“Keiko ga owarimashita domo arigato gozaimashita”
It’s the hot summer of 2010, the class at Aso Ryu Aikido, (at the Deighton sports arena) has just finished, we are kneeling around the edge of the tatami.
The class started with kihon, but picked up the pace and ended in randori, for those of us preparing for our Yudansha promotions at the end of the year.
We say our closing phrase, and perform a full kneeling bow to the kamiza (the kamiza is adorned with two pictures, one of course is Morihei Ueshiba O’Sensei, (the founder of Aikido) the other is a photo of his student Kinjo Aso Sensei, the teacher of Billy McAuley our Sensei and whom the club is named after.
Of all the martial arts in my near 40 years of training, Aikido was the martial art which had the most ritual and etiquette, and I loved it.
In Karate and Taekwondo, we would begin and end class with a traditional standing bow, but it wasn’t as formal as the full kneeling bow of Aikido.
Some people, when they first join a traditional martial arts club, find all the rituals of etiquette both confusing and off putting, and so the modern trend is for (especially so for commercial) instructors to start doing away with these formalities and terminology thus creating a more casual atmosphere for their (customers – sorry) students.
For some reason, the atmosphere and seemingly strange customs didn’t phase me when I first began to train, which is surprising really, considering the scrawny, bullied introvert of a kid I was when I first walked in to my first dojo.
In fact I found the environment of mutual respect and courtesy refreshing and comforting, these tough looking teens I was facing were bowing and showing me respect and helping me improve my technique, unlike the sports I was exposed to in school, where there was very little mutual respect and was very cliquey.
So is there a problem with eliminating these rituals of etiquette?
No, of course not, each to their own. If your modern gym uses a fist bump before training and a high five to end class, then so be it.
After all these traditional rituals don’t improve your training, they don’t make our techniques better or worse.
In fact I don’t recall using any formalities when having private lessons with my karate sensei in his converted garage dojo.
So why do I consider these rituals of etiquette important (or maybe I should I say valuable) well that is the nub of the question isn’t it?
Well it isn’t just so we blindly follow tradition, without knowing why, which isn’t useful, and it isn’t about just about being stuck in the past.
There is, I think something special in these rituals of etiquette and let me give you 3 of my personal reasons for this;
- Respect – this is showing respect to your classmates, teacher and lineage. This lineage contains all those who trained and sacrificed to preserve and pass down these teachings, so that you can train today, these people whom you may never meet, are still part of the living history you too are part of.
- 2. A sense of separation – these rituals give you a sense of separation of your everyday life and your time in the dojo. In the 2010 example which I began this post, I would travel straight from the office (and a job I didn’t enjoy) to the class in Huddersfield. It was a moment to settle the mind and body before training, put away your everyday thoughts and just be completely present. We should really value our time in the dojo, that short time we share together, it wont happen again, In that 2010 example, the club described no longer exists, and Sensei McAuley sadly passed away during the pandemic. So always value your time with your teacher.
- Culture – as we are practising a martial arts from Asia, these ritualised forms of etiquette are part of the cultural history of what we are practising (this may not be very popular these days) but it does link us here in the 21st century to the founders of the system which may date back one, two or three centuries.
Recently in our Zen class (which is full of ritualised etiquette) our sensei told us that these rituals are there to support of actual practice, and are not itself the practice.
So that’s my rant for this month, if all the bowing and rituals isn’t for you, then fair enough, don’t let me spoil your martial arts.
Keep training and enjoy the journey.
In the gym which I infrequently visit, there is a mural on the wall which states
‘function follows form’
I like the sentiment of this statement, as a practitioner of traditional martial arts, I’ve often taken this advise to heart.
The way we train in traditional martial arts is very formalised, but when fully understood and applied can (hopefully be also very functional).
I was listening to a podcast recently where some karate sensei were talking about kata and kata bunkai, they were discussing the phenomena they have encountered of instructors reverse engineering kata to suit their applications and the problems this can cause.
So in this case it would be that the ‘form is following the function’.
The instructors have a ‘fixed’ application in mind and make changes to the kata to suit their preconceived ideas, passing on these changes to their students.
For example; a Karate Sensei with a Judo background may adapt their kata to include throws and groundwork, or a Wing Chun Sifu with a kick-boxing background may want to adapt their forms to include point fighting techniques as their application.
