My Standards for Testing….an essay on how I grade or view grading By Sensei James James

My Standards for Testing….an essay on how I grade or view grading By Sensei James James

“Keepers of Karate’s Highest Tradition” that’s our Motto and a phrase that I take very seriously! I started My Karate journey when I was six years old, I walked into Mid west Karate with my brother and started Lessons after watching and adult class on a Saturday morning. The Adult class was filled with HUGE adults (I was a small kid) and I saw them slashing around the floor doing Kata and Kumite and while I had no idea what I was watching I was transfixed from the get go….my brother, a much bigger kid and seven years older than me…not so much. But I was hooked and signed up and bought a gi with money I had made doing papers with my brother…back when kids could do papers at six I guess.

The first kids class I attended was a HUGE LET DOWN. Gone were the violent flowing movements and now I was faced with “Kids games” and fun Karate…..not what I wanted, but I could see the value of learning to kick a ball using Mae Geri (granted back then I had no idea what a Mae Geri was) and doing wall sits to build up my leg strength. Im going to draw on an old cliché that tends to come up a lot in martial arts, I was a sickly kid. I had suffered from Mono the year before and almost died having lost a third of my body weight, which for a little kid was like ten pounds, but significant at the time and also had my first run in with a lung infection that would almost kill me again in high school.

Classes were tough because I had not energy and kind of looked like a vampire, but within a few months of training I was healthy again and because of frequent visits to the lake house of a friend of my fathers with my family I had my tan back. I trained with Sensei Mar for about a year when I started not liking the kids class and some other issues with the instructors lead for me to leave the Dojo. But I did test to Orange belt in that club.

I was almost ten when the bug caught me again and I started with Dingman Sensei at the JKA. It was the same rush of feelings the first time I walked up the three stories to the old JKA down town, they had moved to the location about a year before but the smell of hard work was hanging in the air! I began training in the kids class again after having watched another seniors class and getting hooked, but this club was much different. It was subtle in many ways. The feel was of a family, granted I was scared of Dingman Sensei the first time I met him because of this aura he gave off of intensity, like a violent person on the outside, but something inside him kind of made me feel like he was the best person in the room, like he cared…but damn if I was not scared of him.

The other difference was immediately made apparent to me when I began the kids class, even though it was a friendly family atmosphere the classes were all geared towards true skill development and each student was viewed as an individual not a cookie cut out of the next guy. Same thing when I trained with the Club “Team” and watched, we had guys that were great at Kata, but got ate up in Kumite, we had guys that were killers in Kumite, but really horrible or just passable in Kata. The club was made up of individuals that came together to train.

Over the years I have trained with Mar Sensei, Dingman Sensei, Proctor sensei and a host of senior level instructors at seminars and classes at Dingman Senseis club and the one thing that I found interesting after all of this is that Dingman Sensei’s students “get it” and most of the other ones do not. We are not all the same, we all have different skills and we have zero chance of all being the same as one and other, you can train with a person…side by side…for years and still not have the same skill set or look the same as your partners, and that’s what is good about Karate, we all bring something different to the table.



The JKA of Manitoba has a very open policy about our standards and practices, we practice JKA Karate and we try to maintain very high standards when it comes to our students and their progress…but what exactly does this mean. I mean it sounds like some cheesy PC BULL PUCKY line that a politician would throw out to the masses to “Get over” on them. The truth is that we maintain a high standard by asking students to push themselves to be their very best they can be and we don’t let them ease up on their potential.

Some other groups may spew political BS about high standards and hard testing but the truth is they don’t know what Karate is all about in the end anyways so they can SAY whatever they want, they simply don’t know what the hell they are talking about and hide behind words that mean little to nothing else. And yes, some of them are fantastic practitioners, but horrible coaches because they don’t think about their students as individuals. They also don’t get that we are all individuals and some cannot do the things that others can, but they have other strengths. It upsets me to no end when I hear about testing that looks at a person not as an individual but cuts them down and takes their spirit, the world is full of instances like this and we cannot stand for this as Karate instructors.



Nice words aside our standards boil down to the three most important things in Martial arts, The mind, spirit and Body…in that order by the way. The mind must be grown, we experience new things and it grows. As instructors we have to reach out to students in class and have them experience something different and get ahold of that idea of Karate being about perfection of character and the individual growth that comes from hard work. Hard work is not just physical and does not just develop you physically, it grows your mind. We need to take them to places that they don’t think they can go and prove to them that they can, and we need to expand their horizons and get to know them as individuals so we can help them grow as people. That is training the mind.

The Spirit is similar in training, but the mind can be trained to grow without pushing the body and spirit, the spirit is directly linked to the body. Every once and a while we need to destroy the student physically and give them a physical test that pushes them beyond their ability. Be it with Kumite or drills that challenge the body and stamina and we need to push them to go beyond the discomfort and lack of energy and show true spirit, this is what the spirit circle at the end of some of my classes is about or the line Kumite up and down the floor, the idea is not to have great technical ability, the idea is to push beyond and grow your spirit.

Our clubs focus on the first two because the body is trained with Kata, Kumite and Kihon by default. We also do exercises to build the body and we concern ourselves with this mainly during testing. But the first parts are what is generally missed in testing and what people don’t see, we are actually testing you for your next rank right from day one of getting your current rank. For me the body is going to age and wither, but the spirit and mind will continue to grow only if you test them, and that is the most important. And I wont pass a student with questionable spirit or character ever! EVER! But I may give a B to a student that is trying so hard and has great spirit…but needs time physically in their next level.



Testing should be challenging and stressful a bit. But not so hard that you break students mentally and physically and demoralize them spiritually. That kind of test is not going to help anyone. I have read about one hour testing’s that break people emotionally. The Kumite is with 20 people, Kihon is crazy long and the Katas are done repeatedly for 20 minutes. This is a horrible way to test someone and counter to martial arts ideals. The idea should be that you test someones knowledge of the art and also if they can (at their level) protect themselves in case of being attacked, so some basics to check form, their Kata forth art…and Kumite geared towards their own level…kind of like what we do.

I tell the story of my first Shodan testing under Dingman Sensei that was almost 45 minutes long and I make light of the fact that it was so hard, it was a killer, but Sensei tells me he was very wrong to have done that. First off he knew I could handle the testing because it mimicked the training we were doing at the time and I was in the dojo three times a day training hard and I was built up physically, and he had me killing myself running wind sprints in the mornings to build up my stamina and get my lung in shape. He knew I could do it and he wanted to give the impression of legitimacy to the test, but he says now….that was not the way. He has taught me that testing should not be an event, it’s a culmination of all your training up to that point. Your progress and what the instructors see in you as you train. That is why seminars are important, we are watching.



Testing should also not be super easy! I have seen testing in other styles that was a joke. The student did a form, did some slow motion Kumite and that was it. They paid their fees and got their belt, which strangely was available well before testing ever took place…kind of like you pay and you get your grade. Now to be honest, The instructors were all horrible as well and the testing was a joke and the Kumite…well it looked like they were in slow motion moving while being tazered…the amount of spazzing out while sparring was scary.

I also have seen “testing” That involved a instructor watching a student in class, grabbing them at the end and strapping a new belt on them. No posted standards, no testing outline and each student was graded on different skills. You need to know what you are being tested on. In one of my kung fu schools I saw a student grade doing a monkey style form and another doing a tiger style form and they got the same rank. It confused me and I left because I did not know what was expected.

I have also seen styles that give grades based on “time in” littlerally at 50 classes you get a stripe, at 100 you get a new color belt and so on and so forth, or if you train twice a week at the 8 month mark you get a blue belt, and at a year and a bit after that a purple….not testing just pure time in. Does not matter if you are a purple belt and don’t know the first few moves that white belts learn, you were here long enough…you get a belt.

We give our students road signs of what is needed…Kata, Kumite, Kihon. And we test them just on that, we don’t look at a yellow belt going for orange and say “yah, whatever kata you want” or walk up to them in class and say “here is your orange belt”. You don’t just check off an attendance sheet and suddenly at 50 classes you pick up a stripe or belt. We do have standards we maintain and we don’t just give it away.



One other aspect of our system is we do have standards, but we have to be realistic! Not everyone is going to have the same ability. Some argue that we can not pass people then because student A is not as good as student B. They don’t get it, Student A has to be as good as student A can be…we don’t care what student B is like when we look at student A!

