Spartacus Maximus

Here is a follow-up question to what was asked on the original hypothetical situation: Is there any conceivable reason why the instructor might accept the student’s terms or make a deal? Why and under what circumstances might it happen?

This is in this section because testing time is when a martial artist is most likely to feel pressure and be distracted. What are your suggestions for going ahead with a high level and intense test without being disrupted by emotional distress? Would/could you go through with such a test despite living through a time of emotional distress caused by grief or other serious misfortunes befalling yourself, your family or close friends?

It is not enough to know or merely state that something is important, especially as an instructor or advanced practicionner. At one point, sooner or later one must understand and be able to demonstrate why such and such a point is important. Basics are what everything else is built upon and those are the techniques, principles and concepts that will most likely be of use. Therefore they must be constantly trained, improved and reviewed. Basics are not just boring stuff learned at the beginning and put aside once one moves on to more advanced or complicated content.

No instructor ever forced anyone to remain their student. Everyone is free to stay or leave. Why would anyone, for any reason stay as a student when they think they know better or disagree with what is taught or how it is taught? In the hypothetical situations mentioned, their is probably a deeper yet more trivial motivation. Making such outrageous demands and having the indecency to pose an ultimatum can only be motivated by greed and power or the illusion of having it. Either way, it is nigh impossible to imagine an instructor who would accept that sort of deal. In any case, it would cause a break-up of whatever group, school or governing body.

“Perseverence” that very word or a variation of it is at the front of many Okinawan and Japanese martial arts dojo. It is probably the most powerfully inspirational single word and quality to strive for in martial arts. It is also one of the essentials to success in any endeavour which takes time and diligent work to succeed. Patience, perseverence and motivation are of the greatest importance.

Without openly and intentionally challenging anyone with one’s facial expressions or body-language, it is possible for some people to have an adavtage in interactions with others. Some people naturally have a certain look and demeanor and most are not consciously aware of it until other people bring it to their attention. Another interesting part of body-language and facial expressions is that they are culturally-specific in many cases with a few obvious exceptions. Each person unconsciously reads and interprets them based on their culture. Smiling, for example is interpreted in very different ways. For some cultures it can only mean that the person is happy, glad or friendly. In others it could also be an expression of shame, embarrassment, shyness or even mildly threatening. The best part of this behaviour is that it can be learned by anyone who makes the efforts. Those who are good a observing and mimicking different expressions can usually blend in quickly almost anywhere. There are also several fields of work in which people must adopt certain types of body language to be effective at what they do.

Forms were always intended to be intimately related to drills with a partner and all other parts because they are but one part of a system. They were never meant to be taught separately from the other parts! The systems (karate, kung-fu or what have you) will not and cannot function and be learned effectively unless each part is trained and practised diligently with intent. That and only that is where the problem lies: the way a great portion of kung-fu and karate systems are taught and practised! This is why so-called kumite looks nothing like the techniques one is meant to learn from studying forms and doing drills. This is why sparring sessions ends up looking the same across the board despite the wide variety of techniques and principles supposed to be taught in the huge variety of karate and kung-fu “styles”. The main reason is there are very few people who know and have been taught how to integrate forms, applications and drills effectively in the way these three aspects should be in order to develop applicable skills. Not knowing what or how, the majority just goes with what is popular which is, largely drawn from more or less intense competitions where functional and “legal” moves are relatively few compared to the potential of any given system or style.

Another thing to keep in mind about what is or is not « gentlemanly » is that different people will have different interpretations and most importantly is that in any given situation whether sport or assault, the other person might not be a “gentleman”. Rules and fairness or the defenition of what is acceptable only mean something and serve a purpose when they are understood, shared and agreed upon by everyone involved. It’s only a very special kind of fool who believes everyone in every situation universally shares the same ideas or expects personal rules to apply to others. Doubly so when said fool is in an unfamiliar context with unknown people of unclear and possible shady intentions.

What is all this about so-called “ungentlemanly behaviour”. What ought to be made clear with the person concerned in the OP is, as others have said, sportsmanship,rules and fairness belongs in sport. Following that statement, any worthwhile instructor should ask “what do you want, sport or defense?” Lastly it is not how one uses force or where it is applied that makes a “gentleman”. It is that a gentleman ought to know that he must never draw his sword unless it is in defense of himself, those dear to him or his land. No good ever came from confusing sport for war or war for sport.

Anyone who has trained seriously and for long enough in martial arts knows that violence is not the point or the goal. Just the fact that martial arts has the reputation and popular impression of being violent, agressive, macho et cetera and causing people who do it to become that way is enough to want to keep it to oneself. Changing the subject, denying knowledge or experience in the matter or awkward silence has been the best way to avoid talking about martial arts. Even if the other party knows somehow, at least the message is clear. Never say anything at all if possible, and if talking about martial arts is unavoidable, say as little as possible.

It is a little bit more complicated than being proud or ashamed. Somehow neither of these feelings or attitudes seem to apply. For several reasons, martial arts is a subject that is very very low among the possible topics of discussion on conversations. Experience has shown, that most people are not interested in it or at least not beyond the most superficial level. Martial arts is not something to talk about unless the other party initiates it and it is certain that they also train. Even then, it is preferable to minimize and downplay my personal involvement, experience or training until much better acquainted.

It is likely that the reason why it is difficult to describe is because it is something that is not done in a deliberate and conscious way. Very few if anyone at all goes out and about actively and purposefully observing people’s behaviour. Perhaps it is because an experienced person’s intuition allows them to read in others the qualities they themselves have developed. Thus, a confident and assured person will unconsciously display that in some way and also be able to know it immediately in another person when they see it.

