Please take a moment to read this post first, i.e. "A Different Perspective," before diving into this blog. Your comments, suggestions and participation are greatly appreciated.

Please take a look at Notable Quotes, enjoy.

Please take a look at the bibliography if you do not see a proper reference to a post.

Warning, Caveat and Note: The postings on this blog are my interpretation of readings, studies and experiences therefore errors and omissions are mine and mine alone. The content surrounding the extracts of books, see bibliography on this blog site, are also mine and mine alone therefore errors and omissions are also mine and mine alone and therefore why I highly recommended one read, study, research and fact find the material for clarity. My effort here is self-clarity toward a fuller understanding of the subject matter. See the bibliography for information on the books.


Note: I will endevor to provide a bibliography and italicize any direct quotes from the materials I use for this blog. If there are mistakes, errors, and/or omissions, I take full responsibility for them as they are mine and mine alone. If you find any mistakes, errors, and/or omissions please comment and let me know along with the correct information and/or sources.


“All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.” - Montaigne

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Thursday, May 29, 2014

The Silent Sensei

This is the misconception that to teach martial arts properly you have to take on a sage like demeanor where you observe and use language only sparingly and occasionally to explain. It is an assumption that what you present physically is enough that the practitioner should be able to extrapolate what it is you want and what is required to progress.

The Sensei who created the system I practice often sat and watched in the dojo. On rare occasions he might get up, demonstrate a move, have you copy it and then if needed do it two more times then go sit down and observe. In an Asian, especially Japanese, culture this is called “shikata.” Because of the culture and the shikata system everything done has a kata to it and therefore asking questions and getting answers was not required. In their society and system this works and it took them hundreds of years to perfect this system.

In the western mind outside of the cultural system of shikata that just does not work. I believe a lot of lost information and abilities came about because of the differences in the sensei and practitioner cultures and beliefs. Add to that a language barrier you get an idea that for the westerner it was most difficult to gain the knowledge you needed without a lot of frustration and years of effort. Our western culture requires explanations that are complete, accurate and understandable to the student. 

Therefore it is necessary for a good sensei to achieve the knowledge necessary to provide complete and clear and concise information. How that is provided consists of several methods. First is the spoke word. Second is the physical, tactile teaching of a physical and metaphysical concept and third is repetitions along with the student. You use sight, hearing and tactile transference of knowledge in a form that can also the third method, by written word. No where else is it more important to present knowledge in concise, complete, clear, full written explanations. If that is not complete it detracts from the other methods of voice, physiokinetic and tactile teachings. Students seldom hold on to more than about fifteen percent of what is taught at any one time and that brings us to the fourth model, repetition. 

You have to provide these complete forms of teaching often and in a repetitive manner. This is where your artistic talents come into play because simply regurgitating the same exact thing over and over again will not carry the full load. You have to have the ability to form the same knowledge or subject matter in different forms as you progress. The provision of knowledge in different ways opens the receiving mind so they can holistically encode the knowledge in a form that will result in not only retention but a more fluid way that the mind, the hidden mind or instinctual mind, can use as needed in any given moment. 

A good example are the books written by Rory Miller and Marc MacYoung, to name only two of many. They present the information about violence, etc. in many forms that reinforce each written teaching so that it sticks. It is then up to the individual to find a teacher who understands this subject so they can use the other teaching methods to encode it to the subconscious. 

The silent sensei in a western dojo is an excuse to keep students guessing and to compensate for a lack of knowledge on the sensei’s side. To answer questions with sage like Zen oriented sound bites may be cool and may make you look like a sage to the uninitiated but in reality it just says, “Sensei doesn’t know.”

You may have enjoyed your Asian traditional dojo but when you return to teach western minds you have to use teaching techniques that are most conducive to learning for that western mind. A very traditional western koryu teacher wrote once that when he was returning to the USA his Sensei told him that he should teach this way and as I understand it he has, successfully, for many years. 


Longevity can come from either a positive model or a negative model but to give your students your best you should remain on that positive side. The silent sensei does not exist in a western culture so our Asian martial arts must be taught in a western way. 

