mabuni doing it along with Shuri te and Miyagi creating Goju as a vehicle to accomplish this.

Karate really spread out after Matsumura and Higoanna brought their teachings to the students. It spread out and changed dramatically from a very informal but traditional training system with some variations on the general movement ideas to a vastly different fitness program filled with new traditions and etiquettes that were forced on the new students.  The changes also proved beneficial however as the new ideas, new training program outlines and traditions served to draw new people in and also create a interest in the growth of Karate in Japan and Okinawa.

                When you study the different core or root styles (Naha-te, Shuri-te and Tomari-te) you notice one big difference between the initial transmission of the styles that makes Naha-te unique from Shuri-te and Tomari-te. You will notice that for the most part Naha-te was transmitted to Okinawan “non-royals” when they traveled TO China and that Shuri-te and Tomari-te was adopted by the Pechin class in Okinawa when Chinese traveled TO Okinawa.

                Not only do the styles appear to have been received differently but the systems themselves are unique in that the Shuri/Tomari-te styles were adapted and changed in Okinawa by the Okinawan people that were taught the systems and styles of Quanfa by emissaries to Okinawa. They took systems like Hsing-I, Monk fist and white crane and merged them with the existing systems and retooled them so they could be used to defend royalty. They made the systems much more applicable for self-protection and a bit less traditional Chinese looking. They had a goal in mind when training and they keyed their training and ideology towards this from the start.

                The Naha systems were brought back by to Okinawa when rich Okinawans who were not Royals or Shizoku class went to China and studied Chinese systems. They did not change them very much in the transmission and kept them as traditionally Chinese as possible as their goals were not to really learn to defend themselves, however I am sure that was a goal in some way, but it was to learn a fighting art that was good for health. They studied white crane and Chi Gung style training and conditioning and brought the system back to Okinawa and spread it very literally without change. Higoanna, Kojo, Uechi were all people who went to the source to train and brought back fairly unchanged systems. Others did follow, but mostly after being exposed to the Chinese systems previously from one of these three.

                The point being is that the goals and transmissions for these root systems were very much different at the beginning and this really affected the content and transmission systems that are traditionally seen in these styles. Early training in Goju was done in a very loose format with people warming up together then splitting into groups or training on their own in Kata and conditioning exercises. It would look like pure chaos to the shuri system people who focused on weapons kata and drilling in applications from unarmed Kata.  The conditioning was regimented more and training very focused on different goals.

                Itosu was a smart business man as well as a good Karate instructor. First off he was NOT one of Matsumura Sokons star pupils and he was NOT one of Funakoshi’s primary instructors really. Itosu started training under Matsumura when Azato introduced him to his instructor, but they did not get along and it has been suggested by some that Matsumura did not like Itosu’s Karate. Itosu left the Shur-te line and started training with a Naha instructor named Nagahama Chikudon (Chikudon meaning middle level Pechin). He taught mostly conditioning exercises that was meant to make Itosu stronger…and many of the stories that go around about him illustrate this.

                Nagahama however issued a horrible truth to Itosu when he was on his death bed, he told Itosu that he made a mistake teaching mostly conditioning exercises and that he should go back to Matsumura to continue learning true fighting skills, however he did not. He was supposed to go back to Matsumura of Shur-te but he choose to go to little known Gusukuma of Tomari to continue his training in Tomari te.

                Now, Itosu was a smart man, he merged the Naha te, Shuri te and Tomari te and created his Shorin ryu style of fighting (named by his students not him) he also began innovating and creating new kata like the Pinan Kata, Passai sho and others that were additions to his training, all while Azato trained mainly with Matsumura in Shuri te and his Japanese Kenjutsu training. Both of Azatos training preferences really changed the training and colored the training that Funakoshi would have gotten. The more linear and direct methods from the Japanese Kenjutsu stood out against the circular and more graceful Chinese movement patterns and this shows in the difference between pure Shuri-te styles and the Shuri/Tomari/Naha-te style that came from Itosu himself.

                Some very specific habits or movement patterns also came out of Itosu style Shorin ryu that you don’t see in Funakoshi’s Azato style Shuri-te. Such as a large dependency on the Niko Dachi as opposed to the Kokutsu Dachi of Azato which is much more aesthetically pleasing and leads to linear movement or the use of Sanchin Dachi or higher Zenkutsu Dachi in the Itosu styles opposed to the deeper Zenkutsu of Azato/Funakoshi.

