Karate Talk

Kyu Testing

We have a kyu test this evening for our dojo. Master Yaguchi will be coming from Denver to administer the examination for our color belts, to see if they've sufficiently advanced their skills, and gained sufficient understanding, to advance to their next kyu level.

I feel pretty good about this test and how our students will do, which is a very nice feeling to have. There have been times when I did NOT think people were ready, and knew that Sensei Yaguchi would have a few things to say to us about it! This time, I'm not too worried. Most of them have trained hard and are looking very solid for their tests. In addition, we have our little tigers from the Intro class coming to take their first "real" kyu test, and they're just plain fun to watch. I think Sensei is going to really enjoy them!

Some of us will also be quizzed a bit by Sensei, because we are in the Instructor Training program, and he wants to test our understanding. He will ask us what we see in certain students, what problems we see and why they are there and how to fix them. I have always watched the kyu testing closely, but now, I wish I could take notes!

As we go, we have learned more about just what they are looking for at different belt levels, and it's very very interesting. White to yellow, they really just want to see if you can get through Heian Shodan, and if you've figured out jodan vs. chudan (head level vs. stomach level) and can accurately target them. As you move up higher, they look to see if you understand and properly execute the three main stances (front stance, back stance, kiba-dachi stance) and can shift from one to the other, clearly demonstrating the differences. They check to see if your front snap kick really does "snap" -- does it snap back to your body, twice as fast as it went out? No? Then more work! When you do a roundhouse, do you raise your leg parallel to the floor or is it some weird variety of a front kick? On side snap kicks, does your knee point at your target, or is it pointing straight ahead? Are you using your hips for that, and for the side thrust kick? On your punches, is your draw arm pulled back and tight? Do your elbows rub against your sides, or do they escape when you punch or kick? So many details. The higher you get, the more you find -- and, the old ones come back to haunt you!

Tonight, I will watch our students go through their kyu tests, and try to gauge if they've gained enough knowledge to advance. I will look at them with critical eyes, try to see them through Sensei's eyes.

Sometimes, I wish I could see myself through Sensei's eyes. Sometimes, I'm afraid of what I would see.

Master Camp 2004

I will be going to ISKF Master Camp near Philadelphia this year, for the first time ever. I am partly really excited, partly a little bit concerned.

Everyone who's ever been tells me it's a great experience and incredibly motivating. The Masters who will be teaching this year include Master Yaguchi (from my own region), as well as Master Okazaki, Master Takashina, Master Koyama, and Master Mikami. I have had the privilege of training with all of these Masters in camps past, some of them several times. This year we will also be honored to train under Master Ueki, an 8th dan from Japan. I'm very excited by this! It should be a great opportunity to learn, to see people, and to meet some new people.

At the same time, it's a whole lot of training! An entire week. Our Summer Camp runs 4 days, and I'm exhausted beyond the telling by the end of it, so I'm a little nervous about how I'll survive Master Camp. I want to perform strongly and not look weak or tired, not get injured. So, I need to get myself into the best condition I can before June. In addition, we will have several Instructor Training sessions, which is wonderful but also means I need to do some studying before I go!

Despite my concerns, which mostly stem from not really knowing what to expect on a personal level, I'm so happy to have these opportunities. Although my sensei is a wonderful teacher, I always feel that you benefit from having extra pairs of eyes watching you, and a different perspective applied to you. It's so helpful to get input from more people who are "older" in karate than I am, know more than I do, know how to overcome certain weaknesses of technique.

When I think of it that way, I can hardly wait until June!

So, Just What Does Jesus Think of Karate?

Once again I find myself amazed at the search phrases that are used to find my little karate blog. Today I got a new one. The searcher wanted to know, "What does Jesus think of karate?"

This one, obviously, pulled up the recent post regarding the email I had received. I'm sure it was quite unhelpful to the person who found it. However, it did get me to thinking. At one time in my life, I attended an evangelical church, which was extremely strict. I have to think clear back to that time, in my youth, to come up with why anyone would ask the question, and whether or not it's a trivial issue.

