Forging a Karate Mind

Karate is not a game of points, weight classes or showy demonstrations. It is a martial art and way of life that trains a practitioner to be peaceful; but if conflict is unavoidable, true karate dictates taking down an opponent with a single blow.

Such an action requires strength, speed, focus, control. But these physical aspects are only part of the practice; they are just the vehicle, not the journey itself.

True karate is based not only on the physical body, but also on moral philosophy or Bushido. In true karate, the body, mind and spirit—the whole person—must be developed simultaneously. Through kihon, kumite and kata we learn to control our movements. But more importantly, we learn to give up control too. We can perform the techniques without thinking about them, and remain focused without having to concentrate on any one thing. In essence, the body remembers how to move and the mind remembers how to be still.

This harmonious unity of mind and body is intensely powerful. Even the greatest physical strength and skill are no match for the power of wholeness.

The result of true karate is natural, effortless action, and the confidence, humility, openness and peace only possible through perfect unity of mind and body. This is the core teaching of Zen, the basis of Bushido, and karate philosophy.

While most karate-ka are probably familiar with Gichin Funakoshi sensei's 20 precepts, or even the Matsumura Makimono or the seven virtues of Bu, I would suggest that perhaps you may find some of the teachings of Sidhartha Guatama (Buddha) beneficial to your moral or philosophical training such as the Noble eight Fold Path or the Four Noble Truths.

Train considering your physical strength

Hitotsu! Tairyoku ni ojite tekkido ni shugyo sayo -  First! Train considering your physical strength

This is the second line of the dojo kun as handed down by the late Eiichi Miyazato Sensei and his Jundokan dojo.

Training in Karate is a personal thing, you can only do it for yourself and no one else. People are all different and Miyagi Chojun Sensei himself, taught people differently, according to their own body types. That is because each person is different and will have their own strengths and weaknesses. Things such as age, physical build and personality will contribute to the way we train.

Training should build resilience, health and fitness. Too much training, or over stressing the body, can cause physical deterioration instead of development and even lead to illness, whilst too little will provide insufficient benefit. The aim should be to train in accordance with your ability and push yourself a little bit beyond what you are currently capable of. As you gradually build intensity and quality, over the years, your body will grow stronger.


I once heard it said “When you are young, train like the young, and when you are old, train like you are old.” What I believe was meant was that when you are young you train more vigorously, more athletically, and as you age you must adapt to those changes and train accordingly.


I know personally that when I was younger, I trained very hard on the makiwara, kicking trees, sparring a lot, and I when I injured myself, I never took time to heal, I did all kinds of things that I look back at now and think, dumb A@# that is why you hurt in the mornings.

Also when I was younger I liked to kick a lot, I spent a great deal of time developing head high kicks. I loved to spar and spend a great deal of time at it. About eight years ago I was hit by a car while on duty. I sustained damage to my hips and I had to change the way I train because of it. It has taken me the last eight years to be able to condition my hips so that I can even get my leg back up to a head high level. In that time, I have focused on those kicks found with-in gojuryu kata. 


I also continue to spar in the dojo, but I know that I am not getting any younger and sparring in the dojo with the kids for hours at a time is not as easy as it once was. Now I prefere spending my time in the dojo working on kata, Kakie, kihon and waza, I still train hojo undo and hit the makiwara, I still train hard, just with different emphasis then before.


I have determined that I no longer need to run sprints, but that I need to pace myself for the never ending marathon that I have chosen to embark upon.

My time as an Uchi-deshi

First let me begin by telling you what an Uchi deshi is;

Uchi-deshi (内弟子 lit. "inside student") is a Japanese term for a live-in student/apprentice who trains under and assists a sensei on a full-time basis. The system exists in many societies, including those of kabuki, rakugo, shogi, igo, aikido, sumo, karate and other modern Japanese martial arts.

Uchi-deshi usually live in the dōjō or the home of the teacher, or in separate accommodations near the dōjō. He serves the teacher all day, every day. Duties may include cleaning and secretarial work. In contrast to uchi-deshi, students who live outside are referred to as soto-deshi (外弟子 lit. "outside students").

