Karate Talk

It Comes From All Sides

I didn't train last night. I admit it. So much for my noble post of last week about how "this is what I do"!

Out of nowhere I was nailed with some sort of bug. Felt great Saturday, woke up Sunday feeling wibbly, and spent most of yesterday feeling like undiluted hell. I left work early, should have left even earlier than I did. The plan was to take a nap. This did not happen.

On my way home, it started raining. HARD. Think "torrential downpour". Driving home, I could barely see. There was street flooding at the intersections, and I could just imagine myself stalling out in a pond and having to drag my sick self pathetically out of harm's way. It wasn't an inviting mental image.

I made it home to find my front yard flooded. Normally I would check the culvert to make sure it wasn't blocked, but for some strange reason I didn't feel like it yesterday. Maybe it was the chills and fever I already had. Although, I did consider doing it, just to emphasize how pathetic my life was. I had no intention of leaving the house again, and instead, collapsed pathetically on the couch.

The fiance made it to training. He was grumpy about it for a number of reasons before he left. He came back happier. He wanted to demonstrate a drill they did so he could tell me a story from class. Problem was, this was a partner sparring drill involving sweeps, and I was achy and weak and had a few balance problems. I did not wish to participate, and looked as pathetic as possible but to no avail. I will gloss over the next few minutes except to say we are still engaged. We must really like each other.

Today I dragged myself to work through the rain (much easier to look pathetic when you're soggy). After all, I'm not as achy as I was yesterday, the primary symptom today is a skull-crushing headache and a few chills.

Despite the rain, they have decided to do construction on the street where I work. Pretty much under the window of our office. They are using a jackhammer. They have been using the jackhammer for almost 4 straight hours now.

I've gotten 2 phone calls today from babbling solicitors who spoke at some time in the past with our former account manager. Technically she was laid off, but personally I would have fired her for sheer incompetence. The phone calls today just reminded me of why we let her go.

I may or may not make it to training tomorrow, and it will depend as much on whether or not I have any business being there, as it will on whether or not I want to go. There are times when the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak -- and vice versa.

I'll see which is the weaker tomorrow. Today, I'm going to concentrate on being pathetic.

Karate: Head and Heart

I read a book review today for a book written by a Shotokan practitioner, a history of the martial art. The reviewer was particularly impressed by the fact that in his opinion, the author had done an excellent job of doing a truly unbiased research. The reviewer commented that most books on karate are written from the heart, instead of truly researched and presented objectively.

This got me to thinking about whether or not I could write an unbiased book on Shotokan. I am a trained scientific researcher, and doing research is an integral part of my job. So is writing. Some of the things I write about I care about (positive or negative), many I do not. Do I write the same way about all of them?

I think it's hard for me to answer that question. In terms of presenting facts, I'm sure I am equal on all sites. I do my homework before I start typing, and I make sure I present sufficient information to educate the reader about whatever they are supposed to learn. I make darn sure that any personal, negative bias is kept out of my writing.

But can I keep out a positive bias? Should I even try? I'm not sure. I mean, it's subjective, rather than objective. But as long as you present it as a subjective experience, then you have not unfairly influenced the end result, and adding a personal dimension usually adds warmth.

I do karate with my body, but I also do karate from my heart, through my head. When I write about karate, my own experiences can, do, must intrude. I know the bare bones history of the martial art as presented in many publications, and I'm as capable as the next person of doing true research and digging deeper instead of just reiterating things already stated many other places. I can write names, dates, facts, and would have no trouble keeping an opinion out of it.

What happens though when you get to the murkier parts of the history? What about the schisms that have occurred in Shotokan, after the death of Master Funakoshi, after the death of Master Nakayama? What of the divisions that have separated what was once a united (albeit obviously infighting) family? I can't help feeling this is unfortunate, and that all concerned must lose something from the divisions. Can I, should I, keep that out of a history?

If I'm doing a truly scholarly history, then yes. Unless I presented it as, "Some feel that due to these divisions..." and then presented a countering viewpoint from someone who believes differently.

So I wonder, if I read that same history of Shotokan, would I truly see it as unbiased? Would I therefore see it as a bit lacking? Without an analysis of some of these major events, is it truly an in-depth and comprehensive history? And if the writer really has done Shotokan for 30 years, is it possible for him to remove any and all personal opinions?

Karate from the head is bare facts and statistics, it's embusen diagrams, it's simple descriptions of making techniques, it's a list of kata moves. It's dates, times, names, places.

Karate from the heart is what you live. Facts, numbers, dates and names will not keep you going back to the dojo time after time. They won't get you past personal disappointments, and they can't begin to describe those warm moments of accomplishment. If you have lived karate, it seems to me that you would be compelled to try to transmit some of that into your writing, even if that writing is just a series of dates, names, places.

Shoto Cup

The US Women's Team Kata (which of course, as I have mentioned, is from my own Mountain States region) took 6th place at Shoto Cup in Japan. This is an incredible accomplishment, and something to be very proud of!

Go Mountain States!

I just received an update via email. Our Mountain States Women's Team Kata has reached the Finals at Shoto Cup in Japan! The Finals are due to start in about 20 minutes, but it will be several hours before we know anything.

Still, to make it to Finals is quite an accomplishment and I'm so proud of my teammates! They've been training 6 days a week for 2 years now, and won US Nationals twice to earn their trip to Shoto Cup.

However the final results turn out, they are winners.

Following the Path

Karate-do, the path of karate. A way of life, rather than something you do. An integral part of who you are, of how you live.