Two cases in point; one of my old sempai tested for her Nidan and passed. I was very upset and went to Dingman Sensei (okay I was staying over and we sat and talked Karate for a bit) and I asked how she passed. She could not kick higher than her knee, she was frail and her Kumite was like a bad movie choreography with slow motion moves and she would never survive a real attack. Dingman Sensei told me “Yes, but she is 72 and we cannot expect her to be as fast as you or as good sparring as Brian (senseis son). She has some limitations that time puts on her body, but her mind and spirit were tested and she passed because of those”. (I am paraphrasing of course, this was 23 years ago). The point was that you cannot judge everyone with the same yard stick, everyone gets their own yard stick!

The second example is of a child we teach right now. She has some physical limitations and some learning hurdles that makes Karate hard for her, but she tries really hard and has a great passion for Karate. Her skills are limited by the physical limitations and she will have a hard time going forwards for sure, but her love of Karate and what she gets out of training is without question. She also serves as an inspiration for those around her and her drive and hard work both in and out of class serve to remind me what Karate should be all about. Will I fail her or tell sensei I would not vote for her to pass (I am only one vote in four)…hell no! She makes up for her lack of physical ability with great spirit and great mental hard work!

We need to be realistic, some people will not be physically able to do the skills that we watch in class and testing, or at least not very well. But why are they not able to do them. Is it a physical limitation, a mental challenge or simply lazy or not enough training (or proper focus when training). I am a big believer that if you don’t have physical limitations you can do Karate well enough to pass a test for rank right up to black belt. Physical limitations need to be weighed out! We need to be realistic and remember that if we tested ONLY on physical ability. Many of us as we get older would never pass a test. Heck some of us who cannot kick higher than our hip level because of hip issues would not get past first kyu if that. You are not testing based on what others can do and a set physical cookie cutter standard, you are tested based on your own potential…or what we see as your own potential.



So, what do we look for in testing. Well a gradual increase in skills from white belt to 1st Kyu is important, at your own pace. We don’t want to see lazy people rewarded and some skills are universal. As an outline here is what we look for at each level in general:



White to yellow

At white belt we are looking for some very basic things. Do they know what a front stance is, can they punch straight, are they kicking and recoiling. For little kids we count during Kata because timing is hard for little kids to get down and we are looking for a basic grasp of the kata. Kumite is all about paying attention and not getting hit. For adults we want more relaxation but this is really the base line from which all further testing is built off of.

As long as Kata is don’t well enough and they show they can concentrate for the 5-10 minutes students pass. I personally make a TONE of notes on white belts that have issues because we are looking for improvements. This is the starting point so we know what they can do as individuals and as long as they meet the minimum “Can dance through Kata and take directions” we pass them.

For young kids the other thing that I look for is behavior. If they act up during class or don’t pay attention I see that and note it. B belts at this level are unusual because we don’t expect much from a student. Spirit wise if they Kiai once during the whole thing we mark that as a good thing because its still so foreign to them.

We do often use stripes for young kids in place of a B if they really have a hard time focusing but I prefer not to do that to be honest because I find it a bit belittling to students.



Yellow to Orange

At 8th Kyu we often see the “Switch turned on” moment. The students start to get it, or they don’t. The Kata is much more technical now and we look for more advanced Kihon in the Kata and on its own. We need to see kicking improve a lot, especially Yoko geri and specifically direction of kicking and recoil. For Kumite we want the students to be a bit more serious and do more than just not get hit.

Children going for Orange belt are expected to take commands better and know their kata with out counting now. It’s a BIG leap and I often see kids as yellow belts a bit longer than adults because they need to grow mentally a bit more before testing. Some kids can memorize Kata fast and they possibly can progress faster but six months is not unusual for a student to be a yellow belt.

Adults at this level tend to “tighten” up a bit and need to be reminded to relax, they can progress by memorizing the Kata and doing pretty much the same as they did at white belt but I really watch things like the leg joints when kicking because at this level they are now doing side kicks more and they really need to be watched so they don’t get hurt doing a kick wrong.

A student should know the seriousness of Karate at this point and spirit should also be shown more during testing. Mediocre spirit is not a great way to go for Orange belt so B belts start to crop up even more at this level due to this.

With the exception of really physically gifted people, most yellow belts are still struggling learning the rudimentary Kihon Waza and don’t understand their own body in reference to this new skill set, its not natural yet so we need to remember that and test accordingly.



Orange to Green

Orange belt level is a real breakthrough level for students, they are now senior-junior level students and looking to become and junior-intermediate level student in a green belt. The Kata is vastly different than the first two and this often poses a challenge for students. The unique feel of Fumikomi is a challenge and the Hiza geri often looks like you are trying to get onto a bike. A lot more focus on Kiba dachi is needed as the Kata will look horrible with a Shiko dachi in its place.

Children going for Green belt need to know that this is a big step for them and they should now have 3 months of training since the Orange belt. This is a big step and technically students should understand the Kihon waza at a very basic level. They have now had 9 months of training since they walked in the door and they are no longer struggling with adapting their body to the system of movements. Some more obvious polish should be obvious in movements. No more counting and if they screw up their Kata and don’t know what the mistake was after six months of working at it they will have a hard getting a pass. Basics should be sharper for their own level and Kumite now moves to one step sparring which is harder to show form but reaction is what we look for.

Adults going for Orange belt need to show that they can do the Kata, they have put in the work and they are starting to learn how to express Spirit. The basics should be cleaner and they are also watched for the same thing as kids, but obviously we know some wont have the flexibility that the kids have. During Kumite we really look for a person not being scared during Kumite. I often pit black belts against those I want to test in this case because they have to not fold. Other groups will put juniors against juniors to test them but to me this is only appropriate if you don’t want to push the student.

Going for green belt should be a big deal. The students should know that a pass is not a gimme at this level we are really looking at basics more than anything else, even in Kata. If there foundation is strong they will pass, if it is weak we may have the students work harder for next testing or even fail them based on BIG problems.



Green to Purple

You are now testing for Purple and the Kata is way more complex than the first three. It teaches the three different distances in the Kata and we look for that to cross over in Kumite. We want to see students using good distance when sparring and not being scared to spar at all.

Kids will always have a rougher time with the Kata because it is more complex so we do go a bit more lenient on the kids in Kata, but their basics and Kumite better be spot on. My view on kids going for purple belt is that they must be serious about Karate during the testing and seminars. If they are goofing off and not showing good focus they wont pass, or will have a BIG mark against them. If they are not serious in class daily they will have a hard time passing as well.

Testing for 5th Kyu for adults is a big step for me and we now have a six month time between getting orange and getting to test for green belt. I need to see that they are more serious in Kumite and not scared to do Kumite. They are also picking up the basics of fighting, they don’t get hit or miss blocking and they use proper spirit. The Kata is more technical and I need to see some of the specific skills hit, like the Mawashi Shuto to Mae Geri to Kosa Dachi is done smoothly. I hate seeing students look around or at their feet during Kata, by now it should start to look like a fight. Basics are important and I want to see proper kicking is used because by now they are a year into training and I don’t want to see many bad habits.

In general if a student does not kick well they should not move to purple and a lot more focus on building proper kicking skills needs to be put into place. Also mentally some students break at 5th Kyu and quit so we want to make sure we are working a bit more one on one with them and letting them know the are not really at the half way point to black belt yet, but mentally they are so they need to start taking on their own training as a job. They need to be responsible for the training and we are going to run classes and coach them.



Purple to Second purple

At this level, 5-4th Kyu a student is at the end of the Heians and really this is a HUGE step for students both mentally, physically and spiritually. The Testing time is actually to short for my liking, the JKA requires a 3 month between time because the Kata is similar but I would prefer 6 and I am also harder on students at this level because they have been doing Karate a minimum of 1 year 9 months and should show fluid movement and also have much better movements.

For children Kihon should not be an issue. No clunky moves and a student should be working on weaker points like stance. The key area for me is Kata, it should show the basic and fundamentals that a intermediate level Intermediate student should have. They are doing Mawashi geri on the kicking test as well which is often an issue with students, the hip must turn over to earn points. Kumite should be fluid and look kind of playful in that the student is not scared at all during Kumite, maybe not killer serious but needs to be relaxed and know they wont get hit.

Adults at this level are now stressed out more because they are expected to look like they are half way to black belt, its important to calm them down. The jump in the Kata serves as a real test for some and I don’t want to see them go half way on this. I would rather see them over do the jump than avoid it.

This truly is the half way point for students and almost two years of hard work, it has to look like it. If a student is not paying attention at this point or not serious they wont get a full Kyu at all. But if they work hard and show hard work minor mistakes can be over looked because of attitude and intensity.



Second purple to Brown

Another big step in a student’s life as a junior in Karate is the step between 4th and 3rd kyu. The student is now stepping out of intermediate student status and into a “junior senior level” student. They are now moving away from the “text book” Katas and they have been working on the Tekki Kata to work on building up their body and learning how to create power with little movement. It’s a big first step into a completely different realm of study.