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

How You Play the Game - A Fictional Story

It really is “how you play the game.” A practitioner of some note decided he wanted to be the best of the best. He set out to dominate the game of martial arts. He become aggressive and dominated as no one before. He would find challenge with other martial artists destroying them quickly and efficiently. He failed to understand the game, the entire game.

Then one day he was challenged by an older practitioner. The Old-Man fought him to a win by a very small margin. This excited the practitioner so he asked if he could continue the next day with another match. The Old-Man agreed. 

The next day they conducted the match and by another small margin the practitioner fell prey to the Old-Man. After several weeks of this the practitioner told the Old-Man that the next match would be different. 

The next day’s match went well but once again the practitioner lost again by an even smaller margin. This occurred for several more matches. At the last the practitioner told the Old-Man he had come so very close to winning that he was sure the next match would result in victory. 

The next match came early the next day. The fought and the practitioner was trounced badly in short order. This continued with the margin of victory widening like an ocean at every match. 

Finally the practitioner relented and spoke to the Old-Man. He said he understood what was happening and that he understood that the Old-Man at the beginning was taking it easy on the practitioner but the Old-Man said, “That is far gone from the point.” He said that the point is not to fight as tight, tough and aggressive as you can but to be bold. To be dangerous. But also to be elegant. He told the practitioner that any martial artists that is half awake can spot an opening and take advantage but to boldly go with a plan to turn that plan on its ear is a marvelous thing. To set a trap and know someone will come in wary, ready with a trick of their own, then beat them. That is four times marvelous. 

Martial arts is about the essence, the subtlety of the art. It is a mirror we hold to the discipline. No one wins a contest, the point of the contest is the motion, rhythm and cadence of the body, mind and spirit. A well played contest reveals the moving of the mind. There is a beauty to these things for those with the eyes, ears and feel to see, hear and feel this. 

The Old-Man gestured to the contest floor and said, “Look at it this way. Why would I ever want to win a contest such as this? The point is not to win? It is to play a beautiful game. Why would I want to win anything other than a beautiful game?”


Play a beautiful game! A cat does not think of stretching, it stretches. 

Friday, May 16, 2014

The Art of Kobudo

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First, I like the weapons of karate. I think they are cool. I think they are a challenge to learn and practice. I don’t think they are adequate for self-defense. I do think they are a huge contributor toward an art form that is physical, mental and demanding. I do understand that they require a solid knowledge, understanding and proficiency in empty hand or karate before you take up the Bo, Sai or Tuifa. I believe and understand that this was a core reason for the practice of karate in Okinawa’s ancient times,  a prerequisite so to speak. I studied the Bo, Sai, Tuifa, Nunchaku and Kama in my first ten years in Okinawan Karate-jutsu-do. 

I do not practice kobudo today. Some say that is blasphemous and heretical. I don’t care. I wanted to focus more on empty hand because I wanted to convert my practice and training toward a model more closely representative of street self-defense. The time I had and would spend on kobudo practice, for me, is better spent learning about violence, learning about avoidance, learning about all the repercussions from engaging in conflict and violence. I wanted to spend the time studying about the before, during and after affects of self-defense. This takes considerable effort and a lot of research and study just to gain some semblance of knowledge if for no other reason then recognition and avoidance - the primary means of self-defense in almost all cases - almost.

I don’t feel the need to achieve higher grade or rank by the means of the art of kobudo. I don’t particularly care whether I have any level or grade specific to kobudo. I don’t believe kobudo should be required to advance your knowledge of karate or any martial art that involves “empty hand defense.”

I do believe that learning about weapons in defense of yourself, your family and others is important but that means learning a lot more than target practice if you choose a gun for protection. I also believe that if you cannot handle any weapon within the guidelines and laws dictated by society you should leave weapons alone and focus on the most effective self-defense known to mankind - avoidance. 

Like I said, I love the art of kobudo but find it an obstacle to more important aspects of martial defense but would never denigrate those who find such joy and pleasure learning about this system ancient to Okinawa and Japan let alone China. I fully support and recommend anyone seeking out a martial art to embrace kobudo at least for the early years of practice. The benefits will sharpen and enhance any empty hand system you practice as you continue your discipline even if you give up kobudo.

