My Personal Martial Philosophy

Karate no Dojo [空手の道場]

The characters/ideograms mean, “The hall used for martial arts training of the empty hand.” The first character means, “empty; sky; void; vacant; vacuum,” the second character means, “hand,” the third character is the Japanese character to designate “of the” emphasis, the fourth character means, “road-way; street; district; journey; course; moral; teachings,” the fifth character means, “location; place.” 

The hall of the empty hand is a tome meant to convey the extent that study of the art of the empty hand as handed down to us from the Okinawan culture is applied to every day life. It is meant to stretch those minds that remain steadfast in the physical realm of this art so that it takes on a deeper meaning toward how one conducts themselves outside of the smaller training hall or dojo where many play at Asian karate-do only to leave it in that dojo while doing something else when out and about in our world. 

It is a philosophical spiritual aspect that includes such things as morality and humility, to name just two traits. This is meant to balance the physical practice with the needs, culture and beliefs of the society in which a practitioner lives, works and plays. It is meant to temper the physical into a more rounded way that is body, mind and spirit (the wholehearted heart of a truly moral, humble and proficient person). 

Topics of the Hall include “mind-body-spirit, Mushin, Non-intention, yin-yang, oneness/wholeheartedness, zanshin and being, non-action, character and the empty cup.” Look at it as a more esoteric approach to the study of the empty hand that will translate and inter-connect to everyday life events, i.e. what happens from the moment you wake to the moment of slumber then think about how it can be translated through your dream state. It is about that esoteric meaning that transcends those created within any specific discipline without having the ball-n-chain of any type of religious requirements.

It addressing those more esoteric underlying connections between a person and the seemingly different approaches that influence the martial arts as well as life itself. Those factors that contribute to make a true and traditional discipline work. Look at it as a spiritual or esoteric principle set that guides the actual fundamental principle of martial systems as it transcends those limitations and provides a far reaching set of additional principles that translate a martial system into a life system of sorts. 

Look at it as a moral compass that provides navigation through the applications in both conflict, which is indicative of all life, and life. It is about looking past the obvious and seeing the more mysterious and hidden. 

You can even look at this effort as an attempt to bring in a more philosophical meaning to martial arts. It is a philosophy or rather a belief system that drives a martial art in a direction that can be either positive or negative especially when applied to conflict. It is also that something that drives how you apply techniques, tactics and strategies that are about life. 

It is a philosophy and belief philosophy that allows a person to see, hear and feel all facets of life that actually prevent negative conflicts and possible violence. 

Ego and pride, controlling the monkey seems to be one key to enlightenment. Yodanada once said, “A person who can reform themselves, can reform the world.” To reform the self is to control and incarcerate the monkey so the thinking mind can achieve control over life. You can never truly rid yourself of the monkey. It is what made Spock a popular character because he embodied symbolically what man requires for enlightenment, recognition of the yin-yang of the human condition that the thinking mind and the monkey mind are always at odds. It is the battle that Spock endured to live up to his culture and beliefs by ridding himself of human emotions (the monkey on drugs) and allow the logical mind of the Vulcan control life, i.e. the thinking mind of man. 

His depiction of this always left the audience thinking, “will he succeed and become completely logical or will he succumb to human emotions?” It also symbolized that the ego, the monkey, is an intricate part of the human condition and cannot be truly removed so we then learn that to achieve dominance over the monkey we must constantly, diligently and continuously train, practice and apply that discipline that holds the monkey in the background and allows our Vulcan logically driven  thinking brain dominance over those parts that trigger emotional life situations. 

In martial arts we tend to focus on this only when in the dojo training. We don’t address those emotional stresses that trigger adrenal stress responses so we can practice as practicing this is key to everything. Without this we remain prisoners of the monkey brain and are doomed to expose ourselves to the worst of conflict. 

Often, such training methods are lost or driven away simply because they are difficult and the aspects that bring about greater advances and are seen as fun take precedent, the physical practices over the entire spectrum. 

Taking shortcuts seems, to me, to be normal human behavior. Maybe it is that monkey telling the thinking human brain that this is a good thing and that doing it will release all these wonderful hormonal chemicals that take you higher so you feel wonderful type thing when in reality that lazy assed monkey doesn’t want folks to become more, more that means the monkey doesn’t get to go out and play. 

