Ronin
I did one of the hardest things I've had to do in a long time. It was in some ways very easy; in others, it was uncomfortable beyond words. Given some very disturbing changes to the policies and practices of my association, I gave notice that I would no longer list my dojo as an affiliate.
This does two things:
- it means I am no longer a recognized "dojo director" with the association. This carries with it the loss of voting power or say within the operation of the association. More with that later.
- it also leaves my students without attachment to a recognized association.
This last one may be a bit disconcerting to many of them. I don't see as big of a deal. I have spent a good deal of my life attached to an organization. I have benefitted in many ways from this association. While there is obviously an air of legitimacy in belonging to an association, I do not believe that one must belong to an association to be legitimate. In fact, I know of people who belong to associations that lost their lineage and their way long ago. Yet, they continue to see themselves and what they do as legitimate.
Their certification will still be good in my dojo. And what they learn will still be valid. Their karate is their karate. They need to look at it as the fact that their karate has not changed. It is no better and no worse now with this change.
It's not the first time I have been ronin. I left the association I belonged to back in the early 80s, when I first graded to shodan, because it was becoming about money and proliferating the art - for money. I believed in karate-do, I had a harder time with karate-dough. Back then, as legitimate as my association was, they saw each new dojo opened as a means of spreading their art and gaining a certain level or power and prestige. Big association = important association. Such was the thinking, but it was not necessarily the truth.
Back then, I was young and naive and was not comfortable with running a dojo for money. I was also afraid of speaking up to my sensei or the masters. So, I did the chicken thing and left. I decided to see the martial world and look around a bit. Well, lemme tell ya, back in those days, there were not many flavours in Western Canada when it came to martial arts. Some of them were the same flavour with different packaging.
I picked Tae Kwon Do. Or maybe it picked me. I was drawn by the notion of tournaments (they were foreign concepts to me); I figured if Daniel-san could do them, then I should, too. I tasted the WTF Kool-Aid and lived to tell the tale. I also got the taste of the marketing machine that is TKD in much of North America. I saw things I did not like. I saw power-plays I didn't appreciate. I saw people bastardize themselves for power. And money... oh yes, the money. I knew what I liked and what I didn't. I was not a TKD guy at heart... and it was drilled into me that I was not really my instructor's student... I was just a karate guy doing Tae Kwon Do. That did not stop him from using me as free labour. I developed a new skill and a new dislike for politics in martial arts.
When I joined my current association a few years ago, I did so because it gave my students opportunities that my other, former association and style could not. Not having as big of a population in Western Canada as it did in the Ontario region meant fewer possibilities for them to study with a senior instructor without paying a lot of money. I never wanted to nickle and dime my students. Yet, that is what it would have meant. So, I traded style for opportunity. I had experience with Goju-ryu, but to be truthful - as I saw it - not formally. I trained with a man I met when I was finishing up my BA. I did not join his school for his awesome karate - truth be told I had more time on the floor than he did. I stayed with him because I admired his dedication and his heart. The association, as I got to know it over time, had moments of credible status with other leaps of questionable lineage. But, I was not grading in this art, I was learning karate. So, I did not care. I was learning.
The time I joined on with my association was, as I said, a moment of opportunity for my students. I felt there was a direction and opportunity for them. And I felt that the association held the philosophies and standards I had come to expect from Okinawan karate. Their values were my values.
But in the last couple of years, I started to notice a change. It was not a change that I was happy with. I also saw practices of other instructors, many new, but some more seasoned than I, within the association that did not fit with the values of Okinawan karate. Unlike the last time I was faced with issues of incongruous values, this time I hung around and asked the difficult questions. I cited problems. I offered solutions. I was not complaining, I was trying to make the association better and stronger.
And after 30+ years on the floor, through many different styles and associations, I think I know a thing or two about what works and what doesn't.
But, I was ignored. I was slapped down. I saw people close their eyes, drag their feet and spin their wheels when it came to problems and challenges in the association. I saw a collection of martial money changers - people for whom the art of karate had turned into the business of karate... and now business was becoming the key concern. I saw the values change.
