Difference between Sport and Traditional Karate.

 

                The other day I was approached by a parent who said they “Don’t want their kid doing no sport KR-atty, just the Traditional stuff”. I was first floored that the parent knew that there was a difference, then I noted that it’s Not KRATTY, but Kara-te!  I mean Sheesh!  But seriously, Every few months the subject of “Traditional” vs” Sport” Comes up and I end up having to revisit the subject for people.

                I have covered this subject in the blog previously several times and honestly its getting old, and I had hoped that the idea of “Sport Karate” would die eventually but it seems, much like a cancer, to be growing and sticking around. The scary part is how many “traditional” students and instructors slip over to the other side and then drink the cool aide or whatever causes this “Haze” and they forget their roots.  One of my friends points out that it’s the marketability of it, but I would counter that being traditional is even more marketable…especially to the parents of kids.

                Before we move forwards with the differences I wanted to point out that some cross over does exist, you cannot deny that we all have four limbs and move relatively the same, it’s the mentality, focus and purpose of the two different systems that make them unique and separate. Also, some will bill it as an evolution in Karate…Poppycock! It’s simply not!

 

                Original, Traditional, Budo, Goshin….whatever you call your “old school” Karate training its purpose is to create better people….either physically or mentally….or spiritually. The focus of Kumite is “Ikken Hissatsu” or one punch, one kill. This is the fundamental ideal for the practice of “old School” Karate, Training with the purpose of developing the perfect technique.  The reality is the pursuit is endless because perfection is not actually attainable, but the ideal of training to polish and “perfect” is the ideal behind “Old School” Karate.

                It is true that the original goals of Karate all boiled down to being able to defend yourself against aggressors, the goals changed when the need to defend yourself lessened. Training is now almost a physically spiritual venture in which we try and “Beat our Souls up and make them better” as one of my students once aptly explained. The ideal is not to gain points or to train to get a dangly medal around our neck.  So, then whey do we do tournaments?  TANREN! Its about forging ourselves, testing our metal and pushing ourselves to the brink so we can improve. A Traditional tournament is a time for students to step up and show not only how hard they have worked for the tournament, but how hard they are working in the club on a daily basis.

                Traditional Karate does not use fancy cycles and the students don’t take summers off to relax and go to the beach, well they may go to the beach to relax…but generally they just came from class…or they are doing Kata on the beach. The point is that traditional Karate does not take a break, it does not “Ramp up” or “Cycle” training, it’s a continuous effort to improve. The goal of “Old School “Karate is to be better….period.

 

                Sport Karate is a short term endeavor. Unlike “old school” or Traditional Karate you only have a short time training and competing before you “Age out” or stop training to compete. This is when your normally training kicks in, or you leave Karate. The training is designed strategically to get you in great shape and teach you to score points, or as one of my instructors once said….”Play tag”.  You are not looking for the perfect technique, just one that will give you one of several points you need to win a Kumite match. No emphasis is put on performing a technique perfectly, other than making it flashy as it can be. The value of Sport Karate is in the training, the short term pre-tournament training that pushes you to your limits to be in great shape. Other than this and the entertainment value it holds little to no actual value to a student.

                Historically the Sport Karate grew out of the Japanese trying to mix styles. See its very difficult to judge a solid Shotokan Kata or Shito Ryu or Goju ryu…heck any Kata next to another styles. Even the Kumite techniques are a bit different. But the systems to allow for different style practitioners to train and compete against each other was created to allow for this very thing to happen. At this point the ideals of self-defense, Ikken Hissatsu and any other key and fundamental ideal of value were left on the curb to allow for sport.  I am not ragging on other styles, I love watching the elegance of Goju ryu and even other styles as they do their Katas. They are not my personal preference but I love watching them.

 

                The objective behind traditional Karate is self-defense and survival. This is based on the concept of the finishing blow, meaning training so that one strike is sufficient to render the attacker unable to continue attacking. In traditional Karate tournaments the point is only awarded to the person that gets the “finishing” blow, or a half point for the person that comes close to this. The purpose of the encounter is to develop the mental and physical ability to deliver the well balanced, technically sound strike with the right mental attitude to emulate this “finishing blow” mentality. Sport Karate however is more about playing tag and scoring multiple points. Points are awarded to the fastest strike regardless of the viability of the technique. There is no need for a finishing blow in this case as they are more concerned with accumulation of points. Traditional fighting is about cultivating the fighting spirit and win the battle, the sports focus is on scoring points…and winning medals.

 

                From a technical stand point the sport Karate is fluid, lacks Kime and is geared more towards athletic builds. The training is designed to work techniques that will score points for those that can build up speed and often lacks control in delivery. The athlete is reactive and will train in a variety of skill winning techniques. The training focuses on explosive movement but little attention is paid to control or focus. The Kiai is used more as a way to alert the judge/referee that the competitor feels they scored a point. Traditional training may focus on as little as 5 techniques to perfection, with perfect timing, Kime and control. The student will review, repeat and develop these techniques until they are reflective and automatic. Timing and distance are all taken into training and often the student will be focused on these techniques exclusively and will be able to deliver them at multiple angles and use them in real defense situations.  The focused training makes these waza (techniques) deadly in defense situations and very effective at tournaments.

