The Spirit of Karate

Today I am thinking about the Spirit side of Karate for I have found that without developing one's spirit behind karate, it is far less likely to work.

 

My own spirit was forged under the instruction of Tom Lewis at the Salisbury Dojo.

 

Just to be clear I first became aware of the idea when I read an article about the Isshinryu patch, it described the 3 stars in the sky as having multiple meanings. The one behind my thoughts is the stars represented the Physical, Mental and Spiritual attributes of karate.

 

Not that Lewis Sensei ever gave us a lecture about spirit. In fact no instructor I have trained with in any arts gave such a lecture. I came to realize how real this was over time, much time. But it was a real component of my training none the less.

 

In the paradigm of training at the Salisbury dojo it was instilled into up by being continually facing those better than us during kumite and continually having the lesson knocked into us. Those that understood kept at it and worked to improve.

 

Then when Charles Murray took over my training those poundings continue at a higher level. I never liked them but I continued to work to improve.

 

I was never inspired at kumite, but there were occasions when I went beyond what I could do, opening manifestations of my spirit rising to the occasion.

 

As in any martial endeavor there is not one answer, but gaining the drive to move forward is a large part of the key behind Spirit.

 

The day when I started understanding how it worked came many years later.

 

I was working with a group of my black belts on application potentials within Seisan Kata. They were all over a decade working on Seisan and knew it quite well.

 

As I was working with them a new application potential for the movement series we were working on came to me. I asked one of them to step in and strike at me (just a tool to begin study with) and he did so. I applied what came to me and I disrupted his attack the first attempt.

 

So then I asked another to attack me, and again I made it work. I realized I was on to something.

 

So then I demonstrated what I did to the group. Then I went through it 10 times, even in very slow motion to be sure they understood what I had done.

 

After that I asked them to try and do it against slow attacks.

 

They felt no pressure from the attack to interfere with their mind.

 

But when the attack came, every one of them did something else. Even feeling very low pressure from the attack, they switched to their favorite answer and did that.

 

As for showing effectiveness each one of them would have stopped a very vigorous attach with what they did. It’s just what I wanted them to do was not what they did, instead they did something else.

 

I did not lecture them as I realized they showed me something. Exactly what that was I would go to sleep still thinking about.

 

The Physical – with over a decade of work on the kata, they all were proficient in their execution.

The Mental – I had clearly explained what I was doing. Even to slow motion demonstrations.

The Spirit – This was where the difference lay. I knew I could make the application work. When slightly pressed with the punch stepping in, they did not believe in the technique so they did something they believed in. The reality that I could do it had not transferred to their spirit so they responded where their spirit led them.

 

I am glad they could stop that attack competently. But I already knew that.

 

That showed me I had to work harder to get across their faith in their own spirit to make a technique work.

 

My belief in myself was forged so long ago. I needed to work harder to help them forge their own spirits.

 

An example of where this applies goes to the crux of kata application studies.

 

Showing what is possible is but a part of the journey. The study of Application Potential. It can lead drills of course, but do they lead the spirit behind what is shown.

 

Once one grasps the Potential the real work begins The larger study to reach kata Application Realization.

 

When I hear many talk about ‘bunkai’ the discussions most often centers around the use being shown. Almost never heard is the work to forge the spirit to actually make that technique work against every potential attack. That is a much longer journey.

 

The union of the Physical, Mental and the Spiritual involves far more than this brief discussion. It involves each aspect of our arts.

 

How you forge the Spirit is as important as how he forge the Body and how you forge the Mind.