From my current perspective, I have to say that I think the question is totally irrelevant. Karate has nothing to do with Jesus or with religion. It has plenty to do with self-growth on all levels: Mental, physical, and yes, spiritual. However, nothing in that growth should be seen as contrary to any religious views. What does Jesus think of karate? I have no idea. A more pertinent question might be: Does Jesus think of karate at all?

But then I thought back to those early years, and tried to think what that pastor, those parishioners, would have thought of karate. Sadly, I feel they would have forbidden me to practice it, if I'd been doing it at the time. This much I'm pretty sure about. So now, from the adult perspective, I tried to figure out why. Because if this is so, are some people denied the opportunity to even try karate? Would they think me dangerous because I do karate-do?

As Chadie pointed out in her comment, many regard karate as being tied to Zen Buddhism, and that can be seen as a competing religion to Christianity. Therefore, doing karate would be seen as participating in a religious practice for another religion. However, the teachings of Zen follow very closely many of the teachings of Christianity (be kind to others, be humble, be charitable, help those in need) with one notable exception: Where do you seek your strength, your guidance, your peace? In Christianity, you are taught to seek all of that through Jesus. Many Zen teachings encourage us to look within ourselves, and if we don't find that peace, then to seek it. Not precisely in opposition, but sort of running parallel to the Christian beliefs, I suppose. Christians believe that Christ gives the "peace that passeth understanding", and the only way to true inner peace is through him. Zen, obviously, does not endorse that.

But does Zen necessarily HAVE to be part of karate training? Not really, no. What many people (mostly not followers of any organized religion) call "Zen enlightenment" is the kind of peace that comes from challenging yourself in a worthy manner, and learning something from it. I believe that karate, through encouraging hard work and dedication, can lead to a sense of self-worth that comes from sticking with something even when things are hard, and striving to become a better person. I believe that regular exercise helps keep us healthy in body, which makes most people happier so you're healthier in mind and spirit also. I believe that competition teaches us many things about what our limitations are, and how we could overcome them. I believe that working with others, being taught by them and teaching them, helps us to learn a great deal about our fellow man, and even more about ourselves. I believe that none of this is in conflict with Christianity, in any way, on any level.

I realize that there will be those who disagree, both from the Christian and from the Zen perspective. The best I can do is to encourage people to think for themselves, to experience for themselves. Don't be blinded by prejudice from either side. When you look more deeply, at karate and at yourself, you will find both more and less than you expected.

Sparring With Myself

Today I'm feeling a bit philosophical. Monday night's training was tough, my injuries from Saturday's full-contact sparring were bothering me, and I ended up pulling a muscle rather badly. Maybe I shouldn't have gone to training at all, but that's never an easy call. I felt good overall, and mentally very psyched up to go. I knew I'd have to favor one foot and one hand, but didn't anticipate causing myself further injury in the process. Tonight I probably can't train, but I haven't ruled it out yet. I'll stretch after I get home from work and see how it feels.

The decision of whether or not to train is a form of sparring for me. Punch, block, counter. I want to go (punch), but I am injured (block), but I'm not injured that badly (counter). I might win this one if my counter is strong enough. Some nights, it's more like: I'm tired and don't want to go (kick), but there's no real reason I shouldn't (block), except that I'm just too burned out that day (counter). That counter-attack usually isn't strong enough to take me out, so I'll go to the dojo, and be glad I did.

This is not the only area of my life where I practice this form of mental sparring. Today I am getting a full kumite workout sitting at my desk, watching the work orders roll in. One client needs work done on his website to perform better on the search engines (punch), but refuses to let me make the changes needed so there's nothing actually for me to "do" here (block), but he'll yell at me when he doesn't rank well (counter). Another client wants work done on his site (kick), but doesn't want to have to pay for it because he thinks it's "minor" (block), when in fact it will take me 3 or 4 hours (counter). Now, another client wants a phone conference with me to discuss his contract (punch), a conversation we've had 4x already and I have nothing new to say (block), because he thinks that this time he really can talk me into something we're not contracted to do (counter). Some of those counter-attacks are starting to land, and I feel tired and battered. My dad is tired and only halfway through his treatment (punch), I am physically banged up and tired (kick), my boyfriend is exhausted and frustrated too (sweep).

