Go Train

I got an email the other day chastising me for posting pictures with certain people and turning my back on others.  I find the whole concept laughable but when I host an event or guest instructor’s at the Yushikan, anyone that wants to come to it has never been turned away yet, so…..

I know that some of my opinions and personal philosophies are controversial because I believe in things that others do not, but it really shouldn’t concern anyone or be anyone else’s business but mine. If there is an issue or something that my Sensei thinks that I have done wrong, then that is between him and I.

I am a traditionalist in the fact that I believe that the kata should be done as close as humanly possible to the way the founder taught them and should not be changed, this goes for karate, kobudo and Jujutsu. I think that one should do the Junbi-undo and Hojo-Undo, hit the makiwara, and practice outside of class. I am old fashioned in that I believe you should be polite and address people by their sir name, unless they have told you differently, I believe that you should use proper etiquette and behave with a moral conscious. I believe that you should honor your parents, your sensei and respect your elders.

Now the way I see it there is a difference between a teacher (Sensei) and someone you train with or even a mentor.  I have had the opportunity to train with a lot of excellent karate Instructors, and even the opportunity to seriously study with some great teachers, but those people that I consider my Sensei is a small list of people. A Sensei to me is someone that I have a personal relationship with.

Having said all of that, I will share the mat with anyone that has a sincere desire to learn budo. I do not care what style or association they belong to or do not belong too. I will train in my dojo with whomever I wish to train with. If my Sensei has an issue with that then he and I will discuss the matter, all the rest of those people that think they know how I should live my life and think they know how I should run my dojo and want to dictate what I do or who I do it with can keep their opinions to themselves because I didn’t ask for them.  Go to the dojo and train, don’t worry about what it is that I’m doing, because I’m training!

What Happened

Back when I first trained karate in the late 1970's and even through out the 80's and early 90's. The dojo I trained in was strict, my teachers enforced a zero tolerance philosophy. There was no horse play, no goofing around. Being in the dojo was serious business. You couldn't be late, if you were, you were doing a bunch of push ups. You couldn't miss class, if you did, the reason better be that you were dead, or you were punished.

I noticed a trend in the mid 90's where things were starting to become relaxed. Since then it seems to me that things have continued to go down hill. The discipline has slowly faded over the years. a few years ago I adjusted my dojo guidelines and restricted the classes to those I wanted in it, mostly teenagers and adults.

Until a few months ago, I helped and visited at dojo that taught all age ranges. I noticed that the children spent a lot of time horsing around and chasing each other. some students would lash out or talk back to their instructor, take long restroom breaks during class. All things that I consider to be unacceptable. The over all demeanor and behavior of even the adult students was unacceptable to me, I found a lot of their actions to be disrespectful to the sensei, and something that I would have never done to my sensei.

Don't even get me started on rank and the decline of the black belt in America. I have had students come to my dojo and quit because it was either too hard or because they didn't get promoted fast enough.

What I have learned is that America has changed a lot over the last several decades and not necessarily for the better. I learned that not everyone one is like me and not everyone owns their dojo and not everyone can choose who they teach for what ever reasons. However, I can and I will continue to do it the way I am, teaching discipline, history and drilling my students over and over trying to make them better then they think they are, hopefully better then me and my limited talents. Pushing them to strive to not only be better at budo, but better people.