I am glad we have kobudo and feel that it should be a part of karate considering the history it brings. It also provides us a means to learn more about the culture and beliefs of those who created such excellent systems of weapons combatives. It doesn’t matter that they may have devolved into a mere art form or a sport form or both, this is good since it still connects and interconnects with all that is valued in Okinawan martial arts. If not for the weapons of kobudo then the internal policing of Okinawa in the sixteen hundreds after the Satsuma arrived would have possibly devolved into no real Okinawan martial arts at all. 

I do believe wholeheartedly that one should NOT try to learn kobudo until they have reached at least a Ni-dan and preferable a San-san level in karate. I believe this was a model that many veterans of ancient martial arts development learned as necessary to truly achieve combat proficiency in kobudo. Although not a matter of life or death or security of Okinawa people or even ours in modern times it still has its artistic and moral teachings due to the transition and exposure to such things as Buddhism, Confucianism and Zenism.

I, personally, don’t feel the need to go beyond that level of basic and fundamental learning of kobudo so let it go after a time so that my focus can be directed toward my chief concern, defense with empty hands along with all the rest of self-defense. 

I was good with weapons, kobudo, and I can still contribute to those who still want to learn, practice and devote to the art of kobudo but it is just no longer that important to me, personally. It is, as it should be, a personal pursuit and a personal thing. 

If you are shaking your head thinking that I am losing my focus on what karate is and what it should be stop right there and let me remind you. I believe that everyone who pursues a life in martial arts, i.e. specifically empty hand and kobudo, should learn kobudo in its proper order and place within the martial arts but like all martial arts there is a time when you have to choose which direction you wish to go. If you want to hone your skills, knowledge and abilities you have to leave behind any rigid adherence to what most believe and venture out toward growth and change. To reach beyond the levels of “shu” in “shu-ha-ri” or “shin-gi-tai,” etc., you have to make your martial art your own martial art much like many who came before have done. You don’t have to create a system or style, that is not the point, but you should consider making it your own.

I made my practice my own and it does not have kobudo. It is an outgrowth of the practice that included kobudo. It also is something born of the original system as created by its creator. It was adhered to faithfully until I reached a point where, per the creators teachings, I decided to spread my wings and take flight - all on my own. 

A martial arts luminary stated to me a long time ago that he wanted to work with me to get my level up to where it should be and I simply said, thank you but I need to take a different road. He was a real solid person and martial artists who has my absolute respect and admiration but I simply needed to go my own way. He understood. 

Let me close by saying that I understand and accept the instinctual drive when engaging in conflict to reach for a weapon. It is my litmus test as I train and practice. If I engage in anything that causes me to pause and consider a weapon then I know I have not reached the proper level of empty hand yet. If I cannot immediately rely on my studies in empty hand then I have not reached a level of proficiency confidence to drive out any instinctual need to grab a weapon. 

I am not saying I would not immediately reach for a weapon if I encounter violent attacks but I want to know that I can, if the case warrants, choose the weapons due to circumstances over an instinctual need or reliance on a weapon. If I feel I can avoid or handle it with my body, mind and spirit then I want do do so instinctually. Grabbing a weapon without that confidence could open me to other problems, issues and obstacles more devastating that I wish to have the ability to do otherwise. Look at is as similar to “force,” that force only necessary to stop any damage and to reach security and safety. The kind that means you don’t suffer more than you deserve such as going to jail for fighting, etc. I consider this as a training tool for just that purpose. I want the ability to take up anything to use as a necessary weapon but only if and when my body, mind, and spirit requires the additional assistance - not before. 


This is most difficult and I often wonder if I have reached a point that it will work. I may never be tested in this but I still practice and train toward the goal, just in case. 

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Fear - Succumb to It or Use It

Fear tends to come from ignorance, it comes from not knowing or understanding the unknown. Think of that strange place with a door that leads into a totally dark, black, lightless room, do you feel fear or at least the precursor to fear, apprehension? When walking in the woods on a hiking trail and your vision picks up a long, slender, squiggly shape, do you jump and feel the adrenaline, etc., hit you? Do you feel your breathing become rapid, your hands fly up, your eyes go wide and you take this sudden huge intake of air? 