This endeavor is about training the mind, the psychological area that influences how we interact with others, others being those who we align ourselves for the sake of survival. Survival that long ago meant not being eaten by a predator and today not being consumed by social/mental predators. 

It is that which causes us to pause, to think, to contemplate and understand what we say or do with all the consequences that brings. It is about taking the time to allow the thinking mind to assess and arrive at conclusions best suited to benefit the person, family and society as a whole. It is that part that tells you or whispers in the back of your mind, “Hey dude, don’t do that as it causes issues with others and you will have to bear the burden” vs. “Hey dude, kick that assholes butt and move on.”

The metaphor “the hall of the empty hand” is about what the hands symbolize. It starts with the obvious of empty-handed martial arts, it extends into the expressive gestures of communication that the hands provide and also takes into consideration as to the world’s essence of community and survival being held in the hands of countries, leaders and the people. 

Let us begin:

“A person's heart is the same as Heaven and Earth while the blood circulating is similar to the Sun and Moon yet the manner of drinking and spitting is either soft or hard while a person's unbalance is the same as a weight and the body should be able to change direction at any time as the time to strike is when the opportunity presents itself and both the eyes must see all sides as the ears must listen in all directions while the mind must grasp all the tactual data not seen on all sides and not heard in any direction.”

Let us begin:

First comes awareness. This awareness is internal and it must be open to everything it encounters. It is difficult as this requires putting aside any biases that would skew perceptions, perspectives and beliefs. As regarding beliefs, this is very difficult and requires one ignore them when listening and experiencing things that directly go against one’s beliefs. It is the only way to learn. 

Second comes knowledge. This knowledge is internal from external sources. It is about opening the mind and allowing all things to flow into, through and past so the human mind can absorb, analyze and then pass judgment on the merits of the knowledge. It is allowing knowledge already absorbed to be changed accordingly to the validity of new knowledge. This is also most difficult and why this “hall of the empty hand” has come to be. It is about learning of things we didn’t know we didn’t know. It is to look and hear from all directions and all sides be they physical or metaphysical. 

Third comes verification. To verify is to validate knowledge so that awareness remains reality based and free from personal and environmental influences that would distort knowledge into something that would result in damage. 

Fourth comes action. Putting your awareness, knowledge and verification into actions that would guide, mentor and teach you to say, do, hear and touch with openness, wholeheartedness and with childlike curiosity to foster a greater connection with the universe. 

Let us begin:

Emotional intelligence gives birth to emotional maturity. First there is emotional intelligence derived from knowledge whereby the intelligence allows us to use that knowledge to teach us about emotional life. As we learn, practice and apply our emotional knowledge we acquire emotional intelligence. Only with time and experience can we ever become mature. It is this application over time that provides us the means to become emotional mature. It is maturity that allows our influences to teach others or to influence others especially since emotions are contagious. Thus, through a natural and natures process we become aware of emotional awareness.

When we are aware of our emotional self we seek out emotional knowledge leading toward personal and group verification through life experiences that gives us emotional intelligence. Continued application is the action necessary to achieve emotional intelligence inter-connected with emotional maturity benefiting all for emotional survival. 

Emotional intelligence and emotional maturity are the key to open the doors to peace, tranquility, enlightenment, peace and prosperity for the person, the family and for the tribe. 

Let us begin:

Adrenaline, stress responses triggering the full spectrum of chemicals the body uses in such “fight-or-flight” situations. Often forgotten or dependent upon stresses induced in competitive models, i.e. MMA bouts, tournaments and shugyo. This is not enough. The reality based training should induce similar or the same responses you would get in an actual street attack. This is most difficult and requires training in ways most self-defense and empty-handed martial systems provide. 

It has been indicated through research that often persons exposed to real life combative situations will have their chemical releases due to situations and scenarios that are most often not a danger but the similarities or symbolic connection to  a real life event still “flood” the body with those same chemicals. It is not the way one would want to train for the flood but if a person is experiencing such things they can use that as a means to train the mind and (a big maybe here) that would provide a means to overcome this type of after effects.

Regardless, most of those who practice, train and utilize the empty hand are never exposed to such situations and may never be exposed but that is not to say that they may or might be exposed in the future. It is up to each individual since the majority of violence is avoidable. If one must achieve that proficiency then it is best to seek out various supplemental training courses and seminars that expose the martial artist, empty hand systems, etc., to such reality based training. 