 

                Both tournament and traditional training have their value to the students but different greatly in their approach and objectives, set up and techniques. To put it simply “Traditional Karate is an art, whereas sport karate is a sport”. One aspect that traditional Karate often lacks, especially today in modern Dojos, is the lack of “Fight” or need to survive. When I started Karate the training in the club was so harsh that many dropped out because of it. Modern Dojos will turn to sport to introduce the feeling of danger to the training. However sport minded clubs turn out athletes in great shape, but they are performing a routine and often have a hard time transitioning to a more “goshin” style mentality when needed or perform as if they are doing sport karate and fail to defend themselves. Much like a boxer striking without hand pads and gloves the first time a Karate player throws a technique to defend themselves they are left realizing they have holes in their training.

 

                One of my biggest beefs with Sport Karate (WKF style or multi style events) is the Genericafication of the systems that they are practicing. It is impossible to participate in a Multi style event and maintain your traditional presentation. I have seen Shotokan people doing Goju Kata to score extra points when they feel that the judges are all Naha based practitioners at heart. This feeling of structural fluidity takes away from the strict style system that has been a traditional pride point. Also the over exaggerated Kata performance that the multi style events encourage takes away from the structure of the traditional Katas.

 

                This is not even mentioning that the traditional tournaments are much safer as the students are focused on controlled use of waza while the sport participant is taught to score points with dynamic and dangerous waza.

 

                While I am obviously in favor of the traditional tournament, I believe that some value exists in the training for events. I myself do conditioning and encourage my students ( I do it in class) to do conditioning such as TABATA drills and such. However I believe that the dangerous practice of “Tip tap” Tournament techniques and lack of control is a major detriment to the student and any dojo that uses this training as a focus. While it is exciting to watch often, and ignoring my obvious traditional slant, I think that the athletes are very competent, any Dojo that takes on the more dangerous training is asking for trouble. Injuries will begin to mount and one major accident could cause you to lose your club!

               

                In place of the more dangerous Multi Style sport Karate a Dojo should instead adopt conditioning that intelligently builds up fitness and ability in a student while spending 75% of the time on control and technical proficiency over explosive and dangerous sport training. One must find the balance between intelligent training and conditioning in the Dojo.

 

 

 

 

 

Karate Poison!

Karate Poison!

                I have been doing Karate for a long time, 37 years! And for 20 of those years I was HARD CORE, we are talking 7 days a week at points, 2-3 classes a day!  I was so submerged in Karate that my whole thought process was about Karate. I was lucky, I had a great instructor who taught me a lot about the way Karate should be done. He was someone that took great pride in doing the right thing all the time, even if it was not the right thing for him politically or financially.

                Now Sensei was not perfect but he recognized that in order to teach Karate you had to have personal standards. You had to present yourself as above the issues and you had to recognize the poison that affects Karate. There are many poisons that affect Karate in general and ones that seem to be flourishing. Most of them are a reflection of our society and normal human nature. However some are more specific to Karate. Here are my basic 8 poisons of Karate.

 

Politics

                Politics are the poison of all things really. I know they are essential in running an organization, which I will get to in a bit, but they also create tension and issues that would be slightly less pervasive if not for the politics of Karate.

                Karate should be a dictator ship, a Sensei at the top of the food chain (Dojo) and then everyone who follows him. It’s the best set up for a Karate Dojo. Then you look at organizations and you should have the same set up, a president and a bunch of worker bees’ however what ends up happening is in fighting, Cliques are formed, power is seen as up for grabs if only you play the game. It’s sad!

                Politics need to be kept out of the Dojo and organizations should run like a company! One head guy and the rest follow orders and move to improve the group over all without working to gain things for themselves. Too bad with politics comes corruption and that is bad news for students, the clubs and the organizations that suffer from this poison.

 

Rank Grabbing

                Along the same lines as political power grabs are rank grabs.  I have known many people who Organization surfed to get further ranking. They hit a glass ceiling in one group and jump to another to get another notch on their belt. Honestly I don’t honor any rank over 5^th Dan for technical knowledge anyways, and 6^th Dan for political “Gifting” of a rank.  I know far to many 9^th Dans who are not worth a pillar of salt and a few 5^th and 6^th Dans who are complete idiots.

                Rank is “Rank” as I often say. Once you get a black belt and have mastered the basics you are now studying the innards of Karate and working towards a better understanding of its inner workings how it applies to your body. Nidan is the fighting rank, you should be able to do fairly decent Kumite and Sandan for me is the pulling together of the whole thing. 4^th, 5^th and even 6^th dan are mainly teaching ranks that show you understand the system you are teaching well. Anything above that is just political.