Once you know what the problem is, it is just a problem, nothing to fear. When you realized that the long, slender, squiggly shape is nothing more than a fallen branch don’t you feel suddenly better while your body and mind re-adjust back to normal? Your knowing what the problem is and if you knew what it was before you saw it would that have relieved your fears and apprehensions? 

Professionals like Marc MacYoung, Rory Miller, Wm Demeere, Kris Wilder, Loren Christensen and many others work diligently in their businesses to provide us with the knowledge we should have to reduce or eliminate our fears when it comes to things like conflict, etc. This is why I sometimes preach that this type of stuff should be a major part of self-defense training. 


Knowledge is power and that power goes a long way to reducing or eliminating our fears. If nothing else, knowledge will provide us a means to train and use our fear, and anger, in a more positive and beneficial way and that would be even better. If you don’t know then like the black, dark, unknown room you will remain fearful and often frozen until you reach inside and “turn on the light.” 

My eBooks

I am still working on them when time permits (I plan on retiring from my real job next July so if I am not done by then, then I will have all kinds of time to complete the project). I have two that are going through their final edit stages and will soon be published. One is a terminology book and the other is the gokui book. I also plan on having them printed in hard cover through Lulu. 


I have added a huge amount of terms in the fist book and the second is in its polishing stages. Look for the eBook at Smashwords and the printed versions at Lulu. 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Human Emotions

“Emotions by their very nature are not reasonable things.” ~ Kvothe

When I think of conflict I then relate that conflict to one of its major, if not primary, causes - emotions. Emotions are tied to the symbolic “monkey brain” of our three parts of the brain, i.e., the human brain, the monkey brain and the lizard brain. I see the human brain similar to the logical mind depicted in the Star Trek series character, Spock. I think the series writer had it right, the ability to control the monkey brain, the emotional side of the human condition, is directly related to conflict. 

Human emotions, to my perception, are that corner stone that supports and drives the monkey brain that leads us into conflict. Conflict then leads to violence and that is a lack of control over our human emotions. 

Emotions are necessary to survival. I believe historically and genetically we depended on our emotions to survive the predatory life lived when humans resided in caves and hunted the prairies for food, etc. In those less complex times we learned quickly how to handle the emotional drives that meant survival. Today, it is a bit different.

Today, our emotions are both beneficial and detrimental to the human condition. Love, happiness and joy are all beneficial to health, both mental and physical. Anger and fear are detrimental in a way because we don’t really need them to survive in modern times. When we are subjected to anger or fear those emotions often mean losing control of the human brain so the monkey brain can drive the car. 

Yes, anger and fear (more fear than anger by my reckoning) are necessary in some instances for survival but mostly they get us into social situations that can and often result in conflict resulting in physical violence. I feel that the more complex our societies become the more our monkey brains resort to conflict and violence due to frustrations, stresses and interactions with more humans outside our close family like societal tribal needs. 

When you are confronted by so many cultures with just as many belief systems along with huge variances in communications you get frustration that begets fear and anger that begets conflict that begets violence - physical and psychological. 

The trick is training so we recognize the emotional monkey brain so that we can put that bugger back in its cage and then allow our Spock like logical human brain to take the lead (you can never truly rid yourself of the monkey but you can affect its control over you, your actions and your emotions).


As I quoted, human emotions by their VERY NATURE are NOT reasonable things. This is true and an important part of martial arts training is learning to take control of the monkey and act like a human. 

Lineage

Sensei Michael Clarke, Shinseidokan Dojo Blog, states, “a grasp of your martial genealogy is helpful when forming an overall understanding of what and why (but not how) you are doing the things you do.”

It seems to me to be like, “if you fail to learn from your history you are destained to repeat history - over, over and over again.” Mr. Clarke makes a good point when he states that your involvement means something as to whether you should learn about keizu of your system or not. If you are a trophy hound, a rank hound or a person who likes to fight in competitions then who, what, when, where, how and why of your system means little to nothing. 

In my view to gain a full and complete understanding of the “who, what, when, where, how and why” of things provide you with insight that promotes a mind-state that discovers not only old things but the creation of new things, insights and knowledge because to feed the mind as much data as possible about these things provides the mind a pool of data that they can extract from to not only provide answers but create answers. 