The whole concept of submission is made for competition. What is happenening to many grappling schools is the same thing that has happened and is still going on with many martial arts: certain aspects are being emphasized over others for the purpose of competition or sport. The goal of BJJ or an other martial art in a ring is to win. The other person is an opponent who has to be clearly “beaten”, “submitted” or “dominated”. It may be called a fight or described as such, but it isn’t a fight. The other is not an enemy and there are timed rounds. A fight has no clock and no referee, and the first priority is to finish it as fast as possible with the least damage as possible to oneself. There are no points or trophies to prove how that one is better than the other person. No time to waste trying to “dominate” or “submit” the attacker to show-off how tough one is and roll around on the ground until potentially unfriendly spectators show up. Much like karate for sport and karate for self-defense, grappling should and must be different depending on the purpose for which it is trained. And the same way, the two types cannot and should not be confused for one another.

Excluding the kihon kata, there are 14 kata taught in my Shorin ryu. Unlike other instructors who have trained in different systems throughout their lives, mine only teaches those ones. This is because they are the ones he has practised and studied them for much longer and in greater depth than anything else. Another reason for not teaching other kata he might know is cultural. He accepted his sensei’s last wish to succeed him and promised he would teach exactly what he was taught and spread that particular Shorin-ryu as far as possible. In contrast, there are many instructors who feel that they should have something from each of their most influential sensei. Sometimes this means that they will have one or several kata inherited from two or three or maybe more teachers.

How about in an ordinary, casual situation outside of the dojo/school? Ever seen or met someone briefly and thought « this person probably trains/trained» If yes, what made you think so?

Before tackling the question of too much vs not enough, it would be a good idea to ask oneself “for what purpose?”. That would get a much more precise answer. Considering only the goal of self defense, a single kata thoroughly learned and practised can provide all the techniques one could ever need. It doesn’t have to be long either. As for entire styles or systems, the number of three seems like a good number. There are a few Okinawan karate styles with less than 10 of which some schools teach less than that number. Uechi-ryu/pangai noon comes to mind. Outside of karate there are also some Chinese systems with very few forms such as wing chun. So this trait of having very few or even a single form/kata containing an entire “style”’s material is nothing unique or unusual.

Yes, it probably does have something to do with body language. Much like the way a predatory criminal choses a target based on whether or not the person would be easily attacked and overwhelmed. Maybe there are some specific details about body language or attitude by which a martial artist can spot another potential martial artist. Posture, for instance. A person with a consistently good posture while walking or standing usually has had to learn this somewhere. People with consistently good posture are likely good physical shape and are accustomed to intense activity. This activity could come from their occupation, athletic sports and of course training in martial arts.

What are some of the signs that can be observed immediately at first meeting? Things besides obvious visible signs such as appearance(hands, for example)? Is it something about the way they express themselves or maybe body language or attitude?

Some martial arts teachers who have many years of experience have been known to have the ability to tell after just a short time whether or not someone has any experience in martial arts. What are the signs that might indicate someone has any experience in martial arts? Is it really possible to know this at first glance or in a short time after meeting someone?

There is an established historical record of martial arts experts and teachers during the Old Ryukyu Era whose entire training consisted of no more than 3 kata. It is only much later in the first few decades of the 1900’s that some of these experts saw a need to compile katas into systems. This is how the different Okinawan styles came about. At that time several experts took it upon themselves to learn, preserve and teach all the kata they could manage. The clear distinction of the main Okinawan karate styles goes back no further than the 1930’s(when the first associations were formed by the founders of the modern styles). Before that Okinawan martial arts were not so clear cut. It was all called Tuidi and one teacher knew only one or two forms. It should also be considered that some of the kata that are practised nowadays are quite recent. These kata are usually composed of parts of older, longer kata. Sometimes Okinawan teachers divided a longer Chinese form into several parts to make it easier to teach(this is a possible explanation for the three naihanchi kata in shuri-te). Finally, from a practical point of view one or two kata ought to be enough for someone who just wants to train for personal defense. In the end what really makes the difference between an expert and a mere dabbler is not the number of kata. It is how well the kata are understood and whether or not the techniques have been assimilated to the point that they can be used spontaneously and effectively in the way which they were intended to be.

Quite simply after having been involved in martial arts, mostly the same karate since early childhood it is just impossible to imagine not training. When training has been part of one’s life for a certain time there comes a point where one just does it without consciously thinking of a reason why or a specific motivation. At That point, being awake and standing if all the motivation needed to do anything. One just does it because it is the thing to do. Like eating when hungry and sleeping when tired.

A worthy representative of karate and those who have taught me. Fit enough to keep practising until a very advanced age. All those Okinawan karate legends still training at over 80years old are a true inspiration.

The defenition of sharpness depends on the person who is observing the kata. Competition judges usually have very clear criteria for evaluating kata and in some cases they are judging a kata from a system they do not train in or have insufficient experience practising. A karate expert with decades of experience teaching and training in one system will have a much different idea of how said systems kata ought to be practised. The way a kata is done will demonstrate how well and how much it is understood by the subtle details only such an expert has the eyes and experience to catch.

The one reason everyone has in common for belonging to any organization is human nature. With only a few extreme exceptional cases, people will naturally want to find others to interact with and share an interest, an idea or an activity. Those with similar interests usually tend to seek each other out. The more people there are, the more organized they will get. Like this forum, for example.

Superstition never got in the way of training although there probably were some superstitious people in the dojo. If anyone had superstitious beliefs about anything it was never made obvious in any way. The martial arts are a physical endeavour that require nothing but the utmost concentration of mind and full physical capabilities. This cannot be possible with mental obstacles such as superstitions, negative thinking or a weak self-defeating attitude towards practice and training. Those things prevent and disrupt progress in martial arts and in general.