If not, then each of us has to accept and admit that we are not training for combatives or self-defense. This “flooding” that is an absolute part of violence is critical to achieving some level of proficiency in achieving self-defense while remaining within the confines of societal requirements of self-defense. 

Let us begin:

Ok, lets get to it, lets discuss how we can segregate and exercise those special muscles we call “stabilizer muscles” to improve our martial arts practice, training and most important of all “applications.” You know, those muscles we use to provide us stability when punching and kicking, etc. These muscles need to be addressed with special exercises that will result in what some call “good chinkuchi.” Wait a minute …..

Here is the rub when someone makes the statement that some exercise or system provides for stronger stabilizer muscles therefore creating a stronger body part, i.e. hands and wrists, feet and ankles, etc. If you do some research, especially in the fields of kinesiology or anatomy, you will not find any category called, “Stabilizer muscles.” 

Here is a more exact response to the notion of “stabilizer muscles,” whereby to stabilize the human body our muscle can and do ACT as a stabilizer during the execution of a movement. It is all about what you are asking a muscle to do depending on the task at hand. Our muscle can act as both agonist and antagonist when performing an exercise or the performance of a particular task. 

Depending on the task or exercise the muscle can act as a stabilizer in order to allow other muscles to function as needed for that exercise or task. It is a bit like this, “Understand that when a muscle contracts it pulls equally from both ends. In order to have movement at only one end of the muscle other muscles must come into play to stabilize the bone to which the other end of the muscle is attached, in place.”

Another defining explanation is that a stabilizer is more a set of muscles that contract so that there is no significant movement so that it will maintain a posture of fixate a joint. In that light then it is understand in karate circles of Okinawa a chinkuchi action is about “fixating a joint or set of joints, etc.” In one suggested physical exercise the forearm, wrist and hand muscles will fixate so they don’t move or move only very little to achieve a solid unmovable forearm-wrist-fist configuration while the rest of the body continues to move its muscles in the agonist and antagonist fashion signifying normal muscle activity. 

Note: my explanation is a bit simplistic and may involve a bit more explanation of complexity but you get the idea.

So, in a nutshell there are no “stabilize muscles” as if a type of muscle you can dedicate an exercise to in development. It is more about utilizing your muscles in an appropriate way to both move and stabilize the skeletal system so that movement and certain types of moves can be accomplished in the most economical and beneficial way maximizing the strength and physiokinetics of the body, i.e. those that are explained by the fundamental principles of martial systems such as posture, spinal alignment, structure, sequential locking and relaxation and so on. 

Let us begin:

No-mind is also a term or inference toward controlling the three minds, i.e. the human mind, the monkey mind and the lizard mind. In a violent encounter we all, humans, experience what is referred to as the “flood.” A chemical rush or dump that is called inappropriately the “adrenaline dump.” Adrenaline is just one chemical of a mix of chemicals the body uses to protect us from dangers in life, i.e. the old fight-or-flight thing. 

The monkey tends to have its own agenda depending on both instincts that nature provides, the instincts trained into the mind when reality based systems induce the fight-or-flight response, i.e. the flood. It is about discarding all those emotionally driven thoughts that end in not too good results for the person affected and these emotionally driven distractions are all part of the monkey brain influencing the human and lizard minds. 

It is not truly about having a mind of no mind but rather a controlling of the monkey and the training of the human and lizard to the extent they achieve automation through instinctual responses. This comes from adequate and repetitive training regimens. 

The reason this “state of mind” or rather a mind-state or mind-set is critical in self-defense situations is simply because of how the monkey can hijack any volatile situation and run things against your better human brain logic, i.e. even fooling the human brain into thinking what the monkey is promoting is true and relevant to defense. 

Training the flood, training the mind and creating a sense of no-mind as it pertains to the socio-emotional monkey mind is about making room for the human to train the lizard enough that the monkey is repressed to a point where actions are appropriate and done within the socio-societal requirements that cover the before, during and after repercussions of any conflict. 

Let us begin:

When I think of zanshin I think of present moment mind. Being totally and completely in the moment, have total attention to the very moment in time in which you reside - even when those moments last only a moment. It is about losing yourself by being in the moment. It is a type of awareness toward everything that is happening in the moment. The ancient Asian martial masters had a saying, "stand like a mountain, flow like water, move like the wind," that means "full attention to the moment." It is about total focus, it is about total commitment. 