                Aside from Technical differences one other big difference would be in the acceptance of larger number of students to spread Karate.  Azato was apparently much like his instructor, he only took a handful of students and trained them in his style of Karate. He focused on a handful of people and developed students with a deep understanding of his art and use of it for defense and increased health, however Itosu had MANY students and branched out to teach in the school systems. He sent students to become school teachers and to spread Karate in that method to children and others.

                Itosu learned from others that for Karate to spread you had to find a wider base than just a few students to teach Karate to, then the larger group of students would go to schools and other groups and recruit many students to teach to. He changed the art to be softer and more accepted by the general public and in this way he grew his student base. He was very smart and he is probably the father of modern Japanese Karate because many of the Okinawan systems stayed the same and only had smaller groups of students, but upon Itosu’s changes to the styles teaching methods the whole Karate world grew and continued to grow as the Naha systems adopted a more modern teaching methodology and business model.

                So, if Yabu, Kyan, Toyama, Chomo and Mabuni (along with others) all trained under Itosu….how com they all have different looking systems? That’s an easy one to answer…first off Itosu, like other Okinawan instructors, would have taught a variation to each student based on their skills and ability….but more importantly many of them trained with other instructors as well. People like Mabuni sought out multiple instructors, and often from different styles of Karate.

                Mabuni, for example, trained primarily under Anko Itosu in Shuri-te/Tomari te style fighting, but he also saw some Naha te under Itosu, enough to get him interested obviously as he trained with Hoganna Karnyo in the precursor Naha te style to Goju ryu. He took a lot of the Kata that Shito Ryu started using from this experience and added to his Kata catalog from here. People like Chotoku Kyan studied with not only Itosu but also Matsumura Sokon in the Shuri/Tomari te styles and then worked hard to learn more Tomari by studying with Oyadomari Kokan, Maeda Pechin and Yomita Yara  in Tomari style fighting before the style merged with Shuri and was lost as an individual art.

                The outcome of these masters all mixing and training with other masters was the significant differences in styles between the Shorin ryu styles, Shito Ryu, Shotokan and other Shuri te/Tomari te styles. Some changes are strictly cosmetic and others are more significant changes in applications, perceptions and concepts and they can all be traced back to the root styles being mixed and merged under the application of the older generation of instructors and masters that trained with the founders.

                One “lie” or marketing twist that actually make no sense unless you think like a salesman in the times that Karate was first trying to grow…is the lie that the first Karate people were peasants. They were actually social elites that had the time and resources to train with the big name Chinese emissaries that came to Okinawa on business. The Peasant class and no time, money or resources to find these emissaries and would not have had access to them even if they had the money.  Lets face it a poor farmer or fisherman that approached a Chinese dignitary would probably have been killed or at least barred from talking to the noble Chinese official. The only people that had access to them would have been the nobility.

                And those that traveled to China had to have the funds or the ability to travel.  Most poor farm hands and fishermen would have never left their home town during their whole life time never mind travel to a foreign country to train in Martial arts! It almost does not make any sense to put the creation of Karate off on poor farmers and fishermen if you think about it!  The odd master is stated to have been a farmer, but what they mean is far OWNER! In other words a wealthy land owner who ran a far as an administrator would.

                NO the masters were not Black belts…the Dan system was introduced to Karate from Judo when Karate reached the mainland, prior to this they used a license system called a Menkyo system. The Menkyo system included different levels of instructor and also a license of proficiency in Karate. However, much like Karate today it meant very little and was based on a instructors personal preferences for his students.

                One instructor would look at a student and say “you are okay, you get my license and you are a Renshi (polished instructor)” and  this license was given after two years of training. The next instructor says “no, you have been with me for three months, and after this I think instructor A was wrong, here is a Hanshi (expert teacher) license”. Instructor C says “no, you are not as good as B says, but not as bad a A says…here is your Kyoshi license” and instructor C only knew the guy for a week!

                The license system was very broken and no one could figure out how to fix it, so they adopted Funakoshi’s belt system and thought that would fix it…but the Dan system is broken as well. It used to denote how long a student had trained and most of the time no testing took place at all! Now its based on your tests that you pay big bucks for and you get a piece of paper to support your “Dan rank” which is a fancy way of going back to the broken Menkyo system.  But here is the think, the masters all realized that “rank” in Karate is relevant. They knew of bad instructors and bad systems and they realized they had to ignore them and focus on what matters most, what an instructor can give you.