And once the values diverge, one has two choices: follow blindly and drink the Kool-Aid or push for change. Well, as I said, push I did. I made a few enemies in the administration and likely amongst the friends of those who held power in the association. But, sadly, to no avail. If it simply becomes a restrictive exercise that costs my dojo for the 'benefit' of affiliation or alliance, then, sorry, I have to stave off.
Do not get me wrong. My people have been well-served by the senior instructors who have come to my dojo or who have worked and taught my students. It is the administrative side, the business side of the equation, one that is not controlled by the Okinawans, that raises my ire and lowers my desire. So, I did what I could, I said what I could say. I offered my thoughts and my opinions. And when more straws were added to the camel's back, it was time to call things as I saw them - improper.
There is an organizational pride, contested at that, that the founder of the association was heir designate of Miyagi Chojun. Miyagi's obi and uwagi being presented to him, the assertion was that this made the organization the true stream into which his karate system flowed. I say contested because there is another organization that believes it, too, was the official dojo to continue his lineage and tradition. Yet, with many of the changes and rules that have come about, it would seem that the stream has been diverted and, thus, diluted. I'm not the only one to think so. I'm just the one who made the first step over the line. It will take the family's intervention and retention of control to correct the deviation that we have experienced and bring more equality back to the system.
Since I was unable to change while I was a member, perhaps losing the dojo will be a statement that will be noticed.. by someone... somewhere. I know I am not alone in how I feel about the direction and management of the association. Whether the others will follow suit with me is up to them. I am encouraging the dojo owners that are unhappy to voice and file their concerns with the Okinawan masters.
I'll stay on with the association as a free-standing member until such time as change happens or my patronage is no longer required. It is a hard place to stick to, but I see myself as having nothing to lose. But, in this case, as I told the family and my students, my loyalty is with the family. And, as I see it, the association does not mean the family. The ideas that changed the family were not their own. Their were influences from within the association. We'll call these influences bad advice. Not meaning to say that these folks did not have good intentions - I called some of these folk friends - but their lack of understanding of and experience in Okinawan karate wholly allowed the stepping on of dicks. And yet, no one noticed or said anything. It was business as usual. This isn't business for me. This is a way of life. And that way does not have room for bureaucracy, stifling rules and restrictions and trophies.
If my time with the association is severed beyond my choice, I'll take my time and weigh my options. I will join an organization at some point. But, I will make damn sure that the association's values match my own. I don't like surprises, especially in my training. Rank be damned... I'll drop down again if I have to. But, I will not compromise my values or my integrity for anyone.
Lessons to be learned from this?
-If you are in a dojo, stick to the training. Train hard, support your sensei - as long as his or her values and goals correspond to your own.
- If you are an instructor, and you feel like you have become just a file in the organization's cabinet, weigh your options. If learning and advancing the art of karate are not at the core of your association, then the art and the association no longer represent or respect each other.
- If you are a credible martial artist with an ounce of honour, you will look at yourself in the mirror and recognize that you have made mistakes and that others have made mistakes with you. You will own up to shortcomings and misgivings. And you will feel an ounce of guilt or discomfort if you have broken the rules, directly or indirectly. You'll be able to pair up where your karate and where the karate of the dead masters lie on the spectrum. You will always strive to hold up to their values beyond all else. You will recognize that change within the art of karate is one of the constants of learning. But, you will be conscious that the values and aims of karate should remain constant as well.
If you find that you do not feel guilt or take ownership of failings to students or others. If you see yourself as a paragon of martial virtue and your actions towards your students and brethren as pure and wholly above reproach, then you likely are deluding yourself. And your thinking and acceptance of bad practice and lack of adhesion to the protocol and etiquette of your system should weigh on. If you accept what happens to you and around you as the status quo and are happy with it, perhaps you still have a lot to learn about Okinawan karate.
Don't worry, the lessons won't come from me. I am neither qualified nor interested in the job. But consider this: a samurai`s ignorance, arrogance and inattention are what often caused a daimyo`s (and many a fellow samurai`s) demise. This end result was the remaining samurai becoming ronin, an unenviable position among samurai.