                I know far to many people who train to get rank, its sad really because they miss the whole point of it. Kyu level I grant don’t know better and honestly the ranking at that level is understandably all about Waza improvement. But after 6^th Dan, well its just political gifting or self-gratification.  Focusing on rank and letting the obsession take over your life is a second poison of Karate.

 

Organizations

                Organizations in Karate should serve the students. They should work to develop extra training options, bring in instructors for variety, create tournament training options and help organize students grading. They legitimize ranks when possible and they focus on keeping the technical level higher.

                However, most Organizations FAIL in this horribly, especially the first part. The organizations tend to change and become about ego for the leadership, power grabs and they fail to recognize that this is all about the student base….not the leadership. Organizations are best made up of Dojos that run independent of each other and work together to build up training, the leadership made up of equal votes from each club…..each club being a dictator ship. OR they should be all run by one leader who makes all the decisions based on what is best for his organization….however both are flawed and over time I have found that organizations end up becoming a big disappointment and fail the membership horribly.

                I have been a member of FEW organizations that were not Poison! The organizations that I was part of that were not totally poisonous were led by strong leaders who did not goof around trying to maintain power, they just led and crated good training. They however are few and far between. To many leaders are self-conscious and paranoid about losing power. They lack integrity and they often are power mongers. The few I know who are not, lead smaller groups that just want to train.

 

Racism and sexism and worse.

                This one is not as prevalent in most Karate groups, but it’s out in the universe of Karate groups, as is sexism. Thankfully I have never really been the target of racism in Karate, which as a short white guy sounds funny but it’s a reality for some. I have seen Japanese instructors pass members up for positions and rank because a Asian was up for the same position, or a the person ranking was a lady and how could she get a rank that a guy had.

                I have of course also trained under Japanese masters like Saeki Sensei who shows NO prevalence towards these types of behaviors and is one of the most fair people I have ever met. However I have seen some leaders and instructors mistreat people, I have been told by a few female Karate-ka that they were sexually harassed and I have seen people behaving badly when it comes to kids and people of other back grounds.

                To me this is a perfect example of not understanding respect. As an instructor or senior we must show great respect to our students. Granted they must return the favors but I am a big advocate for first respecting them. This means give the respect that is owed before you expect it back. The lack of respect, racism, sexism and ego issues area chronic poison in Karate.

 

Long distance training

                This one will seem strange, but it will make sense to you in a second or two. I see a trend happening that seems to be a mix of changing organizations to get ranking and seeking to train under famous instructors…when you live literally a world apart. I have seen this manifest several ways. The first is someone applies to a group that has no one in their area, they get approved and then they train less than 2 times a year with someone from far away…..if ever. This to me is a waste of time and energy, if you want to be part of a “Named” Group then simply make a name for yourself, its sad when you join group “ABC org” just to put that on a fancy patch.

                The other manifestation of this is distance grading/learning. This is a new “Technology” based push that has come about in the last few years. I have seen people grade for Shodan, Nidan and Sandan by sending in video of them doing the syllabus for the group. Its kind of sad. They get rank and never meet the person that supposedly ranked them.

                Honestly it makes me feel that instructors need to shake their heads a bit more. The traditional ranking system was an instructor teaching and giving out rank based on the interactions of the instructor with the student. They did not grade anyone they did not personally know and train with let alone give a black belt ranking out to someone they did not personally know. It’s a sign of the disintegration of the meaning of rank when you see this.  I know of one person who received their Dan ranking by attending one camp then sending in a video of themselves doing Kata and some basics. They think that this is legit but in most of our eyes the person is a brown belt that got taken for a ride.

                I don’t think you need to train every day with an instructor but you should know the person and have trained with them a few times before they give you rank. I also know that the JKA sends out rank instructors to provide ranking to people. The truth is your local instructor goes to bat for you during these and says if you should or should not pass. It’s not JUST the instructor who is giving you rank. And honestly that is fine with me.

                The new trend of Long distance training removes the personal attention an instructor gives and makes the whole process about one desperate person looking for help…and the other looking to pad their bank account. Its poison alright.

 

Karate for sport

                Karate was not created to be a sport, while it can be changed and altered to be a sport it loses its soul when this is done. Yes you can have Karate tournaments that challenge students, give them something to focus on and helps them get hyped up for training. But the modern trend in Karate is to do tag matches that make you work to 5-11 points. This means, by the old interpretation…you must deliver 5-11 perfect “Killing blows” to an opponent with perfect control.  So….we need to kill them 5 or more times…..last I saw if someone dies they don’t come back…we are not cats! I partially kid.

The fact however is Sport Karate has sucked the very soul out of most of the students training. They are taught a very dangerous form of tag that instructors sell them to make them day dream about being in the Olympics or some such crapola. The facts….and I do mean FACTS are that 99% of people walking in the Dojo will NOT get to the Olympics…and 98% of them won’t get to an international tournament and compete….maybe 95% won’t make it to nationals and that’s just the facts.

