Anyone take a MA journey to a MA motherland?

[chrissyp]

Just want to know who's done this and their experience...i'm planning on a trip to Thailand sometime next year hopefully,and i was wondering who's done something similar...

Was the training worth it?

What did you get the most out of it?

Any advice or suggestions?

I'm not doing this just for training, but as a way to broaden my horizons, and experience life, see the world.

[yamesu]

I have done.

Travelled to Thailand years ago for the first time and have been back numerous times since. Really opened up my eyes to the differences in Muay Thai training here in Australia and over in Thailand.

I say go for it!

However, in my experience, the location and particular gym you do go to will dictate your direct experience.

Also, don't expect to be thrown into the ring with a Thai on your first fight (or your first trip anyway)!

It is likely (unless it is a friendly matchup or a fixed fight, which does happen...) you will be put into the ring with other foreigners at first.

Best of luck!!!

[clfsean]

Yeah... been to China/Tibet. Neat to see & say it's been done. But honestly the MA quality there wasn't all that I had expected to find. But that's ok, there's plenty here that fits my needs/expectations.

I think everybody should at one time or another make a trip to see where "it" came from no matter the flavor, train on the same ground, get a chance to see the culture that created it, etc ...

[ps1]

I'm very lucky in that most of the Gracie's are in America now! My "homeland" trips are much easier

[Spartacus Maximus]

I have trained and lived in Okinawa for a few years and also elsewhere in Japan. It is only after the fact that I realized how much karate is different from what I was seeking to and how difficult it can be to find what I was hoping to find, even in the so-called cradle of karate. I have heard and read that karate in Okinawa is not what it used to be. I learned that just because Okinawa is the original home of karate, the karate taught there is free from all the issues that affect karate elsewhere. Authentic karate is just as hard to find over there as it might be elsewhere in the world. Few teachers are free from the influence and pressure of commercial, sport competition karate. Even fewer are able and willing to teach the old way. Martial arts are hard and take a long time to learn, longer still to master.

Karate training is tough and painful. My present teacher is an old gentleman who learned from the last generation of masters who still taught karate the old ways. He left his native island and kept his master's teachings. He often says that even in Okinawa karate is heavily influenced by sport competition and commercial teaching. My experience tells me how right he is. Especially when he says looking outside of Okinawa for authentic karate is just as good, and maybe better for finding a teacher.

The moral is: the birthplace of a martial art does not necessarily have only the best teachers. A great master may be found in unexpected places near or far from where the martial arts first came about. This is especially true in recent times where people easily immigrate and travel far and wide.

Keep that in mind in your intended quest and it will keep your expectations realistic as well as diminish and disappointment if you do not find exactly what you hoped. If your goal is to experience and gain an understanding of the culture which birthed your martial art, then you will be served. You only need to keep your mind and your ears open and your mouth shut. If you do that you are sure to come back with much valuable knowledge and a new understanding of what you are hoping to learn.

[sensei8]

I have trained and lived in Okinawa for a few years and also elsewhere in Japan. It is only after the fact that I realized how much karate is different from what I was seeking to and how difficult it can be to find what I was hoping to find, even in the so-called cradle of karate. I have heard and read that karate in Okinawa is not what it used to be. I learned that just because Okinawa is the original home of karate, the karate taught there is free from all the issues that affect karate elsewhere. Authentic karate is just as hard to find over there as it might be elsewhere in the world. Few teachers are free from the influence and pressure of commercial, sport competition karate. Even fewer are able and willing to teach the old way. Martial arts are hard and take a long time to learn, longer still to master.

Karate training is tough and painful. My present teacher is an old gentleman who learned from the last generation of masters who still taught karate the old ways. He left his native island and kept his master's teachings. He often says that even in Okinawa karate is heavily influenced by sport competition and commercial teaching. My experience tells me how right he is. Especially when he says looking outside of Okinawa for authentic karate is just as good, and maybe better for finding a teacher.

The moral is: the birthplace of a martial art does not necessarily have only the best teachers. A great master may be found in unexpected places near or far from where the martial arts first came about. This is especially true in recent times where people easily immigrate and travel far and wide.

Keep that in mind in your intended quest and it will keep your expectations realistic as well as diminish and disappointment if you do not find exactly what you hoped. If your goal is to experience and gain an understanding of the culture which birthed your martial art, then you will be served. You only need to keep your mind and your ears open and your mouth shut. If you do that you are sure to come back with much valuable knowledge and a new understanding of what you are hoping to learn.

Solid post!!

I've had the broad pleasure of having trained in as well as visited Okinawa just under 2 dozen of times. Our Soke and Dai-Soke were our guides, as one would expect since they both were born and raised in, what's now known as, Nanjo, Okinawa.

We went as a group, and all were encouraged to join, thus, all ranks were invited and not just Yudansha's. I echo everything that you've posted, Spartacus Maximus, wholeheartedly.

We went mainly during the summer, but we've also shared a few winters; either weren't pleasant while on the floor. Much of training wasn't always geared around Shindokan, and mainly, we were vacationing there for the week or two that we were there.

Culture shock, to say that least, for first time visitors, takes some getting use to no matter how much you prepare for the journey because what's normal in the USA, isn't the same in Okinawa, or anywhere else for that fact, and that's to be expected. Soke's house/dojo, in Okinawa, lacked the normal amenities that we in the USA take advantage of. Blistering summers and bitter winters...outside of expected training conditions and the like, I'm not a fan of sweating and freezing, but give me a break...at least once...sheech!!

Food was to die for, and I mean that. I love to eat and I was at home with the local cuisine. Possibly I feel in love with Okinawa food because I've been at either of Soke and Dai-Soke's homes in the USA a trillion of times.

It was, and still is, a treasured memory to have visited and trained in the homeland of Shindokan, Nanjo, Okinawa, one that I'll never soon forget. Both Soke and Dai-Soke returned to their beloved Okinawa; it is where their final resting place is.

[Wastelander]

I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Okinawa/Japan, as of yet. I do plan to go there, someday, but I'm not sure when. My dojo is actually planning a trip there next Spring, but I don't think I can afford to go.

Unlike sensei8, I'm dreading the food! I'm a very picky eater (I wish I wasn't, trust me!) and I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to find food I will eat. Especially since I'm probably going to be with other people from my dojo, and they are all going to want nothing but authentic Okinawan food the entire time.

[bushido_man96]

I think I'm happy training at home. Going to see Kukkiwon would be interesting, but I don't do that style, and an ITF headquarters wouldn't work well either, because I don't do sine wave. And the old politics of Korea screwed up TKD history so bad for so long, who knows what I would get?

Yeah, think I'll stay home and train.

[Spartacus Maximus]

I would never tell someone not to go on the kind of journey we are discussing here. It is an honourable endeavour and an interesting experience for future reference. There is always something to be learned or discovered by going back to the source.

In my childhood and youth I dreamed about one day traveling to the Far East to learn and train at the source of karate. Even now I am still not at the end of my journey but I do not regret having taken the first step.

[sensei8]

I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Okinawa/Japan, as of yet. I do plan to go there, someday, but I'm not sure when. My dojo is actually planning a trip there next Spring, but I don't think I can afford to go.

Unlike sensei8, I'm dreading the food! I'm a very picky eater (I wish I wasn't, trust me!) and I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to find food I will eat. Especially since I'm probably going to be with other people from my dojo, and they are all going to want nothing but authentic Okinawan food the entire time.

I hear you concerning the local cuisine, and I was lucky enough to acclimate myself to Okinawan food before I went there. I did have a plan if the actual local cuisine wasn't quite like what Soke and Dai-Soke feed us...find a McDonald's.