It is about reaching the end of the loop before your adversary. Total commitment and focus is an advantage over an adversary when you bring together all the martial principles into one whole effort or action to defend and protect. It is about transcending any other conscious state that hinders, restricts or creates tension of the mind and/or body. Be in the moment and keep your adversary in their conscious minds subject to the freeze and other obstacles. 

It is about seeing the true nature of things - being in the moment.

The question then becomes how we address being in the moment. Understanding how the mind works especially under the pressures and exposures of conflict and violence is critical with emphasis on the human, monkey and lizard brain. To achieve zanshin or being in the moment means repressing those socio-emotional tricks that our monkey brain imposes on us unless we have take appropriate steps to overcome through proper realistic training programs.

It is about living the kind of life as symbolized in martial arts philosophical principle training that allows us to recognize when the socio-emotional monkey is driving the bus whereby recognition then promotes training that alleviates its effects allowing a calmer and open mind to take charge. It is so that when repressed the mind opens and becomes a blank slate so that the human training of the lizard allows instinctual actions properly trained and encoded to be drawn forth and utilized while remaining within the confines of societal social and legal limits and requirements. 

It is that same zanshin that allows the mind to register without influence of the monkey so that proper articulation is allowed when dealing with the aftermath of violence and conflict. If the monkey is driving the bus and the flood is rushing about like a tidal flood whereby various effects distort the truth your human brain can extract and articulate the truth to your advantage.

Let us begin:

The reciprocal of mushin is kime, i.e., focus so sharp that you lengthen your line in relation to your adversary. It is a focus that is aware of things like situational awareness, environmental awareness and most of all personal awareness. The type of awareness that provides the time and distance necessary to apply all aspects of self-defense starting way before any physical conflict begins, i.e. by seeing the socio-emotional monkey kicking it into high gear. 

It is such a focus that you apply your tactics and strategies faster and instinctively remaining in the upper half of the loop while the adversary is trying to catch up stuck in the lower half. This type of focus is not just about the physical bur rather a focus that provides recognition of the self when it runs into the monkey. It is that type of focus that allows us to seperate the socio-emotional monkey that leads to acting outside the self-defense perimeter. It is also the focus that can utilize the human, monkey and lizard in a positive, reliable and instinctive manner before physical conflict but also during and after should the physical be required. 

The type of focus that is fluid in nature allowing you to remain in a mind uncluttered, unfettered, and unfocused while remaining responsive, alert, and aware when in chaos and under the influences of the bodies chemical dump from the encounter. To achieve total kime remember that the principles of proper technique become critical, it must be singularly powerful and complete.

Let us begin:

Duality, the type that the universe is born from, i.e. the one that brought the “big bang” and that the ancients recognized as the essence that makes life possible. The Japanese terms are, “in-yo.” 

In self-defense the yin-yang is more about the self and how it reacts and controls the monkey’s socio-emotional effects when stressed. It is about the positive aspects of that monkey that promote efficiency of the human and lizard brains under stress, conflict and the physical. It is the yin side of the monkey we tap into in a conflict while the yang side of the monkey, i.e. the socio-emotional monkey, that we need to suppress, to keep locked up tight and to control as possible under the flood, etc.

It is the yin side of self-defense that speaks to the various types of awareness to include the full spectrum of what self-defense entails along with knowldge of violence and force. 

It is the yin and yang requirements we must learn and understand that says, yin is that side that keeps within the confines of self-defense while yang is what takes us outside the safety and security of those same lines that hold self-defense within the acceptable confines of the societal and legal requirements, etc. 

Yin-yang are those concepts that mark the line of life’s conflicts to beneficial and detrimental since conflict is also a intricate part of life’s communications between human, animals and the fishes. 

Yin-yang are those inter-connected pathways that remain fluid and chaotic in their nature to achieve rhythm and cadence that permeates all things in the universe. It is the philosophical as inter-connected to the physical world. It is the spiritual vs. the action of the physical. 

It should be noted that this overall view of the inner principle that is philosophical provides for the over all yin-yang of nature. Much like the I Ching's trigrams composed of the four two-line set of lines that are used to create both hexagrams and trigrams composed from the singular great tai chi into the two lines, one broken and one complete being yin-yang whereby nature further divides into the four (set of two lines) lines or stages that are greater (old) yang, lesser (young) yang, greater (old) yin and lesser (young) yin. The four are represented by the combination of the singular lines.