Now it is obvious that traditional forms and kata are set out as ‘picture perfect’ techniques, often using exaggerated movements set out in symmetrical patterns of footwork and techniques.
So we (hopefully) can see that we may need to make small adaptations (or adjustments) to the Kata or form for the application to work for you depending on your height, fitness level,etc.
But not to make permanent changes to the root form or kata, if you find yourself doing this, go back and reconsider whether you are looking for an application that doesn’t exist.
Maybe it would help to clarify what I mean adaptations as opposed to changes.
Let’s say a kata has the following movements;
Stepping forward in a long stance (zenkutsu dachi) with a high rising block (jodan age uke), front kick, step down into another long stance and front punch.
The Sensei decides the kata application (bunkai) is – stepping close range, controlling an attacking arm, whilst striking with the forearm into the jaw line, a short stamping kick to the inside of the knee and punch to the throat on a falling opponent. – these are adjustments made for the purpose of a training drill. (Function following form).
Now if the Sensei, begins to train the kata in this way, (knife-hand strikes to the throat, short stances and stamping low kicks) passing on the kata in this manner to their students, and thus changing the very nature of the form. (This would be a case of form following function).
This is change, and they limit the students ability to work through the kata and discover their own applications.
It is said that the forms and kata were a way of transmitting fighting principles and tactical concepts through to the next generation of students, where things couldn’t be written down, and in some circumstances not openly spoke about.
In today’s modern non-traditional direction that martial arts seems to be heading, kata can often be seen as an old fashioned way of learning.
For example; if you want to practice throws, do throwing drills. Why spend years learning kata, so you can eventually strip out an obscure throw from them?
Probably the most famous martial arts practitioner and innovator Bruce Lee, gave up the practice of forms when he developed his system of Jeet Kune Do, despite his root art being Wing Chun, which is heavily influenced by forms practice.
So what’s the problem with doing things your own way?
Nothing, as long as you don’t want to pass a grade using your modified kata, or go on to teach this ‘new’ creation on to your students as the original kata, without some context or explanation.
(Personal expression and change within the martial arts will be the subject of a post in the future).
Lets wrap this up with a couple of quotes, to emphasise this function follows form concept;
“Once a kata has been learned, it must be practised repeatedly until it can be applied in an emergency, for knowledge of just the sequence of a kata in karate is useless”
Gichin Funakoshi.
“We must be careful not to overlook the fact that kata, and the body positions that comprises them, are just templates of sort; it is their application in combat which needs to be mastered”
Choki Motobu
During Thursday’s wing chun class, I was working with a less experienced student doing some poon sau (basic rolling exercise, with changes and stepping) Sifu came over and told me to carry out some corrections and to make sure he was raising his elbow when doing bong sau.
I’ve found myself being fairly reluctant to teach of late, unlike the younger version myself, who was very eager to teach both in assisting my Instructors in class and taking the step to open my own Taekwon-do clubs in 2001.
Again in my Aikido years I would have gladly given advice and helped out ‘teaching’ my kohai (junior classmates) maybe this was a manifestation of the ego, or perhaps a misguided act of compassion.
Often in the traditional martial arts we come across what I jokingly call the ‘green belt 3rd Dan’ phenomena, this is when you have someone with maybe a couple of years experience, who decide to impart their wisdom and knowledge onto lower grades, especially beginners.
This is usually done with good intentions, but also there is probably some ego in there too, kind of proving to themselves and the beginner that they know more than them and are somehow higher in the pecking order, this especially occurs during partner practice, (when training in drills etc) I myself have been guilty of this in my younger years, I’ve also been on the receiving end of this too, which can be very frustrating, even though they are trying to help, they aren’t experienced enough to give the right correction at the right time.
It is like studying for an algebra exam, and this person is trying to help by giving you geometry solutions.
Years ago I took my level 1 coaching course with the British Aikido Board, one of the pitfalls we were warned of is that of ‘over-correcting’, this is where the tightrope of the title comes in, the balance of under or over correcting.
Under correcting leads to poor technique and possibly a false sense of security, also it will be much harder to fix problems later once they have been practised and have become habitual.
Over correcting leads to a different set of problems, where students are constantly interrupted by an overly eager instructor ready to jump in and correct every minute fault.
Again I have been on the receiving end of this and it is very hard to develop your technique and skill, you can’t feel the technique not working and then working out a solution as to where your technique needs improvement or adjustment, as it is important for the student to learn how a technique works as well as why it works.