I call this sales pitch the “Tiger woods” sales approach. An instructor waives the “Carrot” in the face of students saying that they “could” be Olympians if they train hard and they pay a lot of money for that…travel and participate in special training. This “Marketing model” often pays off and gets students in the door. Back when Woods was the guy to be it brought THOUSANDS of kids to golf, a sport normally reserved for retired older business men then saw a boom in participation…but at the end of the day 99.9999% of those kids forced to wear golf clothing and swing at the round white ball on countless driving ranges with overpriced golf clubs and then taking expensive personal training and coaching….ended up NOT being the next “Tiger Woods” and it was a harsh wake up call.

Karate sport is going to be the same thing. First off it’s NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.. your students will NOT be Olympians. I never really billed Karate as OLYMPIC sport to market my club, why…because it’s a pipe dream! WKF style Karate has three things working against it. First off its PURE SPORT which is not what most students are looking for. Secondly it’s a limited time training process. This means when you age out or get hurt and cannot train any longer or just simply give up on the fake ideal of being and Olympian…well you are done with training…and that’s a shame. Secondly its intrinsically more dangerous than traditional training because it’s a TIP TAP game of tag that includes uncontrolled and covered limbs that will lead to injury.

The local organizations are going to vie for the 1-2 spots that the National Team have, and most will be given away already. Secondly you are not just competing with your own system of Karate…you are competing with Wado, Goju, Shotokan, Shorin, Shito ryu, Uechi ryu and those that are Tae Kwon Do athletes that spar at a high level. The fact is that the whole WKF is skewed towards the Shito ryu athletes as they make up the hierarchy of the WKF these days. If you belong to a traditional Karate group your athletes will have to abandon the traditional roots and style to become WKF “skilled” For Kata and they have to change their training and adapt to it.

It’s not just WKF, it’s any system that promotes sport over traditional training is taking the soul out of Karate and changing the intent of training.  For this I state that sport Karate training is a poison in Karate. Now, traditional tournaments and those that put emphasis on the true spirit of Karate are not, actually the opposite. Traditional focused tournaments reinforce Budo training and the true ideals of Karate training. That goes for ANY Style of Karate!

 

 

The Genericise of Karate

                This has been something that I have disliked from the start of the Sport Karate movement, and its something that haunts me when I see people slipping over to training in WKF or other sport Karate. The intrinsic components that make each style of Karate unique also give them their character. I am a Shotokan student/instructor who loves what makes my training Shotokan. However I also like watching really good Goju Ryu style Kata and The flowing movements of Wado ryu and the hard Kung fu system that is Uechi Ryu. Each movement, each interpretation of movement skills and each dynamic that makes the Kata and functionality uniquely that of the style it comes from is interesting to me.

                However the recent trend is to shave these differences away and create a generic system that is meant to meld with what other practitioners are expected to do. A Shotokan person who does traditional Kumite and Kata according to the traditional training now must “Adjust” their Kumite style, work on multiple points and abandon the syllabus and style of Kata to now fit the new system that sees Shito, Goju and others abandon their syllabus and style to also be able to compete against other styles.

                Back in “the Day” when a Goju person did Kumite against a Shotokan person or a Shito Ryu black belt sparred against a Wado Ryu person (Ext) you could tell what system they came from based on their style in Kumite. Also students used Kata to learn, they learned them in-depth and the “performance” was meant to show their own style of training. Now the Katas are all changed to be more athletic, the timing is altered to make them more exciting to perform….who cares if the timing is done now in a way that makes the application of technique questionable at best.

                This is Genericise of Karate, the removal of years of traditional systems and styles to allow them to be used to compete against other systems. This removal of tradition is then give merit by creating a organization to support it, and rank provided by people who directly advocate for the watering down of the systems that make up the organization. It’s a case of the organization creating a system to train in, and not a system of training generating an organization to lead it.

                The poison that is Genericise of Karate is actually  a poison for all systems of Karate. The art of Karate, its many beautiful branches, was never meant to be a single unit. It was never meant to be an Olympic singular sport like boxing, Tae Kwon Do or Judo. It’s a plethora of personal systems, of traditions that should not be disrespected by Genericise.

 

Modernization of Karate

                Modernization of Karate is another similar issue and cancer that we face today in Karate. It’s often presented as Genericise but because it’s often a single system that is “Modernizing” it is different enough to warrant its own comment. Modernization is when a system or club moves to remove the traditional base of a system.  They often present this as “Evolution” or “revolution” of a system, it’s basically a pasteurization presented by people that have not been able to see the value of tradition.

                Modernizing Karate is like saying you will take a painting by a famous 18^th Century artist and rework it on the computer, redraw it and print it out on the computer. You will take away the classic lines, the paint strokes, the aged skills of the artist and replace it with a computers fine lines, and measured presentation. You are sucking the soul out of the system and giving it new names, new approaches and often the system is basically the same…just watered down horribly.

                Karate is a traditional system, it’s not exactly “Ancient” but it’s not modern. It has a soul to it that you should not be removing to “market” it to ignorance and people seeking newness in a system that is old. It normally boils down to a new marketing approach by people that don’t value the traditions of the system….and often they are not smart enough or trained enough to understand that the system they teach…is almost identical to the one they say they “modernized from”. 