This is just a basic description of what an uchi-deshi is, each dojo has its own separate traditions for their respective uchi-deshi programs, and they can vary from dojo to dojo and from style to style.

Now I know someone is going to say “wait a minute one of your teachers was your father, so you can’t count that!”  I have two answers for this;

1.       Why not? I lived with him from the time I was born until I was 9 years old, I then lived with him again from 16 to 18, then he lived with me for a year, when I was in my mid-20s.  So that is basically 8 years of 24 hour interaction, now if anyone knows my father, you will know that all he talks about is karate-do. That coupled with the fact that I started training with him in 1977 and we have continued training together all of these years, should count for something, right? I mean shoot we still spend 5 or 6 days a week training with each other and sometimes twice on Friday.

2.       My second response is, nope that isn’t what I am talking about, I am talking about actual time spend living in the dojo, sleeping in the dojo, being in the dojo 24-7.

My father, Pat Mitchell and I, all worked on a dojo and opened it in January of 1990; of course we named this dojo Komakai, as we had with the other dojos before it. After we got the dojo opened and running, my father decided that for the betterment of my personal training that we should move into the dojo, so with that decision, we moved in and got rid of or house.

Living in the dojo is not near as cool as you might think, first off you have no personal space, you have to sleep on the mat, there was no kitchen, no hot water, no heat for part of it, and there was also a time when there was no running water and we had to go next door to the fire station and fill up buckets of water. So as you can imagine it wasn’t an easy life.

We had classes 6 days a week, day and evening, on Sunday’s we usually went to Karate tournaments. So I spent a great deal of time assisting, teaching and training during class hours.

When we weren’t in class, the two of us spent a great deal of time training with each other on everything, kihon, kata, kumite, kobudo, tuite, and philosophies. One day he might teach me about history, and the next bone and muscle structure.

I remember that when we slept, we would sleep on the mat, we would roll out sleeping bags sometime around midnight or after and call it a night. Several times he would wake me up in the middle of the night and teach me something new, then let me go back to sleep. In the mornings after these lessons, he would wake me up and tell me to demonstrate what he showed me, and I remember that the first few times I would say, well I haven’t learned that yet, and he would get out a Shinai and motivate me to remember. It was an interesting and creative way to teach, by waiting until I was in a deep sleep to wake me up just enough that I could do the technique and then fall back a sleep easily, he said that my sub-conscious mind would better retain it.

During this time period, the only break I got from Karate was when I went to school, but during the summer, it was a 24-7 ordeal.

I learned many great lessons from him during this time and remember it fondly. Eventually he got tired of living in the dojo and we once again got a house, but even then karate was pretty much a constant factor, it didn’t matter whether or not we were in the dojo or not, whenever the mood struck we practiced.

Why do you say authentic gojuryu?

Today, I received and email from a visitor to my web site that asked me why I choose to list what I teach as “Authentic Okinawan Gojuryu” instead of just Okinawan Gojuryu, why I made a distinction.
 

The short story is that I choose to make a distinction, because there are several karate schools in the state of Indiana that list their styles as being Okinawan Gojuryu, when in fact that is not what they teach.

Now I can see that this might ruffle some feathers, so I will attempt to give a better explanation of what I mean. Even though most of the dojo in Indiana can trace their lineage back to a single source, they are teaching something far different.

The dojos I got my start in were the Komakai Dojos (Former Indiana Jundokan), the original head of the dojo was Larry Pickel Sensei, who was a student of Eiichi Miyazato Sensei.  Pickel Sensei taught what he learned while in Okinawa at the dojo, the dojo went through a name change, which I wrote about previously, and in 1967 two major things happened Pickel Sensei joined the dojo to the old USKA and then later in the year, he took a break from Karate. He sold his interest in the dojo to his senior student and successor, Glenn Keeney Sensei.

