Ethics: What do I owe to my Sensei?

[armanox]

Actually, I've had a similar issue. I've been eligible for brown belt for several months now, and I've surpassed all of the requirements. I could in theory go and test at another school (same style and organization) to get the belt. After thinking about it, I decided that the longer it takes me to move along the belt progression, the more the belt will be worth to me. And, when thinking that it's still at least 2.5 more years before I'm eligible for black belt, I'm gonna have the brown belt for a long time when I get it, so why rush? Not to mention that I'll be all that much better when I get the belt. Also I get a certain satisfaction out of knowing that I'm better then some of the people above me, and that people comment on that when they see demonstrations done by the dojo.

[Dobbersky]

Armanox-san,

I congratulate you on your application to Brown belt in (sorry you don't specify what Style it is for).

Also, I am honoured that you agree with my statement

[armanox]

Armanox-san,

I congratulate you on your application to Brown belt in (sorry you don't specify what Style it is for).

Also, I am honoured that you agree with my statement

Shorin Ryu. Sensei had me test for promotion last Monday, and the unofficial word is there is a promotion in my future.

[mya]

So you practiced and attained a Shito ryu black belt and now you returned to the same style and only got 6th kyu in almost 2 years.

You appear to be doing the same progression as someone who started fresh in a normal school.

What you must ask you is what you want from your training ?

1) If you are looking for a fighting training and your teacher is blocking you from sparing with the experienced students (black belts) and learning advanced technics, then you should leave. In fact you should leave the style and search something that translates to better fighting skills.

2) If you are looking for a black belt to gloat about and show off, then you can just leave and train with the other teacher, knowing fully that your actual teacher will break relations with you, and will probably not teach you more.

Or you could just go to a shop and buy a black belt.

3) If you wish to socialize, have a bit of a work out at your current age of 37+ then you are at the right place, and should wait until you get your black belt.

You will probably attain brown in around 1 year, and by then you should be fine.

This reminds me of a case i heard about a kid whose teacher keep in low rank (around 7 kyu) for more than 5 years.

He got bored and asked for a test with country style representative (he had the support of other teachers) and was ranked as 2 kyu.

Cloth colour is just a form of incentive or (brag right for children), it is not an indicator of skill. The same way as school grades are not a indicator of technical performance.

[Dobbersky]

Mya-san

I agree with what you say, especially the fact that the instructors are from the same organisation and from the same instructor themselves.

For 'Still Kicking':-

As within the organisation I am associated with, I talk with the other Instructors about students progress etc and I can guarantee that the training in both Dojo's will be fed to the respective Instructors.

Note - It is imperative that within an organisation fellow instructors should be open and honest with each other etc.

So to lay it on the line, if you train with one instructor, the other will not be teaching you for long thereafter.

Osu

[sonofkanga]

IMHO,ask your current Sensei.

Talk to him about your feelings on this issue.

you are both grownups,so sort it out as such.

[Budokin]

There have been many good replies here. I don't know if they answer your question or not but here Is my thoughts on it.

First ask yourself if what you are learning from this sensei is actually what you want to learn. What I mean by this is are you learning something of substance in your eyes. If so then stick with it. If not seek something else.

As far as your actual question of "what do I owe my sensei?" that is a harder question to answer than most understand. For the answer lies mostly with the specific sensei.

A true sensei, you owe everything to. Someone pretending to be a sensei you owe nothing to.

[Karate74]

Hmm interesting topic. Does the school not have some type of record keeping for people that earn black belts? 20 years is a long lay off...but in order to start over did you forget most of the katas and what you learned?

My personal opinion is this. As long as the school has some type of documentation (or if you do) that showed you achieved a black belt level you shouldn't have to start over. You should be placed in a low level black belt class or workout with the lower grades until you get "refreshed". Just my thoughts

[JohnASE]

This second sensei is located too far away for me to train with him more than once a week, and I doubt that my current sensei would be happy to be giving me a lot of help in class if I were actually claiming this other person as my sensei. The main thing, though, is that I want to behave in a way that is entirely ethical and above board, and I would not want to do anything that would show disrespect to my current sensei. The bottom line, though, is that I really don't agree with his approach to ranking.

Switching dojos can lead to a lot of hard feelings, not just between your sensei and you, but between your sensei and the 2nd sensei. Some senseis wouldn't accept you as a student without the permission of your current sensei, especially when they're in the same organization.

Oh, and while I don't exactly think it would be unethical for you to switch, I do think it would be a HUGE slap in the face. Ultimately, you gotta do what you gotta do, and if you can't work things out with your current sensei, maybe you'll have to switch. I wouldn't count on being able to continue working out at your current dojo though.

Good luck with your decision.

(EDIT...)

I thought of an analogy that illustrates what I think about this!

It's like you're dating a woman. Things are going okay, but she's not putting out. So you tell her, you want to keep on dating, but, once a week, you want to date someone else... someone who will give you what you want. Oh, and the other woman you want to date is her sister!

Okay, so maybe my analogy is a little extreme, but I think it still works.

[yingampyang]

You write alot lol , no i dont think you should do anything untill you have praticed in the dojo for a while.