Today I am losing my sparring match with life. I won't give up. But, I might step out of bounds (jogai), and spend a few seconds adjusting my belt so I can catch my breath before I re-enter the ring!

Sparring, Two Days After

Saturday, I had a really really great karate training. Which is, in retrospect, an odd thing to say.

Odd why? Well, for starters, I was stiff and tired, and felt I did not perform up to my normal ability, which is less than ideal when you are teaching brown belts to free spar (it's always nice to be able to get out of the way of uncontrolled attackers!). Following that, I spent 40 minutes working with a beginning 4-year-old with attention, coordination, and balance problems, so I spent about 20 minutes on my knees face to face with him, to try and get him to the point where he could probably do a down block. Then I did a half hour of round robin free sparring with two men, one of whom is large, strong, and has rotten control.

Total injury count: Large welt on left inside elbow from a punch; bruised right hand from a kick; bruised, swollen, and exceedingly painful left hand from a very badly timed/placed kick (damn brown belts! LOL); bruised and swollen right knee from a crack-knees with my boyfriend; large welt on right shin from my kick getting shin-blocked (damn boyfriend again); and smashed right foot from taking a full force blow to the top of the foot (that's the large man with poor control, I threw a roundhouse and instead of blocking it, he punched me in the foot).

I wore a wrist brace on my left hand for 2 days and wish I had it on now, and had to buy new sandals yesterday so that I'd have shoes that didn't hit the top of my right foot. I park several blocks from my work, and my foot and knee are killing me from the walk. I do copywriting and web work, I spend all day typing, my hand is killing me, and I have discovered that it is virtually impossible to type with an ice pack on your hand!

The brown belts thanked me for all my help after class, and they really made some progress in getting used to facing an opponent and reacting properly. The 4-year-old's mother thanked me repeatedly for my patience with her son, and another mother commented that she thinks I'm great with the kids. My sparring partners complimented me on my reactions and how well I was fighting that morning, including managing to get hits in on each that would have counted as scoring points.

Saturday, I have to tell you, I had a great karate morning :-)

Learning Karate: Day One in a Shotokan Dojo

How well I remember my first day of karate training! I had been looking for something to do with my life in a new town, other than working. Looking through a booklet of local activities, I spotted a karate class offered. I'd always loved martial arts movies, I'd always thought karate would be fun -- and with my background in both dance and gymnastics, I was also pretty sure I'd be good at it!

So I signed up, and on the appointed day, I arrived at my very first class. The first thing I noticed was that everyone but me was in those weird white karate uniforms, which looked like oversized pajamas. I felt pretty conspicuous wearing my sweats and t-shirt -- but, thought they looked a little silly, to tell you the truth. The second thing I noticed was that they all knew each other, and were laughing and talking among themselves. I was the only new student that session, which made me a bit self-conscious.

When class was ready to start, the teacher (I learned to call him "Sensei") called out, "Line up!", and everyone ran across the gym to stand in a neat line behind him. Somewhat hesitantly I followed, as the students motioned me to join. I got at the end of the line and tried to do what they did -- sitting down, closing my eyes, then bowing. The instructor motioned to a black belt student who said, "Stand up and spread out", and all the students ran to spread out in 3 neat lines, again motioning me where I should stand. I was already confused, and I hadn't even done any karate yet! Maybe this wasn't going to be so much fun after all...

Warm-ups were the first thing I could feel good about. I was by far the most limber person in the room, the black belts included. Ah, I thought, I knew it! My flexibility was drawing glances from the stiff, pajama-wearing group around me. This I was used to, this felt good. Then class started. The moves, let me tell you, looked really easy. The instructor told us what to do, and I did it. Piece of cake.