I am coming to see how that is in my life, right now and in my current circumstances. I am so busy right now, with so many distractions at home and at work. I have not enough hours in the day, and no matter how hard I try, I cannot organize things sufficiently that I can get everything done. So, I am constantly short on sleep, perpetually frustrated by all the things I have not yet accomplished that need to be done.

Last night I came home from work so tired. My sprained ankle, slowly healing, was achy, and I've got a strained muscle in the other leg. My fiance has midterms this week, and looked like roadkill. He said unequivocally that he wasn't training, and all I had to do was look at him to know he shouldn't. He'd been up late studying, he'd taken 2 exams, and had 2 more to study for. This was not a karate night for him.

I sat on the couch with my cat curled up on me, warm and purring. Outside, the promised cold front was blowing into town. Temperatures had dropped markedly over the past couple of hours, and the rain was starting to fall. It was the most peace I'd felt in ages, it seemed, and I wanted nothing more than to sit quietly, letting my brain go foggy, still and warm and content.

After about half an hour, I got up and dressed in my gi. I put on my ankle brace and then taped over it to stabilize the injured ankle. I packed up my gi bag and headed off for training, through the cold rain outside. I went not willingly, not unwillingly -- I went because that's what I do. I go to karate on Monday nights.

There was no reason to think I'd have a good training, but I did. Not stellar, but not horrible. The body worked better than I had thought it might, my concentration and focus were better than I had anticipated given how exhausted I was. I went home physically tired and a bit banged up, but glad I went. I have no reason really to be glad, and no reason not to be glad.

So I guess that's what karate-do is in my life. It's not a question of why I went. I went because that's what I do. It does not occur to me not to go unless there is some strong and compelling reason to keep me away. I do not schedule activities on karate nights, just like I don't plan to go to movies during the workday. I don't regard this as a sacrifice, because karate is what I do on those nights. I don't necessarily go, "Oh goody, it's karate tonight! Woo hoo!!" but then, that's not the point either. I'm not always "excited" to eat dinner. Sometimes I am, sometimes it's just something I do. Sometimes I enjoy dinner, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I barely even notice what I'm eating, distracted by other things. Doesn't mean I skip dinner though. I don't, unless for some reason, I can't eat.

Sometimes I'm excited to go to training. Sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I have a good training, sometimes I don't. Usually I'm glad I went, but not necessarily every time. Sometimes I don't really want to go, but I go anyway. I don't really think about training as a "should I or shouldn't I" thing most of the time. It isn't necessarily good or bad. It just is.

A couple of my dojo mates were talking after class, and one of them said, "This is what keeps us sane. Coming here and doing this."

It's karate. It's what we do. That's karate-do.

Karate and Character

Here's a little something for all of you to ponder. I received an email today from someone who reads the blog, who is requesting feedback from martial artists for his thesis.

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He writes:

"I'm currently doing my dissertation on karate senseis... My organisation is called the Karate Union Great Britain, and it issues a license to all its practitioners. In this book is the dojo code, which asks us to strive for the perfection of character, to have good etiquette etc, I'm sure you've heard the "ultimate aim" speech of Funakoshi before. The thing is it's obviously quite important to a lot of karateka.

So if that is the ultimate aim of karate, why do we spend our time teaching each other to punch, kick and strike, up and down the dojo for six hours a week? How does this perfect our character? How do the senseis TEACH us good character? They certainly don't always succeed, do we know that they succeed at all? Could the people with good characters in fact have got them from elsewhere?

This is what I am dedicating about six months of my life to, any comments you have would be useful."

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This is one of those questions that arises time and time again, and the answers come from all ends of the spectrum. There are those who argue from the purely physical end, that karate has nothing to do with character except in the minds of a few fuzzy-minded pseudo-philosophers. The other end says that karate is just a means to an end, character being the end goal, karate being the path to achieve it.

My initial reaction is that I believe that karate does build character, but I don't know that it is necessarily the duty of the senseis to "teach" you character, nor am I at all convinced that it can be "taught". Personally, I started karate out of curiosity, started it for fun and for the physical endeavor. Several years later, I can say that I have gained so very much more than that.

So, why do I think that karate builds character? Why would punching and kicking help someone become a better person? Quite frankly, it doesn't always. Any more than any purely physical endeavor will build character, if the person is not dedicated on a deeper level, and is never open to anything deeper. Although any physcial effort that is sustained over time will develop dedication and a will to overcome obstacles, if nothing else. It takes a certain amount of character to keep going when you're tired, to keep training through the pain.

What exactly do we learn from a good sensei then, that I think goes beyond simple physical endeavors? We learn how to be a good, fair and dedicated teacher, one that practices what they preach, always ready to help, always drives you to improve and encourages you to believe it's possible, and rejoices with you when you do overcome the obstacles. We learn patience and tolerance. We learn discipline. We learn how to treat people respectfully, no matter what rank they fall into by comparison with ourselves. We learn the immense gratification that comes from working really hard for something that could not be gained by any lesser effort, and having that hard work rewarded. We also learn that sometimes, you can work very hard for something, NOT achieve it, but still find that the work itself was worthwhile after all, and that those around you will commend you for the effort. We learn to avoid conflicts, to deflect blows (literal or symbolic), we learn not to be the aggressor but to start only and always from a defensive stance. With any luck, we carry some of these same principles out into our everyday lives, and are the better for it.

In this sense, I believe that a good karate sensei helps build your character, teaching you by example more than anything else. Whether consciously or unconsciously, anyone who sticks with karate for many years must have a good sensei, so they will end up absorbing many of these principles. If they don't, they will find it very hard (in our organization at least) to get past a certain level, for they will lack the will to continue in the face of setbacks. They will lack character.