MatsuShinshii

To the bold type above... Nope!! Just how many MA styles have been diluted?? Many MA styles are STILL around!! Again, who's to say that YOU/I/WHOMEVER is better than their Sensei?? Well, in my case, I suppose Soke would be better to make that determination if I'm better than Dai-Soke because Soke taught Dai-Soke. My Governing Body?? NO WAY!! That would be an assumption that bears no fruit. It's not about saying you are better. It's about going into the dojo every time and working your hardest to be the best you can be. Aspire to be better. Work you hardest to be better otherwise you've already put limitations on yourself. To me saying I can never be as good as them is already constructing barriers and putting limitations on yourself. I guess this is where TKD differs as in ITF TKD our founder was explicit in that the greatest compliment a student could pay their instructor is to surpass him. In General Choi's Encyclopedia (The TKD Bible) it explicitly says: "An instructor should be eager for students to surpass him; it is the ultimate compliment for an instructor. A student should never be held back. If an instructor realizes his student has developed beyond his teaching capabilities, the student should be sent to a higher ranking instructor." It's about building on those before and aspiring to something better. This is the conversation people have I suppose when the word "better" is used, like in the bold word way above. Once again, of course we want our students to be better than us, like we parents want our children to be better than us. I too, want my students to be far better than me, therefore, I hold nothing back from my students; holding things back from my students is a disgrace on my part. Aspire, better, whatever label we choose to attach to it, I have never came to my Dai-Soke with the intent of ever being better than him; I just want to be better today than I was yesterday. Well put.

We should as students strive to be better than we are. As teachers we should strive to be better than we are and conversely make our students better than they are. I think ego plays a role in the question of being better than our teachers. This only happens if our teachers teach us everything they know which requires them to, at some point, stop learning so we can catch up. This as they say is a fools erand.

Solid post!! To the bold type above... Like you said, content and context must be considered, but the way I was taught, belt and rank are not one in the same. I second that.

Well said. Solid points.

As a kid we were all excited and fascinated about black belt and nearly all who started karate wanted to be a black belt. Once you get it ,it feels good around your waist but soon a feeling of responsibility emerges in the fact that the belt on its own is not gonna fight for you , you have to do it all yourself , meaning you have to keep going and training and improving . Black belt is a gauge to measure practitioners level of ability and the packing order but it also is a great motivational tool for practitioners to aim for ,when earned on merit from a credible source ,what you have learned to achieve it is more important. Great point and an overlooked point.

I think it's important to point out that if training for knife defense the instructor should tell their students that there is not just a possibility of getting cut but an absolute. If against a non-trained opponent your chances are better of being able to disarm them but the understanding that even with the most inexperienced opponent the chances of getting cut or stabbed are high. Against an experienced knife fighter... forget it, your getting cut, slashed, stabbed and if your really lucky you'll live to talk about it but don't count on it. I've been through a variety of unarmed knife defense classes and 98% of what is taught is useless against a trained knife fighter. If you're going to learn how to defend against knife attacks I would highly suggest you take a knife fighting art. I hate to say it but the techniques taught in most unarmed arts are ridiculous against an experienced knife fighter. Just my 2 cents.

For the life of me this makes no sense. Again all are welcome. That is not to say that they would maintain current grade but if a student from a sister school came for training they would be evaluated and place according to their skill and knowledge. Maybe its the art and the politics that go with it but I just do not understand this mentality. My advice... if this is prevalent within this organization I'd be looking elsewhere. There are plenty of other arts and other instructors out there that would be more than happy for you to train with them. Having said that I must ask how you are addressing this with these instructors? I hate to condemn others without the facts. Example; if you come off as braggadocios about your experience this can tend to turn instructors off and make them think you would be one of those students that always has something to say and always questions their teaching. Not to say you are this example but sometimes we are proud of our accomplishments and tend to put them out there and this comes out and sounds like bragging without us realizing it sounds this way. However if you are coming to them in earnest and they reject you then you didn't need to train under them and would be better off finding a different school. I just can't imagine this happening not just once but several times. It's mind boggling.

We do our best to teach but there are times that no matter what you do you can not reach certain students. Typically it is a personality issue where your personality and way of teaching does not mesh with the student or the student for whatever reason just doesn't like you. It happens. On the other end of the spectrum, as Sensei8 points out, there are those that should not be teaching. In this case the issue resolves itself when students leave. Those that gauge themselves on a single student are destine to fail. If 95+% of your students come to you because of how or what you teach, then to change to suit one is a guaranteed way to loose the majority. Too often I feel, in order to gain more students, instructors change what made them successful to pander to those that would not have lasted a day in class to begin with. IMHO this makes absolutely no sense. You in effect sell your principles to gain a few more students but in the end those that are there because of what and how you teach will eventually drift away and look elsewhere. Not everyone will get along and not every student is teachable. Chasing after those that will never get it is a futile gesture and waste of the instructors and more importantly the rest of the students time. In effect; if you pander to one then you effect the rest. I never understood reducing requirements to include those that can't meet them. MA's are NOT for everyone.

I understand. I love working but there is such a thing as me time and although I rarely take my own advice we are talking about Enter the Dragon on big screen. Sounds like a great reason to play hooky.

