Respect and Manner

A nice little spot about Bowing, Respect, in the context of Kendo

When I was a kid in a French primary school, there was quite a bit of fighting, all the time, nothing vicious. There were few rules, of course unwritten. You did not beat the hell out of  someone smaller than you. Once you had won and your opponent submitted, that was the end of it... Fighting under these circumstances usually generated respect.

Actually, I made a few friends fighting them.

The Zero Tolerance about fighting in our schools is hypocritical, shameful, and dangerous. 

Kids who are bullied can't vent their anger, one day they grab a gun and bring it to school... Or if they cannot find a gun, they might commit suicide... If they had had the opportunity to beat the crap out of the bullies, maybe lots of terrible tragedies would not have happened.

It is easy, and it is wrong, to systematically ground both students who get in a fight. The right thing to do would be to figure out why the fight happened, and decide in all fairness what to do. Otherwise, how do you want the kids to understand what justice is about ?

 

Reigi o Omonzubeshi

Respect and Manners

We had a great Karate Seminar this last Saturday May 15 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Yoshukai Dojo in Dothan. Our instructors were Sensei Toyama - 8^th degree, and Culbreth, 7^th degree, the 2 directors of our WYKKO Organization. This seminar, open to all Yoshukai Karate Black Belts was free.

We spent 1:30 with Sensei Culbreth on Sho no Kun Dai, took a short break for snacks, then spent another 1:30 with Sensei Toyama on Tensho Dai. After that, people who had tested during the last winter camp received their belts. Among them, Mr Turner and Mr Page received their 6^th degree. Congratulations to them and the others who tested and passed.

Less than 15 people attended the seminar. This is surprising. Of course, some of us had other commitments, familial obligations, or simply are living too far and cannot afford to drive 4 to 5 hours back and forth on a Saturday for a 4 hours training session.

Still, some people drove more than 4 hours to be present – one of them even got a ticket while he was speeding back toward Dothan after he realized he had missed the exit on I 10 by 50 miles... Sensei Toyama himself drove 3 hours all the way from Pensacola.

No student or instructor from the numerous Yoshukai dojo located less that 2 hours from Dothan showed up. This was surprising, and unfortunate. It demonstrates a lack of interest in trying to improve one's Karate as well as a lack of appreciation for the efforts our directors put into training us. I have been part of several Martial Arts organization, and I can say without doubt that WYKKO is the best. In their constant effort to promote Yoshukai our directors have built a World Class organization, and wanting to improve it, they pay great attention to the wishes of students and instructors. They are also treating all instructors very well. The least we can do is to return their consideration by showing our respect and appreciation.

When a 7th and 8th degree Black Belt offer a free seminar, all instructors in a radius of 100 miles should be there. Choosing not to do so simply demonstrates a lack of respect and manners.

With such an attitude, how can an instructor ask a student to be dedicated in his practice ?