Now Keeney Sensei, became the head of the dojo and suddenly found himself without a teacher, so for a bit he looked to a friend he had made in the USKA, James Kennedy Sensei from Kokomo, Indiana. Kennedy Sensei helped advise and mentor Keeney Sensei. With the lack of Gojuryu Sensei in America at the time, Keeney Sensei, found a new teacher in Phillip Koeppel Sensei and began training in Shoreiryu Karate-do. He also trained under Shoreiryu style head and USKA president Robert Trias Sensei.

Let me make a clarifying point here, Keeney Sensei always maintained that in his dojo we learned Jundokan Gojuryu as it was brought back and taught by Larry Pickel Sensei in 1964, he also said that we learned Shoreiryu as taught by Trias Sensei and Koeppel Sensei prior to 1982. At the Komakai we learned two separate styles of karate, two different sets of kihon and waza, and the styles were kept separate from each other and a definite distinction was made between the two.

So before you ask, no I do not include Keeney sensei in the group I was talking about before, because he taught two very distinctive styles in one dojo, but he maintained them as separate.

In my father’s dojo, he as the senior student of Keeney Sensei, still maintains both styles, he teaches them separately and makes a distinction between the two. If you ask him, or see an advertisement, it will list that he teaches Okinawan Gojuryu and Shoreiryu (or shuriryu).

Now like I said there are a few dojo in Indiana that do teach authentic gojuryu;

My father, Curt Jones Sensei, who teaches not only all of the gojuryu kata, but also all of the shoreiryu kata.

Larry Davenport Sensei, who was a student of Larry Pickel Sensei , Glenn Keeney Sensei, and Chuck Merriman Sensei. In his dojo he only teaches the Gojuryu he learned from these teachers.

There is a former IOGKF dojo, up in northern Indiana that is still in operation.

There was a Kenshikai dojo down in New Albany that taught Tetsuhiro Hokama sensei branch of Gojuryu.

And of course there is my dojo

No what I am talking about are those dojo that say they teach Traditional Okinawan Gojuryu but teach 7 gojuryu kata and 8 shorei kata, and some other kata from different sources. They only say that they are Traditional Okinawan Gojuryu, they don’t say anything about shoreiryu or where ever the other kata come from. They teach a combined curriculum but call it Gojuryu. Some of the dojo may even be able to trace part of their lineage back to Mr. Keeney but they are not teaching what he taught. Those dojo would be better off to refer to themselves as Goju-shorei-ryu or any other name.

Perhaps it isn’t even their fault, maybe they don’t even know that they aren’t doing a true version of Okinawan Gojuryu, maybe theri teacher never told them, or their teachers teacher.

So before someone asks me what I think is a true version of Okinawan Gojuryu, I will go ahead and give a very brief summary. To be Okinawan Gojuryu, one must practice Junbi-undo, hojo-undo, and at least the 12 kata found commonly shared by all of the Gojuryu Kai-ha namely; Sanchin, Gekisai Dai Ichi, Gekisai Dai Ni, Saifa, Seiunchin, Shisochin, Sanseru, Seipai, Kururunfa, Seisan, Suparenpei and Tensho. Now depending on the line you come from, there may be more kata (please see my article on Koden and Shoden kata for more), but this is the basic syllabus. So if you not at least doing all of these kata and are doing something different, then you aren’t teaching Gojuryu.

I am not meaning to offend anyone by this post, I am just trying to make a distinction between what it is that I teach in my dojo, and what others are teaching, even though we both say we teach Gojuryu.

A Small Rant

Have you ever heard the expression ”You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”?

Why is it, that people come to learn karate and some don’t listen to what the instructor says?

Case in point, I occasionally make visits to a dojo to train, I always end up being asked to assist in correcting the students kata or techniques. When doing so, I take great care in explaining the correction, I demonstrate what I am talking about and almost go out of my way to make sure they understand what they were doing and how to improve or correct it. I then have them practice the correction or improvement several times and make sure they have it.  Later when I revisit the dojo, the same student or students will again be making the same mistake, and again I will take time out to correct it. Now I must say that I am never rude in my teaching manner, I have even attended instructor development courses as part of my employment and used some of lessons learned there to improve my karate instruction. I also understand that it takes some people longer than others to learn certain lessons, no what I am talking about, is those people who understand what you are saying and showing, but just refuse to listen.