                There are three kinds of “Modernization” of Karate. One is the Genericise of Karate we spoke of previously. The other is the lip service to evolution that we see from people who don’t understand that Karate should remain close to the original form. They disrespect the teachings they underwent and they just want the money that is they can gain. The last is the “creationist” systems that are basically made up systems.  These ones are so weak and take away the legitimacy from traditional system. I think of a system that was made up by a soldier returning from WWII when he had seen classes or read about them but never studied. He purchased a gi and black belt and created a strange system he named. This is a modern system that fails in every category, but he stuck with it and it eventually became “Legit”.  All of these are poisons and should be avoided.

 

McDojo’s

                The last poison that I see is the McDojo. The Urban dictionary defines a Mc Dojo as having one or more of the following things:

1. The Black belts have not reached puberty yet and you can rent out the Dojo for birthday parties.
2. Your instructor tries to flirt with your girlfriend when she attempts to visit you at the club.
3. Your instructor is having an affair with one of his students.
4. Your instructor gives speaches during class about how TKD is superior to all other martial arts (assuming you are in a TKD club).
5. Your instructor won’t allow you to compete in a tournament because his techniques are too deadly and you would actually kill or seriously injure anyone you competed against.
6. You attend a Chinese kung fu school that used Japanese belt ranking systems.
7. You attend a Hapkido school but all the grappling elements have been eliminated from training.
8. Your instructor places and embargo on his students equipment purchases. You will be reprimanded for bringing in gear and gis purchased outside the Dojo.
9. While sparring your instructor complains that you’re not being aggressive enough, then when you be more more aggressive your instructor tells you to stop being aggressive.
10. Your instructor names his style after himself. For example Jo Son do, Dux Ryu, Rex Kwon Do.

 

Now, this is by no means a complete list. Nor do they mean if you see one of these things in your club that the whole club is a McDojo. It is a good indicator however that you have some foolish things going on in your club. For starters a good Dojo can become a McDojo if it crosses over from a passion to a job for the instructor and they start looking for things to bring in the general public and care little for tradition.

My issue with McDojos is that they take the legitimacy that we have with the public away. We end up failing and falling short with the public and we end up doing more damage to an often weaker view that the general public has of us. Our focus should be on building up the art of Karate not making it a mockery. This is a poison for sure.

 

 

Not all the things wrong with Karate are obvious, and not all the things that we view as bad are poisons, they may just be things that irk us. But we need to know that there are things out there that are bad for us, even if we see them as good in the short run. We need to guard against these practices and focus on the students we are passing Karate onto. Our job as instructors is to pass on Karate to the best of our ability to our students to they can maintain the traditions we were taught.

When your reach exceeds your grasp

  

              I am a big advocate of SLOWING Down the progress of students up the ranks and introducing skills that are rank level appropriate and then working them till they are near perfect. I don’t think students should work outside their skill levels much, even if they train 6 days a week we often see them try and do Kata they just are not ready to learn or jump into free sparring way to early and then they forget or ignore the Heian Katas and they think only about senior Kata and Kumite. This leads to a loss of basic skills and they never have that base to work off of, so they end up with sloppy basics. However lately the trend is to throw senior level or advanced forms and skills at people who don’t have the knowledge and training to handle the new advanced skills, it’s called Sport Karate.

 

 I was watching a few of my students the other day warming up doing Heian Yondan, I stopped them and corrected them and they went and worked on the Kata for a bit then started on Heian Godan, that was as far as they got…Heian Shodan to Godan. I was super proud of them…they were Black belts after all and knew that they needed solid foundations and training to move up to more advanced Kata. They were doing Jion and Jutte as Tokui kata but they did not ignore the lower Kata, in fact they gave them even more training than their training Katas. Once they get the skills polished up a bit and we start class we always start class with Sonobu and Ido Kihon waza to remind people that basics and basic skills are what propel you into senior level training and allow you to do these skills properly.

 

                Karate skills are like the progress between crawling and sprinting; first you crawl, then stand, then walk, then run, then sprint! You cannot really jump a skill set and successfully progress without missing key components of the skills. I never teach Mawashi Geri before I teach Mae geri, Mae Geri being the key primary kicking skill that you should be taught. Actually I am very focused on reworking, working then working some more, and finally reworking base skills before I ever think about moving to a more advanced skill. It’s the basis for a solid Kihon-centric system.  This is why the rank system was set up after all. I don’t dispute that some people want to jump into more advanced training and even enjoy it, even if they cannot do them very well or end up with sloppy Kihon, but it’s not proper to train a junior in senior level skills.

