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.