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.
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