 

I have also seen the opposite thought process however and it illustrated to me that I was DEAD RIGHT. I was watching a class of mostly junior brown belts and Black belts warm up at a Dojo I was asked to teach at a bit ago and saw they were all working on Kanku Sho. All of them! The problem was that the Black belts did not have a solid foundation in Kihon and had not put in their time in the junior Kata, never mind the intermediate Kanku Dai and others, and they jumped right into the advanced form. It was horrible! I had to do everything in my power to not stop them and tell them to not do that Kata and work on their weak points in the foundation. The issue was obvious, they were exceeding their grasp because they did not give themselves time to focus on the junior Katas and work their way up the TECHNICAL SCALE to be able to actually perform a Kata like this and do it any justice!     

 

I remember in the 90’s going to a kickboxing class with a buddy of mine, I was already a 1^st Kyu and was looking for some fun training to do. The class warmed up jumping rope then some light stretching. I stuck out because I was very flexible and kind of had the basic drills down because of hours of Karate training, I knew a round house kick and a side kick from a front kick, even if they did them all a bit different. What struck me however was how 90% of the class had no basic training and at the end of the first ½ hour we “gloved up” and started hitting each other…..no basic sparring or gentle elevation from basics to drills…nope, right to hitting each other in a free sparring system of training. In a ½ hour class I saw about 3 bad injuries and probably 7 future bruises that were mostly self-inflicted. The instructor kind of shrugged it off like “Its kickboxing what did you expect”. Back then we used to make fun of the kick boxers for having little skills other than hitting each other with bad form, my Sempais went as far as entering the first “all styles” Kumite events and winning each division then saying it was not fair….we had actual training. Now we are trading in the mind set of basics first for flash first.  It’s hurting our art a great deal!

 

Like I said, we have a ranking system for a reason, we progress from white belt to Black belt and from 10^th Kyu to Dan level for a reason, and we don’t let people jump ranks for any reason. You can be super athletic and still have to learn basics and polish the fundamentals before you get your next belt. When I teach I see members as fitting into one of three categories; Basic, Intermediate and advanced. I also train each level a bit different and focus on different skill sets for each level. It’s not just about time in and it’s not just about what color belt you have, it’s about how well you have progressed.

 

                10^th to 6^th Kyu level belts should be focused on the VERY Basic levels of Kihon and Kata and having fun with some 5 step sparring to work the basics.  This is what I call the basic level student. They need the time to develop movement patterns that will create the foundation or fundamentals of their Karate but instructors are scared to lose members to kick boxing classes who will get them hitting pads and bags and pile on foam protection so they can pound on each other! Let them, if the student does not understand that Karate is not about instant gratification…they should not be students.

 

                5^th to 1^st Kyu level students are intermediate students in my books. That’s normally purple to Brown belt levels. They should be working on skills that will help them become solid black belts. Focus on katas that will help build up stronger movement skills, develop Kumite reflexes with 1 step and then semi free sparring and work on more advanced Kihon, but the addition of a few extra more advanced things to play with is fine. But you should be keeping them working hard on skills and training that are in the realm of skill development, when you drop them into Kanku Sho or free sparring you are dropping them into a skill training program that is set up for people WHO ALREADY HAVE SKILLS TO HANDLE THIS. It’s not “Fun” to do these advanced skills if they SUCK at them and they lose skill because of it. It’s a detriment to their training!

 

                1^st Dan and 2^nd Dan are about development of advanced skills like Kumite and the rest of the 15 Kata. This is the level you can have some fun with advanced training once people have the physical ability and the mental ability to train coming together at this skill level. However I must say that these ranks are ranks I am pointing out those who are TRULY at this rank, not those that did sport Karate and are doing advanced training as a purple belt. Honestly there are far too many black belts training who don’t have the proper skill sets because their foundation is CRAP!

 

When you are training, as a rule, there is a “pyramid” of progressive importance that each club has in their training. Sometimes its discussed and well thought out and other times it’s just something you note and you can observe based on the classes set up. In my club the pyramid starts with a wide base of Kihon. We do Kihon every class and we focus on improved movement skills but the focus is on the basic mechanism of execution of the movement. We drill on proper mechanics, impact site on the weapon, targeting, proper body alignment and balance and other aspects of the movements, but we do them A LOT and drills in basics can take up an entire class.

 

Next in our pyramid is Kata. Kata is always done in class to end the class, if not as a focus. We do our ranking Kata and sometimes will address a senior level Kata. Honestly it takes a great deal of time to work on grading Kata so even if we are “focusing on Empi this month” we probably will work 1 week end out of 4 on it, and the week day training we will work on grading Kata only. Kata is the application of Kihon, but you start to see the breakdown of form and functionality from Kihon to Kata at this point and it needs to be focused on.  This is also were I normally see students beginning to reach farther than they can grasp. They begin going away from the basics training of Kihon and doing advanced Kata that they don’t understand as they are not mentally their yet. And the spiral begins to grow.

 

The Second from top part of our training pyramid at the Nintai club is Kumite. We try and have fun with it as often as possible but I can recall weeks that we did not do any Kumite and longer stints in which we did no free style, granted as of late we have really focused on this as a training component but mostly we see it as the end result of hard work, not a goal. Our students should be learning the basics and working up the Kumite skill ladder working with 3/5 step then 1 step then semi free and finally playing with free style a bit….not jumping into free style and dropping all the skills they worked so hard to acquire.