                Funakoshi was creating it as he went along as well. He only gave ranking up to 5^th Dan and their was NO standards for who was a 5^th Dan, what made someone a 5^th Dan and what skills you needed to know…or how long you had to train to get one…and people often skipped Dan levels along the way. In fact Masatoshi Nakayama, who entered Karate in 1932 earned his NIDAN by 1945….thats with a war interrupting his training for nearly 5 years while he was in China. So…it took him 8 year to earn a Nidan…that’s a good amount of time for a Nidan…but six years later he was a Sandan…and the Chief instructor of the JKA! 

Sandan used to be seen as a HUGE accomplishment that was meant to be one of the top two or three ranks someone could earn! He then skipped 4^th Dan and four years later was given his 5^th Dan. Between 1955 and 1961 ….only six years later…he had gone from a 5^th Dan to 8^th Dan.  No one says he was ever issued a 6^th or 7^th Dan that I can see. He stayed an 8^th Dan till the 1980’s when he was issued his 9^th Dan.

As you can see Dan ranking was by consensus back then and no real testing was required. Some seniors would come up to you (or in some cases you would approach some juniors that were senior in your organization) and a suggestion was made that you needed a rank advancement. Someone would draw up a new certificate and you were now a higher rank. Not like today where you actually need to grade for it…most of the time that is.

                One other item before I end this blog about lies and truth in Karate is to point out that the instructors often took a little education in a art and did a lot with it. Most of the old time masters were said to have been under the tutelage of a master for less than 3 years or as much as 5 before they were issued an experts license. To put that in perspective it can take a modern Karateka that long to get a Shodan…a “FIRST STEP” license as it were.

                Those masters would train for three years and bring back a system that had three to five Kata only and they would build off of that. Uechi Ryu started with three Kata and built their own additional Kata after Uechi Kanbun passed away.  A whole style based on three Kata!

                Karate is a very interesting thing, not just from a physical training perspective but also a historical and academic point of view. My suggestion to all students of Karate is to study the history, open some books, go on the web and read about the progenitors of Karate, those that brought Karate to us and introduced Karate to the masses. Go back and review who actually did what and make sure you know your roots beyond a generation or two back.

                Studying something should mean you know the ins and outs and the truth behind the history, not just guess at things and listen to one flawed source of information. Take notes and learn, go to the dojo and train, but remember that your knowledge of Karate will never be complete until you understand its origins.

Shu-Ha-Ri: learning concepts for Japanese Martial arts

                The Japanese concept of Shu-Ha-Ri was first introduced or presented by a famous Tea Master Fuhaku Kawakami of the Ju-Ha-Kyu school o Cha-no or the tea ceremony. The concepts were picked up by other great masters of non-Martial arts like Motokiyo Zeami of Noh acting and after some time the concept entered into Martial arts as a method for evolution of ones own personal style.

                The ideology of personal development and learning is essentially a concentric set of circles that interconnect and essentially state that while the Fundamental knowledge does not change on a subject the way one approaches it or applies it will based on personal preference, history, experience and skill or ability levels.

                The system of learning based on Shu-Ha-Ri is also a guiding principle for those wanting to learn a concept, skill set or art; be it Karate, Aikido, Cha-no, flower arraigning or highland dancing. The concept began to grow when more and more students began to take up martial arts training. Prior to this their was very limited involvement in Martial training, but with the influx of students that the arts saw pre WWII the concepts began to be applied more openly to the practice and learning of Martial arts.

               

                The concept of Shu-Ha-Ri is a descriptive term used to illustrate the learning process one goes through from a novice in an art to a expert. The concept is not only how we learn but a descriptive for the conceptualization that occurs when one begins to train in  specific art form and moves from student to practitioner to master of a skill set.

                The concept is based on the three terms Shu (protect), Ha (detach/digress) and Ri (separate/leave) and works a student from the concepts of knowing nothing, to knowing the subject to innovating and self-creating. After some time the concept was applied to the Menkyu system and then the Kyu/Dan ranking system and illustrates ones personal growth in the martial arts. Each phase has an indeterminate amount of time attached to it. Its not like you earn a Black belt and automatically transcend to some new phase of learning.

                The term ShuHaRi is translated to mean “first learn, then detach and finally transcend”. The idea is to learn a set of concepts and basics that make up the nature of a style of Martial art, then work with other related or complimentary concepts and then finally to merge them or create your own twist on the original concepts.

                Shu means to “Protect” or “obey” and means to learn the basics, to be taught and to stick to the concepts, learning them and internalizing them. This level is similar to the “student” phase in Karate or martial arts. Normally this is from a beginner to Shodan level. The student is expected to learn the key principles, forge technical ability and stick close to the teachings of the instructor.

