Trace the lineage of your instructor

[orion82698]

I'm looking to see if there is a way to find out who an instructor trained under (besides asking him)

[octopic]

Google can be your friend. If you google someone's name, you'll be surprised what you can find out about them.

[orion82698]

Tired that. All it brings up is his name/dojo. Nothing related to the lineage of the art or his Sensei.

[JimmyNewton]

why can't you ask?

[orion82698]

I would have to call and ask every single school I'm looking into. It's just a preference of mine to know. The school I'm looking into now, I asked him and found out that way, but I look into about 3-4 schools a day. I just didn't know if they're a part of an organization or not, if they would be listed on some chart.... being if they're a high ranking belt. Not to mention, anyone could say the were trained by anyone.

[Sauzin]

Google and Jon Sells Unate are probably some of you're best resources, though I have to say, in my mind, lineage is one of the most important questions you can ask, and it's worth taking the time to ask it.

[orion82698]

Thanks! It's good to know that I'm not the only one out there that thinks this is important

[angus88]

You can't really go by organization either. With most organizations, you fill out a form and pay your dues - then you're in. They're going on the honor code too. They don't really check.

With the internet, you're still dealing with what people claim. I've seen people claim some famous karate guy as part of their lineage when in reality they took a 3 hour seminar with one hundred other people some Saturday 10 years ago!

In my opinion, the only way to be sure is to see some kind of proof - a picture of the guy getting his black belt from the person he's claiming he trained under is a good one. But what an awkward conversation!

Good luck!

[orion82698]

You can't really go by organization either. With most organizations, you fill out a form and pay your dues - then you're in. They're going on the honor code too. They don't really check.

With the internet, you're still dealing with what people claim. I've seen people claim some famous karate guy as part of their lineage when in reality they took a 3 hour seminar with one hundred other people some Saturday 10 years ago!

In my opinion, the only way to be sure is to see some kind of proof - a picture of the guy getting his black belt from the person he's claiming he trained under is a good one. But what an awkward conversation!

Good luck!

Sadly, I'm affraid you're right. You cannot trust anything your read on the Net. I guess I was just hoping to find a respectable webpage or book that will point me to where they have trained. I guess I just need to participate in every class that I'm interested in, and do with my gut feeling.

[24fightingchickens]

Thanks! It's good to know that I'm not the only one out there that thinks this is important

I don't think it is important. I wrote an article a long time ago called "Shotokan Family Treehouse" in which I decried the common practice amongst karate practitioners of trying to draw geneaology charts of their karate heritage as if they only had one instructor each. Myself, I have learned karate from all sorts of sources, certainly not from one man. My instructor is not my biological relative, they are just one of many, many people I have learned millions of lessons from that built up to my ability to teach karate. Citing one person would be pointless and silly, crediting one man with all of that work? No one deserves that credit.

It's funny that people do not do this with non-Japanese practices. For example, you'd never draw your English language family tree, trying to tie yourself back to the original speaker of English or some famous writer. Nor would anyone do this with math or science.

The closest thing would be when someone brags that they studied for a while under someone famous, but even then, they are negating all of the teachers that led up to their knowledge before they began with that person.

I would say that I have learned various things about karate from books, tapes, some from my students, friends, relatives, and many karate instructors - some that I trained under regularly, and some that I only trained with once.

The karate geneaology thing is something I used to do myself, but I see no point to it now.