Why are you struggling with this? No convincing needed, take off.

Congrats!

Congrats!

I'm with Sensei8 on this. Rank can be given without merit or be created just as a belt can be bought. In the end they mean nothing if the person who has/wears them doesn't merit them. I know a guy that teaches and has a large school (300+ students) that did not EARN the rank he has. When he left his instructor he was a Sandan but somehow, almost over night, he was a Rokudan. Has the certificate hanging on one of the walls and wears a belt with this grade. In this case rank means nothing and neither does the belt. To his students it means everything but to his peers it means absolutely nothing. He doesn't have the knowledge nor the skill consistent with the rank and belt he has and he cares little about the opinions of others and walks away if asked about it without even an attempt at explaining how it came to pass. Is rank real in this circumstance? Is the belt real? What does his rank symbolize except fraud? What is real is on the floor as Sensei8 says so frequently. Proof is in what you know and what you are capable of. Without substance to back up either of these things they are useless. If not I could promote myself to 20th degree black belt grand poo bah master of the universe and you would all have to accept it. On the other hand if a teacher promotes as a way to retain and attract more students does the rank mean anything? If your pumping out BB's in a year how valid is the rank? There are many that have rank that do not meet minimum standards of most schools/arts. Is this rank more valid than a belt? Belts can be bought or given, rank can be created or given (notice I do not say earned). These things do not define who you are and what you know or what you can do. They are just symbols. If the one that has/wears them doesn't meet the minimum criteria then they are empty symbols. You define them by proving that you are of that rank and belt. That is done as Sensei8 says, on the floor.

Yep. That's why we have a different interpretation of 'fighting stance' depending on whether we're sparring or practicing self defence. Taking it to the extreme, I'm reminded of my old aikido teacher (he made aikido practical by incorporating his military experience). It was comical to see. A huge tank of a man retreating backwards with his hands up pretending to cry with blind panic, to lull his 'attacker' into a deeper sense of security and superiority, so that when he bounced in and took the (wooden) knife and applied an arm bar, the attacker would be totally taken by surprise. We don't have self defense classes per-say but this is what I have been taught as well. Keeping your hands up protects you and allows you to counter quickly. The other advantage is that all onlookers see that you are not the attacker. If you instantly make fists and get into a "fighting stance" you may be mistaken for the attacker or appear to be initiating and force the thug to attack. Either way IMHO it's not a smart move. You put the attacker on the defensive immediately and escalate the situation. If the guy feels that you're not a threat and does attack you have the advantage of being able to position yourself for a quick counter that they will not be prepared for. If you come off like you're ready to fight they will be on guard and you'll loose this advantage. The other benefit is they do not feel threatened and you may be able to talk them down prior to it escalating.

IMHO if you were the one being attacked and you did just enough to end the attack and either subdue your attacker or give yourself time to get away to call the authorities, you don't have much to worry about, especially if there are witnesses present. I was always told to hold my hands up in a defensive manner and try to talk the attacker down, if this did not work then you end the attack as quickly as possible. IMHO it's pretty hard for a prosecutor to convict someone for not allowing someone to beat you to a pulp. The problem is that in most circumstances the defender walks away thinking its done and the attacker calls the authorities and claims you attacked them. In this circumstance you are in another type of fight for your life. Especially if you are not damaged and they are. My advice; 1. Don't act bad and escalate the situation. You may know you can beat the guy but announcing it or egging them on makes you look like the attacker to witnesses. 2. Maintain that you do not want trouble and do your best to talk them down. 3. If attacked do what is necessary to end the fight without allowing emotions to take control so that you do not go past what is considered reasonable in the eyes of the law. 4. Call the authorities immediately, even if they run from the scene. P.S. don't run after them. You turn into the predator at this point. 5. If there are witnesses ask them to make a statement when the authorities show up. Bottom line is if you find yourself in this situation try to reason with them and if that fails end the fight with the least amount of damage possible. If the attacker has the intention of deadly force (says he'll kill you, pulls a weapon, etc.) either run or do what is necessary to save your life. It may go before the courts but at least you're alive.

The premise of this post is pretty funny. This hearkens back to when I was a kid and the whole "register your hands as deadly weapons" lunacy was being talked about. Why would anyone announce that they are a skilled fighter? Lets take a scenario for instance. I thug has a knife in his pants but doesn't feel like he needs it. The thug thinks he can thump you a bit but then you announce you're a black belt... what do you think happens next? What if he has friends or a gun. You loose all advantage once you open you're mouth and utter those words. Kinda like saying just shoot me. This whole premise that you're going to be looked at as if you're the attacker somehow because you have a BB is preposterous. If you're attacker starts the fight and you are merely defending yourself and try to talk them down then I see little chance of you being judged more harshly than him if their are witnesses present. If not then it's pretty much a mute point. If their is a camera... well in my mind that's even better. A picture is worth a thousand words. These days everyone is filming. If you are fighting for your life in a life or death situation I see little reason to worry about whether you're a BB or not. At that point it matters little whether you are trained or not because you will have the same reaction as any Joe on the streets would have... fight for your life by any means possible. What I'm saying is there is no distinction other than you have had training. The only thing that I feel would jam you up is if you reacted beyond what was reasonable per the circumstance. Essentially if you hit the guy and he rolls into a ball and you decide to really teach him a lesson and go all gang busters on him then you will be in just as much trouble as anyone else. If this makes so much sense then why do you not call out that you have a concealed gun before actually reaching to pull it out? Or better yet why is it not a law that you have to carry a sign that announces to everyone that you're packing? Kinda defeats the point doesn't it? I guess we should all wear our concealed weapons out where the bad guys can see them so they have a better chance of shooting you first and while we're at it lets all wear t-shirts that announce our grade with flashing batter powered lights that read I'm a black belt so you had better sucker punch me or ambush me if you want to win. Really?????? The law doesn't have a distinction on BB's and non-BB's. It's pretty clear in that you may use reasonable force to defend yourself and deadly force if you feel your life is in peril. Has nothing to do with a BB.

