Sadly, this last kind of respect is often abused or over-emphasized in martial arts relationships.  Respect should always be mutual, no matter how skilled the teacher.   In the West, we tend to dramatize the teacher-student relationship.  Many instructors use this fact to ask too much of their students or take too much credit for their accomplishments.  Although it is true that a good student who has a highly skilled teacher will naturally excel beyond a good student with an average or mediocre instructor, it is always the student’s efforts over time that create skillful martial artists.  For example, in the years that Bruce Lee had schools and taught martial arts classes, there are probably less than 10 of his students who actually took their training seriously enough to become highly skilled themselves.  These individuals excelled not just because they had Bruce Lee as their example, but because they pushed themselves beyond where most people could go.

A great student will emulate his/her teacher to a point, but more due to coincidence than pure intention.  It is natural for a student to try to be like her teacher because that is how learning takes place in the beginning phases.  However, most renown martial artists in history (and in modern times) have become known for their creativity and originality, not for their teacher’s ability alone.  All teachers deserve our respect, but they are not the only reason we can succeed as students.

At some point, the romantic notion of the master-student relationship boils down to a progression of development which leads to the student becoming autonomous.  The point of training is not to glorify the teacher, it is to refine the student and lead him/her to their own path.  All students who have the desire should be encouraged to become masters (or teachers) of their own style, not merely shining examples of their teacher’s methods.

My goal as an instructor is to give my students a strong foundation (a beginning) and to help guide them as their skills develop.  I want my students to develop beyond where I can take them.  I do not have all the answers, and my method is not the only one that works.  I respect my students as much as I respect my teachers, we all work hard to develop our skills.

As of today (June 15th, 2010) I will no longer wear a black belt during classes, belt tests or any other event.  I will also cease to wear traditional martial arts uniforms.  There are four main reasons that I have made this choice:

1.  The practical application of a traditional karate belt or kung fu sash is absent.  The belt serves as a symbolic decoration rather than a functional necessity.  In some instances belts can interfere with movement training.  Belts can get in the way of arm movements and get caught up during weapons practice.  Another practical reason for me to hang up my belt is that my job requires me to be a personal trainer, one-on-one martial arts coach and a fitness class leader.  If I had to wear a uniform every time I taught a martial arts lesson and then wear workout apparel for private coaching and fitness training, I would changing clothes 3-5 times a day!  Workout apparel is a more functional type of attire for my daily activities.

2.  The politics of martial arts relates almost entirely to ranking systems and the requirements for black belt competency.  Many people in the martial arts take issue with each other over the method and manner of black belt certification.  I have been involved in these kinds of politics for long enough to know that my black belt is as much a source of political criticism as it is a symbol of achievement.  As a professional instructor I want to focus my energy on my students and refine my art in ways that will benefit them, not develop it according to the political will of other instructors who are not affiliated with my school or my programs.

3.  Bruce Lee did not believe in belts or belt systems, nor did he wear traditional uniforms.  He thought that belt systems were a distraction from training and created barriers to training.  I have to agree with him to a point.  I do think belt systems are effective for youth students.

4.   As a martial artist my goal is life-long mental and physical health through habitual martial arts training and safe, effective exercise.  My long term goals also include personal development, professional development and financial success.  I have never trained in martial arts to achieve rank.

Having said all of this, I must now explain how it will affect my students.

• For my youth students (ages 4-12 years) the belt system and uniform requirements will be unchanged.  Any youth student who joins the adult program at age 13+ will be able to continue wearing their uniform and belt or to put them aside.
• For all adult students, you will have the option to wear a belt or not.  You may also wear workout apparel that is consistent with the school dress code (which can be found in the parent manual on this website).  All rank certificates will still be awarded according to the existing curriculum structure.  I will award belts to all adult students at their promotions, and each student can choose to either wear their belt or display it at home.

The instructor’s level of skill can always be surpassed, so the question is not how skilled the teacher is, it is really how much effort the student expends.

