The new and improved “original”
Many times throughout my training I have developed certain opinions.
As an example, in 1997 one of the things that defined my training was an unpolished
notion about how karate and swords were related. I had the opinion that
training in swords, and getting a good basic understanding of the mechanics,
would increase my understanding of my Karate. It is now 2012; I just finished reading the
book “Empty Hand, the Essence of Budo Karate” by Kenei Mabuni. It was interesting to me that he had similar
thoughts on the topic. This has happened to me on several occasions. Sometimes when
I am studying different karate material these opinions are reinforced exactly
as I understood them; and sometimes they become defined more sharply, giving me
a model to help form my thought more solidly.
I don’t think this is exclusive to karate or budo. I believe
anyone who dedicates any amount of time to something, and reads other
viewpoints in articles, blogs, book, et cetera, will have similar experiences.
The point is if we study long enough, and focus, and train
hard enough, the conclusions we will come to will eventually lead us to
assumptions similar to others who are also training and studying, both
currently and previously. The idea I would like to stress here is that Karate,
budo, is the way it is for a reason. The forefathers and creators of budo have
already come across the same situations and thoughts. Save the fact that the
human body changes, or the physics that are exerted on us change in some way,
then there are no new thoughts to be had about budo. We may witness new ways to
say things, or be presented with ideas in a new way making us think differently
about something, but the root idea isn’t new.
Don’t be “the guy” who always attempts to present
information as if it is brand new and will change the way martial arts is done,
or “the guy” who reads a book, blog or article and then reposts it or repeats
it without proper citation. It’s very important to give proper credit to the
sources of our information; it is too often over looked in martial arts.
It makes us stronger practitioners to be confident about our
abilities and be able to admit we learned something. You can still be a leader,
sensei, study group coordinator, et cetera and still have things to learn. After
all, what better way to live by example than to actively show our students and
lower ranks that martial arts really is a life time study.