Tekki is a hard kata to learn, the concepts are foreign and movement skills are different than we are used to. I like to give students about six months to train in this Tanren Kata to really get it down before they test and really get them working on the stance work that is needed to pass the test. In the past we have been rather lenient on the Kosa dachi position, but going forwards I am really going to make sure that students don’t step wide and screw up the embussen.

For kids this is a level I want to “come back to” if they are not done growing. I don’t want to hold a child at Tekki Kata for two long if they are not meant for this Kata. The Kata is meant for full grown or at least bodies that are settled. I don’t however feel that a student should go for shodan before mastering Tekki. I will let a student “glide” past Tekki as a child to get to Bassai just to ensure they have a chance to move along, but they must have really good Kumite and Kihon otherwise. The student must demonstrate competency in the Kata but they may not be able to create power the way they should. But the Kata should be decent.

For adults, they don’t get a pass on this Kata. The Tekki Kata is a very important Kata and you should be able to see the Kata is done with good power and vibration. The rest of the testing should also be as close to the persons best as possible. Kihon takes on an important roll because it demonstrates the Shorin style of movement that Shotokan is known for as opposed to the Shorei movement that Tekki demonstrates. Kumite also should be very relaxed and not nervous but some explosiveness should be present in the Kumite and a sense of spirit through the entire Kumite.





Brown to Second Brown

At 3rd Kyu most students stall out. The students get lax in their training or start to see Black belt coming and they grow an ego. Its important to make students realize that this is the start of being an advanced student and they are grading to move to an intermediate advanced level. They are now also introduced to a fighting Kata in Bassai dai and the Katas are now no longer about training and conditioning, they are not picking up movement patterns and learning the style of movement we need, they are now starting to develop a truer sense of spirit and engagement.

While most kids stall out at this level you will also see some start to come into their own at this level. Students begin to understand spirit and now start to refine Basic Kumite skills with Jui Ippoin Kumite and also are back to a Shorin movement pattern in Bassai Dai. I look for kids that want to move up to be more serious about training and really push their own training program over being spoon fed by an instructor. This is also one of the reasons that kids stall out. Most kids slow their progress at 3rd Kyu because they are not ready to be responsible for their own training. We need to give them clues, but not push them by treating them like white belts. The students will pick up the fact that they need to self-train more and take our guidance as a map, but not have us push them all the time.

Adults will either have a hard time at this level or they will start to excel! The fact that they are now asked to do more in the clubs can be seen as a burden, and they pay so why should they teach ext and so on. The fact that they don’t want to be more involved lets us know that they don’t want to really advance. Teaching juniors is an important lesson to be learned and juniors should embrace this as it will give them a different dimension to their training. Also the new Kata has so many lessons to learn that the students will start to be able to put into action that which they learned as a junior and intermediate level student. Kumite should shift to Jui ippon more and a more realistic sense should come to the fighting. Also self-defense skills like moving out of the way of an attack and other silly mistakes should be absent or figured out at this level.

Moving to 2nd Kyu is a big step for students. The Kata is a big step and now that Bassai Dai is introduced the feeling of training in a fighting system should come out. This is a 6 month weight for most, even if the official level requires only 3. This is a serious level and we want to see students taking their time and starting to master the Kata and Kumite skills needed to advance.



Second Brown to Third Brown

So you want to be a black belt! Well you have to pass your full first Kyu level first. This is the last test we have any control over. We can pass you, fail you or give you a B belt that you have to clear up. A few things that need to be in place before you are able to grade for 1st Kyu. First your Kata must be good, not just technically good, but look like you may be in a fight. It has to be full of energy and fire and not dull, boring and look like a white belt is doing it.

The other things are your Kumite skills must be full of energy and dynamic. You cant just look like you are defending yourself, you need to look like you are able to Handle the situation and “win” the fight. I like to see solid and powerful attacks, and defense that has counters snap out right away. A sense of urgency in Kumite has to exist or it is worthless at this level. Power, Kime, Ma-ai and all other aspects need to be present to get a point for full Kyu level.

Kihon waza focuses on advanced skills and kicking drills so the individual testing for first kyu has to have sharp basics and not appear to be lacking in any area. Granted we will see stronger kicking from some, better stances from others, but we can not see horrible form or application of techniques from someone wanting to take the next step before Black belt.

You will notice I don’t have “Kids/Adults” at this level its all the same. Kids and adults who are going for first Kyu need to show that physically and technically they are ready for the yearlong hard training to go for Shodan or they won’t pass.

Also, they have to be good representatives of the Club and Sensei or they won’t be tested to First kyu. The instructor who lets them test is saying that they are ready to represent them in public and those that are passed do represent your standards of technical style and character.





So you are a first kyu now and you don’t understand how or why people are selected for Black belt testing! Well, first off you have a year minimum from the time you get your Ikkyu (1st kyu) till you can grade for Shodan. Next you need to show the candidate board that you are ready to test. You have to show a good amount of technical work in class working on form, function and application. Your Kata must be improved drastically and you need to show support of the club, a great attitude and self-motivate yourself to work hard in class.

For me the most important things in a candidate for Shodan is attitude in training and character in general. The candidate, if they pass, will be a representative of JKA Karate and our clubs in general. So, all members who pass represent us as an organization. I will NEVER vote to let a senior junior belt move on to being a Shodan if I question their loyalty, character or reasons for wanting a Dan ranking with us. The student may lack some technical points but they cannot lack character or they will not be grading under our umbrella.



Shodan-candidate

The Shodan candidate must have good Kumite skills and will grade doing Jui Ippon Kumite. They will select their grading Kata, normally Bassai Dai, and they will do Kihon waza. However the JKA allows them to test using any of the basic 15 Kata to some degree.

Shodans are graded by Saeki sensei or a licensed instructor and they have their own ideals of what a Shodan is and should be. However when Asked I always say how hard a student works, if they have any major areas to improve and how they train. Earning a Shodan is a much harder thing that most people realize because just to get up to testing you need to prove your dedication to the organization.

Personally I am sick of people grading for Shodan and then dropping out of the organization. It has happened to more students than I can count. Probably 9 out of 10 people who grade Shodan and pass are gone within two years. To curb this I won’t be giving my vote to anyone that does not demonstrate that they are ready to commit to training for a longer time and to those that think that Shodan is a finish line!



Nidan-candidate

So you got your Shodan and you want to go for Nidan. Why? Most people will not grade for Nidan and that is fine. In our group Nidan is a teaching rank. All of our nidans who have graded in the last few years are instructors and we expect that if you want to move up in Dan ranks its to help the organization. Not just feed your ego.

Shodan means you have mastered your basics and you are now an advanced student. You can train and enjoy Karate and build your own skills up as a Shodan and not stress about testing if you like. We don’t pressure people to grade at all past Shodan. But if you want to be an instructor or senior and work for the group more you are welcome to grade for Nidan and higher.

The committee looks at the commitment of the student who is studying and what they have brought to the table as a student. We expect that the minimum two years you have been training between Shodan and being able to test for Nidan is filled with hard training, dedication to helping teach and you show your dedication and will to continue.

Anyone that is going at it half wanting to advance will not be seen as a candidate and also character, you are representing us at a higher level, your character and actions will show and your eligibility to grade will depend on that.



Now you know the things I look for during testing, and I know they are a bit different than Sensei, and I know that Steve and Rhonda look for different things, but this is my basis for grading people.

Moving forwards we will give much more thought to letting people grade in the first place, just because a minimum is assigned to a persons “between times” does not mean they will be ready during that time frame. Our integrity and dedication to traditional Karate is important to us, so we are strict with whom we let test, but also understand that the strictness is individual not general.

The truth about what instructors say

Senseis say the silliest things

Instructors say the darndest things….er children say the darndest things; instructors just say silly things on occasion. We are all human and we often open mouth and insert foot…to the knee joint! I am not immune to this, in fact I often have to plead insanity or stupidity after I open my mouth and say some thing totally stupid! Hell I am the first person to admit that I have an issue with internal monologs going terribly wrong, but I draw the line at saying dumb things that start to cause harm or are just down right lies!


I have been around instructors that have said things and I have to do a double take to see if they are joking or possibly have a head injury causing them to spew such things…I have trained with instructors and had conversations with probably hundreds of instructors, both face to face and online and often have to throw things back at them and ask for clarity…normally it sounds something like “are you for real….you just said that?”

Most of the time the infractions are not so bad, but here are some that kind of get my blood pressure up and cause me fits……



I would spar with you but I am far too deadly to spar with a simple white belt!