Until he came over to where I was, obediently in down-block position, and proceeded to re-arrange half my body parts. One arm was too far out, another wasn't far enough in, one leg wasn't bent enough, the other one wasn't straight enough, my body wasn't at an angle, my knee wasn't out... by the time I was in the accepted "front stance", I wasn't sure where my feet were, but I was starting to think maybe karate wasn't that easy to learn.

Class from there proceeded with basic stepping punches, basic "blocks". I was told to just follow along as best I could, get a feel for it, and not to worry if I didn't pick up right away. Initially I was a bit offended that they thought I couldn't figure out how to punch right away; 15 minutes later, I was grateful that they understood! People seemed to yell at random intervals, and said "osss" a lot too, whatever that was all about. I had enough to worry about, I decided the yelling could wait until the next class.

About 2/3 of the way through class, I was separated off from the main group, sent off with a black belt to learn something called a "kata". Once I figured out that it was just a choreographed series of movements, I knew I was fine. My confidence came roaring back: After all, hadn't I spent half my life learning dances and gymnastics routines? I learned the first half of the first kata that night, Heian Shodan. Very basic techniques. Very basic turns, especially for someone with my background. Very very hard to do. Very very frustrating!! I actually lost my balance at one point. I couldn't believe it. I felt like a complete idiot, and I was sure that the black belt was just humoring me as they said encouraging things about how well I was doing!

Class finally ended, one of the longest hours I've spent doing intermittent physical activity. After class, everyone said hi and introduced themselves, the instructor came over and said hi, and talked to me about how karate required a lot of repetitive training to pick up. Did he think maybe I'd get bored, or maybe I wouldn't stick with it? Ha! I said goodbye and promised I'd be back for the next class. I'd signed up for a month, after all. I wasn't going to quit after one class.

That night, my well-trained and physically fit body was exhausted. My legs were shaking. That "back stance" thing -- man, that was brutal! How could everyone else do it so well? I looked in the mirror, and try though I might, mine sure didn't look like theirs. The one time I got close, I was convinced I would break my ankle. I ate some rice and vegetables and passed out cold, to sleep for almost 9 hours. The next day, I was still stiff and sore. I tried doing some of those new movements, tried doing the kata I had learned. I felt like an elephant with 3 left feet. It was annoying, but I knew I'd pick it up. I had a whole month. By the end of that month, I'd know the kata, and then I could quit without feeling like a quitter.

8 years later, I train a minimum of 3 days a week. I am on my 5th set of those big karate pajamas called gis, and the oldest ones are getting pretty darn frayed. I yell (ki-ai) when I'm supposed, and say "osu!" to Sensei to acknowledge that I understand what he has just said to me. I am one of those black belts who leads warm-ups, who helps teach, who takes new students through their first kata and tells them not to worry if they don't pick it up right away. By the end of that first month of training, I did know Heian Shodan -- and I was hooked on karate!

I still sometimes feel like an elephant with 3 left feet, and I am still working on doing my basic punches and blocks properly. I know 26 kata, and don't feel like I'm an expert at any one of them, although I work on them all the time. There is always something new to learn, always something I could do better, always some inspiration or enlightenment awaiting me around the next turn.

I can't imagine how flat my life would be without all this!

Is Karate a Dangerous Cult?

I received an email today, a personal email from a reader of this blog. The sender was specifically responding to my post, "Does Karate Suck?" Although the letter was sent to me personally, I have chosen to reprint it here, in its entirety and precisely as sent to me (I do not wish to be accused of taking anything out of context):

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Hello:

I read your article about Karate "does it Suck" etc. I have no criticism with the article as it is your opinion from a personal viewpoint, however I must inform you, that with your Jim Jones cultish coolaid allegience to certain teachers, since you may not really know the real person. ..I have known most of them since they were in their twenties and I know their backgrounds better than you do. I am not speaking about their technical ability of Kicking and punching etc. Mike Tyson also has a very good technical ability .

As I already stated, I am Not speaking about whether or not Karate "Sucks" etc , I am speaking about Moral Character and politics and Judeo / Christian values of life and what Japanese cultural society identify's as "Giri" .

