For
example, with Mirakian Sensei, every time we were in his
dojo in Watertown Mass., the class was about four to five
hours long. He would drill us on,
say the Sanchin kata only, for about half an hour, correcting
every single move and detail we may have missed.
If
your basics are no good, you are building your martial art
skill on quick sand. Everything you do should be quality,
not quantity. This is what most new students nowadays are
missing. They want to train in martial arts but don't want
to put in the time and effort.
They
want to learn all kinds of kata, forms, weapons but they
can't even do a good stance.
"In
traditional martial arts, we train to better our skill for
self-defense while in martial sports, people train to win
tournaments and to look cool"
Qn:
Sensei, what for you, are the major differences between
a traditional approach and a non-traditional approach to
the martial-arts?
Ans:
The major differences, as far as I am concerned, are the
objectives, attitude and training method. In traditional
martial arts, we train to better our skill for self-defense
while in martial sports, people train to win tournaments
and to look "cool", "flashy"(i.e.,to
be a performer). In traditional martial arts, the more you
learn/train, the more you feel inadequate while in martial
sport, people generally have the tendency to think they
are the best when they win.
In
tournaments, since it is a sport, there are rules, therefore,
the martial sport students would practice their techniques
according to those sets of rules. The common complaints
my students and I have encountered when we workouts with
other karate styles are: "you cannot use this technique;
you can't punch/kick me here; this
is not allowed in the competition!" Well, my answer
to those students is: "tell that to the guys that attack
you on the street!" In a traditional martial art, most
certainly, we do not strive to look "cool" and
"flashy." In traditional karate schools we only
wear the white gi and in traditional kungfu class, all we
wear are T-shirt, sweat pants or kungfu pants, and cheap
sneakers.
"If
martial art is not practiced in the traditional sense, we
will lose sight of what the real objective and spirit ofmartial
art is"
Qn:
Since you are a traditionalist, why do you think it is so
important to practice and teach traditionally? Why is it
that you think it should be the preferred approach?
Ans:
If martial art is not practiced in the traditional sense,
we will lose sight of what the real objective and spirit
of martial art is.
I
suppose if looking "cool" and flashy and that
is what you are after, then by all means, do martial sports.
As I said before in traditional martial arts, the more you
train, the more inadequate you feel. On the other hand,
when I observed over many years in most of the sports, the
top players always display their arrogance like, "
.. he is the second best in the world.." This is especially
true in North American sports. There is a common Chinese
kungfu saying "There is always a better fighter than
you and you can always find a higher mountain than the one
your are on."
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