When you think about the origins of Karate you begin to realize that was a very different world where Karate was created than the world you live in today. It developed for
a private need for families to use in the service of their country. And the
instructor only taught students who lived in a walking distance from him.
Which meant everyone in the area knew what they were doing,
what their character was, that and their training was something their family
sought for them, preparing them for their greater family role. The instructor
came from those same families and the training he offered was just as focused
to give them what they would need in their larger family roles.
That led to a tighter relationship between family, student
and instructor than any of us experience this day. And I am sure your students
do not as a group live within a walking distance of where you teach.
You had fulfilled the needs of your students when they were
trained so they could take on the roles of their positions in their families.
They were not to be students for life, or to be trained to become instructors.
There was a definite endpoint to their studies.
Then when things opened up and karate was taught to students
in the schools and to others outside of the original families, there were still
so many links to the older personal traditions too.
What we do is built on those foundations, but in very
different ways. I often think on this as I deal with ageing and disability that
I possess.
The hardest thing is not the restrictions that have been
placed on my Karate and t’ai
chi. The hardest thing is I don’t get to work with others and continue to
develop my understanding of the arts I love.
So I still practice abet very slowly. Think about my karate
constantly. Realize I know so little and then still work to understand a bit
more. Every thing I’ve learned was a struggle, nothing was ‘given’ to me and
many, many of the lessons I’ve lived the hard way.
My senior students have been thoroughly trained over their
decades with me. They do not need anything else, but there was so much more
that I saw I took a friends advice and saved as much for them as possible on my
blog. For what is not written down can become vapor-ware. And
perhaps on some future day it may be useful for them or a student of theirs to
have access to what I have seen.
But now living far away I share some of the entries many
places. I find there are too many things never discussed and I hope something
might spark discussion where I can learn more. There are rare occasions that
happens. But for the most part I never hear a response. Nothing new about that
for decades before FaceBook I did the same on the Discussion Groups and found
pretty much the same thing.
But it seems somebody pays attention. I have never felt
anything need be hidden and want everyone to access these things. Now I seems
that I have had some response for over 550,000 views have been made on my blog. Of course there are things I do not post
there, instead send privately to my students, I am quite sure they feel too
frequently.
I am just trying to ensure that I have left nothing unsaid.
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