                The Shu phase is what I call the learning phase, a student enters the club and starts learning the basics and fundamental concepts needed to take and pass Shodan. Now a days the time between white and black belt is about 3-5 years and most students are still in the Shu phase of training when they demonstrate their knowledge of Karate for Shodan. The Shu phase, like other phases is not a definitive time for everyone, some people will stay in the Shu phase for their whole Martial arts lives and never explore further or transcend into the next phase.

                Shu is the phase, in Shotokan, that you learn the first 15 Kata, the core concepts of linear dynamic movement and lateral defensive shifting and a myriad of other concepts that are applied to Shotokan Karate. You learn the basics or Kihon waza that is associated with Shotokan and you develop the skills needed to do proper kumite. This is the very start of your training but will be the bottom part of a pyramid of learning. This base is essential and one should never rush this level and should be studious and diligent in your training.

                Most of the time I see people jump Shu to soon if they do move on at all. Those that think that they want to branch out and learn other arts leave the Karate or try to “twin” their training at Green or Purple belt and the results are sketchy. I waited till Brown belt to branch out and I think I was way to soon in a lot of ways. It took me a tone of time to learn to meld the systems or take bits from the other systems and apply them to my Karate because I did not give myself enough time just focusing on Karate.

                The Shu phase is often the ONLY phase a person goes through as well because they are force fed the crap statement that they need to honor their instructor and not go out and train at other clubs or other systems and styles. This was not the traditional way of training and is a relatively new (WWII time) concept that was brought about when Karate came to Japan. The truth is that the masters of old never trained exclusively with one master. Matsumura Sokon trained under his master Sakukawa Kanga, but he also learned martial arts from master Iwah, Master Anan, and various other masters. People like Chotoku Kyan, one of Funakoshis peers in Okinawa studied under Itosu Sensei as his main instructor, but he also traveled and trained with Ihan Kosatsu, Yomita Yahara, Matsumura Sokon, Matsumura Kosaku, Oyamadori Kokan, Maeda Peichin, Tokumine Peichin and others.

                The Shu period of training for these men would have been years and years long with lots of private training classes. Funakoshi Sensei tells tale of Azato sensei requesting that he perform a single Kata every class for years and would make minor corrections until the Kata was done to his satisfaction, then he would move to the next technique. We don’t really do this today so you can see that the Shu period of our training may take much longer.

                Also, some students are not looking to move beyond Shu level learning. They just want a great work out and want to train in a specific style of Karate or martial art and are not wanting to think beyond this phase of training, and there is nothing wrong with this at all. Training at the Shu level is basic training, learning and polishing the core concepts of Karate and could take a student 10 years easily with modern training schedules.

                Ha is to “detach” or “Digress” or “Break with tradition” and simply means that you take everything you have learned and break free from its classical chains. A student will begin to develop and play with the ideas of the system and work on it from different angles. Be creative and mingle the ideas into different orders, One also starts to challenge the system and structure critically now. One begins to research and break away from just repetitions.

                Normally people see Ha phase of learning and practice as negative, but the truth is by challenging and research one finds a new depth to the training and often a deeper respect for the established form and structure of the style. Ha level training is often a point when students leave the club or begin to study other arts. It can be dangerous as they know the basics of one system but may not be ready to implement a research based training structure. The Ha phase is not a complete abandonment of the original structure, it represents and adaption period where the student is now challenging and assessing the dogma and doctrine that is used to create the system and structures, the concepts and principles.

                A student going through Ha will either abandon the whole style and leave or will create a type of self-validity that will help them legitimize the system in their mind. This is not so much a creative phase as it is a destructive phase, a phase that sees people challenge time tested concepts and test their belief in the validity of this concept.

                The student will bring new concepts in to challenge their understanding of the old concepts and will start to experiment directly with the established norms. They will rearrange or tear down and build back up the constructs that establish the form and functionality of the system. They will also start to use their own character, temperament and personality to view the concepts and to apply them to their own ability.

                At this point the student will begin to grow and create their own styles with in the constructs of the established system in a gross and general manor. An example of this is that a student will begin to experiment with use of distance and what tools they prefer to use in this respect. A student will, for instance, start using various kicking methods and abandon shifting in as they are now working on use of Geri waza in Kumite as opposed to closing the distance and using Tsuki waza.  The student will begin to abandon the “norms” and question them by physically testing them.

                This process normally begins after about four to six years of training at a high level, today it happens around Nidan and or later, but those that trained in the 80/90’s and went to classes five or six times a week may have gone through this sooner. The student becomes and issue for the Dojo and the club itself cannot handle more than one student doing this at a time as it is not healthy to have to many seniors in Ha phase of training.

