Goals

I have essentially given up on trying to write a book on Martial Arts in general and Karate specifically.

Perhaps it is my lack of skill in writing on the subject in an organized way that is also engaging. There is also nothing new under the sun.

Taken to writing Fiction, as I have since I was around seven years old, I find it is a better release for me, coupled with drawing, something else I have done since I was very little, although my writing is far more developed than my drawing.

The thing about both is that one can learn technical theory, one can learn about something within a specific genre, yet not be completely bound by it. The sky is the limit in many cases, one can flow in whatever way they want and naturally stick to the principle.

In my mind, writing is like painting pictures with words, drawing is flowing along interesting lines.

Ti is very much the same thing. Karate, as it is now taught, less so.

Maybe if we threw out everything we thought we knew, dispensed with the collection of techniques, ‘Bunkai,’ and the twenty seven plus Kata that we barely understand. Maybe then we could make some progress towards a more nature and, consequently, more effective understanding?

All a person really needs to know is how to move effectively and through which targets to strike that will yield the most effect… Injury. Strategy is born in the middle.

There is no ‘if they do X then I will respond with Y’ equation.

The Karate Ni Senti Nashi Bullshit Mindset will set you off at a disadvantage from the start of any sort of confrontation.

This should not take years of training either. Effective is effective and, for the purposes of being effective, must be effective from day one.

The idea that ‘something comes later’ is not really acceptable. Refinement might come later, but what if something happens now rather than later?

Would a standing Army utilize the methods of something that would take their Soldiers years to apply when they are already at the doorstep of war? Would they utilize those methods even when war is not an immediate threat?

What about Police Officers in a rough city? Would they hold back their trainees for seven years in order to be able to effectively apply their training? 

If the answer was ‘yes’ to any of these then I am afraid you, dear reader, have watched far too many Kung Fu movies.

Is it worth it to train for years? Definitely, especially if you enjoy it, all the better if it is applicable from day one.

I have a belt ranking, that doesn’t matter much to me. If achieving a black belt is your goal then more power to you, but if your goal is immediate ability, the black belt will not mean much.

A passing acknowledgement of refinement? Perhaps.

It doesn’t really matter in the long run, or even the short run, at least to me.

My focus is not on learning a syllabus to pass a test, I barely wear my Karate Gi unless I find myself on occasion to do so, which is rare.

Testing is a means of income in addition to private lessons and regular tuition, which is fine, Sensei’s gotta eat too, but it is nothing special other than the act of doing.

The achievement should already have happened, refinement is the reason for training.

These are all just my opinion, of course, my approach, my way… If these are not in line with yours then great, it means you are an individual capable of thinking for yourself.

The Cult has not yet destroyed your mind.