A long time ago, knowing martial arts meant learning how to
defend yourself on the street or on the battlefield; but not anymore. Methods
that were originally developed to kill your enemy before they killed you have
been watered down into either nonsense, daycare centers, or into sports that
are fun to play. Modern karate has become a sport, using techniques which win
championships at competitions, where rules and regulations prohibit the use of
real, effective techniques. Don't get me wrong. I love marital arts. I continue
to train in many martial arts but most martial arts do not address the key
elements of proper self-defense. It is only training and conditioning method
for self-defense. In real life there are simply no rules, regulations, or
referees that are required in a combative sport, when you are being attacked in
the street there will be no referee present, who shouts 'STOP' and those
elements are not going to be there when someone is trying to kill you in a dark
alley or even your own home.
I truly hope that no one ever finds themselves in a situation where you need to use your martial arts training to defend yourself, only to find out it didn't work.
You have to incorporate the often forgotten and
neglected reality aspects of the martial art that karate was once intended to
be, sometimes you have to stop drinking the kool-aide and take responsibility
for your own training.
MJ
I agree.....Karate should be practiced first as a means of self-defense. Exactly what it was intended for. The minute you stand before a judge or referee it is sport. Very few that I know practicing KarateDo practice sport Karate.
ReplyDeleteBrian
As you know, this is the very direction Shimabukuro Hanshi and I were taking for the last five years ... restoring the sense of original purpose to all the martial arts we practiced, not just the sword arts. The one "compromise" we were making was using the sport aspect of karate for CHILDREN, so it would be fun and without lethal intent until they were old enough to fully understand how permanent death and disability are. But from the mid-teens and on, the primary focus of martial arts training should be surviving life-or-death situations.
ReplyDeleteAnother great blog!