Don't be "Outraged" ...try to look deeper into things and people before you allow yourself to drink the "coolaid" Dojo Kun which they hang upon the wall for you to drink, but they themselves have absolutely no respect for . and thereby fooling you into making statements in which you have no true understanding.

In a quiet unobtrusive manner, ...try to observe focus and research more before you try to make final attitudes and decisions.

Thank you
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The tone seems cautionary or even like someone is trying to look out for me, but by any standards, belittling my loyalty to my instructors, and equating it with the dangerous delusions that led over 900 people to drink cyanide Kool-Aid, is a pretty provocative statement. So I thought, maybe this person is trying to pick a fight, best to just ignore. However, I have chosen to respond, partly because this letter repeats things I have seen on other websites -- the very things that my first post was addressing.

Of course, this does pose certain challenges. I mean, if I really am trapped in a cult, then I will behave as a cult member. I will see nothing wrong with what I'm doing, and in fact will believe that everyone should get to share this experience! So I'm pretty much doomed, no matter what.

I will reiterate: My karate experiences have been so positive, I can only feel sad that some people have had such bad ones. I recommend my organization and my instructors without reservation. I have faith in them, I respect them, and what's more, I like them. I recommend that people explore any Asian martial art they might be interested in without worrying that they're getting sucked into a cult. If you like it, keep doing it. If you've got a bad instructor who is unreasonable or unfair, who you don't respect or feel does not respect you, who asks you to do things that go against your conscience, then find another one. There are plenty of good instructors out there. Don't let the bad ones ruin it for you.

Do I know my instructors, do I know the Masters of my sport, on a close and intimate level? Nope. I have certainly not known them since they were in their 20's (and unless the sender of the email was attending college in Japan 40 or 50 years ago, neither have they). Perhaps I do not know the "real person". What I know is what happens in the dojo. I have instructors with great personal skills and experience, who have passed that knowledge on to me to the best of their abilities. My personal skills and knowledge increase, sometimes slowly but steadily, and I feel I'm a better person for it. This will be true no matter whether I know the backgrounds of my instructors or not.

I had never heard of "giri", I had to look it up. "Giri" is a Japanese concept, which does not translate well. As I understand, it has to do with loyalty, duty, obligation. In times past, this could be carried to the point of giving up your life for someone. Nobody has asked me to commit suicide for karate yet, and I really don't see that happening. I invest the time I do because of what I get out of it. If it were otherwise, I would not do it. I help with tournament because we always need help. I help with teaching because it's fun, and it's a way of saying "thank you" to Sensei, and passing it on. There is a certain obligation in my view, but plenty of people in our dojo don't help out. They don't want to. That's their choice.

Does karate conflict with Judeo/Christian values of life, and moral character? I'm not entirely sure what is implied by that statement. Karate has certainly not encouraged me to behave in an immoral fashion. It doesn't ask me to lie, cheat, steal, worship idols, feel envy, commit adultery, or kill people. It encourages personal growth; faithfulness to something you have undertaken; hard work in the pursuit of that which is worthwhile; respect for others; and to refrain from violence. This is certainly not the equivalent of cyanide Kool-Aid. Nothing in there is beyond my capability to understand. Do all of my instructors follow these precepts of the Dojo Kun in all aspects of their lives? I have no idea. Maybe some of them lie, cheat, steal, worship idols, feel envy, commit adultery, or kill people (I rather think they don't...)

In the end, does it really matter? Maybe my instructors don't always live what they teach. Many Christian ministers do not live what they preach. Don't even get me started on the professors you find in graduate school. There are good and bad people in everything. That doesn't change the good that can be found in those same things.

So, for the record: Karate is not a dangerous cult. Karate-ka are not the equivalent of Jim Jones followers who willingly drank cyanide Kool-Aid at the command of their mentally ill leader. If you think that's what it is, then you've been training in the wrong dojo, my friend!

Competition As The Great Motivator

As I've said, I've never enjoyed the experience of participating in karate tournaments, although I do so regularly. I've stated my reasons many times, and they pretty much boil down to personal growth.

However, I am realizing today that there is another really important component of the tournament experience, and that is its ability to motivate you.

