Most
of us as Martial Arts instructors more specifically Karate have become too much
modernize, especially those who had the program passed down to them. We got too
caught up into the 20th century format of Karate. For the price for
our flaws in making the changes we need to have, students began to lose
interest because of the limited amount of information given to them. Other
Martial Artists from other disciplines are being critical on Karate saying that
Kata training is useless; the “style” is not that effective for the modern age
and other criticisms.
What
we fail to do is to look back at our roots, the History of our discipline, then
make the certain changes. Or we know the History, but we are unwilling to adopt
the principles. Do I see a generation of thinking people coming along? Do I see
a generation of open minded people coming along? It is a maybe. The origin of
the unarmed combat system originated in the Ryukyu kingdom (Okinawan Prefecture).
In the 1920’s the art known as Karate was introduced into Japan. Karate was
changed into a sport for competition to compete against equally skilled
opponents and adopting a belt ranking system. Its origins were meant for
personal self protection against an unskilled opponent. Kata has many effective
self-defense moves called bunkai or practical analysis that was passed down
from teacher to student. In the early 1900’s a Karate master by the name Anko
Itosu introduced Karate into the elementary school system. In order to avoid
any accidents amongst the young school children, he did away with practical
application/analysis and focus on teaching the children only kata, inventing 5
Pinan/Heian forms. After the second World War, westerners learned the
contemporary format of Karate in addition to other Japanese and Korean Martial
Arts. The Westerners have adopted the modern format of Karate from static,
linear basics to kata with no practical bunkai.
The
result was that the program that was adopted was obsolete for self protection.
I quote Hanshi Patrick McCarthy, “The Reverse Influence”. That’s what it is, is
it obsolete? If it is for sport, if it is to increase self-confidence,
spiritual growth, self-esteem, etc., no, but if it is to understand the
science, the principles, and the practical intricacies of the art yes the
reverse influence is obsolete. The rigid traditional doctrines were being
taught and learned are out of sequence, confined by the 3K training method,
Kihon (Basics), Kata (forms) and Kumite (sparring). If you end up learning
things backwards, you will most likely get confused and it has nothing to do
with learning disabilities or differences, but the human mind while nurturing
combative systems is designed to be taught in order to gain more sense in
understanding the principles. Humans are animals, if you travel to Africa, go
to the zoo, or visit a local Pet store you will see cubs or even kittens
wrestling each other, therefore animals are designed to utilize fighting
techniques by working with a partner instead of throwing a bunch of moves in
thin air. The ancients developed grappling systems, boxing, and weaponry
systems and passed on to other countries around the time that African people
were moving throughout the Diaspora in the Prehistoric age.
While
we get to Okinawa, the birthplace of Karate (formally called Tode), the order
of learning the combative systems were passed down to the natives. The natives developed
the fighting art into two-person drills, and then in order to store the
effective fighting techniques or principles in their memory banks, they have
recorded the techniques into dance and into prearranged set patterns called forms;
in Japanese it is called kata. Kata are templates. Kata names such as Saifa,
Passai/Bassai, Kushanku/Kanku, Naihanchi/Tekki, Seiyunchin, are templates of
effective techniques that neutralizes the Habitual Acts of Physical Violence.
Kata are not a set of moves to fight multiple opponents that is a big
misconception to the Western people who adopted the modern Asian Martial Arts,
specifically Karate. Hanshi McCarthy’s 36 Habitual Acts of Physical Violence
have attack scenarios such as hook punches, bear hugs, full-nelson etc. where
the defender needs to get out of. The unfortunate thing is that students do not
appreciate kata training. It is not the fault of the students; it is the fault
of the instructors for failing to upgrade their learning and not teaching them
practical bunkai. Kata is used in the modern era of Martial Arts for gradings
to give students a new belt rank, almost doing away of studying the practical applications/analysis,
to these templates. Furthermore, the teaching structure is out of order. You
will get questions of why do we do this? Why are you so picky on these stances?