Unfortunately, in America, we often see teachers in the same way we see service providers, rather than honoring them as experts.  For example, when I studied kung fu in Chinatown Seattle, people would sometimes complain that the master did not show them enough during class.  I always found that hard to hear because, in my mind, I wondered how the student thought they knew how much they should be learning?  After all, the master had done martial arts all his life, and he was incredibly skilled, so I trusted him to lead me in the right direction.  Obviously, the other students had a different point of view.

Recently I have come to realize that, as Americans, we see everything we pay for from the customer perspective.  Our nation is full of customers who want excellent service, great prices and instant gratification.  When we order products online we can choose to receive the product in a week or overnight depending on how much we are willing to spend.  When we pay a gardener or an accountant, we want them to get things done as quickly as possible.  When we are the customer, we expect to be served well.  Because of this point of view, we transfer certain expectations to our teachers.

We enroll in martial arts classes with the idea that the teacher is our “service provider” and that their job is to serve us as the customer.   Teachers with real skill help their students grow by pushing them to train harder and training them to dig deeper on their own, not by just showing more technique.  We also must remember that when we hire a gardener to landscape our yard, we don’t have to do anything but pay the bill.  In martial arts, the teacher can show us the way, but we have to do the work.

No matter what techniques I have been show throughout the years, it has always taken a lot of effort to understand their function.  Martial arts is an acquired skill for every person – from gifted athletes to de-conditioned couch potatoes.  Regardless of what techniques any individual learns or how skilled the teacher is, a person can excel in martial arts if he or she puts forth the effort.

The movements of martial arts are simply movements, they are not exceptional in and of themselves.  They don’t come alive unless we use them in creative and dynamic ways.  A sword is simply a piece of sharp, forged metal and has very few interesting qualities until it is wielded by someone who can manipulate it.  Then we start to notice the craftsmanship and artistic aspects of its design.  In other words, the movements never change, no matter how many we can learn, they only become more meaningful because of the way we learn to utilize them.

Basic movements and body positions are the foundation of every sport and yet they can seem amazing when someone uses them in an exceptional way.  For example – as a child I was always in awe of Hall of Fame basketball star Michael Jordan.  His leaping ability and athleticism were incredible.  Yet if we examine his basic skill sets they match almost every other professional basketball player: jumping, sprinting, shooting, dribbling, passing, defensive footwork, dunking, etc.  It was the particular timing and style that Jordan used which made him a cut above.

Almost all martial arts share a common set of basic skills, but it is the dedicated, patient and aware students that make the movements meaningful through their own interpretations.

1. Age
2. Class Attendance
3. Practice Time

Age: In our school a person below 18 years old will not earn a full black belt.  We award junior black belts to exceptional youth student’s between 13 and 17 years of age.  In the 7 years I have been at GHKA we have awarded only one of those.

The adult martial arts program is set up for a true beginner ages 13 and up to earn a black belt in 3-4 years provided their attendance and practice time are consistent.

Attendance: It is hard to learn and progress without attending martial arts classes regularly.  Just getting in the door every week helps students get closer to their black belt.  Inconsistent attendance will not only slow progress, it will almost always lead to failure.  I recommend that all students attend (at the absolute minimum) attend 2 hours/week of class.

Practice Time: They 3 secrets to mastering martial arts are practice, practice, practice.  All students need to train on their own at least 1 time/week in addition to their regular class attendance.  More practice is great, but practice time cannot replace class hours.  Students who attend classes but do not practice on their own will only go so far.  Students who practice on their own but don’t attend class will progress slowly.

There is nothing mystical about achieving skill in the martial arts, it takes work.  Students must attend classes and practice on their own.  That is what it takes.  Anyone who thinks they can become skilled in any other way is simply wrong.

Unfortunately for me, I did not interact with him again until many years later (shortly after I became a Shodan in Isshinryu Karate) at a George Shin kata tournament.  As I was leaving the building, Shihan Edwards asked who my sensei was and casually invited me to his school.