Many times in the past, my failures in tournament have led me to tears, not because I thought I should win, or because I was counting on that, but because I felt I had performed so badly that I had embarrassed myself. Many times, I have felt that I went out and did a kata so badly that they were probably wondering why in the world I was wearing a black belt (on a couple of occasions, I was convinced that if they could demote me, they would!). Several times I have felt that I looked like a frightened fool in the sparring ring, that I was so outclassed that it was painful for people to watch. And some of those times, I was right (for example, when one of my instructors asked me if I was a person or a punching bag). We've all seen those matches, the ones that are so lop-sided that you fear for the weaker person, and feel so sorry for them. Yeah, that was me.

On a couple of rare occasions, I have had the privilege of feeling like I performed well, no matter how the final standings came out. I have been able to look honestly at how the tournament went, and still feel pretty good about my contribution to it. Today is one of those days.

The interesting thing is, both reactions trigger the same response in me: Motivation. If I have a really bad tournament, then I suffer a few days of wounded pride, followed by a resolve to redeem myself and prove that I'm not really THAT bad. So I train really hard, try to correct my obvious problems, try to work on things that will move me to the next level, so I'll never look that bad again for an audience.

When I have a good tournament, I'm always excited that I have overcome my fears, and performed solidly enough that I can walk away with my head held high. I go into my next trainings with the uplifting feeling of knowing that all that hard work is really paying off!

We have a videotape of our tournament rounds. When I watched my Heian Sandan, first round, I squirmed with embarrassment, and stated openly that I shouldn't have won that round. It was just so sloppy, I hate knowing people saw that. Watching my Empi, in the second round, I saw things that I did not like, but I also got to see the improvement over the last time I was taped, last summer at Summer Camp.

My first order of business last night at training was to go through Heian Sandan a few times, and to work on the section that I felt looked terrible. The advantage to the tape was that I could easily see what I needed to do, so I worked on that. The second order of business was Empi, which had a related problem in form, just much less glaring. So I worked on that. After class, my boyfriend told me they both looked much better.

Today, I know that I have made steps to improve my karate, in a very solid way, and I'm really motivated to keep going!

A Successful Tournament!

It's the Monday after, and I'm exhausted still... but what a great tournament we had!

First of all, about the exhaustion: We moved the tournament to Denver this year in hopes of better attendance, but my dojo (more than an hour away) was still the official host. Therefore, we had to set up, run, and take down the whole thing, plus driving time, and in my case, competing and judging as well.

It was so worth it though, all of it. Turnout was about double what it's been in recent years, over 100 competitors, and a huge kids' division (over 50 of them!). Despite that, we finished well within the set time period. The three children's rings ran very smoothly all morning, followed by team kata, then seniors, then adult color belts. By the time we hit women black belts, one ring had been shut down, and by the time the men black belts competed, they had finished up the other ring. Sparring went well, just one bloody nose and one sore jaw from a lot of very clean matches, and overall, just a great spirit to the whole day.

On a personal level, it was a great day for my boyfriend, who captured 2nd in both kata and kumite! He got many compliments about how much he's been improving in both, steadily and through a lot of hard work. I made it to 2nd round of kata despite a bit of a sloppy kata first round, but did draw the current 2nd place woman in the nation for my 2nd round! I did not make it past that round, but I did get some very encouraging comments about my kata, and I'm told I gave her a good run for her money, so I'm content. I couldn't spar due to my injured back, but I'm just as glad; the women's kumite was extremely aggressive and we saw some really amazing fighting! I definitely was not well-enough prepared to have performed very well, but perhaps next time. We also have both videotape and still pictures to analyze, and overall, we're both pretty pleased with what we see.

At the risk of jinxing myself, I think that maybe, just maybe, I'm beginning to get past some of my tournament issues. If so, this would be a major breakthrough for me, one of the biggest of my entire karate career to date. It represents a significant advance in my mental self-control, that although I was nervous, and a bit shaky, I managed to present a much stronger kata and much more confident demeanor than I usually show in the tournament ring. Which finally justifies my persistence in competing, tournament after tournament, despite so many bad experiences and discouraging performances. I kept saying that the only way I could ever get past it would be to just keep doing it until I could find a way to be comfortable out there, and I really think I've made steps in that direction. That means more to me than any ribbons could possibly count for.

