Style developing - Change name and embrace?

[Sentoka]

Since opening my own dojo earlier this year, I've found that my method is a lot more susceptible to change, now that I don't have someone breathing over my shoulder.

I've been practising a Wado offshoot for over a decade now, but have cross trained in Goju and Kyokushin in that time. I've found my personal method taking on a much more "Okinawan" flavour. This presents a problem to me.

It was drilled into my head early on that change is bad and it should be avoided. The whole style purity argument. Which is actually one of the main reasons for my split from my last organisation. I'm fundamentally opposed to the idea that style purity or aesthetic should be an excuse for poorly functioning technique.

So, my main issue is, do I change the style name to reflect what I'm doing now, instead of teaching "Wado Ryu", as my method can hardly be called Wado anymore. Or, do I suck it up, keep teaching Wado and practice my own way privately?

Has anyone else faced this dilemma? How did you deal with it? Did you feel your credibility tarnished or question the move?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[GojuRyu Bahrain]

Hello Sentoka,

I understand your dilemma very well... teaching one style with modifications is a difficult, albeit natural thing: Historically every master created their own spin on things, didn't they?

My main style is Goju Ryu, but I have cross trained in several other Karate and MA styles. The way I see it, Goju Ryu is quite complete, and there is some technical overlap with every other system. The focus, of course, might be very different from style to style; even from Dojo to Dojo. Anyhow, I never felt the need to add techniques to my training, just adopt other's training methods when they where better. [Honestly though, I don't know if the last statement is entirely truthful, as I sometimes practice ground fighting, which is probably not included in the mainstream of Goju Ryu Dojos. For me, ground fighting was always there (Seyunchin!) and wasn't added by me . And recently I spent quite a bit of time with Shuto Uke (NOT USEFUL AS UKE!) as a system for limb control in it's own right, despite the fact that it is not explicitly present in Goju Ryu Katas (maybe Kururun Fa at the beginning?) ].

So there is my dilemma: I am training for some years mostly with Shotokan people: Do I teach Goju Ryu, or Shotokan, or simply Karate with them? I try to stick to common techniques (present in Goju Ryu and Shotokan) and general martial principles, but it is not Shotokan, and it is certainly not Goju Ryu - I don't inlcude Goju Ryu Katas, for example. For the time being I call it the Karate Bunkai Club...

More specific to your Wado Ryu case: if Iain Abernethy calls his style Wado Ryu, there is certainly a lot of room for "Okinawan" aspects, isn't it?

Lastly, the name for your style is not as important as what you teach and how you teach it.

[Spartacus Maximus]

What does one practise and what does one want to pass on is the answer.

[Sentoka]

That's exactly how I'm feeling, GojuRyu Bahrain.

I'm definitely finding that the concepts of Wado are very inclusive, however our training methods are very stagnate and incomplete, leading me to practice more of the Goju style flow drills, and softer methods.

It's interesting you bring up Iain Abernethy as he is a huge source of inspiration for me. As he comes from Wado himself, and his ideology is similar to mine in regards to application and the elimination of "artificial success criteria". But he himself said he changed his whole method to Abernethy Jissen Karate, because what he taught had changed to the point where it hardly resembled Wado anymore.

I totally agree with your outlook on bunkai, and the presence of different techniques in kata. For example, Mawashi Uke is a common technique in Goju, so much so, it's practiced in many of their kata. So surely it'd have something to offer. Yet it's found once in Wado, at the end of Niseishi kata. Where as Shuto Uke is repeated so much it borders on unnecessary.

I really appreciate your response, GojuRyu Bahrain. It's given me a lot to think about.

[JR 137]

Before completely leaving, are there other instructors in your organization that are doing things differently than what you were taught? It could be a case of your teacher has a different interpretation on the style than others.

Spartacus Maximus (who posted above) studied under two different teachers who emphasized different aspects of the same art. Both instructors trained under the same teacher.

Just some food for thought.

[Sentoka]

Unfortunately the organisation I split from was very set in their way, and any instructor who had a different view has long since left and stopped training. Having only ever practiced that way, they found it almost sacrilegious to cross train, which is where I came unstuck.

Training in Goju and Kyokushin gave me a wider view of karate as a whole, and I started picking up and adapting bits and pieces of each style that I found useful.

I think I already know what I need to do, but it's reassuring to hear from other people in the same predicament.

[JR 137]

My former Sensei was in a similar predicament. It was a small Kyokushin offshoot, consisting of about 8 or so local (independently owned) dojos. The level of contact allowed in the organization dwindled, and the amount of bunkai being practiced and tested on became pretty much non-existent.

My Sensei started doing "bare knuckle Friday night" for anyone interested. It wasn't required. Our Kaicho was opposed to it. He taught bunkai, ground fighting and some throws (having a wrestling and wrestling coaching background, I helped him incorporate some stuff). Kaicho was opposed to it. My Sensei said he felt like he had to close the blinds on the windows to his own house so his father wouldn't find out.

We were all tested for every rank by our Kaicho, and we all did extremely well. We knew the syllabus inside out. You could easily pick his top students out when the dojos got together for a workout.

But that wasn't enough. In 15 years of owning his own dojo in the organization, the Kaicho never accepted any of his ideas. He said it got to the point that he started shaking his head no before my Sensei finished his first sentence. Most of his ideas were to go back to things they used to do, not trying to change their identity.