This further represents how the flux or flow of life waxes and wanes between the greater and lesser of either yin or yang as appropriate. The four are dependent upon one another to create the one wholehearted holistic aspects of life and nature. This is the basis of all disciplines with emphasis on martial arts. 

Using the principles as our foundation you can see that there are equal yin and equal yang representations as shown above designations of principle categories with a equal number of yin-yang associations within each category of principles. This, I believe, is how martial arts were created and developed over the history of martial arts. 

Even our Okinawan styles and/or systems are all born from a single marital entity that is Indian to Chinese to all others. The history goes so far back that the only connection that is known today is the indian influences on the Chinese martial arts. 

To achieve true master of any martial art the practitioner should strive to keep an equilibrium or balance of all yin-yang aspects. To lessen or remove any one aspect puts the entire system out of balance and like a great weight will result in the fall of that system, especially when needed the most.

Let us begin:

These are the corner stone of any discipline, i.e. character and personality. It creates a symbiotic relationship that governs how a particular discipline is practiced, trained and applied. It ia about the mental and moral qualities that a person brings out and is distinctive, as a fingerprint, to that individual. It is about personality, disposition, temperment and persona, etc. 

Character is about trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and tribal connectivity. It is about a moral compass that guide the individual along their path in life and since the path is another trait or cornerstone in martial arts this becomes of greater significance to the individual. It is about empathy, courage, fortitude, honesty and loyalty. 

Using the yin-yang concept, character is only one side of the duality coin while personality is the other side. Personality, by itself is shallow but when character is added then the quality of the persona is greater and a compass that guides both to enlightenment. These moral behaviors when a part of the tribal inter-connectedness achieve unity and define the tribe as a distinction from others. 

As defined by a psychologist, Lawrence Pervin, moral character is “a disposition to express behavior in consistent patterns of functions across a range of situations.” 

Character is not about the outward manifestation but the inner. Again, yin-yang dictate that there be duality in all things so the duality here is the inner with the outer but the inner is indicative and drives the outer - not the other way round. Most duality matrixes tend to fluctuate between both sides of the coin while this particular coin is, hopefully, dominated by the character. This is a training and practice trait of the Asian martial arts, i.e. development of the inner to influence, train and apply the inner to the outer then to the inter-connectedness of others both within the tribe and as to others outside the tribe.

Let us begin:

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

How does man empty their cup? By creating an open mind unfettered by distractions and preconceived notions, ideas, perceptions and beliefs. These are intricate to human existence yet must be put aside in order for the mind, the person, to receive and accept the changes that come from new things and an open mind that is empty to receive and to encode into the human mind. 

Often perspective martial artists come to the dojo with preconceived notions as to how things are and this comes more from the entertainment media then from historical factual documents. Our society is heavily influenced by movies, television and the Internet. Often these venues contain false or dramatic renditions of things when true facts and completeness tend to shine a brighter light on what is reality vs. what is fictional. 

To accept things as they really are in life takes great strength and intestinal fortitude to allow such an open mind or to empty the cup - to empty the mind and make room for enlightenment.

Let us begin:

Why are you crying," he asks the soldiers. 

"We thought you dead," they responded. "How on earth did you survive that?"

"Oh, that is nothing," says the old man. "Instead of fighting the water, I became it. When the water pushes me down, I go down. And when the water pushes me up, I come up. Thus, I move with the water as a leaf in the wind."

Non-action challenges us to accomplish a given end not just through minimal effort but through non-effort. It would be accurate to say that, "Technique happens." 

How does technique just happen. How does one encode the mind so that the human mind, monkey mind and the lizard mind work toward implementing an action appropriate to any given situation? This is the essence of learning non-action. It is why this somewhat philosophical principle is a part of the fundamental principles of martial systems and its importance is set by the applications of those systems be they sport, combative or for many, self-defense. 

To achieve non-action action you need to blend together many things of a simple yet complex nature, the nature of self-defense in this particular case and as an example as to how this is accomplished in every day life. To achieve non-action is to achieve a holistic ability to apply all principles, i.e. theory (as it works for this topic), physiokinetic (as it works to encode both physical with other principles through a model of realistic practice of applications), technique (as it works to apply both a psychological and physical applications), and the philosophical (as it works to build the spirit and mind of a martial artist, etc.).