Adam, I hope you had a good tournament experience also, make sure you let us know how it went!

Does Karate Work?

Once again, I am inspired to write a post based on things that internet searchers used to find my blog. In this case, the question catapulted me back to my martial arts infancy, when my knowledge was based on movies and some wild imaginings. I thought it looked so cool, but I thought that you had to be a Master, to train for your entire life, to pull off anything like that... and I seriously believed there were only about 10 of them in the world who could be that good! To me, it was this elite thing. I never doubted that they could do amazing things, but I sure did doubt that the average person could. When I heard of someone taking karate, my reaction was, "Oh yeah? What do you think you'll be able to do when you're through?" I mean, it looks super cool on screen, but in real life, what would happen? In short: Does karate really work?

Now, with a much greater understanding of my chosen martial art, I find the question to be far more complex than I knew when I asked. Does karate work? In what way? Define "work" for me.

Do you mean that, if you learn karate, could you apply the moves to real-life situations and defend yourself? Most likely, once you've reached a certain skill level. This becomes more likely if you've worked on self-defense in your dojo. Although karate can certainly be used for self-defense, it is important to remember that not every karate move is appropriate for that application, and different approaches are required for different circumstances.

Do you mean, if you were attacked in a dark alley, could you pull a Bruce Lee and do dazzling martial arts moves that completely incapacitated multiple attackers? Well, maybe. It kinda depends really. It depends on how good your skills are, how quickly you can recover from a surprise attack, how many attackers there are, how good THEIR skills are, whether or not they have weapons, etc., etc. (you might also ask yourself just what the heck you're doing wandering down a dark alley alone). Most people cannot fight off 50 trained attackers equipped with knives and guns. Let's face it, the odds are not in your favor here. I don't care how good you are. The chances of being in a fight with all your attackers adhering strictly to traditional martial arts styles, and taking turns attacking you, are pretty slim.

Do you mean, if you train with diligence and loyalty, can you achieve the almost-mystical union of body, soul, and mind, that the martial arts monks are fabled to have? If so, could you maybe even achieve the types of miracles in movies like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"? Well, probably not. I don't say that as a skeptic of miracles, mind you, nor do I think it's impossible to achieve such a state of being. I will say that it's nearly impossible. Not totally, but almost. I don't think that most people have it in them to pursue that state with such utter devotion, just for starters, to the exclusion of all else. Nor do I think most people have the opportunity. Most of us have to waste time at work, running errands, doing chores, and other distractions from sitting quietly in meditation in a quiet moutaintop temple, followed by hours on end of high-level training, followed by more meditation. Let's not forget rituals, and strict diets. They go with the program. The best that most of us can hope for are those shining moments in the dojo when everything comes together, and you feel good, and quick, and smooth, and unstoppable. Those great moments where you realize you've made a breakthrough on something you've been working so hard for, with no results, for a long time. Those are pretty amazing moments though. They count for a whole lot.

Does karate work? I don't know. What salary are you willing to offer it? Okay, I'm a smart aleck, but karate is an activity, an endeavor, a path through life and a challenging pursuit. Karate does not do "work", nor is it supposed to "work" for you. You are demanding something of karate that is not inherent to its nature. Karate is what it is, and it is whatever it is to you. Nobody asks if baseball "works", or if gymnastics "works". Nobody even asks if fencing "works". If you asked if sharpshooting "works", you'd probably get some suspicious looks from people who think you want to be a sniper.

Why then the question of whether or not karate "works"? I have no idea why that could even come up, at this point in time. But once upon a time, I did know. I did ask the question. All I can offer now is to say that, whatever inspires you to start your karate training, karate is very much worth the time you spend on it. This is true even if you think you don't like it, even if you only spend a short time in the practice. You will always gain something, even if you never know that.