Really, so what you are really saying is A) you suck so bad and are in such bad shape that a white belt will make you look bad…or B) you have no control and learned nothing about how to use a technique in a way that shows control!

Any black belt should be able to train with lower ranks without fear of hurting them. Karate and most martial arts is about control and use of techniques. If your skills are set for just blasting people then you are not doing a martial art, you are doing a combat sport. If you cannot control yourself enough to train with a junior, how do you expect to run a club? LAME!!!



You cannot teach my martial art without a license because it is far to deadly!

Have two things to say about this…first off what the hell are you teaching that is so Deadly…sure is not Karate or a martial art! Secondly, The real translation should read “you cannot teach my martial art without a very expensive license because I need to make a crap load of money of you morons before you catch on that I am just teaching watered down Tae Kwon do in fancy uniforms…that I make money off of as well”.

I love this one, it normally is said by those that have late night commercials that make me laugh so hard I gag on my coffee! Anyone that says this probably just moved out of their parents basement and now run 12 schools…..filled with children wearing silly gis and paying WAY to much to learn this deadly art!



My 21st Dan masters level is recognized around the world!

Not so much really. First off the Dan ranking system was set up to teach humility as much as it was to show rank for others. It was set up to recognize skill and progress, then what people are giving to the organization at specific ranks. The thing is there is a specific “years between and age” requirement for most organizations. This keeps it real, like you wont get a 13 year old Yondan in a legit organization or a 25 year old Judan!

The other thing is that the original dan rankings were limited to Judan, or 10th Dan. Anything above is a “modern creation” or also known as BS! I have met one guy that said he was an 11th Dan in Shotokan Karate, not JKA mind you. He was horrible….but he had a nice Dojo and Car. It is also important to point out that this self-made man (rank and financially) self-appointed himself all ranks after Shodan!...alsmost one a year! Yup, he only had 15 years in the arts and at the time I had 19 years under my Shodan belt. Point being….Rank is often not all its cracked up to be. Don’t go buy the guys rank..go by what he can offer as an instructor.



You need to learn a weapon to be proficient in street fighting!

I call BS on this one right away. Learning to use weapons is fun, but it has NOTHING to do with real fighting and anyone that tells you it does…does not know much about the subject and should be avoided. First off you cannot carry them in the street….old tired argument but you get the point. Secondly knowing the mechanics of working with weapons, which mostly is a form of manipulating leavers and such…its NOTHING LIKE REAL STREET FIGHTING!

Do not get me wrong, there is a lot to be learned and tones of benefits from learning to use and work with a weapon. It teaches a deep level of respect for the dangers, it teaches a new form of physical skill that can benefit you in lots of ways, but you don’t NEED to learn a weapon to be a good street fighter, mostly you need to unlearn most of what martial arts teach you to be a street fighter.



All street fights (or a quoted number) go to the ground!

So not true! Many years ago a grappling teacher started saying that between 60-80% of all fights end up on the ground. But that was a personal assertion he made and not a real number that was researched. Hell, I don’t think that there is any real research on street fights…how can their be!

Personal experience probably has a lot to do with it. If you took a kick boxer, a jiu Jitsu guy, a wrestler and a boxer and put them in 100 Street fights I think you will find that the Kick boxer and boxers street fights stayed standing 90% of the time and the grapplers both end up on the ground 80% of the time….so, what does this prove, well it proves that grapplers like to fight on the ground and strikers like to fight on their feet! But it does not give the kind of numbers we are getting quotes on.



Karate is useless!

Karate is a tool that can be used in many ways. It can be used to help bring discipline to the undisciplined, it can be used for fitness, self-defense, it’s a great way to get rid of stress, it’s a great way to express yourself and a great way to get rid of extra energy. Karate can only be useless for specific things, like yes…knowing karate will not directly affect your ability to make the perfect omelet or to speak French! But it has many uses, and as a fighting art, which is what I think they were getting at in the first place, its only as good as the person that is using it.

Over the years we have seen examples of “KILLERS” in the ring, cage and even octagon. Those that are so dangerous that they have shown they can use Karate to blast people to the point that they lose contact with their faculties and go to sleep…Lyoto Machida started a renaissance of sorts with his use of Shotokan Karate in the MMA cage. Others however have shown that skills in Karate can be translated into the combat arts of MMA and used to remove people from consciousness, but more important to me it has be used by millions of people for other reasons.

So, “Karate is useless” well that just shows how ignorant and one minded people can be. If your definition of Karate and the needs you are looking to fill are not meeting up, then perhaps you need to review where you are training and with whom, then figure out if you want to travel else were to get what you are missing.



I have trained under (add instructors name).

I love this one. If you have to tell me your resume with in ten minutes of meeting you…you lack confidence in yourself…or you are selling me something! Both are not good. I don’t care if you spent hours training with some guy in a seminar where he wont remember your face in a week because you were part of 100 other faces, the fact is that I have trained with countless instructors in this fashion and yes I have taken something away from their classes, but I would NEVER say I trained with them and infer that I was some kind of special student…any more special than the 100 others. I do respect when people say “I train with (XYZ Sensei) as my main instructor every day…not I train with ZYX instructor once every 3 months and see him for a total of 3-5 hours during that period!

I am less interested in who you have trained with than I am with what you learned! Show me, don’t tell me.



My instructor was descended from Samurai!

a)Probably not….B) who cares? During the Meiji period many business men “purchased” their Samurai heritage from a money hungry government. Basically meaning that the business men could now claim being Samurai when in fact they did not have the blood line. This confused the situation greatly when they also suddenly “found” that they had this samurai blood line they purchased and it went back multiple generations…in other words they created a history that was not real.

Nothing wrong with someone claiming Samurai heritage if they have it, but it would be the same as me suddenly saying I was royalty and 16th in line to the thrown of England….when in fact all of England would need to perish and only a few million others before I get my hands on that thrown and crown!

It was a fun and interesting sales pitch to say you were a great great grandchild of a samurai back in the 70’s and 80’s and I even thought it was cool, till I figured out that it basically meant that you were the decedent of someone in the army….then I realized that my grandfather served in WWII and my great grand father was in WWI…so, by that case…I am the decedent of someone that was in the army…ergo…I am samurai!

Really though…what does a Samurai and Karate have to do with each other? Its not like the samurai did Karate!



My master killed a bull with his own hands!

You don’t have to live in Texas to call BS on this one. First off we need to look at this from two different angles, what kind of bull and what condition was the bull in! The master in question did Knock the horn off a bull, but it had been loosened by a hammer before hand and the bull in question, was a smaller Japanese bull, sick and pretty much ready to die…it was after all at a glue factory!

Killing a north American bull with your bare hands would be a sight and you would earn “master bull killer” creds anywhere you go! The difference, well the instructor in question Ko’d a staggering 190 pound bull that probably would have fallen over on its own given time, the North American Bulls we see are measured in the TONES not pounds to make it easier, It just sounds way cooler to say they KO”d a bull or took it horn with a Shuto over they beat on a dying and sick bull. And for those interested…the footage is available on YouTube.



You MUST respect me, I am your teacher!

Not true! Hell I don’t respect anyone right off the bat, I also don’t disrespect anyone right off the bat. Show me respect, work with me and I will respect you. Stand around demanding respect and acting like an A-Hole and you get what you get!

Just because I teach Karate to a group of people does not mean I have the right to demand things of them and bully them. Those that demand respect often get fear and not respect! I would rather be respected for respecting others and treating them the way that I want to be treated than pushing someone into respecting me.

I had a person that I trained with, and sometimes took class from who was a major D-Bag and basically ordered people around and “COMMANDED” Respect. Truth is he gave no respect to anyone and got very upset when he did not get it back. To bad Charlie, you need to give to get in this case!



I hate mouth warriors, they don’t get real Kratty!

One of my old seniors who is not training anymore used to use this term a lot. “mouth warriors” was supposed to mean those that pay lip service to Karate but do not really “live” Karate. I happen to agree with him…..but his definition of living Karate is what I don’t agree with. Obviously he took it and ran with it for a short time, running around teaching it and spreading Karate, great. But when the chips were down he left Karate and proved he was a “mouth warrior” for sure.

To me a mouth warrior is someone that talks a lot of smack and does not back it up. They say how great karate is but they fail to live the Dojo Kun, they don’t remember why and who created Karate. Not a bunch of sports jocks looking for medals, praise and trophies, but sincere people looking to promote an art that can be used by anyone to be healthy and push themselves physically and mentally to be better people.



I am your Sensei, that means I am a master!