The Chinese ancient philosophies call this “wu wei [無為, jp.]” or “non-doing.” In Taoist beliefs it literally means, “non-action or non-doing.” It is about using balance and harmony to achieve results in life and this is also indicative of martial systems as microcosms to life. 

This is about taking all the variables of both realty and philosophical methods or paths that guide applications in martial arts toward the ability to create actions that are non-actions regardless of obstacles such as the flooding of the body and mind from stress releases often called adrenal dump or rushes. 

A simple concept that requires complex knowledge, understanding and implementation on a realty based model that will allow, non-action or wu-wei. 

Let us begin:

Becoming conscious of one’s own character, personality, feelings, motives, and desires. Creating a capacity for self-perception thus becoming self-conscious. It is becoming a person with the ability and capacity for introspection. To recognize oneself but most important to achieve a level of emotional intelligence so as to recognize one’s feelings and emotions with emphasis on emotions. 

The result is a knowledge and intelligence toward over very feelings. Feelings that govern our thoughts and reactions. To know if our thoughts and emotions are ruling a decision rather than the human mind, i.e. the monkey is driving the bus. It is about seeing deep within so that one can see the consequences of allowing the monkey to dance so that alternative human mind choices can be made and then apply them to create decisions about handling such things as conflict, anger and violence, etc. 

Self-awareness is about recognizing and acknowledging both strengths and weaknesses; seeing within yourself a self that is positive and realistic so as to avoid the more common pitfalls that come from the effects of allowing the monkey free reign in conflicts. 

Managing the monkey means managing your emotions and to do that you have to have that emotional intelligence so as to identify, name and address such emotional effects. You need to realize what is behind such emotions such as when some perceived hurt triggers anger when that hurt is more emotional than actual or real.

SA is about taking responsibility for the self, i.e. the human, the monkey and the lizard, so all your decisions and actions are right, correct and acceptable to society as a whole. 

It is about the ability to see reality so that you can distinguish between what someone says or does so that your own judgment and reaction is appropriate to the situation at any given moment. It is about being assertive over being angry or fearful. It is about creating the ability to provide conflict resolutions to yourself and thereby to others as conflicts arise. 

Look at it as Aristotle did so long ago, it is about developing a higher level of emotional intelligence or as he said, “Emotional Skillfulness.”

Let us begin:

I was just kind of mulling over things when I decided to come up with what it might take to actually do self-defense. Not saying there has to be any special ability but there are some things you have to allow yourself to do in order to make it work. Success in self-defense, like any discipline but especially the physical ones, is all about the mind and the body.

Regardless, the mind and body require a bit more than just talent and athletic ability but for self-defense to work you have to give yourself “permission.” You have to train that deep part of the ancient part of your brain, the lizard, to overcome some fundamental inhibitions both instinctual and societal so that you can either enforce those inhibitions or be a bit more relaxed about them. You need to truly and completely believe: This is OK. This guy is an adversary out to do you harm. You are better than him. You are the best in the world. Anyone who challenges you deserves to go down. You have to train the lizard and monkey to turn a switch off that allows you to act properly and accordingly to the situation as governed by social and legal requirements. 

You have to turn that switch off so you can act without dealing with ramifications of long term societal perceptions and perspectives because what you are encountering may be more than merely a school yard scuffle. You have to develop a mind-state that allows you to remain relaxed enough to keep tiny jitters out and hard enough to control a violent explosion, i.e. an explosion with the right kind of force as dictated by circumstances and those circumstances are changing constantly. 

Then we address the knowledge base from which a person has a solid foundation in so that they can see what they cannot see as well as see that which they don’t know they don’t know so that they can see that as well. It is just not seeing either, it is recognizing and then acting according to that same knowledge. Without knowledge of subjects like conflicts, violence and other such things you cannot see what you don’t have a basis or foundation for unless you know that knowledge. 

Knowing how violence and conflicts occur regarding what comes before, during and after are far more important than just knowing how to get physical. Even getting physical takes prerequisites that allow us to achieve that action (go back to paragraphs above for a reminder). You have to give yourself that permission, etc. along with learning how that is applied under adrenal stress, i.e. the flood. The flood changes the dynamics of how you apply your knowledge and how you apply self-defense, not just the physical applications but the entire spectrum. 