                Near the end of Ha phase of learning a student will begin to accept that the basic concepts are true and know better when to apply them and through this natural exploration of the frame work they will begin to really internalize the concepts. It takes a great amount of self-awareness and drive to push through Ha without changing directions in your martial training completely and lots of the Ha students end up falling away from training permanently.

                Ri is to go beyond all knowledge and to begin to create naturally. The idea is that you have internalized the principles, tested and adapted many as your own and refined them all to be your core principles and concepts in dynamic use of motion. It is a release from being governed by the principles because you have internalized them and you are now driven by them.

                Your movements and kumite are no longer driven by ideas and practice, it flows naturally out of you, your Kata is no longer a representation of your style, it is an illustration of you! The Ri phase is a transcendence of form and conceptual ideology. This is now going to the highest level of learning and available knowledge acquisition. The process is now about originality and development of personal expressions.

                It is at this phase that students begin to establish a true Tokui Kata, not just for study but for self-expression and some go even further to create their own Kata to express their personal concepts and the ideology and opinions about Karate. At this phase the student is no longer a “student” but a practitioner that is creating their own path in Martial studies. At this point the art truly becomes the practitioner’s possession and the art possesses the practitioner as well. They become fused and grow together as they continue to create, recreate, form and fabricate the very rules that govern the system and style now.

                The student does not stop learning and growing, it actually takes on a whole new dimension and speed as they progress rapidly and assimilate and discard concepts, fundamentals and techniques that don’t apply to them. This process is not direct or linear, one can stay in Shu for the full duration of your training or leave training in the Ha phase of training and never reach the Ri. At Ri the student is still with the group and will help develop and grow the knowledge base of the group.

                Sometimes in Ri a student will break away from the core group and create their own system that is a branch off of the original system. Most masters do this, but often the student loses momentum and drops back to Shu to restart the whole process again. 

                In the life time of a student the process will naturally evolve and will spontaneously change, if one tries to force the process it will not benefit the student at all and the false sense or forced sense of progress will essentially be fake. A student should learn to recognize if their questioning and Ha phase is true or if they have an issue with the instructor and the constructs of the system they are training in however.

                The Essence of ShuHaRi is found in the masters journey. The master started as a student and progressed to the next level and then beyond by study, exploration and reaffirmation of the system they are training in.                

The ART of teaching

                Teaching is an art form! That is a statement that no one can actually state is wrong, and if they do say that its not an art then they are probably part of the problem with teaching!  No one should fall into the cookie cutter, everyone looks the same world that some groups strive for….yes strive for. They want everyone to look, speak and teach the same to a group of students for “consistency” sake, and it takes the art out of teaching and makes it some kind of sterile activity and takes the soul of the class and replaces it with mechanical paint by numbers style teaching that loses students interest and kills Dojos.

                Having said all that, there is an art to putting together a class for students and its something that is part “thrown in the deep end” and part “Deep research and training”. Its practiced personal expression that is conveyed on the Dojo floor or in the class room. The best teachers and instructors are those with personal passion and a need to teach and express themselves, my worst teachers/instructors verbally and physically regurgitated what they were taught and put about as much effort into teaching as they would watching a TV show. The key is to balance what you are teaching with who you are teaching with putting personal knowledge and expression into a set curriculum and balanced frame work of the class.

                Each organization has a curriculum that a student must learn and practice prior to testing for their next Kyu or Dan level.  For instance a yellow belt must learn Heian Nidan well enough to demonstrate it during a test, along with a gaggle of Kihon waza and some three step, five step or in some cases one step Kumite. The organization will set out the syllabus for testing and it’s the job of the instructor to get the student ready for said testing.

                There is however a lot of latitude that one has in teaching to get a student to the level they need to be at for testing. We have three months to teach a “Movement pattern” that is less than 30 movements long, and in some cases around 20!  During that three months we also have to polish Kumite skills, work on Kihon waza, but….if you think about the average time it takes to work on a kata, which is the biggest hurdle in my mind for most students, we have a lot of time to use different skill training and exercises and have some fun.

                We know we have a set syllabus and curriculum to have fulfilled but we can venture a tad out of the linear teaching patterns of Shotokan that we see some instructors follow religiously.  First off the Kyu levels will get bored and never stick around long enough to become Dan levels if we just teach the three K’s of Karate (Kata, Kumite and Kihon) but we also must remember that we are trying to teach a set structure to them that includes those three K’s.