I have said it in the past, and I will say it again…I hate the term MASTER! If you are a teacher (sensei) you are not the master, you are the instructor…teacher…grand poo bah and owner of a Dojo/Club/Gym…but you are NOT a master.

The term master denotes mastery over someone/something and as we know you don’t master Karate, you practice it. And you are not a master over someone…you instruct them.



This is a short list of stupid stuff

How to translate what you hear in Martial arts to the truth!

Bad Sensei says!

How to translate what you hear in Martial arts to the truth!


I have been training in the martial arts since I was six years old one way or the other and with little time off. I have trained in Traditional Japanese arts since I was young and had my shot at eclectic arts, Chinese arts, modern arts, some martial arts from around the world and basically the vocabulary changes, but often the confusion that is left behind after an instructor says something lingers and generates generations of false stories and such…and I am here to clear it up!

A interest and saying can grow into dogma, someone’s quick answer that is meant to put a student aside while an instructor moves onto more “important things” or an answer that is given to give an answer for answers sake can scar the very fabric of our social and intellectual worlds in Karate….Okay, maybe not, but the fact is that some instructors say things and it inspires levels of silliness and stupidity that are truly cringe worthy.

So, in this long overdue Blog entry I am going to translate some very misunderstood terms, some over used terms that mean the opposite or nothing at all and hope to clear up some long held misconceptions that others have generated over the years.

Things you hear that simply make you cringe…or should
Some cringe worthy things are horrible because they make you sick to your stomach, like when I tell people about my many injuries and start getting into the really gory ones. Other cringe worthy things are less about your stomach flipping and more about your sense of “Man that’s just STUPIDLY EMBARASSING TO ANYONE THAT HAS EVER STRAPPED ON A KARATE BELT” kind of cringy! This is a list of those, really what the F were you thinking before you opened your mouth kind of cringe worthy!

I’m a 12th Dan (any Dan after 10th…)
For those that Don’t know…and for those that do know better the original dan rankings that Kano created went to 10th dan. Funakoshi only gave out dan ranks to 5th because he felt that was the highest required rank for mastery of Shotokan, and many of the other masters refused to use anything above three for their students.

To be a 10th dan or above you would need to have a life time of dedication…actually a few! If your instructor or friends instructor or anyone else for that matter says they are higher than 10th Dan laugh a lot and walk away! No, wait…run!...BS stains!

I’m a 7-10th Dan (coming from any instructor under 45)
As a 40 year old and knowing what martial arts are all about I can truly say that if a person in their 20s stated to me that they were a 5-7th Dan I would really think that they were full of it…and if they were my age and said they were a 7-8th Dan I would laugh…and once a guy introduced himself as a 9th Dan in some karate style I did not know and he was 30 years old. I told him it does not count if you give yourself rank advancement and walked away!

The problem with high ranking instructors in north America is most are political or greed driven. They think that rank means they have power and or they feel that it will help pad their wallet, and the issue is that it does to some extent. Younger money hungry instructors tend to “grow” dan ranks to pad their resume when really hard work in the dojo and at home is all they need. Rank is Rank at the best of times!

I hold 3 (or more) high level black belts in different arts!
Can not tell you how often I have been told this. I have a shodan in Judo and Sandan in Karate and it has taken me this long in my life to get this far with family and work ext. If I was to not get married, Who needs school right…and work…well that’s for wimps.. Well, maybe I could get a Rokudan by now in Karate, a Sandan in Judo and add a kendo shodan…but that all takes time.

May favorite is someone that suggests that they have a black belt level in six different arts and they are all vastly different and one is BJJ. BJJ is one of those arts that not everyone is going to get a brown belt in, never mind a black belt. The second that they say that I call BS!

My hands are so deadly that they have to be registered with the local police/federal government!
Probably as a chronic groper (self or other)…but not because you could hurt someone physically with them. First off you don’t need to register your hands with anyone…its BS and an old stack of it at that. Secondly, no police force in Canada (my home country) has any paper work to fill out to say that someone, anyone is a black belt never mind a deadly one at that!

My art form is Ten thousand years old!
Reality is that anyone that says this has never cracked open the history books of Karate or martial arts…or anything for that matter. Read some basic history and stop exaggerating a bit for a second and you will make not that most Karate styles are basically a little more than a hundred years old and not a thousand…and kung fu styles can probably reach back a few hundred years more than that. Ten thousand years ago man had just started practicing sedentary agriculture and stopped wandering about picking berries and hunting small game for the most part.

The fact is that if you say “my Karate is five hundred years old” you basically show how little you care about researching your art and what a moron you are!

I teach a form of Ninjitsu…..
Oh, you do do you! Well, then you may be interested to know that Ninjitsu, as a traditional art form DIED out about the 1500’s and were never really “honorable” arts, they were seen as dishonorable and not some farmers that reved up against the Samurai, but “guns for hire” that went against Bushido!

The Ninja crap that you see today is pure marketing by men that refuse to grow up and live in “adult” pants! They follow self help gurus gone mad and wear black PJ’s with hoods and train in weak Karate/TKD and then say they are the mystic warriors of old…when the “mystic” warriors of old..were nothing more than assassins and soldiers of fortune. Reality…that guy in the black Pj’s is just having issues growing up.

If you don’t (add “tow the line” comment) I will strip you of your black belt!
So, you put your time and effort into training under a instructor and at first they seem nice enough, but then you start to see them demand more and more of your time and effort and…more than likely…your money. You put in as much time as you can and you get your Shodan. You are now a black belt….or are you. Did you earn a black belt or are you being loaned one by the instructor/organization?

I have seen instructors try and punish people by saying “if you (add horrible offence) I will strip you of your black belt, and I even saw a letter that a local guy sent to a student stripping them of their black belt because they were doing other arts and not spending all their time and effort fawning over the instructor and making them more money. Basically the letter said that the black belt in question, who had been teaching at a club set up by ME years ago was “Stripped” of her Shodan for doing Kyokushin on the side. It was very disappointing to say the least!

Here is the way I see it, and the way that Dingman Sensei taught me, and the way that the head instructors have told it…right back to Funakoshi….You as a student work hard at Karate, you train and you test yourself. We grade you and we hand out rank, and once you are ready we announce that you are now Yudansha (fancy word for black belt). For your part you are now at a beginning level of black belt, once you progress and ask to be ranked you test again. We don’t turn around and strip you of a rank we have witnessed you make. What we can do is no longer recognize your rank…different?... You betcha!

An organization or instructor can always say “you ticked me/us off, we don’t recognize your rank anymore” and leave it at that. But they don’t take away your black belt. They would in essence be saying “oops we made a mistake giving you that, you don’t really meet our requirements”, and that would be silly. So, hard work and training will earn you a black belt and you get to keep it for life, but those that recognize it may say they suddenly do recognize you as a Yodansha….but that does not take away from you being one.

I once trained with Bruce Lee/Chuck Norris/add any famous martial arts name here!
Normally followed by “and I beat them up a lot” or “and I am the only one certified to teach his style of fighting, his true style of fighting”. And both are COMPLETE LIES for about 99.9999% of those that use these tag lines to get you in the door.

First off Mr. Norris is still alive and kicking and he has a solid set of black belts that can drive his organization. As small as it is in the states, it’s a Korean art and not some MMA game that others make it out to be.

Secondly, Lee died with a small amount of students, every one of them in a magazine or TEN and easy to verify. I have personally met one, Taki Kimura and he told me that true Bruce Lee students are as rare as it comes. Maybe a handful and we are losing them fast too!

If someone says they are studying Lee’s style…well that means they are reading a book! Anyone can read a book, so don’t put to much water in that one!

Karate came from peasants needing to defend themselves against Samurai!
Horse PUcky! Karate was created by Nobility in Okinawa that learned it from China and other sources and created a way of fighting that was more Chinese than modern Karate looks. It then went through major changes along the way and became what we see today.

I am still trying to track down the creation of that story and find out who made it up, and if at all possible slap them! The truth is far richer than some poor farmer figuring out how to fend off an armed samurai! Now you can argue that the Samurai of the time may have treated the Okinawan royalty as poor back woods gentry, but that is a stretch, they were wealthy government people that had benefited from generations of trading with the Chinese and Japanese and being on a major trade route, they were the wealthy of their time and they needed to protect themselves!

Karate has nothing to do with the poor Japanese farmers, it was created by wealthy nobility in Okinawa.

My Master………
Hold on! Put the Breaks RIGHT on that one…..I have a Sensei, I have a Instructor…I have a chief instructor…but I do NOT have a master (in Karate….my wife does not count here). The fact that some 20 something year old martial arts instructor now wants me to call them master…well that makes me laugh!

