Spartacus Maximus

If you are teaching, who was the first person to be your student? How did you find this person or how did the student find you?

@Nidan Melbourne The most obvious explanation was that although it was the exact same style(Chibana lineage); the association/GB were different and so were the instructors. The other, no less important, is that ´giving up’ any previous rank/level was essential as a sign of good faith and readiness to learn with the approach of a beginner. To put it into a relatable context, it could be illustrated like this: Your grandfather passed his karate style to four sons who each founded their own association/GB. You started and trained under your father’s students and reached 3rd dan. Then a short time later, you start training with your uncle who was also taught by your GF. Same karate, same kata, same lineage….but taught differently with different focus. All very minute but significant differences. It is as much an advantage or a disadvantage, but as far as the curriculum of kata and techniques everything was familiar. It was/is just a matter of re-learning in a different way and on a different level.

This reminds me of dojo ideals/rules shaped by Okinawan karate and many other martial arts traditions with a code of some sort: As we train our body, we also train our character: This means to strive to be someone who can make conscious efforts to change personal faults. To become a kind and agreeable person. This requires determination because any effort made must be consistent and constant. Martial arts are a great way of developing patience and also determination, resolve. These qualities are essential and cultivated actively in traditional martial arts practice. Cultivate conscious effort. Develop a strong determination/resolve. That is also a loosely translated version, but the meaning stands: To learn and practise martial arts requires making conscious efforts to improve skills. Training over time requires determination and resolve.

knowledge and skills and habits can never be erased or taken away. This means that any revocation or giving up of rank is a symbolic act. In personal memory there is one example of each. One is a former student of the grandmaster. This man ranked 7th or 8th dan but was disowned/expelled and struck from records after being found guilty and imprisoned for very serious violent crimes. The other is myself. Reached 3 dan in Shorin ryu before giving up that rank and training from zero under a different association/GB of the exact same shorin ryu(kobayashi) lineage. My sensei’s teacher and the grandmaster(deceased) of my former GB were both taught by Chibana Chosin.

In martial arts and specifically systems of East Asian origin, anyone training would agree that grade level or belt rank is entirely subjective. They are marks of technical skill and understanding of a specific curriculum based on the evaluation of specific individual teachers and/or seniors. At the same time, each practitioner’s progress is different, even from those of equal grade. This is why time-in-grade minimums are often used. These are also usually unique to each teacher/dojo’s instruction style. For discussion’s sake, how many kyu or dan(or equivalent) grades does your dojo use and what is the minimum time one must train before being tested? Also, what was the longest time you have stayed at one level before being tested and promoted? My instructor used 3 kyu levels(3,2,1) and then shodan-10th dan. Minimum before being told(nothing is automatic) to test are like so: 3kyu blue: 6mths 2kyu green: 8mths 1kyu brown: 10mths shodan black: 1 year nidan: 2 years sandan: 3 years…et cetera that is provided one trains 10~12hours/week in the dojo plus outside/at home. Due to distance and irregular work and travel(and COViD prevention) my time between tests has been very long. Reached 2nd dan in early 2018 and still working towards 3rd.

One must bear in mind that training in Japan or even Okinawa is no different than training anywhere else. It is not a matter of where but with whom. That is what makes the experience worthwhile. With that said the best course of planning, as others have mentioned is to arrange it through connections and references. These are extremely important and perhaps essential. In many instances just showing up without an internal referral is a major blunder which will give a rude impression and cause for refusal or cold reception. Many traditionally minded sensei and Japanese people in general are weary of foreigners unless they have a clear signs of good faith and respectable intentions. Expect to be closely watched and scrutinized in the dojo and outside as well. In recent years there has been much conflict, frustration and justified anger because of a few ill-behaved, uncouth and foul uncivilized behaviour from foreigners who seem to think they can abuse the kind and polite nature of Japanese society. Mistaking this for weakness always ends badly and those who behave like trash are treated like trash. The man to look up in Okinawa is Mister Miguel DaLuz. He has lived there for years, and is very well connected to all styles sensei. It is actually his job to help foreign karate students find a dojo. He also runs a great magazine covering karate, history and Okinawan culture published in French, English, Spanish and Japanese which he speaks flawlessly. A very interesting fellow to talk to. The mainland is less familiar to me, but there are quite a few reputable places in and around Tokyo.