So when your technique is being interrupted, it is hard to see the flow of the technique or even the complete technique, because of these multiple micro-corrections,this can lead to several problems such as; the students develop an inability to work through and solve problems with their technique for themselves, being constantly corrected can lead to a lack of confidence which can lead to apathy and loss of interest and another problem which can occur is that the student can begin to expect to be corrected by their teacher, this leads to laziness as they know their Sensei will jump in with the answers when their techniques don’t work.
I’ve walked on both sides of this tightrope, both as an instructor and student (a position which I’ve returned to) not to over correct and not to under correct.
An experienced instructor will know the right time to correct the student and when it’s better to step back and allow the student to work through a problem, and develop a feeling for how the technique works, this also helps develop a sense of accomplishment and understanding.
Enjoy your journey, keep moving forward.
“When I finish, I don’t want any applause, I’m not the entertainment”
These were the words spoken by Sensei Shane Riley (7th Dan Shihan) founder & chief instructor of White Rose Aikikai.
It was the summer of 2012 at the British Aikido Board’s National course in Cardiff, where some of the top Aikido Sensei in the U.K. Had been invited to teach.
Each teacher, was given about an hour to instruct, after which they were applauded, and we had a small water break, before the next teacher came onto the mat.
However Sensei Riley didn’t want any applause, he wasn’t the entertainment.
That’s not to say Sensei Riley was a humourless man, far from it.
In our dojo the bowing in and out ‘process’ was always a time of metal preparation or reflection, an opportunity to show gratitude and respect to our teachers, fellow students, the art and to all those who came before us, and for their personal sacrifices, that allow us to attend classes at our local sports centre.
Although this event happened in over ten years ago, this memory was triggered by an event recently;
I was watching a sitcom the other week, where a rather overweight character is talking to one of the stars of the show, about sports.
The rotund character say that he doesn’t work out, but he does ‘Karate’ which trains both his mind and body – cue canned laughter.
Our star replies a black belt isn’t that impressive when its 52 inches long – cue canned laughter.
Have the traditional martial arts descended into a cheap laugh?
This blog post isn’t about being some stone faced grump, enjoyment should play a part in our training.
Of course our training must be focussed and serious, but we should also enjoy our training, if we don’t enjoy it, we won’t turn up, but at the same time it’s not a social club.
Perhaps the reason why I found the sitcom sketch annoying, is because I’m on the inside, this wasn’t an inside joke, it was an ‘outsider’ poking fun of something I’ve spent many years practising, and naturally feel protective of. Had the sketch been about golf for example this wouldn’t have bothered me, as I have no protective bonds to it, but the traditional martial arts do matter to me.
With the event of MMA we are seeing a gradual decline in the interest pure traditional martial arts, many popular clubs being hybrid freestyle clubs, our small old school clubs are seen as being inferior to these modern systems.
If we look to the history, when the ancient Japanese Jitsu styles transformed into Do systems, it became more about the development of character, rather than being about maiming and killing, it became about the perfection of self through our perfection of technique, the Do, the way, the path of attainment of perfection of the person.
So those on the outside looking in, they see us wearing our strange clothes, making silly noises, with our foreign languages, must all seem a bit silly, a thing of humour.
But this is our thing, so of course enjoy your system, enjoy your training, enjoy your martial arts, time is far too short not to.
I’ve finished my first ‘Stoic week’ last weekend, (an on and off line course that lasts for 7 days) and really enjoyed it.
My interest in Stoicism began in January, when I got a couple of books and later took an online training course.
The problem I had however, was that I didn’t really have a ‘model’ on which to base my practice, to put it simply, I didn’t know what practice should look like.
The Stoic week had a different topic per day, with background philosophy explained along with practical exercises to carry out daily.
Monday – we looked at the dichotomy of control, here we realise that we don’t need to try and control everything, in fact the only thing we can control is our response, reaction and actions following (or towards) not the situation itself, it frees up a lot of intellectual & emotional baggage.
Tuesday – we looked at emotions, especially negative ones, creating distance between our emotional responses to events, by zooming out we can create space between the situation and ourselves.
Wednesday – here we looked at the 4 virtues – courage, wisdom, self-control and justice.
This isn’t about having a Victorian puritanical attitude, but rather developing the knowledge and skills to be the best version of ourselves.