I walked into a Kickboxing school that was taught by a TKD black belt, no that is not the funny part of the story, and was visiting and figured I would get a work out in. my friend was training with the guy and he allowed walk ins so I figured why not! The work out was “Okay” and not really to my standards for a conditioning work out but it was enough to get me warmed up and having a bit of fun.

The class was fine but when my friend introduced me to the instructor, he said “Master Joe, this is James”. I said “good to meet you Joe..” to which he said “that’s master Joe” ….to which I said “ you can then call me Sir James”. I have never been knighted…and no one is my master!

I don’t recognize your black belt level, you will have to retest!
This one is legit, but I have to explain the situation! See a Black belt rank is a license in a way and a level in a way. When you test and grade you are assigned or recognized by an instructor as having met the requirements to earn your belt level that you are given. You are presented as a black belt under that instructor and you have his “stamp of approval” for that student.

Once you have earned a Dan Rank under an instructor that’s it, you have met the standard they set out for you and you earned your Dan rank…but that does not mean that everyone is going to see it the same way and or accept your ranking at face value! I have seen plenty of times were people are asked to retest for a rank they earned under a different instructor/organization and while it seems like a formality it is legit.

I have also seen some higher level instructor have to qualify that they have a Shodan under X organization and a Nidan from Y organization and then Z and A gave them a Sandan, but when they go back to X they are still seen as a shodan and need to retest. Also, I have seen people who were a Yondan from the JKA and leave the JKA. They don’t forfeit their rank from the JKA, but any new ranks that are given to them…well they are not recognized by the JKA. That’s not earth shattering as many of them will never return however.

I know of one instructor that graded to sandan under the JKA and left. He then trained with a different Shotokan group and earned not just a Yondan but a Rokudan, but in the JKA he is seen as a Sandan that left…and then he came back. The ensuing political dust storm settled and he accepted his Sandan with a test for Yondan scheduled three months later. Now its important to point out he did not pass his Yondan and left again…

I belong to an international organization that recognizes my every rank from white to 10th Dan!
And! If you are under 90 years old and claiming a 10th dan…you are a bit of a JOKE! The higher ranks are supposed to be about maturity in the arts…how is a 30 year old…training since he/she was 15 supposed to be mature in the arts…that’s only 15 years of training in total. I could see a nidan or even Sandan but really…a Judan!

There are several international belt factories that one can join and get ranking from. They call it recognized time in…but to be frank they are all a joke! I would rather be a lifer at Sandan than a joke at Rokudan.

This is just the first bit of insight I am going to provide, in the next two segments I will go through specific crap…er stuff a instructor can say, and what it really means and what your fellow students say and what it really means.

The most important thing that one should take away from this is that martial arts, like everything else, is filled with people that say and do silly things. The most important thing is to shut up, throw on your gi and obi and get your sorry butt out on the floor and train. Everything else is a distraction and something that you should avoid!

Hip use in Karate

Koshi Kaiten, Gyaku Kaiten, Jun Kaiten, Shindo Kaiten, Tsukidasu Kaiten! Some of these we hear a lot in class, others we hear nothing about and some we only hear in English (regional language) and never are they really all explained! They are all ways to use the hip to generate power!

Koshi Kaiten means Hip Rotation and it’s a very important and basic part of generating power in karate for both kicking and striking. With proper hip rotation (Jun Kaiten) and reverse rotation (Gyaku Kaiten) you will generate more snap and more power. Jun Kaiten means to rotate with the techniques, this would be similar to rotating the hip into the techniques and Gyaku Kaiten away from a technique. It actually has little to do with position (hanmi, Shomen and Gyaku hanmi).
Jun Kaiten is when your hip rotates with the movement. So when you are performing Gyaku zuki or reverse punch you will rotate your hip into the movement by rotating the back hip along with the arm into the target. This generates a great deal of power as you rotate and also use the back leg to push with off the floor. This power full technique will generate a huge amount of power as you move from position to position.

Some JKA groups suggest that Gyaku zuki will move from Hanmi to Shomen as you punch some groups barely move into Hanmi when they start the punch and others stay Shomen when moving and punching. I advocate a full range of motion from Hanmi to Shomen and finishing in Gyaku Hanmi. This serves multiple purposes from martial power improvement to a more natural movement process and also strengthening and creating flexibility in the hips. This is a great example of un Kaiten, the hip is going the same direction as the technical movement.

Gyaku Kaiten is the opposite of Jun Kaiten in that the movement of the “power hip” goes the opposite direction as the technique being applied. A good example is a Gedan Barai or Uraken with the lead hand while standing still. The rear hip moves away from the front line so your hip/body goes from Shomen to Hanmi position to give snap and power to the front hand. In this case a Hidari Gedan braai Zenkutsu dachi is done ( left side down block in left front stance) the rear power hip rotates away from the down block powerfully and the front hip thrusts into the movement.

Some JKA groups again don’t use a Hanmi position for the Gedan Barai, but most advocate this movement to that position. I also feel that leaving the hips Shomen as long as possible will add rotational power to your techniques and you should remember that this is a thrusting in movement with the hip.

A similar movement is the Uraken done with the left hand when in Left side Zenkutsu Dachi. As your arm extends out you will quickly rotate your back hip away, thus making Gyaku Kaiten, and then as the technique is being whipped back you will rotate the hip back to assist with drawing back the hand.

Shindo Kaiten is the vibration that is used by the hip when executing a technique. Again, many trains of though when doing this power generation and many ways to do it exist. Some will do the “vibration” similar in motion to Gyaku Kaiten or Jun Kaiten, others will wiggle, some move the hand the opposite way from the hip movement then try to catch up to the arm movement with the hip and “piston” the technique.

My thoughts on Shindo Kaiten are that you should launch the arm movement with a hip vibration. This means if you are standing in natural position and punching with your right hand, your right hip will start the small vibration by moving forwards into the target then move back to the Shomen position before impact. Because the movement of the hip is literally a inch or two your arm will not lose any momentum from the reset of the hip to Shomen, or it shouldn’t unless you rotate and don’t vibrate.

Shindo Kaiten also has one other factor that some groups do not focus on. The vibration is not just with the hips, the support leg also pushes into the ground to generate drive, and the arm must punch out fast and focus the whole body on impact.

Tsukidasu Kaiten means Hip Thrust or push forwards and it is actually done with the rear leg pushing in and the pelvis forced forwards so you do not lean in. Some groups do not focus on this at all and you see students leaning when they move forwards or back and you find that its normally the least flexible students that have the biggest issue with this.

Tsukidasu Kaiten is also used in conjunction with shindo Kaiten in Mae Geri, as the back leg transitions into a front leg for the mae geri the rear leg forces into the floor and the hip rotates forwards hard thrusting in. This kind of movement in combination with Atoashi Suiryoku or rear leg thrust will generate a great deal of power. Kicking and striking can benefit from this technique when working for more power.

Shisei or Kata Dachi means general posture. It can mean how your feet set in stance, knees bent or straight, alignment of your spine, shoulders, the way you hold your arms, were your head is tilted or straight ext and so on. For my purposes in this I will be focusing more on the stance itself and spine! Generally I suggest that the ear, shoulder and hip should always be aligned. This way you know your posture is good, some people lean to much front or back when moving and it will throw off your balance as well as your power.

When you are off balance your body will react in a strange way, you lose the ability to direct power away from your body. A good punch or front kick will lose power and will be ineffective if your balance is off. In Judo the use of off balancing or Kuzushi is used to assist in a throw, in karate it is important to have great balance, but when you note that the aggressor is off balance you should be focusing on attacking at that moment.

Kata Dachi includes aligning the body so that the hip is ready for use and the use of the rotations or vibration will be at its maximum efficiency, the use of bad Kata dachi will throw your body off and you can actually harm yourself if you execute a rotation with bad body alignment.

Bushido, the warriors code and modern Karate training

In the west we use terms like Martial Arts, Martial Spirit and concepts like Warriors way…oh, I mean Budo, Bushido and Bujutsu….and to be frank….most of us are giving lip service to old ideals that we don’t follow, don’t understand and most of us don’t benefit from other than using a fancy term that amazes students and makes them think we are some kind of Samurai…which we also only understand from 1950’s movies and movies like the last Samurai!

 

First off….Samurai is the modern version of “Saburai” the correct way to say “one who serves” A samurai was actually a servant to the royal family or nobility…but they were an upper class member of Japanese society! The better term for them perhaps was Bushi or Buke, which means warrior. If you called someone a Samurai, it only meant they were serving their Daimyo or lord, and perhaps they were Bushi or they could have been a rice counting accountant that happened to belong to the upper crust of the serving staff of a noble Daimyo.