This is not at all to dismiss, discredit or discourage training in martial arts. It is more about having a healthy aversion to violence and the importance of reserving it for only the worst threat of unavoidable physical harm. Having a good understanding of how easy it is to cause serious injuries to a human body and being conscious of its fragility should be something to consider. Particularly if one trains to develop the skills to do it effectively. Knowing this does not exclude the usefulness and perhaps the necessity of training for such skills.

What is most concerning is that many people who’ve never experienced violence with true intent to harm do not realize that even a poorly executed strike from an angry untrained person can have disastrous life-altering consequences. Whether it is intentional or not, all it takes is one bad fall to turn a knockout into something much worse. This is a very good reason why youths, especially teenage boys and young adult men ought to learn not to never take violence lightly, and the self-restraint/control to not be provoked or goaded into stupid fights over frivolous ego issues. Martial arts training just makes everything potentially worse and serious injuries much more likely.

@sensei8 Resilience like yours is admirable after everything you’ve had to endure(shared on KF). One of the most difficult things to imagine was how it must have been to lose so many friends and fellows at once in that awful freak accident.

Most people including trained martial artists who have never had the misfortune of physical confrontation often do not understand or appreciate how easily a human body can be damaged. Normal law-abiding people would much rather avoid all the legal, ethical and mental consequences of using force. All it takes to cripple or end a life is one strike or fall, even without intent. There are countless instances of people falling badly and getting very serious or fatal injuries that were not intentional. Most of these involve untrained people. Despite this, this is rarely discussed in martial arts schools. It is by far the best reason to avoid playing with MA outside the dojo/school or using it unless absolutely forced to defend oneself. Young men and teenagers (especially)who train would do well to listen and hear this warning. One bad judgment and a stupid fight(they are all stupid unless defending yours or another’s life/limb) can and will ruin your life, your future and perhaps your sanity. Am I prepared to deal with the authorities and the legal system? Do I really want to go through the mental consequences of having permanently crippled another human or caused their death? These are the questions to ponder. As a personal cautionary true story, I keep a newspaper article about a former classmate who has been disowned by his parents and serving 25 years. He had no training whatsoever but killed another fellow with one punch causing the other 18year old kid to fall and fracture his skull open on the pavement.

Europe would be the closest and least expensive, but going almost anywhere else would likely cost as much as going to where the CI lives and teaches most of the time. Sending videos is probably the best solution, but there are only a few things that can be evaluated without being present in person. trained intensively for just shy of ten years before life happened and being forced away. Although it is a project, lack of resources and a full time job make it impossible for the time being to open a branch dojo.

In all your martial arts training history, is there anything you regret or wished you had or could/should have done? For me it is finding and training under my teacher. Perhaps my understanding of Okinawan karate and martial arts would be greater had our paths crossed much earlier.

Does anyone else train this way for lack of better options? After much thought, it seems like sending videos of training is the best way to progress when doing it in person isn’t possible. Even if there are some parts of training that require in person evaluation, it would be better than nothing. Travelling one direction or the other to train might only be possible once every two years as it is quite far and expensive for myself.

As a student without a dojo, there is nobody else to share any costs with. Obviously the basic thing to do is covering the plane ticket, but there must be other things to do. The plan would be to invite the CI of the main dojo(my sensei), or one of the seniors. The CI already travels to teach in Latin America and Europe regularly. Basically, the goal is to keep training as well as setting up a shibu dojo in a region/country where Okinawan karate is virtually absent.

This topic is interesting. When there are no others to train with nearby and one’s instructor live too far away. for everyone, what is required for inviting the head of your style or high seniors to teach? Being a karate orphan can be challenging, especially when the hanshi and even the nearest senior is an 6~8 hour flight away.