IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL! I hope everybody had a great summer and is all rested, ready for another school year...Of course, our “karate year” never stopped and we had a fun summer, particularly at our summer camp in August. I wish our students renewed academic success and continued progress in their training.

OUR GIKKF INSIGNIA: I love it! I am very happy to see everybody is proudly wearing our GIKKF patch (thanks, moms and grandmas, for sewing). It took a lot of effort, planning, and legwork to get that insignia. The main logo, the sakura (cherry blossom) with its kanji (Chinese writing) of Goju (our style) in the center, is the Federation’s recognizable emblem. The kanji underneath is our dojo’s name, Tobukan (translation of Asian Arts Center); thus, every member dojo in the GIKKF displays its own name under the Federation’s logo. Each patch is similar and yet very personal.

WHAT HAPPENED LAST AUGUST: THE ASIAN ARTS CENTER’S ANNUAL SUMMER CAMP, AUG 13-17.

Our 4^th annual Junior Karate Summer Camp was dogged by illness this year. First, it prevented Gale and Jenni Lyon from attending, then, half-way through camp, it felled Lillian Silver. However, the rest of the crew did manage to have a wonderful time, earning their medals at Friday’s Mini-Tournament and enjoying a scrumptious pizza party, followed by a viewing of a little known Jackie Chan movie, Who Am I?, one of my favorites.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SEPTEMBER:

The dojo will be closed for Labor Day, Monday, Sep 3. Have a great holiday!

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN OCTOBER:

OSHIRO SENSEI’S WEST COAST SEMINAR. Oshiro sensei will be conducting his bi-annual West Coast seminar Oct 19-21. Friday, Oct 19, sessions in Shorin-ryu karate and Yamanni-ryu kobudo, followed by an RBKD Instructors-only class will be held at his dojo in San Mateo. Saturday, Oct 20, the Yamanni-ryu seminar will be held at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple. Sunday, Oct 21, there will be a morning review session at the Temple as well.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN NOVEMBER:

The dojo will be closed for Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov 22. Happy Thanksgiving!

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN DECEMBER:

The dojo will be closed Monday, Dec 24 (Christmas Eve) and Tuesday, Dec 25 (Christmas Day). Merry Christmas, everybody! The dojo will also be closed Monday, Dec 31 (New Year’s Eve) and Tuesday, Jan 1, 2008 (New Year’s Day). Happy New Year!!!

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THE CASE AGAINST TOURNAMENTS

by Tran sensei

In past years, our dojo has participated in tournaments, notably the one at the Wayne P.A.L., organized by my friend, sensei Ron Gaeta. The main reason for our involvement was to contribute to, and support sensei Gaeta who used the tournament’s proceeds to help fund the Wayne Police’s anti-drug program. Sensei Gaeta was a narcotics officer. When he retired from the force, he also retired from running tournaments. And so also ended our involvement.

Many people equate karate with tournaments because they think karate is a sport; others feel that, in order to “prove yourself”, you have to attend tournaments and show how good you are; still others think that it’s an “ideal” neutral ground where you can approximate a street fight by paying a small entrance fee to beat up total strangers.

I don’t agree with any of those views. First and foremost, karate is not a sport. Maybe to some it is, but to me (and others in the classical frame of mind) it is not and should never be. What has devolved into sport karate is a completely different animal than the one that everybody assiduously practices. The dichotomy is quite schizophrenic, and yet few recognize the split. Techniques and stances for tournament sparring have no basis in traditional training, and their range is limited and limiting. Not only that, they encompass such a middle-of-the-way ground that they are readily copied across the styles. If you come to a tournament and observe the sparring event, you will not be able to tell the styles apart. Which is Shorin-ryu, which is Goju-ryu, which is Shotokan, and which is Tae Kwon Do? Even Chinese stylists espouse the same techniques. Once they don those helmets and sparring gear, they’re all the same, doing the same thing.

How and when did sport karate come about? It was the invention of mainland Japanese practitioners who had been introduced to karate from Okinawa by master Funakoshi Gichin. In 1924, karate entered Keio University, Chuo, Waseda (1930), Hosei, Tokyo University (1929); it was also established at Shichi-Tokudo, a club situated in a corner of the palace grounds. There, in 1927, the students decided that kata training was not enough and they devised protective clothing based on kendo equipment to initiate free-sparring. However, Funakoshi sensei was appalled by such changes; due to his prohibition, the first competitions did not take place until after his death in 1958.

Once competitive sparring started, techniques were invented to accomodate it, such as the round kick (mawashi geri, which does not really exist in the classical curriculum of any style) and the reverse punch.

Kata done for competition became flashier; not only that, many competitors grew the habit of learning other styles’ kata to add to their repertoire, thereby increasing their chances of winning by doing a more “appealing” form. People’s imagination ran wild and soon you had kata done to music, team kata, and...made up kata.