Depends on your definition of expert. Too often students feel their teacher is an expert solely based on his grade. This is not IMHO a good indicator. IMHO an expert is defined by not only knowledge and skill but depth of understanding.

Love it! Give us some more.

Well I guess I'm much like my Shinshii in that I do not use social media, don't have a website (have no idea how to build one), and do not run adds. Everything is word of mouth. I think the difference is I'm not looking to create a mega-dojo or have 100's or 1000's of personal students. I'm happy teaching those that I have and occasionally take in new students that hear about us. Not looking to make it a business, so small works for me.

Maybe when I decide to retire I'll sell my weapons and have an auction. 75% of the weapons I own are from when I was a kid and a teenager. I also bought weapons while in Okinawa as a younger man. All of which have lasted and stood up to the punishment. Something to be said for the way things were made as apposed to some of today's standards. The rest I either buy from a few private manufacturer's or just make them myself. I've tried a few from the big name manufacturers and have never been satisfied with the product. As someone else here said, they are not meant for actual combative use.

Share them with us. I love parables.

I saw episode 1 and 2. I think they are releasing them individually. I have fond memories of the first Karate Kid so having it based on these two is a walk through memory lane. It's starting a bit slow for me. Spoiler ALERT! If you haven't seen them read no further. I love the twist of Johnny being the one to rough up the neighborhood punks and saving the nerd. He is however following in his teachers foot steps of strike first, Strike hard, No Mercy. The other twist is Daniels kids hanging with the punks and Daniel actually defending them. Should be interesting.

In this case it's most likely politics. Many instructors veer a bit from the organization's curriculum for one reason or another. Maybe for very good reasons. This sometimes posses an issue when BB's from other schools ask to join in. In the back of their minds they don't know if you're sincere or checking up on them. This and after years of teaching you get tired of explaining yourself to BB's from other schools that presume they know better and that their way is always better. Having dealt with similar circumstances I can appreciate their outlook. I once had a gentleman that was a grade higher than me (in a different art) constantly question and try to correct me. This was merely based on his way of doing things and how he was taught and I realized this. Even still after a few months it got really old, really quick. As teachers we try to not let one instance sour us but as humans there is only so much patience a person has. We ended up getting over the hump so to speak and this constant barrage of questioning ended but if this happened often enough I could see myself getting to the point of showing others to the door rather than giving them the opportunity to avoid the frustration. Ego is often the culprit.

I welcome BB’s to watch classes however if they decide to join their belt is replaced with a white one. I imagine that you’re having difficulty based on one of a few reasons. They feel you will come into class with your own ideas and would be harder to train their way than someone with a little experience or someone with no experience at all. They don’t have confidence in what they teach or are afraid of being exposed as a fraud (McDojo). Or it may be because they don’t want to have the discussion about wearing your current grade and just ignore you so they don’t have to. My experience is opposite of yours. 90 or more percent of my training is in traditional arts. I have always been welcomed and experienced eagerness to teach me their art. Maybe start the conversation with the fact that you’re a BB in another art. Then explain that you’re interested in learning another art. If you’ve held this tid bit out until later in the conversation they may feel you have ulterior motives or have something to hide. Other than that I can’t imagine not welcoming a new student no matter the grade.

I speak from experience. I thought of the future just like anyone else does. The difference is my Shinshii would constantly reaffirm the reasons for being in the moment. In the end I look back and cherish that time I had to work on the very foundation of our art and wonder why I wanted to rush through it. A black belt with very little foundation in the basics is in my opinion not really a black belt. Sooner or later you will find that you have to return to the basics in order to move on. If you think in these terms you didn’t gain anything by promoting early. Sure you get to wear the belt but what does that mean if there’s no substance behind it? Live in the moment. You can never get it back and as I have learned it goes by way too quickly. Enjoy the time you have and make every minute of it count. You’ll be there before you know it. Then you’ll spend your life time getting to the next belt and the next. It doesn’t end. Live in the moment and you’ll be better for it. I’ll leave you with this... my dad always said the anything worth doing is worth doing right. If you have to spend the time you may as well make it worth spending. Ok enough old man wisdom for today. There’s my 2 cents for what it’s worth.