By venturing off the path I am talking about adding to training, not changing it completely.  By adding striking shield training for impact training, maybe some fun calisthenics, self-defense drawn from the Kata or other fun drills to prop up the three K’s we can create a very interesting and fun class and still teach them the skills they need to pass their next test. After all the true artist/teacher makes the students work hard, tires them out completely and exhausts them all while entertaining and making the work out much more fun than it is grueling.

                Sure, teaching kids is harder than teaching adults. The adults often “get it” when it comes to hard work and you need to trick the kids into working hard more so than the adults, but you have the chance to really come out of your shell and be “one of the kids” when teaching them. You can add “Karate Games” and other fun stuff that enhances their training experience all while developing skills that will be essential to them going forwards.

                The trick is teaching them and having fun, but also getting them to learn the curriculum for each rank. Often we end up taking the kids and putting them in a “tiny tigers” program that is separate and has a secondary curriculum based on much more loose structured syllabus than the regular class, and that is fine. The point is to keep them interested and also teach them about Karate, the physical and non-physical things.

                Teaching Kids is not like teaching Juniors (rank) in that we have different ages, not its important to say that a child should never reach Senior level (Black belt) in a kids class, so you do need to, at some point, move them into the regular classes or at least have a kids regular track to your program were you end up teaching the curriculum required for advancement. Because of this I am a firm believer in having a completely separate Tiny Tigers program that makes use of “similar” kata, like the basic Taikyoku Kata and introduces basics with games and gear that is aimed at the appropriate Age level. Meaning no Makiwara training or heavy bag work, but perhaps some hand pads and kick shields for impact training and proper Kumite style drills that are super controlled and safe.

                Teaching Adults can also be challenging at times, but for very different reasons than those facing instructors teaching the kids. Teaching adults is not just pushing a class through the paces. One must remember to respect the students and show them correct physical form and functionality for the movements. But one must remember not to treat them as children,  just juniors wanting to learn! The art of teaching adults is by far easier for most over teaching children, but I occasionally see instructors teaching adults like they are kids, or getting frustrated and walking away from the class or members upset.  Relax, teaching means helping the student make small incremental jumps up the rank and technical ladder. Patience and persistence in teaching is needed just as much when teaching an adult as when teaching a child.

                One of the biggest sins one can exhibit when teaching is Ego, you are NOT their for yourself. Yes you will gain from the experience, but only if you focus on the students not your fancy kicks or fancy movements. The student does not care if you can hook kick and apple of their head, they want to know if you can teach them and train them to be able to do things like proper form and eventually to get them doing higher end techniques.  If you teach with Ego you will get board of showing off at some point and frustrated when students stop being amazed by your ability and frustrated that you are not teaching them to do things.

                The next deadly sin is giving up. You would not allow a student to throw in the towel on training, why are you going to do that on them. If a student does not understand something it is your JOB to try different approaches till they do get it. Work hard to realize that if they don’t get it it is your fault for them not understanding this. Try different approaches, seek out ideas from your peers and push to make sure you work to help the student. They are paying money to be in the program and even if you are not taking in a living wage off of this hobby they deserve your best efforts.

                The next items to discuss is who should teach junior belts and senior belts. My opinion and my instructors are the same. Junior black belts (Shodan and Nidan) are more than capable of teaching and instructing Kyu level students up to Nikyu and even Ikkyu.  Normally I would say that a Shodan and Nidan can run a class for juniors as long as they have solid foundational skills themselves and understand the basics, which may seem a no brainer because having a Shodan means you understand the basics, but unfortunately I have seen a few Shodan that may understand the basics but cannot communicate with others very well, but I have seen a few Yondans in the same situation.  

                Junior Kyu levels can be taught by Nikyu and Ikkyu in a Dojo setting with supervision from a Yudansha, but they should only be teaching basic techniques and not going into advanced stuff,  Just Kihon and working on basic movements of Kata. Shodan and Nidan should be working with the kyu levels to improve the Kata and basic skills. One of the biggest pitfalls a Dojo can fall into is having a intermediate level student teaching advanced skills that they are only just becoming aware of. I Cringe when I hear of a student coming back from a camp or class and suddenly teaching a concept, fundamental or application that they don’t truly understand.

