Caveat: Please make note that this article/post is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me. It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc. Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.” This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial arts and/or self-defense. It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular article presented.
This article is mine and mine alone. I the author of this article assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this article. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding. Oh, and just because I wrote it and just because it sounds reasonable and just because it makes sense, does not mean it is true.)
We all preach the sermon that one can only learn martial arts from a “Qualified Instructor.” What we fail to do sometimes is convey that a qualified instructor is one who can transmit all the principles of the system they teach. When we fail to find that qualified sensei then the students karate will suffer and each succeeding generation will suffer proportionally until karate disappears. It may still be present but it will lack any true substance, its essence will be gone.
Minoru Sensei believes, “This is why a direct, individualized transmission of karate is essential for its survival as a true martial discipline and art, and why teaching more than a handful of students at a time, is rarely successful.” Isn’t it possible that he has it correct? He is considered a highly trained and proficient martial artist. Does that mean he is to be believed and his belief accepted?
In the model Minoru Sensei each practitioner gets a more individualized form of instruction, training and practice. We are all unique and have unique needs and requirements in order to learn, grow and prosper. Example, knowing the sense mode of the student provides a more conducive learning experience since that allows sensei to teach that person using that mode as a primary teaching tool. This allows a manageable teaching format that adjusts to every student to address both their unique strengths as well as weaknesses.
I have preached the sermon of what it takes to be the best sensei possible but not many reach that level yet many can achieve greatness in teaching, training and instructing if they can touch most of the qualities, requirements, abilities and knowledge of a solid and qualified traditional karate instructor.
This also means that in some forms of what folks refer to as traditional instruction that remaining in a static, one size fits all, format where innovations are discouraged over some dogmatic belief that this is what makes traditional, traditional, is found to be patently incorrect and actually non-traditional. This type of thought process tends to be about a person trying to enhance their own personal prestige and mind-bend followers so they will remain and worship also to promote that persons views, beliefs and creations, many of these sensei tend to make exaggerated claims, to keep followers associated with their system, regarding connections cleverly chosen toward a unprovable genealogy that promotes their system, beliefs and creations stifling growth potential of both the system and their students.
Karate’s true nature is about passing down the entire system as a complete and whole “One system,” and therefore requires one pass along with efficiency and productivity that can only come from a proper ration of sensei to student, i.e., often about three to five students per sensei. When your student body expands beyond that ration things begin to fall by the wayside becoming lost for all time. As each generation comes another part is lost and those loses mean karate becomes an empty shell devoid of its very essence.
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