I have simply left my clan so as to avoid seeing my master suffer.
This does two things:
- it means I am no longer a recognized "dojo director" with the association. This carries with it the loss of voting power or say within the operation of the association. More with that later.
- it also leaves my students without attachment to a recognized association.
This last one may be a bit disconcerting to many of them. I don't see as big of a deal. I have spent a good deal of my life attached to an organization. I have benefitted in many ways from this association. While there is obviously an air of legitimacy in belonging to an association, I do not believe that one must belong to an association to be legitimate. In fact, I know of people who belong to associations that lost their lineage and their way long ago. Yet, they continue to see themselves and what they do as legitimate.
Their certification will still be good in my dojo. And what they learn will still be valid. Their karate is their karate. They need to look at it as the fact that their karate has not changed. It is no better and no worse now with this change.
It's not the first time I have been ronin. I left the association I belonged to back in the early 80s, when I first graded to shodan, because it was becoming about money and proliferating the art - for money. I believed in karate-do, I had a harder time with karate-dough. Back then, as legitimate as my association was, they saw each new dojo opened as a means of spreading their art and gaining a certain level or power and prestige. Big association = important association. Such was the thinking, but it was not necessarily the truth.
Back then, I was young and naive and was not comfortable with running a dojo for money. I was also afraid of speaking up to my sensei or the masters. So, I did the chicken thing and left. I decided to see the martial world and look around a bit. Well, lemme tell ya, back in those days, there were not many flavours in Western Canada when it came to martial arts. Some of them were the same flavour with different packaging.
I picked Tae Kwon Do. Or maybe it picked me. I was drawn by the notion of tournaments (they were foreign concepts to me); I figured if Daniel-san could do them, then I should, too. I tasted the WTF Kool-Aid and lived to tell the tale. I also got the taste of the marketing machine that is TKD in much of North America. I saw things I did not like. I saw power-plays I didn't appreciate. I saw people bastardize themselves for power. And money... oh yes, the money. I knew what I liked and what I didn't. I was not a TKD guy at heart... and it was drilled into me that I was not really my instructor's student... I was just a karate guy doing Tae Kwon Do. That did not stop him from using me as free labour. I developed a new skill and a new dislike for politics in martial arts.
When I joined my current association a few years ago, I did so because it gave my students opportunities that my other, former association and style could not. Not having as big of a population in Western Canada as it did in the Ontario region meant fewer possibilities for them to study with a senior instructor without paying a lot of money. I never wanted to nickle and dime my students. Yet, that is what it would have meant. So, I traded style for opportunity. I had experience with Goju-ryu, but to be truthful - as I saw it - not formally. I trained with a man I met when I was finishing up my BA. I did not join his school for his awesome karate - truth be told I had more time on the floor than he did. I stayed with him because I admired his dedication and his heart. The association, as I got to know it over time, had moments of credible status with other leaps of questionable lineage. But, I was not grading in this art, I was learning karate. So, I did not care. I was learning.
The time I joined on with my association was, as I said, a moment of opportunity for my students. I felt there was a direction and opportunity for them. And I felt that the association held the philosophies and standards I had come to expect from Okinawan karate. Their values were my values.
But in the last couple of years, I started to notice a change. It was not a change that I was happy with. I also saw practices of other instructors, many new, but some more seasoned than I, within the association that did not fit with the values of Okinawan karate. Unlike the last time I was faced with issues of incongruous values, this time I hung around and asked the difficult questions. I cited problems. I offered solutions. I was not complaining, I was trying to make the association better and stronger.
And after 30+ years on the floor, through many different styles and associations, I think I know a thing or two about what works and what doesn't.
But, I was ignored. I was slapped down. I saw people close their eyes, drag their feet and spin their wheels when it came to problems and challenges in the association. I saw a collection of martial money changers - people for whom the art of karate had turned into the business of karate... and now business was becoming the key concern. I saw the values change.
