solo practitioners, masterless masters?

[lgm]

I have trained exclusively alone for about the last ten years.

I think that for you to benefit from training alone it is perhaps advisable to gain a comprehensive fundamental grounding of your chosen art.

Ultimately, martial arts are a personal journey of enlightenment.

It is possible with the right mental insight and motivation to reach your aspirations either by training alone or in a group environment.

I too have continued self-training after reaching my sandan and intend to do so now that I have retired. That is true, if you have a comprehensive and firm grounding on or mastery of the basics of your chosen art, you can practice and learn on your own and even improve upon the traditional style that you have been formally taught.

In fact, in my organization, what are formally taught are the Heian, Tekki and 2 advanced kata only, the other 16 advanced kata (to complete the prescribed 26 JKA kata) you will have to learn on your own, which I did and which my Sensei has seen and approved of.

Since I have stopped my formal training in the dojo, I have discovered through personal research, field experimentation and correspondence with other practitioners some better ways of defense and attack modified from my formally learned style that I intend to practice continually for self-defense on the streets when the occasion demands it.

Learning in martial arts never stops and in the final analysis the most dependable and efficient kind is indeed learning on your own or self-learning, but only after the basics are mastered with the help of an expert, qualified Sensei to teach and check on you.

[Pralgo]

Training on your own can be done, but takes alot of discipline. You also don't have the advantage of someone to spar with or practice self defense techniques. The advantage of training in a DOJO also includes working with people of different shapes and sizes. You might not fend off a short attacker and a tall attacker in the same manner.

Some colleagues of my Father and Uncle are members of IOGKF (Okinawan GOJU), but don't train in a DOJO any more. They do however attend gasshukus and seminars that Morio Higaonna holds from time to time. They also would attend classes and promotions at our DOJO every so often. This also gives them an opportunitry to be corrected. When training alone you may be making mistakes that you may not realize. Someone else may be able to pcik them out.

Training alone can be done, and has worked for some. There are some challenges .

[lgm]

Training on your own can be done, but takes alot of discipline. You also don't have the advantage of someone to spar with or practice self defense techniques.

This is true. Nothing beats training in groups or with a partner and best of all under the direct supervision of a qualified instructor or sensei. However, unless martial arts is your profession, the realities of life will compel you to graduate from group or supervised training sometime. After a karateka has mastered the basics of his art and has been certified as such by a qualified expert in the art that he practices, self-training then becomes some form of maintenance of skills already acquired. Here, self-training finds its usefulness. But, one should not exclusively self-train unless he has reached that particular stage of martial arts development.

[Ego Assassin]

Without partners how do you judge yourself , how do you work timing and angles without a moving, resisting opponent. You might as well do yoga.

[Pralgo]

IGM,

Good point.

I guess that I have been pretty fortunate to always have someone to train under. So I have never had the opportunity to train alone for a very lengthy time. This has been our family business for many years, so I haven't seen it from the same perspective as someone who may not have the time or resources to continue with the same DOJO.