                I teach a lot of joint locks and applications for self-defense in my classes to seniors and I have trained for YEARS in these to make sure I can apply them correctly and in a safe way, I let all my senior students know that I don’t want them teaching these without me present and would prefer that they NOT teach them. When I first started teaching applications I hurt a lot of students out of ignorance and not being careful enough, I learned my lesson and went to train privately with people that specialized in joint locks, throws and even earned a Judo Dan level in the process. I then trained like crazy in the Aikido, Chin Na and Judo so that I understood it, and even now I am only comfortable teaching a small amount of the basics I know in these and applying them to Karate. I HATE seeing people that I consider untrained teaching concepts and applications they just learned and are still figuring out.

                For those reasons I usually limit the shodans and Nidans in our organization to teaching only Kyu levels and leading classes without in-depth explanations for Brown and Black belt classes. The reason for this is that they are still exploring Karate and have just mastered the very basic level of Karate. They are not ready nor do they have the tools to lead a student through the same waters they themselves just came through. My biggest pet peave is hearing that someone just came back from camp/class/seminars and they are teaching advanced class subjects and exercises to people, when they have not had a chance to study this themselves. The problem comes up when something changes or they need to correct something and they don’t really understand the variables because they did not study the material past the class. It can be dangerous and more than likely very useless to the students as the instructor does not know the ins and outs of the subject.

                There is also a huge difference between teaching traditional Karate and sport Karate. Teaching Traditional Karate is teaching a in-depth and intricate set of skills that focuses on many different facets of life; from self-defense to movement skills to health and wellness, stress relief to life skills like goal setting and communications. The teaching of traditional Karate has vast applications and requires a person that cares and it has a deep and rich selection of subjects to teach and specialize in. Sport Karate however is focused on training people to compete. This means polishing the aesthetics of Kata and working on athletic elements like explosiveness, speed, flexibility and range of motion.  The training is fairly narrow and shallow and restricted to specific athletes for short periods of time.

                Athlete training is a limited endeavored and normally only takes up a small percentage of a instructors time. An instructor who focuses training athletes may get a lot of notoriety but the clubs will be shallow and short lived in the end. A focus on athletics will also under develop students and create an ego issue in the end. However, sport is an important part of testing yourself and your Karate to develop and will push you to work specific aspects of your Karate. While one must take care not to over focus on sport it can be a valuable tool in gaging your knowledge and advancement in skill.  Because of the delicate nature of Karate training only those that have a good balance of knowledge and training should groom athletes or train students in Karate.

                I would have to say that anyone can instruct a set curriculum or coach a sport karate class with the right guidance. Its actually much easier than some would imaging, but to be an instructor in Karate takes a lot more than just showing up with a book of ideas and yelping out orders.

                Instructors should first be students and study Karate as a passion. They need to focus on development as a instructor and work towards understanding Karate on a more personal level. They also will find that they specialize in different areas of Karate. They will bring specific teaching styles, ideas and understandings to the table and will help build clubs up with solid students and other instructors learning and developing from them.

                A pre requite to teaching is being a sold student and working hard at finding a deeper understanding of Karate from a personal point of view and then finding out how that applies to the general training in Karate. Some people really enjoy a focused training program, like they really love Kata but hate Kumite or don’t like the sport aspect or don’t like anything but the sport aspect. This makes for a shallow program and even I realize that sport training is required and have studied tournament Karate. 

                It is also important that people bring anything they have trained in extra to the table when training and then try to convert it to the training program that they teach students, this will assist them in building a solid tool kit when teaching. Remember to always study and bring your experience to the table in different endeavors as well, be it a different martial art or outside of realm of Martial arts.

                However, while we all have our own teaching styles and systems, I do believe that not everyone is a good fit for being an instructor. Most people can be coached and given time they become good or at least competent at teaching, but people who enter into teaching because of ego will never be ready to teach or run their own programs even if they train hard and work up to it.

                A few of the best ways to grow as an instructor is to listen for feed back. It’s a funny thing however. We have to have tough enough skin to ignore the insults and jabs that get thrown at new instructors and take them as constructive even if they are not. I remember when I was teaching for my instructor at one of his clubs a rather surely brown belt once confronted me on my not believing in wasting time warming up. Now, let me be honest, I do warm my students up, but not always the way that they are used to. First off I don’t believe that you need to take a third of a class to warm up doing silly Yoga stretches that are better done after class to build flexibility. I think that you should do a quick 5 minute warm up that gets your blood flowing, take a second to stretch out and then get into it!

                Well this gent was used to the ½ hour stretching and bending and warming up like a ballet star that was once prevalent in Martial arts classes. The worst part….I used to lead these warm ups!  Well he got into it with me over the whole lack of warm up and I am sure he had other issues, but once he opened his mouth past just expressing his want for a warm up I stopped listening. I got aggressive back and then I stopped listening all together and told him to call ahead and he did not need to take my classes.

