I used to think that it would be a long time before one could attain their black belt. Now I look back at the seven years and training and think how time has flown. I have almost forgotten how hard I found each level of training, how intense I found each grading. And with each ever increasing grade I found new challenges, whether they were new techniques not yet mastered, or techniques that I had let go backwards and now had to correct.

And yet with each passing grade I would feel I was getting closer to achieving it – the level at which I could obtain a greater level of respect from my peers, where I could look back and feel myself that I had achieved some level of enlightenment and experience. Up until now I had never looked to achieve any grade beyond becoming a black belt.

However, when I think of obtaining my black belt I think of all the techniques I have to perform. There are so many to remember – and it is not that you don’t know them, but perhaps that you don’t know them as much as you’d liked to.
As I train each class I try and improve my techniques. I often find it frustrating constantly checking yourself for bad techniques – the wrist, feet, legs, arms, strikes, movement etc. I find that despite working hard in karate, I have not yet perfected any technique (there is always room for improvement).

Achieving my black belt is the culmination of seven years of hard training. My hope is to reach a point where I can perform techniques well in front of people and show them how it is done. To achieve a level where I am the example of perfection, to reach the point where I can correct myself. To reach the point where I can teach people something, where I can show them how to obtain something from their techniques they hadn’t thought of, and to give something back. But most of all to obtain some respect for my efforts from the existing black belts.

I don’t train to grade. I train because I enjoy improving myself and my techniques, gaining fitness, making friends and socialising. For me the grading itself is a very minor part of this process. Gradings are important though to show an achievement of a certain level of proficiency and to show the hierarchical placement of the students in the class. Sempai Angela and Sempai Robert have said that you learn a lot about yourself at a black belt grading. You learn what you can take, and how far you are prepared to go, that you gain an insight into yourself, your abilities and limitations, particularly during the jiyu kumite (free fighting) towards the end of the grading.

The training this year has already done a lot of this for me, due to it being more intense, consistent and demanding, however the ultimate challenge of the grading should show me just how far I have come from when I first started karate training seven years ago. Sensei once said that undertaking a grading gives you the chance to show your art, show all of the other students and instructors what you have to offer, how you are an individual in what you practise, and how you have made the techniques and forms your own. Gaining my black belt will be a huge achievement for me and will be made even more special to me given what I have had to overcome in order to achieve it. A few years ago I had to move to Perth for work and it would have been very easy for me to give up my karate training – to simply say that I have trained for two and a half years, but now its time to move on. Instead I chose the harder path. I chose to “never give in.”

While in Perth I trained with another Wado-Ryu Karate school that Sensei located for me. It was not easy given how far away the dojo was from where I lived and that their techniques were at times quite different from our own. Again I could have easily given up at this stage, especially since I had no idea how long I would be living in Perth (it turned out to be for thirteen months).
What makes a student aspire to become a black belt? Seeing more senior students perform karate with passion and precision. Seeing the depth of knowledge to which they have obtained, and watching them explore it.

What makes a student ready for becoming a Black Belt? It is my belief that being ready for the black belt level requires more that just physical fitness and learning the techniques by rote, it is also about becoming more insightful (Ref 1) – and developing a deeper understanding of martial arts and Wado-Ryu. To this end I have read many books on martial arts and started to learn Shiatsu. Learning shiatsu has been of great benefit to my martial art training by helping me to know more about where and why we strike certain parts of the body. It has also helped me to cope better with my training by helping me to recover faster and release tight muscles before they become “locked.” Giving shiatsu treatments to my classmates has also helped to develop trust and friendships between us. By treating others I have developed a greater awareness of how karate training impacts upon their bodies as well as my own.

I believe that karate is a path to perfection of physiological, psychological and spiritual forms. As one develops in their training, they begin to understand that there is much more to karate than basic forms and self defence. Karate training is much about training the mind as much about the body. Meditation plays a much larger role in developing ones mind, becoming more self aware, to provide for spiritual growth and ongoing improvements in our karateka. I believe I am on that path, ready to undertake this grading and prove to myself that I can take the next step forward in my training.

References
Patrick McCarthy (1995) The Bible of Karate Bubishi, Tuttle Publishing, North Clarendon, USA.

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