I did not visit his school until a couple years later, and I now wish I had gone there sooner.  Eventually, I began attending his class regularly and he visited my school on several occasions.  During that time, I can’t say that I learned or practiced anything “advanced” or even really new, but I began to understand karate in a way that I had never imagined possible.

It was astounding to me how much material he could extrapolate from something as “easy” as an outside arm block.  I was amazed at the intricate thought processes and martial arts strategy that he developed and deduced from less than 10 simple movements.  I realized very quickly that I had a lot less knowledge of Isshinryu than I had previously thought.

Shihan Edwards showed me that the only wisdom in martial arts is the wisdom that comes from humility.  I was watching one the most accomplished Isshinryu men on the planet tear down and rebuild an entire martial arts system in just his white belt curriculum!  How could this be happening?  I had spent so much time trying to become more “advanced” as a black belt that I had assumed away all the most important elements of Isshinryu.  Being part of Shihan’s class opened my eyes to the real value of Isshinryu karate as a martial art.

Beyond the precision of his technique, Shihan Edwards was the first Isshinryu Sensei to treat me as man first and a student second.  He was also the first Isshinryu man to recognize my training in other martial arts as an asset to my Isshinryu karate, rather than as a distraction from it.  I continue to look to Shihan for his guidance as I strive to develop my understanding of Isshinryu karate, and I believe that he understands the spirit of karate better than anyone else I have ever known.

My interpretation of what is presented in a seminar, class or test is not necessarily the point of the lesson.  Everyone has had moments in training when they ask themselves “why are we doing this again?”  Sometimes the reason for a lesson may not become clear until days, weeks, months or years later.  The moment of clarity is accompanied by some slight regret “If I had only figured this out years ago, where would I be?”

Martial arts is an incredibly deep pool of knowledge, wisdom and technique.  It takes years just to explore the surface of the pool with no time to dive down deeper and see what is below.  Whether exploring the surface or diving into its depths, the pool is still made of water.

The study of martial arts will never be anything but a journey.  Sometimes it will make sense, and at other times the journey will seem absurd.  Either way, there is only what is taught and what is learned.

I now understand that my greatest limitation is not what lessons I did not receive or what lessons I misunderstood.  My greatest limitation is me – when my mind is open and clear I can find value in almost any martial arts lesson.  When I am being stubborn and distracted I have trouble getting value from my own practice sessions.

Fighting skills are inherently dangerous and therefore must be practiced and demonstrated with an acute sense of personal responsibility.  This responsibility is to three distinct people or groups of people:

1. Ourselves: We must recognize what we have done, or failed to do, as we progress through the ranks.  We cannot blame anyone but the person in the mirror for lost training time or a lack of discipline.  We must be accountable to ourselves for our own decisions and actions.
2. Our Sensei/Sifu/Guro: Our instructor is a guide, a leader, a role model, and has sacrificed many things to achieve a high level of skill.  Our teacher is also our helper.  He or she pushes us to succeed and expects us to work hard.  Once we have learned the skills that the teacher asks us to practice, we are obligated to follow through.  It is our responsibility to respect the knowledge that is given to us and honor our teacher with our hard work.
3. Our Classmates: We owe it to our training partners and fellow classmates to train safely and to be competent in all areas of skill.  Our own lack of skill can limit our training partner’s ability to progress as well.

Responsibility cannot be learned from a textbook or a video, it is something we must practice by making good choices and respecting those around us.  In martial arts training, there are no excuses.  What defines our success or failure is our own level of personal responsibility.

To earn his Fitness Star awards, Sam had to complete 10 fitness challenges for the year including:

• 90 second wall sit (ouch)
• 3 minutes of jumping jacks
• 15 correct push-ups

Congratulations to Sam – hopefully there will many more students who follow your lead.

We even had several requests to take out team on the road and clean some households!  We must have done a good job.

The spirit of martial arts is one of humility and hard work.  Dojo cleaning day takes a lot of both of those qualities.  All participants cleaned hard with smiles on their faces and exhibited some great teamwork.  Thanks for your help!