Kata for Life

As some of you may know, Sensei Dan Smith is a good friend of ours at Tenchi Family Karate, and to me personally. I recently ran across a piece of his work that I would like to share:

“I asked all of these senior teachers how did they measure who the best karate man on Okinawa was. Their answer was all the same even though the question was asked separately over several days. The one who lives the longest. Okinawan karate is for giving you a long and healthy life, so the man who lives the longest must have the best karate.

 ”I asked what the key was and they said the kata. Practice the kata it will serve you. It will provide you what you need and give you the ability to defend yourself while keeping your body strong and healthy. The tendons and ligaments are the keys. The internal massage from the kata will develop you internally. Kata is for life.”

Thanks to Sensei Smith for sharing this wisdom.

Why I Owe My Sensei

Any dedicated student who truly appreciates what he/she is learning feels that they owe their sensei. Why? Hopefully because they understand that what they are being taught surpasses any monetary value.

Miyagi Chojun understood this very well. His instructor, Higaonna Kanryo, did not accept any kind of monetary payment for instruction. Once in a while, he would allow his student to present him with gifts of food or other non-monetary gifts, but this was not too often. The thought behind this was that paying for instruction pulls the art out of focus. Karate is not about “you pay for it, you get it.” It’s about “I accept the role of offering you unlimited life lesson in the form of combat models to which you repay me by working hard and following instructions.”

I have heard stories of Okinawan masters informing their students that they need not pay for instruction because the good students they had become was more than payment enough. At first this seemed, to me, as simply an overly gracious instructor coping with difficult economics. Instead, though, I have found that this really is the case sometimes.

As a simultaneous student and instructor, I constantly feel as though I owe my sensei an infinite debt. However, I also feel that my students owe me nothing. It’s strange how this works. Laughable, in fact.

Of course, now monetary payments are essential for the constant upkeep of the dojo itself, land taxes, etc., but we should all remember why it is that this will never be enough. What we are learning in the dojo is of infinite value which is not even remotely comparable to a monetary value.

My personal debt to my sensei will never be paid, my students owe me nothing but hard work and obedience. I hope you feel the same.

Instructor Grading

As an instructor, I feel that I am really the one being tested whenever we hold a grading. If my students do not know something, it is either because I failed to teach them about it, or I failed to give them the amount of attention they required to become proficient at it. Somewhat separate from those two reasons: it could be that I was just incorrect in deciding that they were ready to grade.

Needless to say, it is for this reason that I feel like somewhat of a failure when any of my students do not meet the requirements of their grading. Fortunately, all of may students met theirs yesterday! I can honestly say that I am very proud of my students and how hard they all practiced for their grading.

Now for my advice to students (even if your next grading isn’t for a number of years, and you’ll be testing for 6th dan). It is very common to see students study/practice/train very hard in the weeks leading up to a grading, the goal is to study/practice/train that way ALL THE TIME!

I am hereby challenging myself and all others to study/practice/train this way for at least one month! Cheers!

Homework

Tonight, while attempting to express the importance of at-home training, I found myself using an old (but most useful) analogy. For those of you who go to school (be it elementary or university), ask yourselves these questions:

How many days do you go to school? (Probably 5)

And do you have homework? (Of course)

How many times a week are you at the dojo? (Probably 2 or 3)

And do you do your homework?

As with anything else, if you are to progress and become more proficient in karate, you must practice on a regular basis. A few hours a week in the dojo is not going to make you the best student you can be. Now really ask yourself: if you’re not attempting to be the best you can be, why are you even at the dojo? Chances are, you probably want to be better at some thing if you’ve started karate. It could be anything from physical fitness to self-defense. In any case, consistency is a must.

Do your homework. Practice at home!

Getting in Shape

This is one of those “aha” moments for me.

Ever since my karate career began 15 years ago, I have heard older people proclaim the many health benefits of their training. For me, as a child, this was of no concern since I was naturally somewhat athletic. However, over the last few months, I have really been able to feel a difference.