What does this do and that do? But don’t tell them specifically or withhold
information until they reach a certain level. This is in my humble opinion, most
of us these days are following the narrow dogmatic view of belt rank levels.
The reverse influence of training is incompatible to the human body while
training in a combative discipline. The development of Okinawan Karate had no
belt ranks and training uniforms until its introduction to mainland Japan in
the 20th century called the dan/kyu belt ranking system. In my
belief, an adult novice should be able to learn two-person drills may it be
from one point sparring to the practical bunkai and reality-base role playing
scenarios, do not hold back in teaching these things, teach the student to your
heart’s content. There are no boundaries between what is basic and what is
advance. True, certain self-defense moves can be confusing to the beginner, but
that is no different from learning how to execute a low block on the very first
day at the dojo, practice over and over to get better with it. Personally, I do
not fully believe to say this self-defense move is reserved for blue belt
level, if I feel it is too advance for the student, I won’t bother putting it
in a grading, since more practice is needed. I’ll put more focus on the more
simplistic self-defenses, the others are bonuses. Learning bunkai from a
variety of templates to a novice can be a step above than an individual
learning a Green belt kata, but haven’t gotten the bunkai yet.
Times have changed and many people needed a
crash course in personal self-protection than just getting trophies and belt
ranks, and it should be catered first instead of Kihon and kata to all ages.
When it comes to kids, joint-locks, pressure points (kyusho), knife and firearm
self-defense is too much for them and they lack control while doing these
things in the dojo increasing the chances of injury, self-defense from grabs
and Ne-waza (ground technique) is good enough. Every student in all ages shall
appreciate the entire training curriculum of classical Karate, with no dislikes
in any part of their training. Every student who wants to learn self-defense
from bullies, thieves, rapists and killers would benefit greatly from training
from a more comprehensive program. Karate students has a diverse range of
individuals coming from different occupations, such as Law enforcement,
military personnel, grocery clerks, bank clerks, and students needed self-defense strategies during these
perilous times since physical confrontations can happen anywhere. The human
mind has always been designed to learn two-person enactment then break off to
solo enactment or the recording period to refine the techniques and understand
the principles better. Learning two-person enactment at the start of training
can help the student to react out of instinct instead of thinking, since
thinking about technique too much can be the enemy. Altogether they will gain
some knowledge in understanding what the blocks, strikes, and stances against
the acts of physical violence to off balance, disable, and maim an attacker who
is threatening your life before breaking off into Kihon and Kata.
Belt Ranks is a modern concept. The problem is
that many instructors are too focused on the narrow dogmatic view of belt ranks
and the ideal time periods they are supposed to grade for. I say that I care
less about time when a student should get from yellow belt to orange belt. Keep
in mind that every individual has learning style differences. Some people can
soak things up like a sponge, while some pick things up slowly. For slow
learners I believe that the proper order of training these individuals should
not be change over to the reverse influence 3K training. Coordination will be
decent if beginners learned two-person enactment before single person drills. Slow
learners should be patient in getting things and fast learners should be
patient in learning new things, since so many things need to be sharpened up,
and to fully understand the principles.
Training
in Karate can bring about self-confidence, self-esteem, self-discipline,
holistic well being, etc., these are byproducts. Students in all ages should be
able to grasp some practical bunkai for self-defenses and then learn Kihon and
Kata, that way they can understand what these moves do to a certain level.
Instructors in all titles should not be too focused on holding things back for
self-defense drills, if you want to teach the novice ippon kumite,
joint-locking techniques, grappling, knife self-defense based on katas they
have never learned yet, go ahead and do that, do not worry if they forget most
of it, as long as they are interested and understand the waza (techniques). Do
not focus too much on belt ranks, on what they should learn in self-defenses,
show them many things, and then give the important ones they need to know for
their upcoming test along with their required kata(s). Kata shall in time be
more appreciated to students. Knowledge is power; do not take it for granted.
Hotep,
Jonathan
Bynoe