I once judged a weapons event; there was this group of young students from this particular dojo who did exactly the same form with a variety of weapons: bo, sai, nunchaku, etc. The thing was, theirs was not a real kata: it was simply a four-directional pattern with much weapon twirling and forceful screaming. I gave them an average score: 6.0. Apparently, this sabotaged their chances of winning–which I realized they were used to, wherever they went. Later, their sensei approached me, and asked why I was so prejudiced against his students and that his honor was at stake (!) Before I could respond, he added that there were a number of parents who were police officers and who were ready to take me down (!) Now I was dumbfounded. But that was not the end of it. He went to sensei Gaeta and complained about my judging competence. (Sensei Gaeta staunchly stood by me.) To top it all off, towards the end of the tournament, as I was leaving, one of the kids’ parents gave me a verbal lashing (!)

When Oshiro sensei came to this country and was drafted into judging competition, he gave everyone zeros. After the officials complained to him, he changed his policy and awarded everybody a ten!

Tournaments fuel a tremendous ego, not only on the part of the competitors, but also (and probably more so) on the part of the senseis who feel that their reputation is threatened; add to that the parents’ determination that their kids are the best and should win at all cost, and you have a big headache on your hand.

Once winning and losing enter the equation, people’s nature is changed. They’ll do anything to win, and they’ll do anything not to lose.

There are two things I value too much to bear seeing altered: martial arts and students. Martial arts are not meant to be used as means for comparing people’s worth. If you perceive them as tools for self-defense, then they should be practiced quietly and remain hidden like a dangerous weapon. If you owned a gun, you would not flaunt it, nor would you look for a chance to use it; instead, you would pray never to have an opportunity to use it.

If you perceive martial arts as a method for personal growth, then they should be practiced quietly and remain hidden as a personal treasure.

Many people think that free-sparring teach self-defense. Nothing could be further from the truth: the limited blocking and limiting counter moves induce habits that are not conducive to practical self-defense. Then, of course, those who might agree to this take it a step farther, but in the direction of greater brutality: they see point sparring as not realistic enough and create full-contact bouts where competitors can (almost) do anything to one another. And then there are those who feel that a person should go looking for fights in bars and other disreputable places in order to “truly” prove their mettle. What next? Return to Dodge City? It all comes back to one problem: the assertion of ego. I’m better than you; I win, you lose (but don’t worry: I will still respect you afterwards, in the name of good sportsmanship, even if I bash your skull in now).

What happens to the winners? Their ego grows proportionately and they crave more winning, more trophies. They get used to it and if, by chance, they don’t succeed somewhere, it must surely be the fault of that incompetent judge or referee.

People who value winning forget that for every winner (or any three winners) there are a whole lot more losers–even if they are not called so. If twenty children compete in a particular division, and only three of them can win, you do the math: there will be seventeen losers. Losing has a devastating feel–and I’m not talking about the senseis who claim they lost their honor or parents who think they’ve been cheated–but I’m talking about the children who genuinely try to win because they think that’s what they’re there for. The sense of worthlessness and guilt that eventually seep into their psyche is truly devastating. They will think they let their parents and their sensei down; they think they’re not worthy of their rank, simply because they value their parents and their sensei too much. Eventually they quit training because they imagine the purpose of karate is to win a trophy. Since they didn’t, they will believe that they’re not good enough. Sensei deserves better students.

I have seen this effect on fragile psyches before, and I value my students too much to let this happen to them. Our Goju-ryu karate went from traditional to classical. When I first made contact with Kurashita sensei a few years ago, his first question to me was, “Do you teach traditional karate? No tournaments?” I understood his concern then and I did even more so after I went to Okinawa. To the Okinawans, karate is a national and cultural treasure whose value lies in the development of the individual. The promulgation of classical, authentic karate precludes tournaments. The two words are actually antithetical and downright oxymoronic.

In America, I believe karate can help provide a cross-cultural bridge and establish an international background where students no longer view themselves as solely belonging to one locality or ethnic group. By being part of a larger human canvas, karate students can eventually see themselves as citizens of the world and partake of another country’s cultural assets. To me, this should be the correct meaning of “American karate”: not karate made by Americans for Americans, but authentic karate with true values successfully transplanted onto American soil and enjoyed by Americans, young and old.

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WORDS TO LIVE BY:

–What exists physically exists first in thought and feeling. There is no other rule.

You project your thoughts, feelings, and expectations outward, then you perceive them as the outside reality. You are the living picture of yourself.

Your body does not just happen to be thin or fat, tall or short, healthy or ill. These characteristics are mental, and are thrust outward by you upon your image.

Your experience in the world of physical matter flows outward from the center of your inner psyche. There is nothing in your exterior experience that did not originate within you.

–Jane Roberts, The Nature of Personal Reality

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RECOMMENDED READING:

THE NATURE OF PERSONAL REALITY by Jane Roberts, co-published by Amber-Allen Publishing and New World Library, 1994. This is decidedly an oldie but, boy, is it a goodie. The original edition of this book came out in 1974 and the world was suddenly introduced to Seth, whether it was ready or not. Seth was an entity channeled in 1963 by Jane Roberts (1929-1984) who has been considered the greatest psychic of the twentieth century. Seth minced no words and told us what we didn’t want to know