When I train anywhere, when a person senior to me makes a correction to my technique, I make sure that I practice that correction, so that the next time I see them, they will have one less thing to fix! I remember training at the Komakai main dojo and several of the branch dojos, whenever I was corrected by one of my Sempai; I trained on that correction inside and outside of the dojo, so that I made sure that they did not waste their time.

Today people come to learn karate and expect it to be handed to them; no one wants to work hard anymore. I remember training at my father’s first dojo, he would line us up against a brick wall and tell us to punch at it 500 times, as hard as we can. After several punches and bloody spots on the wall, he would stop us and say, no one told you to hit it, I said punch at it! Other times he would take us out and have us kick a tree. We trained hard, we did a lot of basics, we ran in the snow, we did tons of push-ups and sit-ups, we trained as close as we could too how they did in the old days.

Over the years I have had commercial dojo, some successful and some not, however many years ago, I decided that I would no longer cater to the masses, that I would do away with all the fancy colored belts and return to the old White, Green, Brown and Black. That I would only accept those in my dojo, that truly wanted to learn, not just anyone can walk into my dojo, you have to have an invite. I do not charge any of the current students in my dojo a training fee of money, what they pay me in is sweat and hard work.

Now days, people want that next colored belt, they want the shiny trophies. Perhaps it is a case of they expect that if they are winning tournaments, they must be un-correctable, after all they are champions, I mean how dare some old has been dare too correct them.

I started competing in karate tournaments back in 1978 and had a good run, I won some state, national and world titles and had a blast, I traveled all over the country and met many great people, but I always knew that tournament karate wasn’t real karate that was done in the dojo. It was something for fun and not for life preservation. Now don’t get me wrong I like to kumite and bang around still, but I know there is difference. Now days I am afraid that people have lost sight of the path.

So what do you do? I do not know, I just don’t know.

Marion Komakai (Goshukai)

The Komakai Academy of Karate Marion, Indiana was founded under the direction of Curt E. Jones Sensei. Mr. Jones began his study of Karate in 1967 at the Komakai Anderson under the direction of GoJuryu karate instructor Mr. Glenn R. Keeney.

The dojo began in 1977 when Mr. Jones began teaching a small group in a room at his home, this group was known as the Gas City Komakai; in 1982 Mr. Jones moved the dojo to the Grant County YMCA and it became the Komakai Academy of Karate - Marion. This dojo was in operation for several years and sponsored the Central Indiana Karate Championships in Marion for several years.

In 1990, Mr. Jones and Mr. C. Michial Jones opened the second Komakai Academy of Karate in Marion. in a free standing building.The dojo soon became a competitive factor, placing third in Best Supporting School at the 1990-91 PKC National Tournament.In February of 1992 the dojo was moved to a better location and was nominated as the PKC Most Competitive School.The dojo continued to sponsor the Central Indiana Championships, which later evolved into the Central U.S. Open Karate Championships, and also hosted some PKC Indiana Kickboxing title fights.

In 1992, Mr. Jones moved and he opened the Komakai Academy of Self Defense in Indianapolis, leaving the Marion Dojo to his son and senior student; C. Michial Jones. In 1994 he closed the Marion Dojo and in 1996, he closed the Indianapolis dojo, he moved to Anderson and became the Senior Instructor at the Komakai Honbu, until it was sold in 2004. When Mr. Keeney sold the Honbu Dojo, Mr. Jones returned to Marion and Re-established the Marion Komakai, teaching at the YMCA.

In 2011, after the litigation over the Komakai name was settled, Mr. Jones re-named his dojo as Goshukai. Mr. Jones' current dojo has become a competitive factor in Indiana Karate and the PKC National circuit. Mr. Jones is also still involved with tournament promoting.