Thursday – caring for ourselves and others, caring for our wellbeing, and our compassion so we can begin to extend that out to our family, friends, community and eventually all humanity.
Friday – the bigger picture, this introduced the exercise of taking the view from above, a bit like the exercise we did on Tuesday, learning to change our perspective to see the bigger picture.
Saturday – ‘Stoic it up’ looking at leading a virtuous life and introducing the preferred indifferents.
Looking to build a good character, It’s here we begin to develop the practical skills in order to live like a Stoic.
Sunday – building your Stoic toolbox, putting the exercises into action, develop a daily practice to continue our Stoic practice when the week has finished.
I enjoyed participating in the Stoic week, although there is a lot to take in and put into practice during the 7 day period
To be honest, I was struggling to keep up with the pace of the week, to try and read through the materials, so the videos and audio recordings were a good way to absorb the information.
A week has now passed since the end of the ‘Stoic week’ and I’m feeling slightly more positive, and I now have a better idea, of what a Stoic practice looks like, and I’m maintaining my morning meditations and evening journal.
Lets see how things go…
Dokusan, translates as ‘going alone to a respected one’ is a private interview between Teacher and student in the Buddhist Zen tradition.
This is held in a one to one basis, within the zendo, this is usually a very small candle lit room.
During Dokusan, it is one of the few times a student in the somewhat austere practice, can fully open themselves up fully and freely to their teacher.
During these meetings an examination into their practice is often conducted, to give guidance and encouragement where required, for more experienced students they may be working on a koan, so this would be investigated.
As this is an open talk and discussion, they can become emotionally charged, often tears are involved, I once heard of a teacher being physically attacked during Dokusan.
During my time in Zen Buddhism I attended Dokusan twice with Zen teachers, it was sometimes useful to get advice from the top people, sometimes receiving grounded practical advice, at other times being given a somewhat mystical answer. Overall the general principal is what happens in Dokusan, stays in Dokusan.
So what does this have to do with Chi Sau, and Wing Chun Kung Fu?
Well one of the principles of Dokusan, is that you’re sat with your teacher (a one to one basis), your teacher did the same with his teacher, and so on and so forth, back through the generations, until two thousand years ago (or there a bout’s) a student sat down with the Buddha in a one to one meeting.
This meeting of minds, is one of the principles of Dokusan an unbroken lineage back to the Buddha sitting with his student.
So thinking about Chi Sau (sticking hands) I roll hands with my Sifu, who rolled hands with his teachers, who rolled hands with Ip Chun, who in turn rolled hands with his father, Ip Man.
Like Dokusan Chi sau gives us this lineage between teacher and student on a one to one basis, so this action of touching hands with my Sifu is part of my heritage linking my current practice back through time to the late Grandmaster Ip man.
Thinking back to Zen, one of the main outcomes of Dokusan meeting, is for the student to feel supported, encouraged and possibly challenged (that leads to growth and strength in their practice) this is the same with Chi Sau, which is a great way to have a (literal) hands on assessment of the students growth within the system.
Also a student should leave feeling encouraged but also challenged to again encourage growth and development, if you have a good Sifu.
So I think the keywords to take from both Dokusan and Chi Sau, is encouragement and challenge.
During this weeks class, I was picked up on a couple of small technical issues, then I was given a nice compliment by Sifu, this in my opinion is a good example of balanced teaching, compliments and critique.
During my years in training (30+) I’ve encountered all types of instructors, the good, the bad and the rest.
Some taught in a very positive manner, some in a negative way whereas the majority were somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.
Here are a couple of personal examples of the extremes on this spectrum.
Instructor A – a prominent member of the association I was part of, indeed he rose to the top of the association, he was a popular instructor with a large junior membership, he taught in a very positive way, which can be a good thing for students lacking self esteem, however this can be a double edge sword. On a technical level if you’re telling your students everything they do is fantastic and brilliant, on the short term the problems may not be immediately apparent, however issues may start to present themselves in the long term.
Imagine the following, that student is in front of a grading panel, for a high level grade, perhaps this instructor id grading his own students with a panel of his own black belts, or an invited guest to grade his students.
So now these technical issues are in the spotlight, so without wanting to upset his students, these faults are overlooked, to be fixed in class – where once again he will be highly praised.
As this teacher not only wants wall to wall students but also a certain level of income.
