By: Linda Hibbs

It is often a misconception among beginning karateka and non karateka that once a karateka achieves black belt level he or she will have learnt all the self defence skills necessary to defeat an attacker with relative ease. In fact some blank belts believe shodan level is the end of their journey and may sadly leave their karate schools shortly after attaining their black belt in order to pursue other interests. In reality at shodan level a karateka has only just learned the syllabus of techniques required to pass their ten Kyu grades and their shodan grade. However there is so much more to learn in order to become an accomplished karateka which takes many more years of training and instructing. According to some statistics for traditional Martial Arts, only three out of a thousand make black belt and one out of three black belts make instructor.

I began my journey of discovering the wonderful benefits of karate in my life ten years ago in Feb. 1992. Over the following 6 years I went for and passed ten kyu grade levels. In Oct 1998 I succeeded in achieving my shodan grade. Now 4 years on in 2002 I am practicing the same kihon and kata as well as learning more advanced katas, self-defence applications and weapon defence. I learn the movements with my mind and with my body and try to develop a greater understanding of each technique and question their possible bunkais. I try to imagine how the early karate masters in Okinawa and Japan practiced and taught karate. It is easy for non-Japanese karateka to ignore or simply forget the Eastern origins of martial arts. The great masters from Okinawa and Japan, (e.g. Itosu Azato, Funakoshi, Otsuka etc...), intended karate to be a life long discipline for the mind the body and the spirit, (or 'ki'). I am still trying to master the first katas I learnt as a white belt as well as learning more advanced kata.

Kata is a very important component of karate-do. Kata are very cleverly designed by the masters of the art to find solutions for all physical questions relating to defence. Sometimes I make mistakes and accidentally merge one kata with another or lose balance and stumble. The mental  battle of kata is to develop discipline through its practice and improve balance, timing and self control. In practicing kata you also come to understand yourself and your limitations. Kata has the answers to all techniques relating to defence and attack and yet many modern schools of karate today ignore kata practice and place more emphasis on the kumite aspects of training. Kumite practice is beneficial for improving tai-sabaki, footwork, speed of response and stamina, however practice of kumite shouldn't be modified into a competitive sport. Competitive rivalry in the dojo in order to win medals goes against the basic principles of karate. Karate-do was and still is meant to develop one's character, to encourage humility and true gentleness, as well as developing deadly self defence skills in case your personal safety is ever threatened. Martial arts are only for self-preservation. A shodan or high Kyu grade karateka should never use their self-defence fighting skills in order to show off, there is no place for egos in karatedo. In the words of the great master GichinFunakoshi, "the ultimate aim of the art of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the perfection of the character of its participants".

The karate dojo gives students a sense of belonging where friendships are formed and kohai and Sempai train together under one Sensei. In Japan a sense of place within a group is essential for their well being. The Japanese nature is extremely loyal. I have no doubt many Australians could learn a lot from the Japanese virtues of politeness, loyalty and respect of teachers and elders.

In the 1800's and early 1900's, before Funakoshi, brought karatedo Japan, the Okinawa masters chose to teach only one student at a time. The old masters were very selective to whom they taught martial arts. The master's pupil was (by own free will), subjected to several years of intense repetitive training under the Sensei's instruction. It is written they often practiced the same kata repeatedly for a year before the master was satisfied with their standard enough to begin teaching a new kata. We as westerners in the 21st century may think the early Sensei from Okinawa and Japan treated their students overly harshly. It is written these pioneer Karate instructors ordered their students to repeat techniques over and over and even physically kicked students in the backsides when they weren't low enough in stance. Even so these students continued to train and return for more punishing lessons in order to improve their techniques and more importantly earn the respect of their Sensei, who would in turn respect his student's perseverance, loyalty and fighting spirit through testing times.

I am proud of my club, (Tai Shi Kai), and my Sensei for maintaining a high standard of discipline and karate instruction in our dojo. I am sure the early karate masters would approve of the way our Sensei at Tai Shi Kai teaches traditional karate as a whole and complete art where all students are graded equally and are graded according to strict grading criteria and are disciplined fairly. There is no favouritism shown to higher grades; only respect which is earned. Sensei, Sempai and kyu grades follow the same club rules and share in the cleaning the dojo and packing up equipment. Nowadays some Karate schools have softened their teaching approach to encourage a greater number of students to their dojos and decrease the drop out rate of new members. These clubs may have abandoned the strict teaching style of the Japanese in order to please a greater number of students however this will ultimately fail the students and their style in the long run. If a student of karate is graded too fast without developing a deep understanding of their techniques they will not be able to pass on the complete knowledge of their style to lower grade Students in their club. This could eventually result in the traditional style not being passed on correctly from generation to generation as its original master intended it. Any karateka who is graded too rapidly without discipline may be at risk of developing a bad attitude. Many times over the years I have been training, I have seen white belts, red belts, green belts, purple belts and even brown belts drop out of training because they felt they were treated harshly by Sensei, or by the grading and training rules of our club. They failed the test of true karate spirit and loyalty to their Sensei and club peers and will more than likely live to regret their decision. My spirit has been tested several times over the years. I have been training; practice of karate is not an easy road.

Karate is a life long discipline, which in the beginning is a personal struggle with your inner self. Later on you can begin learning the true essence of karate and truly change your life for the better. The longer you practice and understand karate the more you want to learn. You begin to realize it is part of your life and you can't live without it because it becomes part of you.

As you can deduce Karate is not for the very young or the light hearted. To truly benefit from the practice of karate you must be of an age where you can understand and appreciate the principles of karate and be able to take the disciplinary measures. Our Sensei will not instruct children under the age of 10 years because most children do not have the maturity to learn traditional karate. Most parents do not understand that karate is not a recreational activity to entertain kids for a few hours each week. The art of traditional karate will be lost if its teaching is compromised to cater for the whims of kids and their naive parents. Martial arts instructors have a huge responsibility in that they are in a position to change attitudes, remove negativity and promote love and tolerance. They must always be positive and encouraging and love all their students. A good instructor of karate will produce students that are not only good in martial arts, but are exemplary in their behaviour. We as instructors of karate have a duty to carry on teaching the katas and traditional techniques of our style as the masters who developed them intended them to be taught. We must not be tempted to modify techniques or teaching methods in order to make them easier for students to learn. If we as senior instructors teach our knowledge correctly as we have been taught then we can be confident our style will pass on from generation to generation and it will still be practiced in its traditional form long after we have departed this world.

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