I am now running faster, jumping higher, striking harder, moving quicker, and thinking better than I ever have before. I feel great! Now, that is not to say that I am at my best yet, I hope to get even better as this year progresses. I am always a white belt.

So for those of you who want to get into better condition than you are right now, I have only one piece of advice: take your training more seriously! Karate cannot be a twice-a-week hobby, it must become more than any pastime or activity.

Think about it.

New Q&A!

Since this is a blog with a relatively fair number of readers, I thought it may be appropriate to write about what you guys (the readers) want to know about.

For any topics or questions that you want to know [my opinion/experience] about, just email me at daangambrell@hotmail.com

Practicing, Training, Studying

The way I see it, there are three categories in which to identify and describe any particular experience in karate:

Practicing – Half-paced examination of technique in order to make sure it is of the aesthetic quality prescribed by the instructor.

Training – Difficult (i.e. sweat-inducing) repetition of techniques in order to improve by feeling of what should and should not be in play in each technique.

Studying – The examination of technique in order to find meaning (bunkai).

The order in which these are listed is that which most people experience from the beginning. The ultimate goal, however, is to be doing all three of these things continuously throughout every session.

Good luck!

Teaching, not Teacher

One of my personal insights into training (which many disagree with me on) concerns the following of a particular individual instead of what that individual stood for. The vast majority of karate practitioners today pay homage to an organization’s leader as if to deify them.

The truth of the matter is, in the “golden age” of karate, teachers commonly trained with each other and exchanged ideas on a regular basis. Of course, they did have a main instructor, but they did not limit themselves by shackling themselves to a single instructor. (I take pride in being able to say that, historically, karate was the first mixed martial art.)

After all, one teacher can only explain things in a certain number of ways. If none of those ways work ideally for you, you are missing out. Anyone who knows me personally can tell you that many of my favorite examples for certain techniques come from outside sources. Though we are an IOGKF school, we regularly practice techniques from Jeff Speakman’s Kenpo 5.0, Judo, Ju-jutsu, as well as other sources.

As an IOGKF school, our “leader” is Morio Higaonna. Higaonna Sensei is by far one of the most skilled practitioners of karate (regardless of style), as can be attested to by many senior instructors on Okinawa. Nevertheless, I find Shinyu Gushi of Pangainoon to be extremely skilled as well. His performance of the open-handed Sanchin rivals that of any practitioner half his age! YouTube footage of Kingai-ryu as practiced by the late Shinpo Matayoshi also astounds me. Both of these men have unquestionably affected the way that I practice.

On Okinawa, it was not uncommon for instructors to personally introduce their students to other instructors so that the student may become that much more skilled.

Changing direction a bit, if I personally felt that the essence of my training was lacking due to the leader of my organization (which I don’t), or that other aspects of the style were being manipulated for personal gain, I would leave that organization and continue training on my own, perhaps even under a different instructor.

Anyway, moral of the story: don’t limit yourself by following only a teacher, follow the teaching. Training is what really counts in the end anyway.

Warriors of Grace

This past weekend, Sensei Brock and I were able to travel to Maryland to visit our friends at the Warriors of Grace dojo. Sensei Tony Ferrer, head instructor, was one of the most hospitable people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Traveling out-of-state (or country) to train is always a pleasure for me. It gives me even more insight into why the IOGKF is such a great organization. Anywhere there is an IOGKF dojo, we automatically have friends that we have something in common with.

We look forward to having our friends visit our dojo sometime in the not-so-distant future!

Miya

One of my favorite things to point out concerning “traditional” karate is that it was never performed indoors on a hardwood floor as it is today -at least not until the “golden age” of karate. In the “old days”, training was done in the miya -an open space outdoors.

I challenge all readers to get outside today and practice in the dirt. I love it! In fact, I would much rather practice outdoors than in. After all, how can you call yourself a practitioner of a traditional art if you’ve never practiced the way they did “back in the day”?

(Then there’s the thing about the uniforms and belts, bowing ceremonies, lining up military style, kihon-kata-kumite type karate, and a whole long list of aspects of traditional karate that were also actually Japanese additions, but that’s another post for another day.)