Etiquette, Rank, and Titles.

A recent conversation with some fellow Yudansha from the Organization to which I belong sparked me to write this entry.
What I would like to focus on here is the idea of Rank, Questioning, and Etiquette. These were touched on, albeit the conversation began about something else entirely.

It is not beyond me that there are many Teachers out there whom adhere to the notion that a Student should not question anything, and some whom hold that questioning should be done in private. The latter has my respect, the fore, not so much.
I am not a subscriber to the idea that things are the way they are because ‘Sensei said so,’ but I do respect my Teachers and what they are Teaching, what they have taught, one of those things was to keep an open mind, to question, to be mindful.

The Teacher does not have all the answers and the Teacher is not going to be there when you have to face harsh reality or even violence, whatever the case may be, you are on your own to face those things.... I know, because when I faced whatever was thrown at me I looked at an empty corner, but my Teacher’s voice was always present, so in some ways this is not entirely accurate.
I welcome questions from my students, I expect them to challenge what I am teaching, otherwise they are not learning... That is basic Education 101, if they are engaged then they are going to have questions.
It is not my job to give them all the answers, nor can I, but it is my job to engage them, to push them, and at least give pieces to set them on the right course so that they can figure things out for themselves and become self sufficient.
I teach them how to respect the ways of other schools should they decide to explore them, the importance of etiquette and respect, but I am not teaching them to be my underlings and to bow and kow tow to my every whim... I am a grown man, I should be able to take care of myself... I am teaching them to be better than me so that we can one day meet as equals.

Many place great importance on Rank, Title, and Position, which is basic human nature as we ARE pack animals.
However, Rank is not all it is cracked up to be and is by no means the sole determining factor as to whether or not someone has something to offer. It is also not something to flaunt around, nor hide behind when the baseline of skill is lacking, and those that have it generally do not need to state what rank they are as their skill and knowledge speak for itself.
Wearing such things on your sleeve is bad form in my opinion, and also not very good Self Defense when one thinks more practically.
Most do not even know I train in Karate unless I tell them, I am very private about most of the stuff I am into, so I do not generally offer that information up, nor do so advertise.

The bottom line, there are many unskilled Yudansha and many Kyu ranks with tremendous knowledge because many have trained so deeply on what they have and have just not tested, nor felt the need to.
If rank keeps a Yudansha from learning what such a person has to offer then that has more to do with ego than etiquette. Karate did not originally have ranks and the old school masters awarded none.

Etiquette is important as it promotes humility and respect, it promotes propriety, manners, courtesy, but more important than all this is Shoshin, Beginner’s Mind, you can learn something from anyone and rank, ultimately, does not contain your skill... You do.

Concepts and Principles.

Conceptually Karate is very straight forward, but we have over complicated things beyond the point of making any sense at all.

There was a saying, ‘Kata are like a box of Legos,’ always liked that saying because it rings true in every way for me. 

If things are broken down and stylized responses abandoned then things begin to make sense. What does a basic ‘punch’ tell us? These are not like boxing punches, the punch goes on a long trajectory and one hand comes back to chamber... Pushing and Pulling seems to be the underlying lesson, not necessarily a ‘punch.’

Forget what it looks like or presents itself as or what we are told it is supposed to be, look at the underlying principle itself.

Morote Kamae, what does that say? Put up your dukes? Create a Guard and boundary? A method of creating a boundary for things to go around without landing? Again, forget what it looks like and start focusing on what it is actually saying.

‘Stances’ are just methods of positioning via weight shifting, dropping, rising, forward, back, etc., depending on context... What is the possible context?

Identifying with a style or Organization is fine, but when we say ‘this is how we do this,’ what do we actually mean? Why are things done that way as opposed to another and is there really any difference? Is it just superficial?

The Human Body only moves in so many ways, so there really can be no difference, only in the mind of the practitioner and for no real reason other than an attachment to appearances which yields no real underlying understanding.

If understanding were present then the rest would not matter.

Kendo utilizes a training method known as Tsuburi in which a movement is exaggerated specifically for training and conditioning. 

The stylization behind Karate is similar to Tsuburi, simply an exaggeration for training, emphasis, to draw attention to something specific, not the be all and end all of everything. 

The question in the mind of a Karateka going through Kata or drills should be ‘what principle is this trying to show me and how does it meet the strategy in this context?’ 

Does this make sense? If not, what other way does it make sense? Get a partner and work it through, try it out in a pre-arranged drill, move to free sparring, apply it there, then move to specific scenarios if you are able to do that with any skill in experience. 

Books can, and have, been written on this stuff so I will leave it at that. Good luck and happy hunting.