Inspirations come from the exposure of the mind to many things both within your immediate influences but also from influences normally outside your normalcy. It is that “out of the box” type knowledge, experience and understanding that provides the mind so it may create the state of mind with the necessary knowledge that allows us to act accordingly. The next step is to speed up that process by training, training, and more training along with practice, practice and more practice so the lizard can go directly and act quicker than the thinking mind. 

Again, as Mr. Clarke eludes too, this also teaches the martial artists that to adhere strictly to what your Sensei teaches can become limiting, stifling, and cause stagnation. It all is about stretching, reaching and achieving individualized understanding and application of any system regardless. It is about making the system your own so that your mind and mind-state can achieve what is relevant and pertinent to you and your life. This is especially important when confronted in conflict and all conflict exposes a person to physically, mentally and morally. 

In my system Tatsuo-san, the creator and master of the Isshinryu system of Okinawa, often expressed the importance of the Westerner to learn about the culture, beliefs and history of Okinawan. I believe he asked this of his American students because in assumed that we would want to achieve a full and complete wholehearted understanding and practice of his practice of Isshinryu. 

Mr. Clarke uses the word, “Blasphemy,” in his posting and I believe that it is apropos because it is blasphemy  when one uses lineage or keizu as a means of generating money while leaving the essence of lineage knowledge out as if a unnecessary byproduct. It seems blasphemous to use such important aspects of martial arts simply as a self promotion means of achieving egoistic pride driven gains.  

Assumptions (Katei [仮定])

Once I called a fellow martial artists to see if I could clarify some piece of information. When I talked with this person they immediately assumed, because of my grade or level, to all me “master.” I immediately asked him to refrain from using that moniker and just call me “Charles.” 

First, I am not a master of anything. Being a master has some huge meaning for me and from my perspective. I don’t believe we have any true masters of martial arts in this country (I may be wrong so don’t assume anything :-). I believe we have some very talented, knowledgable and experienced martial artists but no masters, not true masters as I see it.

I am not saying that if you are considered a master by your practitioners that you are not a master by your definition but by mine I kinda of doubt it. This is not personal or anything because it is about “me” and how I perceive things. 

Anyway, as I stated I am not a master of anything but I do have a modicum of knowledge and I am somewhat intelligent so I can hypothesize, theorize and think in terms of how I perceive things and how I perceive how they will, might or may work but that is not to say I am anything other than a knowledgable martial artists who just happens to have practiced for a number of years reaching into my winter years of life. 

I didn’t want this person to assume something just because I may hold some level or grade in my discipline of practice and training. I didn’t want anyone, even this person, to make such assumptions that could lead to a misinterpretation of my writings, teachings and search for knowledge. I am enthusiastic in my discipline.  I am not totally absorbed to an unhealthy degree in my studies but I do have “fun” with what I do. 

I want folks to take things as they are unadorned by assumptions that come from the perception of rank, titles, levels or grades not to forget trophies or the amount of students, black belts or earnings that go with some endeavors in martial arts. I just want to continue to learn and in my passing along any knowledge and perceptions I get from my studies to others of like mind. I think this is important.

Why? Because so many fail to achieve adequate knowledge to explain things so that the future is not consumed with innuendo and guess work let alone the “sage like” answers some “experts” provide such as “just practice the basics, it will come to you.” I don’t want to give excuses but rather answers that are valid and understandable and complete and most of all “fluid” so if I discover something that changes my answers and questions it can be assimilated and encoded. 

So, I try hard to “not make assumptions” that is most difficult because assumptions are a part of life, it is what we use and do in many facets in life. It is normal but what I try to achieve is when I make an assumption I then stop, question it with myself, sometimes question it with others and then make ready to “change that assumption” so I can be accurate, correct and thus achieve learning and the accumulation of knowledge. 


Assumptions!

Karate is a Sport; Karate is an Educational Sport

Over the years I have spouted off about the denigration of karate through the sport aspects but I find that I am wrong with that assumption. I have changed my mind because I have found that there is a strong possibility that karate as we know it today and as we learned it in the fifties and later is actually derived from the adjusted karate as implemented into the educational system of Okinawa. 

