July 5, 2009
The Beginning and No Super Powers
There have been two common questions when my family and friends heard that I was successful at my black belt test. Yesterday, my grandmother watched the DVD and then said, "Well now that you're a black belt, you're done so you can be at home more with your children, right?"
"No Grammom!" I told her, "this is just the beginning." I explained to her that most of my training time is in the evening, and that a good portion of it happened when my girls were already in bed.
"Well what do you do now? You're already a black belt."
"You keep going and you keep learning and training," I told her.
I've been absolutely shocked by the number of people who think that getting a black belt is the end. For martial artists, this is just the beginning. I was telling Mr. BBM about the conversation with my grandmother and said that it would be like going to the grocery store for a ton of food and then not cooking any of it, instead just letting it rot away. It would be like working hard to get a degree and then deciding to take a job that requires no education or experience. What's the point?
The other question I've been getting is "How does it feel to be able to kick anyone's butt?" That one just makes me laugh. My sister asked me the other day and I explained to her that the black belt does not hold super powers. It doesn't make you invincible. Anyone who thinks that is setting themselves up for a very rude awakening. I told my sister that what feels best about getting to Shodan is knowing how much hard work I put into it and reaching a goal that I thought was previously unattainable.
These videos are for John of Martial Views, by special request. The first is kata Wansu. Click here if you can't see it below.
Here is Seisan. . . If you can't see it here, click here.
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Thanks for the video.
I like the degree analogy, someone once described Shodan as getting your bachelors degree in that you have shown you understand the basics, time to move on to graduate studies.
Congratulations.
“…now that you’re a black belt, you’re done so you can be at home more with your children, right?”
Ha! This is almost verbatim what my mom said when I got my black belt – except no kids then – something about studying more or getting on with my life or something…
My response was the same as yours
Interesting, and well done. Here’s a link to another one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMOWXszphik
This is Allan Amor, who was one of Taika Oyata’s students for many years (he is no longer with the association) doing what we call “Tomari Seisan.” As I understand it, your lineage goes (at least in part) Shigeru Nakamura–>Seikichi Odo–>Mr. Heilman. This clip shows Shigeru Nakamura–>Taika Oyata–>Allan Amor, which is the closest I could come on Youtube to showing you what we do in RyuTe. I would have just copied Taika’s performance of the kata (I have it on disc in more than one place) and sent it to you, but some of the things I’ve been given, I’ve been given on the understanding that I would not pass them around.
At any rate, I hope you enjoy the clip and looking for points of similarity and dissimilarity.
Interesting kata. A new Seisan for me to study.
keep it up
That was fascinating. I study Isshinryu, and we use both Seisan and Wansu, but ours look quite a bit different from yours. I can recognize both katas (and suspect you’d be able to identify mine in return), but the differences are pretty large. Plus your Wansu is about half the length of ours. Did John request them because they are some of the overlap katas to Isshinryu?
If I ever get some good video I’ll have to post some of mine, but right now the only kata I have video of is Sunsu, which is an Isshinyru-specific kata.
I forgot to mention that I didn’t get any superpowers when getting my brown belt.
you’re telling me there aren’t any powers at black belt either??!?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I read somewhere that attaining a black belt really was just like starting over, only with more years of experience behind you to bolster your learning.
I like your comparisons. It makes a lot of sense.
The videos are very cool! I was glad to see them–I like seeing new things. Thank you for sharing!!
I love this blog- this is most fluid, no ego, true discussion of Bushido and the Martial Way I have come across- great community of thinkers, discussions, and the sharing of information- which is what this should be all about. So, kudo’s to you all and thank you to BBM for providing the catalyst and the environment for these discussions; great topics and great posts. Thank you very much.
With regard to Perpetual Beginner-
We as well include Wonsu (as well as Wonkon, Rohai and the Gojo Ryu, Fukyu’s) in our training- not formal for us, but an excellent form exercise and warm up Kata for us. Increasing the carriculum one studies improves the karateka.
Our variation to the Wonsu shown above is that we use very low shiko dachi stances and do not come up as we move from stance to stance- also for us, there is definite shuto before the punch sequence.
If BBM has any videos of other Kata groups, I would be interested in seeing them as well. I looked at your YT page and do not see any-
Best Regards and best of luck and dedication on your Do, wherever it take you.
Robert
I love this blog- this is most fluid, no ego, true discussion of Bushido and the Martial Way I have come across- great community of thinkers, discussions, and the sharing of information- which is what this should be all about. So, kudo’s to you all and thank you to BBM for providing the catalyst and the environment for these discussions; great topics and great posts. Thank you very much.