This of course leads to a lessening of quality within the club, this will lead to a perpetuating negative technical spiral.
Instructor B – again who will remain nameless, he was my instructor for a while, he had a very negative teaching style (and was basically a bit grumpy) he disliked our association and the grade syllabus he had to teach from, eventually the club closed (this could be because of many factors) but the fact that the membership had dwindled to just two students must have been one of them.
Even on the last class, as we shook hands and I thanked him for his teaching, he said that it was a shame that my sempai and I hadn’t started our training earlier, as we may have had our black belts by now, but then he turned to me, and said that I would have probably struggle to pass.
Negative to the last.
I know he wasn’t happy with his work, as he would tell us often in class, but why bring that to the dojo?
I now sometimes struggle to understand why I travelled to train with this teacher.
Teaching is a balance, the positive and negative, the yin and the yang.
It is of course important that technical mistakes and issues are brought to light and corrected, not to feel superior, or because you’re in a bad mood that night, but because you have a duty to your students.
They are after all perpetuating your lineage, and are a product of your system and techniques.
So as in life we take the rough with the smooth, every correction is an opportunity for growth.
I think my Sifu does this well, a good level of technical correction to improve the overall quality of the student.
Remember when you water down your students technical proficiency, ultimately you weaken your own legacy.
So just like the proverbial see-saw of the title, we need the ups and downs of life, or rather we want the ups, whereas we need the downs.
Without the obstacles and tribulations in life, we will not develop the strength and resilience we need in our life.
This was some sage advice given to a group of us students years ago by one of my Aikido Sensei’s (Mark Danford), It was at the end of a Thursday nights class, some of the students were preparing to grade soon, and Sensei had been going through some of the terminology they may come across on their examination.
As we were kneeling on the mat ready to finish, he gave us this advice, ultimately it was about us taking on some of the responsibility for our development, in this example taking time to learn the terminology.
I remembered this advice recently, as I feel as though I’ve been guilty of this passenger status for the last few months, I have really been struggling with my motivation in my Wing Chun training, as the club trains in a very traditional way (based I guess on the Hong Kong model) we don’t have grades, or progress assessments – and so It is sometimes difficult to monitor personal growth and development in the system, it’s the first time in my 30+ years of martial arts training, where there are no grades. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing just something I’ve not dealt with before.
Last week, whist on holiday, I woke early one morning went to the beach and did my first form Siu Lim Tau, with only the sound of the seagulls and waves for company, and realised that I had grown lazy in my training, so I’ve begun to take time out every day to do some training, it doesn’t have to be hours, but just doing something and making small progress is still progress.
My Sifu is always telling us that the key to developing our Wing Chun is practicing ‘little and often’ and I’ve determined to put this into practice. To take on some responsibility to set small goals and work to achieve them.
In the Japanese Budo arts our training is referred to as DO – ‘the way’ or ‘the path’. So as we travel on our journey along the ‘way’ we have to make the decision on whether to be a satisfied passenger, or to take the reins (and personal responsibility) to make sure we are heading in the right direction.
Our Wing Chun classes started back on January the 5th, I have been training at home over the three week holiday, mostly practicing forms and drills.
It was a fairly poor turnout, but we did have a new starter so that’s a positive start for the New Year.
We started with the first and second forms, before spending about an hour on Chi Sau, which was great as this is exactly what I need to improve upon, the class finished with some ‘capturing centre drills’.
One of the things that I noticed with my Chi Sau, is that I’m focusing all of my attention on my arms (where the contact is being made) and forgetting to pay attention to my stance, which I found was becoming too narrow and unstable, something I will work on this year, I also need to work on my drills from Red 3 onwards.
So a really enjoyable start to the new year.
My friend and somewhat of a mentor Marcus passed away on the 22nd December.
A larger than life character, his enthusiasm, happiness and warmth could fill a room, we first met when I sought out the SGI Buddhist practice (from my previous Zen practice) he would often visit on a Thursday night to do evening Gongyo together, and give me some guidance and encouragement.
Marcus encouraged me to receive Gohonzon, and take my level 1 exam, he was always a source of encouragement and inspiration in my practice, especially when my local district had to close, and I was unable to attend meetings.
So rest in peace my friend, I will always cherish those Thursday nights full of warmth and wisdom, hopefully our paths will cross again, and we can continue our conversations and studies.
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