 

Anyways the term Bushido comes from the Bushi or warriors and it meant warrior way, or way of the warrior! The code of the warrior included several codified tenents or subjects that the Bushi had to understand. The code was actually an unwritten work prior to this and passed down from one Bushi to another over hundreds of years.

 

During the 17th to 19th Century the island of Japan stopped warring with itself long enough to actually write stuff down. This included the passing on of the code of Bushido in many books such as the Go Rin No Sho by Miyomato Musashi, Budoshoshinshu by Taira Shigesuke and Hagukure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo. All these books kind of skirt the code but outline the way they think and act and how a warrior was expected to act…which by the way is very much different than what we think of these days.

 

Samurai were human just like you and me, they had good ones and they had bad ones. But they also had higher cast Samurai (who were allowed to ride horses) and lower cast (who had to walk). They had Samurai that adhered to the unwritten code…and others that cut down innocent people in the street and got away with it. Like 007 they had a license to kill, but the difference was those that killed just because they could…well their career path was kind of set as warriors and not true Samruai of the higher level.

 

So, in the 19th to 20th century the code was further codified but actually hijacked by the new militant regime that actually did away with the samurai cast. The old third class of people, the rich merchants, took over Japan and cast out the samurai way. But during world war II they grabbed ahold of the code of Bushido and basterized it into a nationalism that met their needs and basically used the code to push their people into fighting a losing battle saying the spirit of Samurai would prevail….the fact is that Samurai in Japan were never more than 8-9% of the population at any given time, even times of war when they recruited rice farmers and gave them titles to bring them up from a lower cast to fight for the royalty or warlord in the area.

 

At that point many “Creative” families suddenly started saying they had ties to famous Samurai or simply said they were descendants of Samurai…so who could tell if they were or were not!

 

 

 

The Code of Bushido boils down to seven virtues of the Bushi and three associated virtues. All of which you can find in the code known as the Dojo Kun and or Niju Kun written by Okinawan warriors on a island run by those that the samurai ruled…its not a far reach to say that the code of the warrior in Japan influenced the code of the warrior of the Ryukyu islands.

Rectitude (gi)- Rectitude means being Righteous or having Righteousness as your theological concept in life. It is a term that has been used to belittle others like saying “Why do you act so self -Righteous”! Rectitude means to act in a justified manor and live a life that would please the gods (God) depending on your belief system. Basically this means to me that you will act in a way that your conscience can live with. Don’t do things that you will feel sorry for later and you are aces!

Courage (Yuki)- Courage means different things to different people. The ability to confront pain, fear, danger and or intimidation and not back away is one definition. Sometimes courage can by physical like confronting an aggressor or going and getting surgery you know is going to hurt. Or it can be mental, like facing depression, loss of loved ones or other psychological pain and challenges. For me the most courageous people are those that face their own death with dignity and sobriety! I also know of a lot of people who face their life this way as well. Physical courage to me is fleeting…you face down the bully and you step up! Its done and its over. Facing a loss or facing your own issues goes on for a long time and those that face these day to day or end of day events…well they are the truly courageous Samurai in my mind!

 

 

 

Benevolence (Jin)- Benevolence is also a very misunderstood concept. Basically it means the practice of charity and voluntary giving of your self to others. In Karate we see seniors that give their time away from family to help teach, promote a club and run the organization. They don’t ask for any consideration other than to see the club grow and be stronger. The instructors work hard to run the club but the seniors often work harder. Its part of Filial Piety, but to be honest their offering of time and work is Jin! A true sine of Bushi is that they offer something of themselves and they don’t ask for anything in return.

 

Samurai used to do lots of work for the Daimyo, but they also fed the poor and injured and took care of war veterans with “jobs” that amounted to them showing up for their pay day! They used to organize food delivery to the poor and help run the country. Our Samurai, or our seniors run fund raisers and often help by giving time they could use with their family or doing other work to help run the organization.

 

The Niju Kun says “Karate wa, gi no tasuke" or Karate stands on the side of Justice!

Respect (rei)- Karate-do wa rei ni hajimari rei ni owaru koto o wasuru na! Or for those that don’t know what this means…..Karate begins and ends with Respect! This goes FAR beyond bowing to each other and placating our fantasy about living in feudal Japan with top knots, Swords and Japanese pajamas! Respect is something that you earn by treating people correctly, not something you ORDER others to give you! You have to give respect to get respect and todays world of Karate do we see far to many people just scare people into fearing them, then feel that its respect they are getting!

 

One way to give respect is the bow, but it also includes the way you treat others, the way you act towards them, address them and treat them in general. Use of Shogu and other titles is secondary. I have seen plenty of people who were incredibly disrespectful of others never miss a beat when using a Shogu for a person and slapping out a sharp bow!

 

For me Karate is ALL about respect and how you earn it, maintain it and encourage others to cultivate it in their daily lives. After all “dojo nomino karate to omou na” or Karate goes beyond the Dojo! (another line from the Niju kun)…..ever try working with someone that does not respect others, has a bad attitude and basically treats everyone like a stepping stone….well I have and its hard to try and respect someone that trys to rule by intimidation and then calls the fear they get back respect! Managers with this issue are horror shows and need to be asking “ would you like fries with that” and not “ would you like your next pay check”.

 

Respect in Karate dojos is one of the most important aspects of a healthy dojo. If you end up with someone that has an ego, has issues with people not BOWING down to them or has a big head…well it’s a cancer that will rip apart a Dojo fast! Respect is earned by your actions, not by your requesting it or ordering others to give it to you!

 

Honesty(Makoto)- Makoto no michi wo mamoru koto! Many people think that this simply means “be faithful” but that is the English version and it only tells part of the story. Makoto means Honesty! A Better interpretation would be to honestly guard the way of loyalty and truth!

 

The term Honesty was important to a bushi that was going into battle. They had to be honest with themselves and also with their Daimyo about their ability and many stories exist about samurai stepping aside for those more skilled at strategy and the war being won, or those that thought better of themselves than was true and or lying to their Daimyo and the war being lost because of them.

 

Makoto in Karate is more a personal thing. I mean its important to be honest with others, but even more so with yourself. Know yourself well and don’t lie to yourself about your ability or your goals and you will go far in Karate. Being honest also allows us to set new goals and to push ourselves to reach them…if we lie and say Black belt is a sign of perfection….I am a black belt…ergo I am perfect…well you will dwindle and die on the vine when you could bloom into a much better Yudansha if you only were honest with yourself!

Honor (Meiyo)- Honor is hard one to grab a hold of, it probably means different things to different people and the concept of honor or Honour is very transient! Honor is accepted as meaning a quality of worthiness and respectability of an individual. A specific “code of honor” needs to be established, or an understanding of what someone feels is honorable before Honor can be understood by an individual.

 

Honor is a hard modern concept as we have endeavored to do away with lots of the old medieval ideals of chivalry and often think of Chivalry and its code as a dated and sexist ideal; however Honor is a big part of that code! The simplest way to conceptualize Honor as an ideal is to throw it against its opposite, Shame! Essentially if you live a life filled with honor then you will never cause Shame to yourself. Again, its not perfect but seeing as we have kicked our medieval ideal of chivalry to the curb generations ago to create a feeling of equality…it’s a good start!

 

The Code of Bushido and the code of Chivalry have a common and important concept in honor! One should live life in such a way as they know they have never done something to shame themselves and they must view all actions with others in this light. Have you shown your instructor and seniors the proper respect? Are you a good parent and child to your parents? Are you a hard worker at work? Do you honor you work by not just working hard but representing the employer who gives you your wages in a justified and positive way? Are you a good friend, are you honest, are you a good person? All of these outline what Honor is in the modern times to me…and I probably missed a bunch!

 

 

 

Loyalty (Chugi)- The Encyclopedia Britannica defines loyalty as “personal devotion and reverence to a sovereign and royal family”. A more specific idea is that a Bushi in the employ of a Daimyo would fight to the death for the lord and would not give up or change sides, they would not turn tail and run unless ordered to do so and many failing campaigns saw huge numbers of dead because the samurai would not leave the battle field unless a Daimyo told them to…and the Daimyo had left a long time ago!

 

In modern Karate terms the ideal of Loyalty is that of a student joining a club and training for a long time, they now owe the club and instructor their loyalty. Once you join a club and rank to Yudansha level you have learned for four or five years from an instructor and shown your dedication to the art, your now given the opportunity to grade for Dan level. Once you pass you now represent that instructor and or organization, your loyalty is fit with them. If you choose to leave, you are leaving your rank at the door and you may join another club, but you should start from scratch or at least with a white belt worn till that instructor offers you a dan level under them.

