Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Budo Shiai vs Geki Shiai




         
   There is a trend in Karate these days that I want to address, the multi style tournament.  Well, honestly they have been around for years and the honest truth is they never worked, don’t work and really…water down your traditional style to fit the sport requirements. 

Multi style tournaments were very popular in the 70’s and 80’s in the states, but promoters saw money and an exciting possibility when they put on tournaments. But they also saw the issues of multi style events when it came to mixing traditions. The tournaments used to include Weapons, Kata and Kumite. Slowly however they added musical Kata and Weapons Kata and the traditional aspects of those two died off, replaced by screaming and flashy moves that only vaguely look like Karate.  What did it for me was when they started wearing Ninja suites to do Kata and throwing music and light shows in to make it a spectacle.

The reason for the changes were simple, the criteria for Kata competitions (Weapons or empty hand) changed from “Can they do the traditional form with power, speed, timing and precision” to” what kind of Michael Jackson dance moves can they throw into the Kata they made up in their garage to make the crowd go WOW”. It became a competition in spectacle and not in Kata performance. Why?  Easy answer….to many styles have different criteria for Kata…sometimes the same Kata….to make it fair. If 4 Shito ryu guys judge a Goju guy on his Seasan they will show their style bias, so why not have the Goju guy make up a Kata that’s flash dancey and have at it?

A very famous incident happened in LA at one of the open tournaments, a Japanese tournament Champion came out and did Sochin Kata, traditionally, and lost to a Tae Kwon Do guy who did a flashy Kata that he had made up that week. The traditional Kata champion by all account was fantastic, the Tae Kwon Do black belt wash sloppy but added flipping kicks and fancy kicking to his Kata and dazzled the judges….who were all Tae kwon do black belts and one Shito Ryu guy.  It was at that point in the 80’s that the traditional martial artists stopped doing open tournaments in the states…and something strange happened….the open tournaments embraced the new ideology of “Anti-tradition” and grew a cult following in the states. They still hold open tournaments with “non-traditional” Kata events that are set to music and often judged on their acrobatics.

At the same time that the Kata events were changing a change began to happen in the Kumite events as well. First off the tournaments were open so you had lots of Tae Kwon Do guys competing, more kicking and less blocking or hand techniques, the officiates began to call kicks more than strikes form the hands and the promoters began changing rules so that you could score more with kicks than with hand strikes. The stage was set for a major metamorphosis.

The Kumite tournaments began dropping all guise of being traditional, they started to use the “Sparring” name more and more and they changed rules so that a head kick was more points than a body kick or a punch, the competitors went from bare hands to wearing boxing gloves or foam hand pads, head guard, mouth guards, and in some cases foam on their shins and feet. The competitors changed as well. Originally the competition was made up of traditional fighters from Goju ryu, Shito Ryu, Shotokan and other Karate styles to mostly Tae Kwon Do and then “American Kempo” or “American Karate”. The changes in competition made the changes in rules much easier as the competitors did not want to worry about traditional rules that they did not understand, they wanted a style that was kick based and had multiple chances at making “points”.

The idea of hitting as Taboo was replaced with “HIT the guy” and the sport made a big change following boxing into a boxing ring and changing to from Kumite to Sparring and finally Kick boxing.  Ironically the hand strikes from Karate were changed to a boxing style and the fighters began wearing boxing gloves. Other kick boxing styles like Muay thai  and Savate began to compete and the fighters used this as a chance to change their striking a bit…the metamorphosis was complete and a new style was created. 

Fast forwards to the 90’s and traditional Karate groups were trying to counter the “Style” issue and also keep up or push their own systems into the lime light a bit, they had issues….the same ones that the states handled by creating kick boxing and open tournament spectacle based acrobatic Kata…but they did not want to simply join the other group that still has a cult following…they wanted something that was more recognizable as Karate…but without the issue of the “styles”…thus the WKF was created.


 

From a Kata point of view you have a set of Katas in each Ryu-ha (system) that you must master to gain a black belt (Dan level) and often students and instructors are very keenly focusing on those Kata alone. Also the systems use different methods and aesthetics in the performance of the movements. A Shito Ryu person doing Sesan will look very different than a Goju ryu person doing the same Kata or a Shotokan person doing Hangetsu. The systems have different fundamentals and theory that they follow….its impossible for a Shotokan based Judge to know the Kata from Goju ryu, Shito ryu, Wado ryu, Isshin ryu, Shorin ryu, Uechi Ryu, Ryue Ryu ext. and so on…never mind point out mistakes in movement! I defy anyone to tell me (Shotokan or other system) that they can point out a mistake in another systems Kata!

Years ago, to counter this issue, the WKF used a list of acceptable “Shite Kata” that you had to use to perform. However over the years they bowed to pressure and now have open Kata allowances that stipulate “things you look for” in a Kata. I however go back to the difference in performance and technical application between a Shito Ryu perons and the rest of us…and that goes both ways!  Kata done at an open tournament is different than done in a Dojo apparently (according to friends of mine who do sport Karate).  Meaning that you have to change your style to fit the tournament needs. Thus WKF Kata is now a style of its own as it were.

 

Okay, that’s all very simplistic and does not take into account the modern “history” of the WKF, but it’s accurate to the point that the WKF is trying to start out with a multi-style tournament system and they are running into the same issues that the old traditional tournaments in the states had. They are trying to push Geki Shiai and call it BudoShiai and all they are doing is watering down tradition and creating something new.  When a organization holds a single style/organization event the “modern” groups call them snobs or say they are segregationists, not true, they are simply maintaining their tradition. The ideologies of styles often do not mix, for traditional groups to keep up with the modern “open tournament” musical acrobatics we need to focus on our tradition….not seek to create a new one.