Even the creator of Isshinryu may have been influenced heavily through the karate he was exposed to when he attended schools in his youth. Not sure I can validate this but I have heard stories about his youth and that he did attend school albeit it the lower grades. As to any higher grades I just don’t know. But, if he did attend and since it is apparent through sources of history that he was exposed to the educational form of karate then it just goes to show that karate as we know it may have been purely a sport oriented system taught in the educational systems. 

Karate was adjusted accordingly so it was more palatable to the education of the youth of Okinawa. It may have been the source of the karate taught to American servicemen in the fifties and after because it may have been the easiest to teach us since we, by our own volition forced a one year constraint on achieving a black belt due to the term of service of most when stationed on Okinawa. 

I would like to believe that the more combative or defensive aspects to karate were available but that would require a longer training cycle than the mere one year tour of duty for most military. Just learning the basics and fundamentals takes more time than actually learning all the more combative aspects of a martial art, at least in my mind. 

Think of it, if they made changes to suit the two training sessions a week for students in the school system so they could benefit from that training for health, fitness and development of a martial spirit then why would they not use that same system to teach Americans especially considering they would train and practice for only one year or so. 

I am not saying I have it right but from where I sit it fits. Even Tatsuo-san promoted competitions and contests to attract more students much like we do today in our more commercialized endeavors in martial arts. If the stories are true then a lot of early pioneers were provided grades commensurate to what they achieved in said competitions. Could it be that Tatsuo-san used what he was exposed to in his early years within the educational system of Okinawa. 

After all, he would have attended during the early nineteen hundreds, i.e. the education version of karate was fully implemented between 1905 and 1906 as evident in the historical submission of Andreas Quast through his book, “Karate 1.0.”

Since all of Okinawa, due to the push by Japan, pushed martial arts along with other health and fitness disciplines described as military gymnastics, etc., into the educational systems starting in the late 1800’s to full implementation in 1905/06. Mr. Quast provides some pretty good historical information to support this type of endeavor. 

If I am correct then karate was more sport than combative systems and that what we have come to in todays version of sport or supotsu karate is actually a modern version of what they taught and learned back in the day. 

It must be remembered and understood that one of the chief precepts of the educational karate system taught in the schools was it would be “kata based” practice and training. All of today’s belief in karate practice on a traditional or classical level is that kata is the main training model for Okinawan karate. This is not to denigrate the use of kata as a teaching tool but it does speak to what was taught and practiced before the effort to mold karate into a sport educational system. It may have been the impetus to create more kata which is evident in today’s karate. 

We can extrapolate kata growth due to the effort to implement karate into the educational system since it was to be a “kata based practice” system. As it progressed it spawned a need to create more kata. Kata, at one time it may have been believed and true, were fewer in number when taught to the older karate practitioners, i.e. pre-late mid to late 1800’s. You often hear tales of how one would learn and practice one or two kata for decades or may just years so it seems appropriate when the training was converted to a strictly kata based training regimen they developed more kata to fill the gaps. 

Even today, in the west, we tend to believe grading is done by the quantity of what we learn, i.e.,. more kata, more black belts, more of everything means greater knowledge thus greater ability to judge when one is to receive a higher grade, etc. and on and on and on. 

When you begin to see how this may have come to pass you can then understand why the direction of today’s karate is pointed more toward the educational versions of earlier years. 

There is this transition period of old masters where the more known masters of our times may have been more a product of the educational system of karate than the more ancient classical or traditional combative karate.

Take it one more step and when you learn that it is possible that the empty hand martial art was actually a prerequisite to learning martial arts with weapons then it takes a level of importance lower than we might want to believe. When you actually study what modern conflict requires of a person for defense or even combatives then the mere physical teachings of karate are but a small part of that whole called conflict. 

It makes me think and accept the possibility that when we say that today’s karate or martial arts are hurting the traditional martial arts that we may be expressing a human need to put what we believe on a higher pedestal that actually warranted or actually realistically true to what came before. 

Naturally, we all want what we believe and do to be right, correct and of importance. This is not saying that we are practicing something of great importance and benefit but we don’t want to put more emphasis on falsehood to achieve that goal when reality is still pretty impressive. 

If what I am theorizing is to be true I can accept that and then move forward to implement a practice, training and teaching that will encompass all aspects of conflict of which violence is a part to achieve a karate that meets my expectations even if only for me and my practice and training. Seeing and accepting truth is important and puts us into a more “realistic” practice then fooling ourselves that what we currently do is adequate for defense and/or combatives vs. simply sport oriented health and fitness discipline.