 

Now a days we see students leave instructors or chase them out of organizations, accept higher rank than they were given to leave, or set up shop for themselves and not show any loyalty to the instructor or the seniors that they once learned from. This kind of ego move shows more than just a lack of loyalty but it really illustrates a sad character in people.

 

We also see instructors showing no loyalty to students. They have a student that works hard in class and helps the organization grow, and the first “champion” that comes along userps the attention of the instructor and they forget about the other students because a specific student will bring them attention. They charge more money than they need to, move clubs 10,000 times and don’t care about students other than as a revenue stream!

 

Myself and several other seniors stuck with our Sensei when he was forced to leave a large organization, we worked hard to maintain our now smaller group and eventually worked our way back to a larger group. We stay with him because he is our Sensei! We treat the students fair and we all train as a family. When someone shows lack of loyalty to that group I get upset and when former students that left my instructor show up with fancy titles, higher ranks they got by prostituting their membership to others, well it reinforces my feeling of loyalty to my instructor!

Filial piety (Ko)- respect for ones parents and ancestors. In Samurai times the respect one paid to the ancestors of the family would bring luck and would show loyalty to ones roots. The act of honoring the parents and grandparents served many purposes. Not only had they been around for some time and offered up knowledge and wisdom to a samurai, they also often retired from active life and raised your children! The saying it takes a village to raise a child, well the Samurai truly believed this…actually this is a very Japanese thing.

 

Filial Piety in society is lacking, we see kids disrespecting parents, elder abuse, grave sites defaced and the youth running around abusing older members of society and the lessons of “take care of those that came before” are lost on most of society. The term “those that came before”….in Japanese…is Sensei!

 

Filial Piety for me means that you will be loyal and treat those that came before you with the respect they deserve! One day, if you are lucky enough…you too will earn that status and I would hope you want the youth (juniors) to treat you well!

Wisdom (Chi)- “the Judicious study and application of knowledge” So, how did they gain Wisdom and Knowledge? Well they trained with martial arts instructors! Sword masters and other martial arts specialists would have schools or clubs and would teach Bushi their trade…then the Bushi would seek out other masters, like Buddhist teachers, Shinto instructors and others that were thought of as knowledgeable and they would study…..and after years and years of training, if they lived through wars and bloody battles, they eventually may become masters themselves and start teaching others.

 

Modern ways to develop knowledge is the same. You find someone that has something to teach you in martial arts and you train with them, grow with them and try to become as knowledgeable at the arts as them, then you move to other training to reinforce or augment your training.

 

I am a big believer that your Karate training should be strictly Karate till you reach about shodan then you can branch out to study, part time, a complementary art. You should also look for things to study that help your Karate. I studied sports med and massage so I could understand the human body as much as I can and I still research and read about things that will help my Karate training!

 

The most unwise thing you can do is take up an art, study it blindly and just keep repeating what you have done year in and year out. Seek out other ideas, while respecting your roots and your Sensei, look to other instructors for their ideas…but look to grow as a individual and eventually you will also get to that level in martial arts that you are now able to be seen as having knowledge and wisdom in your art.

Care of the aged (tei)- Tei is similar to Filial Piety but in this case its more intimate. It means taking care of those who are aging and helping them move to the next life. We should not be good to those that have had a long life, learn from them and respect them. We should also make their last years as easy as we can, and pray that our kindness is repaid in turn if we reach their age.

 

In Japan those that reach an elevated age are respected and treated with revere! Here in the west, well….often not so much! When Funakoshi was an elder statesman of Karate his students bestowed the greatest respect for him and would carry him up stairs, pay his rental on his home, showed respect at every pass and made sure he had new clothing and was fed well. Here in the modern west we house our elders in retirement homes and watch as they decay and die.

 

Bushido stipulates that we have a responsibility to those that paved the way to where we are today and we need to take care of them.

 

 

 

Someone at some point in the scheme of things created an English “Dojo kun” for Bushido that goes like this:

• Loyalty is the essential duty of the soldier!
• Courage is essential since the trait of the fighting man is his spirit to win.
• Valor is a trait to be admired and encouraged in the modern warrior
• Faithfulness in keeping ones word
• Simplicity is a Samurai Virtue.

 

 

 

This is fine, but the meaning of Bushido is to act in a specific and Noble way, to bring back Chivalry and to not embarrass yourself by reaching for to much and not earning your way, you must show respect and remember that the only reason you are where you are in life is that those that came before you gave you a helping hand and now not only do you owe them…you have to do the same for the next generation!

Reply to a comment

“I want to know why there are so many versions of Karate and so many different fancy looking uniforms and if any of your techniques pre date WW2. Are your Kata forms really going to do anything to help me defend myself? Because I took Karate for 4 years and found it useless there was no purpose to throwing a kick for 20 min just to make it faster. Do you do mat crawls? I used to do all those silly push up and sit ups.”




I look through my comments section usually once a week or so, most of the time I see spam like posts and ignore and delete them as quick as I realize they are for buying new flooring or a new kitchen…kind of funny because they forget that we have an international community here and I don’t think I am sending away to England for my new kitchen…I mean really what a waste of time!

On occasion I get challenged…sometimes I laugh them off as they are the kind of challenge that is not mental, they actually want me to fly some place to fight…morons. Yah, you got something to prove and an issue with a blog post or post on a web site and want me to foot the bill to fly to some back woods town in the South to fight with you to prove I am wrong…give your head a shake Bub.

Once and a while I get a email or comment from someone that actually has a few questions, like the one above. I love these, I get to think a bit, write a good reply and hopefully present a solid argument against the persons bias against Karate. But more importantly, he is not asking me to fly some place to do the argument with him. And they are rather polite.! Massive bonus!



So, my answer to your questions about the different kinds of uniforms and the techniques….well all techniques predate WW2, I mean we got our stuff from Okinawa, who got their stuff form China! And lets face it…like Bruce Lee said, “we all have two arms and two legs” so the types of movements we can make are kind of set in stone! As for the Gis, well I could venture a guess about the Gi colors of some groups with 1000000 patches on the damn thing, but really, they just kind of look silly to us. We wear traditional white with one patch or embroidery on the chest and that’s all. Different instructors probably thought that the Black Gis and multi-color gis looked cool or something. To me it more a matter of someone wanting to look a specific way and not caring about techniques over looks.



The next two questions are more about application. First off Kata does teach techniques and how to apply them. You learn different movement sets and hardwire in movement and technical ability by repeating the movements over and over. It helps build up strength and is a great work out to say the least. By repeating Kata not only do you get a great work out but you are also learning proper form and functionality in the kata. A massive benefit which I will get to.



Not only is repeating a kick 20-10,000,000,000 times a great benefit physically but it also helps you keep good form…why is form important. Well here is a perfect example. A friend of mine who trains regularly but has some form issue threw a kick at a partner and broke his toe because he did not pull it back and show good form and technique. Now, you could say that if he had practiced that kick a few million times properly he might have been able to do this without “killing his toe”. Further if he had to use the PROPER form in a self-defense situation he would have been able to execute it and not hurt himself.



Repetition of a technique with form in mind is much better than just sparring with no attention to details like form and functionality in movement. And who could NOT benefit from a faster kick and quicker reaction time? I get such a kick out of the MMA guys, not the real mma guys but the guys that play at mma and how they put down Kata and repetitions and try to tell me that putting on sparring gear and then going at it for a bit is better than learning form and functionality of a technique….then I watch them with their instructors doing drills and working a single technique or series of techniques on a bag or pads…..Dont they realize that is Kata and repetition???



I was also told by a MMA guy that they never do drills or Reps and they just like to fight…they learned Jitsu from an instructor and one day I went and saw the class, the instructor….yah teaching drills that looked a lot like mini Kata to me, and without a partner for the most part.



Kata is essentially a way of memorizing, internalizing and focusing on specific types of movements and skills. Drills do the same thing and they are the only way to go out and learn a movement pattern. If you don’t learn a technique properly it will never be as strong as you need it to be for sport or self-defense it will be awkward and unnatural and when the chips are down you will have to think far to much about what you are doing to be successful in saving your ass.



As for Silly exercises, one of the first thing you learn in Karate is that a certain amount of conditioning is needed to use the skills that you are training in. You have to push to be able to kick higher than your own knee and strength and conditioning will make you more able to train harder and use the skills you have. I often forget this point so I must thank you for reminding me for the silly exercises that we need to do.



An old saying is a skilled fighter vs a moderately skilled fighter comes down to conditioning and mental ability over functional tools. In other words you can be the best fighter in the room technically but if you run out of gas, are slower or have lost flexibility you will lose! Those silly push ups…may save your life some day!