 

The top of our pyramid is conditioning, which I am a bit embarrassed about, we should be doing more stretching and conditioning but honestly I tend to leave that to the students. Its something I am trying to correct.

 

The point being is that working a class structure that omits the key components of the solid pyramid system does not make sense for longevity of a student, nor for the success of a student. It’s a given fact that you require solid Kihon to be able to perform Kata, and you have to train in Kata to understand the essence and structure of a form as well as internalizing the form itself to perform the form with any kind of success. Also, if you want to be good at Kumite you must first be good at the tools you are using to engage in Kumite, then you work on skills like distance and timing and work on explosiveness ext. You cannot skip the Kihon to get to the tasty bits that Kumite offer or you will look like a flopping fish when it comes time to engage in actual Kumite.

 

Students today almost reflexively reach beyond their grasp and want things that they should be made to wait for. They need to be pushed to train the details and build solid Kihon so that it’s a reflex to throw a good technique, the goal being that if they are attacked they don’t think, they react to the situation based on good form and experience using the waza. 

You want further proof of this ideology and its effect on training. Look at the champions of WKF Karate, watch them do their Katas with poor Kokutsu dachi and a focus on splashy, fancy moves, loud screaming and a shock factor that they try and put into their training, they push to excite with athletics with little actual substance. Then go watch Osaka sensei, his perfect form and execution is awe inspiring. Why is there such a vast difference, well Osaka Sensei trained with Nakayama Sensei who drilled Kihon over and over again so the students understood Kata, and he studied the Heian Katas till he had them down! He was there to shock you with perfect form and not just athletic ability.  The difference is often striking, when you consider that you are looking at two different world champions and both are said to be “the best”.  For my money, I want my students to be as good as Osaka Sensei, not fancy and dramatic like the new age Kata champs.

 

As instructors we are tasked with teaching good Karate, I for one will always work my students Kihon and think long term for them, not immediate gratification that helps them participate in sport. I want to be clear that Traditional Karate has a sporting component with tournament participation, however the outcome and ideals of the training. The focus is on good form and the Kumite focuses on the ideal of one punch one kill. This means you don’t compete for “points” but perfection of form and application of the functionality of the waza…..or if you used it for real…would you “finish” the fight. This is completely different from the current sport ideal of tag for points.

 

Students should be focused on building up solid basics, they should not be in a rush to jump into sport style training. When they do the results is the WKF style sport karate that is fancy, quick paced and explosive…but very sloppy and an activity that becomes something other than true Karate. We need to teach students to keep the course, not reach further than they can grasp and to focus on what is important….Training to learn and grow, not to show off and get ranks that don’t reflect their true understanding of Karate.

Honor thy father

               

                The title Sensei is a Japanese term that has come to mean Teacher, the actual term however translates as “one who came before”.  The character is the same as the word Xiansheng, which is the title for a man of respected stature. In a Karate club the Sensei is often seen as the “Father” of the club, regardless of age. They are the Patriarch, or matriarch of the club. Not only are they the founder in most cases, but they are the leader and as such they command a certain amount of respect.

                The Bible, and I don’t quote this book often, says that you should honor thy father and they mother. Some interpretations say “honor” means to love and respect them, others see it as providing for them and others mean to protect them and “hold” them close. In the Karate Dojo when the Sensei says to do something the only thing that they should expect is “Yes” or “Ous” and then the student does it…within reason. However this blog is not about just blindly doing what I ask if you are in my club or what you need to do if you are in class and your instructor barks orders or asks you to do something. It’s about how others behave towards the leader of the club/organization sometimes.

                Many years ago I started seeing changes in my instructor, he forgot things, had physical issues with just standing for an hour. He would be teaching Karate and forget what he was saying. They were little things but they began to concern me. Later he would show up for class and not even change out, he would sit and watch class while I taught, I had no problem with this as my instructor was not just my instructor but a pioneer of Karate in Winnipeg. He had opened many clubs, taught me Karate for 20 plus years and he had grown his group to a huge size before he started seeing issues come up. His physical and mental abilities began to change and he was not able to teach anymore, but I honored him and respected him a great deal and continued to teach for him and run things for him. I was unwilling to commit to the inevitable and put off making any moves to ask him to step aside, even if it was becoming more and more obvious that he needed to find a new place in the organization.

                When it was time for him to step down I pushed back against the seniors that were saying he needed to retire. I fought with my wife about it and refused to cave even though I saw it. It took a few seniors coming to me to state a change was needed and we had to make for the group to be viable. One of my seniors, who has passed since, sat down with me and we had a heart to heart about my Sensei. He told me that if we did not ask him to step aside he would be tarnishing his reputation and make the whole group suffer and slowly die out.