Both aspects are of great value to us and we should embrace this regardless of whether sport, as we were taught in the early days, or combative/defensive as we thought. Both are of value and both can be achieved. Maybe this is the new future of martial arts, embracing all of its essence regardless into a new form of martial arts and jutsu. 

Assumptions (Katei [仮定])

Once I called a fellow martial artists to see if I could clarify some piece of information. When I talked with this person they immediately assumed, because of my grade or level, to all me “master.” I immediately asked him to refrain from using that moniker and just call me “Charles.” 

First, I am not a master of anything. Being a master has some huge meaning for me and from my perspective. I don’t believe we have any true masters of martial arts in this country (I may be wrong so don’t assume anything :-). I believe we have some very talented, knowledgable and experienced martial artists but no masters, not true masters as I see it.

I am not saying that if you are considered a master by your practitioners that you are not a master by your definition but by mine I kinda of doubt it. This is not personal or anything because it is about “me” and how I perceive things. 

Anyway, as I stated I am not a master of anything but I do have a modicum of knowledge and I am somewhat intelligent so I can hypothesize, theorize and think in terms of how I perceive things and how I perceive how they will, might or may work but that is not to say I am anything other than a knowledgable martial artists who just happens to have practiced for a number of years reaching into my winter years of life. 

I didn’t want this person to assume something just because I may hold some level or grade in my discipline of practice and training. I didn’t want anyone, even this person, to make such assumptions that could lead to a misinterpretation of my writings, teachings and search for knowledge. I am enthusiastic in my discipline.  I am not totally absorbed to an unhealthy degree in my studies but I do have “fun” with what I do. 

I want folks to take things as they are unadorned by assumptions that come from the perception of rank, titles, levels or grades not to forget trophies or the amount of students, black belts or earnings that go with some endeavors in martial arts. I just want to continue to learn and in my passing along any knowledge and perceptions I get from my studies to others of like mind. I think this is important.

Why? Because so many fail to achieve adequate knowledge to explain things so that the future is not consumed with innuendo and guess work let alone the “sage like” answers some “experts” provide such as “just practice the basics, it will come to you.” I don’t want to give excuses but rather answers that are valid and understandable and complete and most of all “fluid” so if I discover something that changes my answers and questions it can be assimilated and encoded. 

So, I try hard to “not make assumptions” that is most difficult because assumptions are a part of life, it is what we use and do in many facets in life. It is normal but what I try to achieve is when I make an assumption I then stop, question it with myself, sometimes question it with others and then make ready to “change that assumption” so I can be accurate, correct and thus achieve learning and the accumulation of knowledge. 


Assumptions!

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Performance vs. Application

First, I am not a professional. I am not currently teaching self-defense on the floor, so to speak. I don’t have credentials that many look for or need to validate what I am writing. My experiences are limited but I am knowledgable.

Second, performance is about performing kata and various drills that are “pre-formatted” with specific actions and reactions. 

Third, application means to apply it in a real life self-defense situation, the fight, violence and the predator attack, etc. 

Performing kata and drills are not enough. The are formatted, change seldom and provide a very basic teaching to convey things like fundamental principles of martial arts let alone what is needed in the self-defense world. Kata and drills don’t teach you about the before, during and after of self-defense, fighting or combatives. They just don’t do that and yet many allude that kata and drills teach self-defense, fighting and combatives. They just don’t, there is too much missing from that model. 

I might suggest that kata and drills, etc., are excellent fundamental or basic teaching tools. I also would suggest that they are also a product of the introduction and teaching of martial arts in the educational system, circa 1904 era, to develop health, fitness and a martial spirit of the youth in Asia. It is a part of the changes that make them more palatable to the younger folks at that time along with appeasement of the officials who decided that the true martial art needed change for younger audiences. After all, karate and other martial arts were practiced more by young adults and full adults rather than the younger generation. Not to say that younger persons didn’t practice martial arts before the intro to the educational systems but mostly it was the older generations. 

