Dutch guy teaching in Japan

[Tepul]

Teaching martial arts in Japan as a foreigner is no small accomplishment. It is even complicated for native Japanese. Usually explicit approval and endorsement from one’s sensei is required and traditionally, barring few exceptions, one had to first become Shihan or assistant instructor in one’s own dojo with a fifth dan, minimum.

How did you happen to become an instructor in Japan? What where the conditions?

Dear all, thank you for the positive answers.

As for myself, I have been training myself steadily and shown my skills/discipline. Additionally I have been kind of training with other people during free training time. (aka teaching)

Also, my sensei knows about my past accomplishments/ranks as I have shown him my JKA passport. Now during training sessions we often talk and have discussions where I actively participate. I guess he judged my skills on my performance during training.

To make a long story short: my sensei saw my level and decided that I am worthy to teach in his dojo

[bushido_man96]

As sensei8 would say, "the proof is on the floor." It will always reveal itself.

[Tepul]

Quick update from my side:

It is great teaching in this dojo.

My kids are up to 4th Kyu (14-15 years). 3rd Kyu and Dan degrees train with the adults.

And we teach them to take care of their juniors. Which means that I can sometimes let them teach the white belts (Kindergarten kids).

They also reply with a loud YES when you explain something or give them orders. No issues at all with them accepting me as their teacher. Took maybe 1-2 weeks for all of them to official address me as Sensei.

The adults were a little bit more difficult. Mainly the young guys (18 years)

Some were calling me Senpai or Kyoshi-dai (sub-teacher), but everybody calls me sensei now as well.

Had some troubles adjusting them to the same level as the kids in regards to replies. As you know, answering with a loud YES to some guy is humiliating for young adults. But I guess they understood my explanation that they are being a bad example to the young students and quickly caught up!

In contrast to many people's believes though, the level for adults is rather low. Mainly because many older students come rarely, due to work. But when they come to train, then you get 100% of their attention.

On the other hand, my current dojo is not very technical, since they do full contact shotokan with gear. Main focus is often POWER, but I am trying my hardest to let them see that real power comes from the core/basics. Some are starting to see the light, haha.

Anyway, thanks for the continuous positive comments! I really enjoy this forum.

Keep up the good work, OSS.