                None of this helped me however, I was stuck! I forgot that sometimes honoring him meant being straight with him and protecting him from himself. When it was finally done I had the whole group back me up and a letter was sent to him, I honestly still could not face him to see the sadness in his eyes, it killed me a little bit to realize that he was past his ability to teach. However I knew that honoring him meant asking him to retire.

                The way things went down, I am not proud of it. I honestly hoped that he would have stepped aside himself and still visited as long as he could. Or better yet just teach till he was 110 and then stopped teaching to relax for his last 20 years of life….wishful thinking I know. But being as Sensei is a stubborn man and a very proud man, we ended up asking him to step aside and which hurt his pride, not the intended results. While this hurt me a great deal to see I take solace in the face that we are pushing forwards teaching the way we were taught by him and keeping his organization alive. But losing him that way hurt more than anything. I told my wife I had to leave Karate, but she, and a few of the seniors, convinced me that we needed this and we needed to keep his memory alive by pushing forwards. And we needed to continue to respect him and his hard work by redoubling our efforts.

                I told you all this because I want you to know I am not perfect, heck not even close! But I have a beef with some people and its simply something I have to express. I don’t like people who don’t respect their Sensei. I have been around far too many of my instructors old students who don’t respect him. They kiss up to him, they buy him things and then they stab him in the back when he is not looking. Or they Crap on him and then run up to him calling him “my sensei”. The honest truth, not once has this happened and my instructor did not comment about it to me later.

                We went to a meeting a few years back and some of his old students were present. One particular guy ran up to him and hugged him and said “oh, my sensei, how are you” and when I say hugged…I mean an octopus could not have gotten a better grip on him.  My instructor asked me right away if I could see a knife protruding from his back. This is a common thing with my instructor however, he has so many Ex-students and they all “love him” but left him and most of them speak ill of him all the time.

                One such occasion I met an ex student of Sensei’s as my wife and I went out for dinner. The student uncomfortably sat down at a table near us and began talking Karate, something my wife LOATHS when we are out on our “date night”. I was polite and greeted the person and then proceeded to focus on my wife. However as the dinner went on the ex-student began talking Karate again and soon the conversation turned to Sensei. The comments turned to how “bull headed” he was and then it got ugly. I was polite but honestly I simply wanted to leave…or punch him in the mouth. We said our good byes at the end of the night and I left steaming mad that someone could train with Sensei for so long and then be so rude to him behind his back. I know Sensei is not perfect but I honestly could not imagine doing something like this to him.

                A while later I was with Sensei and we ran into this student, who was sucking up to him and saying how much he missed the old days and respected him. I have a few people I simply hate, I know hate is a bad word to some but these people are not worthy of my time, they have done horrible stupid things and don’t see it. I don’t loath them, I mean they are not Hitler, but they are not good people and honestly I would leave a room if they were in it. One of the ways to get on this list is to disrespect someone I love and respect, then deny it and suck up to them, not just be nice, but suck up to them. You just lowered your status with me1000%.

                One other thing I don’t like, and Sensei and I used to laugh about was people who suck up to authority to get ahead. As a leader in Karate in Canada my instructor used to get people who sucked up to him. He once said to me that he liked the way I treated him because I respected and loved him (he was like a second father to me) but I did not suck up. I helped him run several clubs over the years and I shared a lot of time with him over the years, but I was real with him. I saw seniors come in, buy him things, suck up, and then expect things like rank advancements, students having an easier time at grading or a “seat at the table” when it came time for him to change the board or other things. I never expected anything like that and once told him that I never wanted to run things or be the boss, which is why he wanted me to run things.

                Sensei used to say the loathed people that schmoozed their way into things, and felt false friendly people were a plague in Karate. Far too often the leadership of any given organization is filled with “used car salesmen” who want to politely stab people in the back till they get ahead and then they demand adulation. They are false people however and honestly do not deserve the attention. I am lucky in that my new organization is run by level headed people with a passion for Karate and their students and not a bunch of glad handing jerks that will be nice to you, but disrespect you when you are not there.

                It is easier sometimes to do as the others do and just go around trying to work the system and politically glad hand your way to the top and disregard those that helped you make it to this point. AND its far to easy to use your instructor for the political gains you think you can get from them and not respect them enough when they are not present.

                So, how do you actually honor your instructor? Well first don’t stab him in the back! Second, be honest with him. I really hope that when I am unable to teach and need to step away that I have prepared a replacement for my teaching spot and they respect me enough to ask me to take a seat.  Also, when your instructor is not present don’t say things about him you would not say TO him!  Don’t treat him/her like a whore and pay for them to show up so you can use their name! Respect them enough to just have them around, visit them and have them out to the club. Teach what they taught you and remind students that your instructor is part of your lineage.

                My goals for honoring my instructor include teaching his Karate, honoring him in my lineage and preparing the next generation of Karate people so that they can take over and continue on teaching his Karate. I am not going to use his name after I left him or kicked him out. And I am going to grow and continue to evolve as an instructor and remember to get back to the basics, which is what my instructor preached to me daily when I trained with him. That is how I am going to honor my Sensei!