 

Budo Shiai or “warrior spirit tournaments” (Traditional tournaments) have a specific focus when doing Kata or Kumite….to show the work you are doing to perfect Kihon and application of Kihon. The Ikken Hissatsu or one punch one kill mentality is in full effect here. The idea in Kumite is to be good enough in your techniques to use one movement so perfectly that you would, theoretically, end the fight with that one movement. For instance your punch or kick should be so powerful, well timed and targeted that if it were to land with full force you would render the opponent “Done”. Kata is basically an example of your proficiency as well.

Budo Shiai uses the Shobu Ippon rules in most cases because 3-5-7-12 points is “Over kill” and would take away from the ideology of the perfect Ippon and add a tag element to the competition that takes away from the warrior spirit and mentality of the occasion. Tournaments are also viewed as less than important in the long run, you should be focusing on daily training….the tournament is  simply a chance to show your hard work….not something to work towards.

 


Geki Shiai or “Play tournaments” are based on a more western point of view. The Kata competition is more exaggerated and selection of the Katas is almost always based on the more flashy Kata available, and regardless of the Kata selected they are systematically embellished and sloppy form is covered with long improper and over exaggerated Kiais and dynamic movements that often have no true Application. The katas are also often outside of the rank syllabus and way outside the true skill level of the performer. Worse, this is encouraged by coaches and instructors to try and garner style points!

Geki Shiai Kumite is DRASTICALLY different from Budo Shiai Kumite as well. The practical stances are replaced with a side angle stance to allow for more flashy Geri waza (kicking) and also a hopping motion is used in place of the shifting movement of Budo Shiai. The focus on perfect form and execution is removed and now you have a bouncy athlete who is focusing on athleticism and throwing high point head kicks over someone working on form. The point system itself deteriorates the Budo aspect by making it a multi-point game and also awarding more points for difficult targets, and making a head kick more points, you have just put a harder to control technique as the highest point, thus making it more attractive to use and adding to potential injuries. Throwing more “less controllable” head kicks while moving around makes for a more dangerous approach to Kumite.

Another aspect of the tournament point system that weakens it and opens it to a less than Budo spirit is the timed tournament Kumite. I have seen a few tournaments were one opponent scores three or more points than plays run away for the rest of the time. This is NOT budo and the person should be disqualified for that kind of action, and if they are a black belt their instructor should think seriously about letting them wear a Yudansha in their club. I was told that this is a common strategy in WKF tournaments and that if the amount of points is scored to earn a victory, but not enough to end the match the highest score earner will often retreat till time runs out. This is not a factor in a Budo Shiai as the single point system allows for this to be avoided.

 

Shiai should be a way of showing your true spirit, your hard work and demonstrating your dedication to perfection of the Waza and system you train in. It’s a pride point in your training…..not a system of over dramatic Kata and tag Kumite. You should be demonstrating what you train for in Class and at home, not some fabricated “middle ground” system that waters down the waza and system you should be taking pride in.

History has shown us that multi style tournaments do not work, unless you create a “middle ground” system that everyone trains in, then its back to a single system. In essence the WKF system is a new style, it’s not Shito or Shoto or Goju….its WKF.  Multi style tournaments don’t work unless you change the approach and create a common ground system, thus altering the systems, watering down and altering systems and creating a mixed system. 


Now, WKF systems are not “Bad” and they often lead to more people pouring into the Dojo’s, but they are not traditional and as proof of this I offer that 2 of the Canadian WKF based squads are not even Karate…they are Tae Kwon Do and accepted based on athletic ability and not even being in a traditional Karate program….which you would think would be the PRIMARY prerequisite! The other issue is that bait and switch issue. You promise SPORT and then provide traditional or you promise traditional and offer sport. For 99% of the members of a club they are practicing because they love Karate, it’s fun and healthy…1% will become an athlete that focuses on sport, you need to figure out who you are going to focus on!

 

For traditional clubs to survive and traditional systems to grow and develop, I believe that they need to focus on the traditional aspects of training and not merge with the other systems to create a new system.  They need to embrace the traditional systems they belong to and not get involved in multi style events, which sounds horrible but the honest truth is that I cannot allow a student of mine to do Kata and be judged by people who don’t know our Kata….the playing field is not even at those events. We need to also push and run our own tournaments, we need to be able to send our members to events and build solid events for the students. I don’t endorse participation in the Kumite as well because it takes away from the warrior spirit, the purity of the exchanges.

For traditonal clubs to have their say in the way that the future represents us as a culture we need to dig in and start building tournaments that represent our ideology and not bow to the new sport spirit that is taking the Karate world off the path, we need to promote and produce quality events and learn from the sport groups marketing, organization and running of events, but we need to be consistent in our approach and our execution of these events, we need to produce officials and train them in how to run and officiate at these events.

 

The Budoka who practice Karate with the true intent and true spirit know that the true nature and spirit of Karate is reflected in the want to perfect the use of Waza to its fullest, not in scoring points. We realize we are all different and there is beauty in our differences, the sloppy hoppy system that has come about that others train in is not Karate, its Sport Kumite and Drama Kata. As a Budoka, and an admittedly stubborn one, I refuse to change my system of teaching, training and working with students to merge my system with a different style of Karate and create a sport system that encourages tip tap Kumite and Kata that is overly Dramatic. In fact at the tournaments I help organize you get points off for being to Dramatic and you will not score points for flashy but ineffective Kumite. Its how I am trying to maintain my traditional roots.



 

 

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