My Sensei was the first to leave. He said it was the easiest decision to make of his career, yet the hardest one to follow through on. It wasn't personal, it was professional differences.

That organization now seemingly focuses on point fighting, no contact to light contact at higher ranks, and performance of kata rather than application; basically sport karate. It's not McDojo, but it's not what it was.

There's only 2 dojos left, the Kaicho's dojo and his right hand man's. The rest of them are all independent. A lot of the former Senseis get together regularly and train, bringing students who are interested along.

Sound familiar?

[Sentoka]

That sounds very familiar.

I began cross training not long after I was graded to Shodan. My best mate, who's also a black belt under the same style, and I used to go and size up what we knew against other schools and styles. Not in a hostile way, but purely to see where we stood, and what more we could learn. We competed heavily in different organisations, but found we learned more my havering a chat with people and sitting in on a class. Most people were receptive to other styles coming to train, we had a great time, and I've made a lot of contacts through doing that.

When my instructor found out, he wasn't happy. He didn't tell us directly, but we always copped the snide, underhanded remarks when he was addressing the class. He honestly believed what he did was superior in every way, and there's no need to cross train if you trained with him. Honestly I should've seen the red flags and ran. But I stayed on until late last year.

Kumite was frowned upon in the later years, restricting students to a back and forward match, and judging them on aesthetics as opposed to fighting ability. He used to get me and another higher grade up to demonstrate Jiyu Kumite and claimed that it was the result of the back and forward "sparring" to validate what he was teaching.

Bunkai was frowned upon unless it was the basic "down block to a perfect front kick, straight punch to chest" style choreographed application.

I made the decision after I made the career move to crowd control last year. I tried to at least get him to incorporate some level of verbal deescalation or legality of self defence, if we were taking a move from competitive karate. To at least give us some value. But he didn't want to hear any of it. I was very much the same as your Sensei, his head started shaking as i opened my mouth.

So, now I'm independent, we're finding what we're practicing is very different to what I was taught and what is considered traditional Wado Ryu. To the point where Wado doesn't reflect what we teach at all. We do a lot of heavy Kyokushin-style training. Self protection training, scenario drills, and when we teach kata it is directly followed by bunkai.

I love what I'm doing, and it's definitely one of the better decisions I've made.

[sensei8]

I've not ever been in the same predicament, but a somewhat similar predicament.

First, our Soke passes away...things are affable.

Second, our Dai-Soke passes away a few years later...things are affable.

Thirdly, our newly appointed San Dai-Soke, the son of our Dai-Soke, closes the original Hombu for his own selfish reasons, in which he "almost" moves the entire Hombu and the like back to Okinawa...things are no longer affable...not even close.

First thing we do is PANIC!! We were a ship suddenly without a port; no direction, and no longer a soluble future for the displaced student body of just over 10K.

The panic was short-lived because the core of the SKKA was still intact, even though it had been momentarily disheveled; a temporary setback. But had it not been the pure loyalty as well as pure genius of our Legal Team, a team that's independent and away from the SKKA, the reestablishing and reopening of the new Hombu, wouldn't have been possible.

First thing Hugh, and his legal team did was, with the assistance of the core of the hierarchy of the SKKA, a complete rewrite through amendments of the By-Laws, so that they were ours and not of the San Dai-Soke's in any shape, way, and/or form. Much of the original By-Laws, as written by Soke were amended, instead of being discarded, a map, so to speak, for us to soluble under our umbrella...our OWN umbrella. The new By-Laws had to be strong, as to preventing San Dai-Soke from reentering through even the smallest crack, therefore, he was given a lifetime expulsion from the SKKA, in which he no longer had any proprietorship conclusions with the SKKA. At the conclusion of this phase, our legal ownership of the SKKA was assured.

Secondly, the SKKA's upper hierarchy had to be confirmed through elections.

Thirdly, governorship of the SKKA had to be established through proxies and the like.

Fourthly, the Shindokan Shield as well as the styles name, Shindokan Saitou-ryu, was reaffirmed; neither were changed, nor were they amended. The style that we train in hasn't changed, just the SKKA, and the SKKA is NOT the style; just the governing body. The Shindokan Shield, per our Soke, "...belongs to every Shindokan student", and in that, the Shield isn't the style and the style isn't the shield; it's OUR brand. Neither are broken, so there's no need to fix them!!

Fifthly, resuming Testing Cycles that were once suspended until the SKKA was reestablished across the board network wide.

That's a very small glimpse, but large enough to give you an idea of what we had to do to weather the storm. A storm, not caused by anything we did, but by an unfortunate and despicable man full of his own self aggrandizement.

Not every minute detail we endured is written here for two reasons. One, proprietary reasons prohibit me from disclosing them. Two, as important as the legality material is, it can be...well...boring to the Nth degree.

We found no need to change the name of Shindokan because we still embraced it wholeheartedly...now and always!! But, that's us. What we've experienced, and what you or anyone else will experience just might be different.

Embrace what's in your heart!!

[Spartacus Maximus]

Logic, pure and simple is the best way to determine what choice to make in this case. If the system one wishes to teach is so different from what one was originally taught and the differences make it distinct, it no longer makes sense to continue calling it by that name. The same reasoning applies if one quits a governing body to become independent, start a new GB or join another.