Part of that knowledge is learning that there is a reality based, no bullshit community that has lived and breathed a life chock full of things like conflict and violence. Not just the ones we experience day to day like the small conflicts between couples or between coworkers or even between customers and service providers but those conflicts, etc. that often take us toward violence or those actions that expose a person to the type of violence outside social circles, i.e. predatory violence and so on.

Let us begin:

I was working out and training this morning when a thought occurred to me, “If karate-ka observed your kata today they would flame you for not adhering to certain basic and fundamental practices such as the enbusen line.” It made me think of those days when I worked construction building houses so very, very long ago. It goes a bit like this:

You start our building a house with blueprints and specifications. This is much like being exposed to basic techniques often called the upper and lower basics. It extends into the kata that are like blueprints where the drawings outline certain patterns in the home such as wall configurations and placements, etc. This is similarly or symbolic of the enbusen lines. 

As you practice as a homes construction begins you deal with a ton of logistics such as materials, workers, costs, construction techniques and of course the design of the house. This is similar or symbolic of such things as the fundamental principles of martial systems, i.e. structure, posture, power, etc. You are getting my drift here, right?

Now, once the construction is completed the home sits on the lot. It has a foundation, walls, roof, doors, windows, etc. but not much else. This is the state of today’s martial arts practice in particular “karate.” It is like we are happy with the home so we continue to check out the construction and go over the blueprints and so on to make sure the home is solid and long lasting but we are not truly living in that home because it is missing something, a something that makes that home, a home.

Most, if not almost all, seem content to play with the home as it is and often leave it every training session just like it was when they first entreated it after construction was completed. They are so thrilled to have a home and to have one built by a particular designer, i.e. “this home was designed and built by Tatsuo-san (using the karate system I learned as an example ergo Tatsuo Shimabuku Sensei).”

Now, as I understand Isshinryu history, Tatsuo-san always told his graduates (those leaving a tour of duty on Okinawa) that they must continue practicing and learning before they assumed a certain level of proficiency as indicated by a silk certificate he presented. This is tantamount to giving a new home owner their front door keys and saying, here you go, it is all yours, do with it as you feel you should.

We all took what we were taught and accepted the house as it appeared after that construction but we assumed that to change that house in any way would be disrespectful to the designer and the builder. This is where most karate gets stuck, it stagnates. It is also the reason why so many start out training and practicing in karate but soon, very soon, stop. 

What I propose is one must practice and train following the blueprints and design specifications but when all is done and open to move in the practitioner must “move in” and then practice and train until they are inspired by the house, the property and the neighborhood (i.e. the culture and beliefs system of Okinawa along with their personal culture and belief systems) so that they may begin to “decorate” it to fit them and their life practices. This is part of the budo of bujutsu. 

We decorate by playing with basics, kata, kumite, reality based training models, and as a simplified example we break the enbusen line; we break the patterns and line of the kata; we break the drills from their patterns; we break the drills used for self-defense training so that we reach higher levels of proficiency that is not tied to any particular pattern because such patterns tend to stagnate and freeze us when we try to apply them to life’s challenges. 

To decorate the home is to add curtains, purchase and arrange furniture that fits each room’s functionality and we put gardens of bushes, plants, flowers and such to create a new and greater house that comes from all the designer’s and builder’s vision into something unique. 

In Isshinryu, this is exactly how Tatsuo-san created the house of Isshinryu. If he had stayed steadfast and dedicated to what his teachers has taught him so long ago Isshinryu would not have been built (born). He did just what I suggest above but he took it one step further than most can, should or will do, create a new system and name it - that is not the point. Making a new system and naming it simply fogs the mind and clutters the arts in general but creating something unique and applicable to yourself is a good thing. 

As with history, we should be respectful to those who came before but we should also extend that respect into admiration by creating ourselves not in the image of that master but in our own image of what we aspire to be as a human and as a karate-ka. 

Karate today is stagnate and to achieve mastery of a life time of practice, training and applications is to break free of those chains and practice, train and apply something that is unique to you, the individual. It is about decorating your house of karate with all those things that tie directly to the true essence of all martial arts and to life, the fundamental principles of martial system - the one corner stone of building that does not change nor should they be changed.