                Point being that it took me a while to benefit from this interaction and the benefit I got, not all feedback is good, but you can still learn from it. In this case I learned you can’t make them all happy and you don’t need to.  I sat back and studied my reasoning, read up on warm ups even more and it affected the way we did warm ups going forwards.

                Feedback however is a great tool.  I don’t go asking “Hey how did I do” anymore but I used to ask what people thought of the class ext. Now I listen and watch how people react, did they get a good work out and are they learning. Often someone will spontaneously interject and tell me how they liked a particular class, this kind of feedback is HUGE in a instructors development. One should ask students in the beginning what they thought, or how they felt a class went, it does not have to be formal just a quick question.

                We often don’t ask for feedback because we are nervous about how it makes us look, are we trolling for compliments? Insecure? Or are we wanting a pat on the back?  It does not have to be this kind of ego trip that leads you to asking how you did, just a quick conversation that asks “Did I do okay, was there something you did not like?”. This kind of critique can help you grow big time as an instructor. Feed back is normally best from those that you are teaching, why…well your peers know what you are teaching and are not your audience, so white we can point out technical flaws and mistakes, your audience will let you know if they will come back to you and train with you.

          

                The last thing that one must understand when teaching or assisting in teaching is that you can not make every student happy. Not all students will Jive with your style of teaching, not everyone will want to do what you are teaching and not everyone is on the same path as you.

                Lets face it if we all wanted the same things it would be dull and Karate would be flat! The nice thing about Karate is that it has so many facets to train in, from Martial Art that focuses on the aesthetics to a very to the point self-defense tool to a sport that is fast and dynamic. The nice thing about Karat is that it has so many faces that you can teach a different aspect of Karate every class and not worry about repeating yourself for some time. However, This is also a problem because not all students want to train in Karate for the same reasons and some are adamant that they don’t want to do specific things, or more than likely are just not going to be happy doing a particular aspect of training.       

                There is also the fact that your teaching style may also rub some people the wrong way. It’s a martial art, some people feel that this means “Military training” and they show up for the grumpy and stern instructor that barks orders and whacks them with a stick to keep them moving and motivated. They don’t like it when you smile and you joke around a bit, they think its impolite and not traditional when you are human and try to have a tad bit of fun.

                Some people think Karate is like an aerobics class with white pajamas. They don’t like it when you go all sergeant major on them and bark orders, and don’t even reach for that shinai or they will shut down and never come back. They want a smily happy person telling them how great they are and how they need to “push on” and “Finish hard”.  Trust me when I say that growing up in Karate in the 80’s, we did not have happy aerobics teachers prodding us on with impactful motivating phrases and a “Great job” kind of approach. Our instructors expected us to train hard, you paid to come to a traditional Dojo and you got the beating to prove it if you did not work hard.

                You will also find people that just don’t like you and your approach. They will question your ability to teach, do Karate, your knowledge, lineage or something….anything….just to put you down a peg in their mind. Trust me when I tell you THEY ARE NOT WORTH THE EFFORT TO FEEL BAD ABOUT. You will always have some negative person or someone trying to shoot you down when teaching. Screw them! You are the one dedicated to Karate enough to teach! Let them be all negative and just keep pushing on.

                You cannot keep all the people happy, you wont make everyone want to train with you, you wont be able to cater to everyone. Just keep plugging away and pushing your training.  If  they like it they will stay, if not they make room for those that do want to train with you. Your true peers will help you, some may even teach so different than you that it’s a good idea to team up! But those that put you down, tell you that your skills as an instructor or Karate person are lacking, well they are short sighted and probably jealous of you in some way so let them go and keep plugging away. You cannot make everyone happy…but you can make yourself happy.  

                So, you still want to be an instructor. You still have the passion swelling up in side of you. Remember its often a thankless Job and you wont make a tone of money at it if you are honest and traditional. You will have days when you are paying out of pocket for rent, you will have months when you see six students show up. But if you keep pushing and you really focus on being the best you can be, you grow and try and improve constantly as an instructor and you are doing it for the right reasons, while learning to avoid the “Issue people”, you will eventually get to that point when you just enjoy showing up to work with your students. You will see progress and you will learn to drive your ego away and keep your students progressing.

                Keep training, learning, studying, refining and keep pushing and you will make this work for you. You will help your instructors legacy be passed on and become part of the lineage of the organization and your instructors lineage.  You will form bonds with students and you will learn to enjoy the important things in life like friendships, relationships and the joy of others.