With regard to Perpetual Beginner-
We as well include Wonsu (as well as Wonkon, Rohai and the Gojo Ryu, Fukyu’s) in our training- not formal for us, but an excellent form exercise and warm up Kata for us. Increasing the carriculum one studies improves the karateka.
Our variation to the Wonsu shown above is that we use very low shiko dachi stances and do not come up as we move from stance to stance- also for us, there is definite shuto before the punch sequence.
If BBM has any videos of other Kata groups, I would be interested in seeing them as well. I looked at your YT page and do not see any-
Best Regards and best of luck and dedication on your Do, wherever it take you.
Robert
What a nice thing to say! I have video of almost all of our open hand kata up to Shodan so Ill get around to posting them within the next week or so. This blog tends to draw in some great readers/thinkers and Im glad to see its a good resource for other people as well.
Cool! I’ll check it out. I noticed on Youtube another wansu video the other day. It was MUCH longer than the one we do. Keep in mind that my teachers, the Heilman’s, also studied with Master Trias for quite some time.
Yes, John wanted to see what ours look like. If I’m not mistaken, I believe that the ones we have that are similar go in opposite directions to start. For example, Nai Hanchi Shodan goes to the right first for us and I believe it’s opposite in Isshinryu.
Well, the only “super power” I’ve found is that friends move away from you when they hear you’ve passed. 😉
I’ve heard that too. I’m definitely finding that to be true so far.
Yep, that’s the only response there really is!
I’ve heard that analogy as well.
Indeed? The Trias thing, that is? Shuri Ryu is interesting, to say the least. I’ve got his book, The Hand is My Sword, and seen a couple of clips from Shuri Ryu folks on Youtube, and it’s been just enough to make me want to look more deeply into it.
There are so many interesting little tidbits to karate history…
Awesome, thanks for posting this.
Isshinryu’s Seisan and Wansu are somewhat different from Okinawa Kenpo’s. Wansu is a bit closer and a little shorter; the opening series is nearly identical to ours. We also do the scoop and throw move in the middle.
Seisan we also perform the grab and pull with the forced breathing. And you’re right, Isshinryu’s Naihanchi (we do just one version, most styles have three) starts to the left.
I’m not a big fan of doing kata by the count. Feels kind of constrained doing them that way if you know what I mean. I never really got used to that method. I’m assuming everyone in that group is testing, right? I guess that moves testing along a lot faster that way.
Very nice kata performances, BBM. Looking forward to seeing the rest. And thanks mucho for the link love (again)!
Yes, if Im not mistaken I believe he studied first with Master Trias and then began his study of Okinawan Kenpo. He was taught by Master Trias, as was his wife, Kyoshi Heilman, for a very long time.
No problem. More are on the way. I just didnt want to bore everyone with too many all at once. 😉 Funny that you go to the left for the Nai Hanshi katas. We think you do them backwards and you think we do the same, huh?
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The count is done like this for testing purposes only. As one of my instructors explains, at testing they want to make sure youre eating each and every technique, which is why we do it that way. It also keeps everyone together for easy viewing by the Renshi Kai as well. These videos are all from testing and everyone there is testing for either Shodan or above.
That’s correct. We do left first in Naihanchi. Our opening step out in Wansu is in the same direction as yours, though. I would suspect, based on these two, that a lot of the specific moves would be different. Our Seisan, for example, has a front kick in the turn & punch sequence (turn, punch, punch, kick, punch).
When I started with my current Sensei, the hardest thing to do was unlearn the katas I already knew (I was moving from one Isshinryu teacher to another in a different lineage), and learn them again just barely differently. The more subtle the difference, the more fits it gave me to change it.
Yup, I get those comments when I got my black belt, too. “That’s the highest rank, right?” “So now you’re done?” “What are you gonna do now?”
No. No. Keep training. 🙂
Hello!
My name is Warran and first I would like to say this a very cool website! In regards to this topic, it’s still amazing how uninformed people continue to buy into the media’s interpretation of the martial arts, especially karate. They think that black belts are so powerful that they can beat up an entire army with their bare hands! They need to explore a career as science-fiction writers! lol. 🙂 I once read an article by Sensei Wendy Lara Preston who was having a conversation with her master from Okinawa. Her master said that Westerners have the wrong idea about karate. She was surprised at this remark and asked him what he meant. He told her that “Karate is about creating a positive inner self.” After I read that, I had to agree even though I’m not studying martial arts at the present time. My hope is that one day people will stop taking everything the media says at face value, and use their common sense. Again, great website and congratulations on your promotion to black belt!!