And once the values diverge, one has two choices: follow blindly and drink the Kool-Aid or push for change. Well, as I said, push I did. I made a few enemies in the administration and likely amongst the friends of those who held power in the association. But, sadly, to no avail. If it simply becomes a restrictive exercise that costs my dojo for the 'benefit' of affiliation or alliance, then, sorry, I have to stave off.
Do not get me wrong. My people have been well-served by the senior instructors who have come to my dojo or who have worked and taught my students. It is the administrative side, the business side of the equation, one that is not controlled by the Okinawans, that raises my ire and lowers my desire. So, I did what I could, I said what I could say. I offered my thoughts and my opinions. And when more straws were added to the camel's back, it was time to call things as I saw them - improper.
There is an organizational pride, contested at that, that the founder of the association was heir designate of Miyagi Chojun. Miyagi's obi and uwagi being presented to him, the assertion was that this made the organization the true stream into which his karate system flowed. I say contested because there is another organization that believes it, too, was the official dojo to continue his lineage and tradition. Yet, with many of the changes and rules that have come about, it would seem that the stream has been diverted and, thus, diluted. I'm not the only one to think so. I'm just the one who made the first step over the line. It will take the family's intervention and retention of control to correct the deviation that we have experienced and bring more equality back to the system.
Since I was unable to change while I was a member, perhaps losing the dojo will be a statement that will be noticed.. by someone... somewhere. I know I am not alone in how I feel about the direction and management of the association. Whether the others will follow suit with me is up to them. I am encouraging the dojo owners that are unhappy to voice and file their concerns with the Okinawan masters.
I'll stay on with the association as a free-standing member until such time as change happens or my patronage is no longer required. It is a hard place to stick to, but I see myself as having nothing to lose. But, in this case, as I told the family and my students, my loyalty is with the family. And, as I see it, the association does not mean the family. The ideas that changed the family were not their own. Their were influences from within the association. We'll call these influences bad advice. Not meaning to say that these folks did not have good intentions - I called some of these folk friends - but their lack of understanding of and experience in Okinawan karate wholly allowed the stepping on of dicks. And yet, no one noticed or said anything. It was business as usual. This isn't business for me. This is a way of life. And that way does not have room for bureaucracy, stifling rules and restrictions and trophies.
If my time with the association is severed beyond my choice, I'll take my time and weigh my options. I will join an organization at some point. But, I will make damn sure that the association's values match my own. I don't like surprises, especially in my training. Rank be damned... I'll drop down again if I have to. But, I will not compromise my values or my integrity for anyone.
Lessons to be learned from this?
-If you are in a dojo, stick to the training. Train hard, support your sensei - as long as his or her values and goals correspond to your own.
- If you are an instructor, and you feel like you have become just a file in the organization's cabinet, weigh your options. If learning and advancing the art of karate are not at the core of your association, then the art and the association no longer represent or respect each other.
- If you are a credible martial artist with an ounce of honour, you will look at yourself in the mirror and recognize that you have made mistakes and that others have made mistakes with you. You will own up to shortcomings and misgivings. And you will feel an ounce of guilt or discomfort if you have broken the rules, directly or indirectly. You'll be able to pair up where your karate and where the karate of the dead masters lie on the spectrum. You will always strive to hold up to their values beyond all else. You will recognize that change within the art of karate is one of the constants of learning. But, you will be conscious that the values and aims of karate should remain constant as well.
If you find that you do not feel guilt or take ownership of failings to students or others. If you see yourself as a paragon of martial virtue and your actions towards your students and brethren as pure and wholly above reproach, then you likely are deluding yourself. And your thinking and acceptance of bad practice and lack of adhesion to the protocol and etiquette of your system should weigh on. If you accept what happens to you and around you as the status quo and are happy with it, perhaps you still have a lot to learn about Okinawan karate.
Don't worry, the lessons won't come from me. I am neither qualified nor interested in the job. But consider this: a samurai`s ignorance, arrogance and inattention are what often caused a daimyo`s (and many a fellow samurai`s) demise. This end result was the remaining samurai becoming ronin, an unenviable position among samurai.
I have simply left my clan so as to avoid seeing my master suffer.
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