As an introduction and training tool to teach fundamental principles of martial systems these kata and drills cannot be beat. Where they begin to miss the mark is when they are thought to be the final and end all of martial training and practice. It was not intended that this model be the complete system and I believe wholeheartedly that once the educational system trained the younger generation in both martial basics and martial spirit they would then take that training beyond mere kata and drills, etc. This sounds a lot like what Tatsuo-san stated about his teachings of the military in the fifties and sixties. He provided the gokui, etc., with a statement that was hoped would lead many of the military karate-ka to go beyond these fundamentals. 

Applying what you learn, i.e., the fundamental principles of martial systems plus what can be derived from kata and drill training and practice is a different matter entirely. It is about knowledge, understanding and physiokinetic/technique application of a system that matter. It is about experiencing what it takes to avoid, deescalate and then apply the physical if necessary. It is about learning what leads up to violence. It is about what it takes to handle the chemical experience that violence and the stress of life and death stresses imposes on the human mind and body at the moment it occurs. It is about knowing, understanding and applying actions that will consider all the resulting after shocks of violence, i.e., the medical, the moral and the legal. 

If you leave your training and practice to the performance of kata and drills and you don’t consider, train and practice for the entire spectrum of defense, etc., then “IF” you encounter conflict you will find that your lizard will take over and use what ever actions or inactions that nature provides to survive and often times that is just not enough. 

Keep in mind that performance on the dojo floor is not application of self-defense, fighting or combatives. There is much more involved than just being able to perform things in a pattern that is predetermined. Conflict is just different and thinking you can handle it with this type of limited training and practice is just not good. 


Performance vs. Application is something to think about in your practice, training and teaching. It is something that needs consideration if you are thinking about self-defense, fighting or combatives. 

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Kata and Gokui or "Gokui to Kata"

In a recent posting on FaceBook Advincula Sensei provides some data he got from Shinsho (Tatsuo-san’s second son), i.e. “What is the most important thing to teach karate students?”

His answer was that karate had two parts. First part is show karate, i.e. he and his father understood that to draw in students you needed to put on a demo, i.e. where Tatsuo-san would drive a 16 penny nail through a plank and others would demo tameshiwari, etc. Second part was “kata and gokui, i.e. these two were to most important parts of karate training and practice. 

Show karate, said Shinsho, includes sport karat and tameshiwari. 

Where I question things is, “When you make a statement like ‘kata and gokui are the most important aspect of karate,’ you have to consider what they mean by making that statement.” How kata has gokui and what that gokui is may be the most important aspect of karate training and practice. Just accepting the statement without finding the essence and meaning of how these two come together into one wholehearted practice is important. In my view, how can you understand what you are doing without this knowledge.  

I have studied, my perspective, the gokui for years now. I took it beyond the obvious and made connections that would support such a statement. I actually believe that the gokui is the most important aspect of karate and kata is born of that aspect. When you think of the fundamental principles of martial systems, i.e., “theory principle and philosophy principle,” you get a sense of how the terse karate koan of the gokui can lead to support the practice, training and application of karate in life. Even the other two major principles of physiokinetics and technique come from theory and philosophy which are all reflected in the gokui as presented by Tatsuo-san (note: there are more than one interpretation of gokui in karate circles and this is just the one Isshinryu studies). 

I feel strongly, my feelings and sense of things, that the gokui is a key to lead us toward the fundamental principles of martial systems that also are about life, morality, humility, decency and many other traits that make for a whole holistic person. I feel this is important since that drives how you apply your training and practice in the real world. 

The gokui is also a koan that helps practitioners to reach a level of focus and awareness that allows us to separate the wheat from the chaff, i.e. where a practitioner could detect the rhetoric that drives commercialized martial arts to see the value of classical or traditional martial arts. 

The gokui is that key that leads us to the underlying connections and interconnections that unite the seemingly separate and different approaches to the martial arts. It is this teaching of the underlying factors that make all martial arts function and provides them the value I believe we all search out in our study of this physical and spiritual discipline. 


As I allude to in this post there are connections and interconnections that make the study of martial arts valuable and holistic. It is this teaching that leads us past the mere basics and provides guidance toward mastery, true master of martial arts. This is how gokui and kata lead toward a complete and wholehearted study of Isshinryu, Karate and all Martial Arts.