Gichin Funakoshi’s spirit of humility comes through in his autobiography, “Karate-Do: My Way of Life”.
After receiving permission and encouragement from his two karate teachers in Okinawa, Master Funakoshi determined to bring Karate-Do to Tokyo. Of that immediate period he wrote:
“I moved into the Meisei Juku, a dormitory for students from Okinawa … where I was permitted to use the lecture hall … as my temporary dojo… However, money was a critical problem.
“To pay for the tiny room where I slept, I took on all sorts of odd jobs at the dormitory: watchman, caretaker, gardener, even room sweeper. … I had very few students, so of course the fees I was paid were not enough to make ends meet. … It was a difficult life, but when I think back about it after all these years, I realize it was also a good one.”
Gichin Funakoshi was on a mission to popularize Karate-Do in mainland Japan, starting in Tokyo. He was not too proud to pull weeds and sweep floors to pay his way while he started teaching karate in a borrowed room.
“… one day a newspaper reporter appeared at the dormitory. As he approached, I happened to be sweeping the garden path, and he obviously took me for a servant.
“’Where can I find Mr Funakoshi, the karate teacher?’ he inquired.
“’One moment, sir,’ I replied and scurried away. I … changed into my formal kimono, and then descended to the entranceway where the reporter was waiting. ‘How do you do?’ I said. ‘I’m Funakoshi.’ I shall never forget the expression of astonishment on the reporter’s face when he realized that the gardener and the karate teacher were one and the same!”
Even as his school gained recognition Funakoshi the man was humble but he honored his Karate-Do by meeting the reporter in his formal clothes.
“… I was called upon by one of the upper servants from the house of Baron Yasuo Matsudaira, … a family of importance, …
“ ‘I have come,’ said the servant, ‘to thank the elderly man in the dormitory who sweeps the ground in front of our gate every morning. My master sends this small token of gratitude.’ With that, he handed me a box of sweets.”
Funakoshi had no reason to sweep in front of the neighbor’s gate. He wasn’t being paid to sweep there and they had no idea who he was. But while he was sweeping he simply made a good job of it.
“One day, … a sharp-tongued little devil called me karasu-uri (snake gourd), and then the rest of the boys took up the chorus. …I could not understand why I was being likened to a snake gourd until that evening, when I looked in the mirror and burst out laughing as I saw the resemblance. Although I do not drink alcohol, my complexion is quite ruddy, and my skin is also extremely smooth, I could understand how in that little boy’s mind, I looked like a melon that becomes bright orange when ripe.
“So to my students I was the karate expert, but to the Matsudaira household I was just an elderly sweeper, while to the gang of children who played in the garden I was a snake gourd. I found all this greatly diverting…”
Karate-Do was Funakoshi’s life. His wife remained in Okinawa, the children called him names, and the neighbor’s thought he was just another manual laborer – though a good one. And Funakoshi found it diverting. As long as he had students to teach his beloved Karate-Do he was fulfilled.
“Even today I live in a rented house, and what is more I insist upon an upstairs room. …I believe climbing stairs is excellent training for leg muscles.
“… the moment I rise I roll up my quilt and tuck it away in the cupboard.
“Upon rising, I brush off any dust that may have settled upon the portrait of Emperor Meiji … or upon that of Takamori Saigo… This done I sweep my room, practice some kata, wash my hands and face, and then eat my simple breakfast.”
I will remember Gichin Funakoshi’s example of humility and his dedication to his purpose; though I don’t care to emulate his great humility, I do admire it.
Link to the Special Report: "Karate-Do: My Way of Life - What All Martial Artists Can Learn From Gichin Funakoshi"
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Karate-Do: My Way of Life – Gratitude
In his autobiography, “Karate-Do: My Way of Life”, Gichin Funakoshi exhibits two endearing qualities – gratitude and humility - universally recognized virtues that are especially connected to the martial arts. His spirit of gratitude is expressed throughout his book.
Gichin Funakoshi had two primary teachers on Okinawa, Master Itosu and Master Azato; of them he wrote,
“I have always been conscious of the compliment paid me by these two masters. In return I performed a rite … I burned incense at the Buddhist alter of each instructor and pledged myself never to make use of my trained body for any illicit purpose.”
“Now that I look back I realize that I and my children, the two generations of us, have all benefited enormously from the teachings of these two masters. Where shall I find words to express my gratitude?”
Master Funakoshi arguably surpassed his teachers in accomplishment, if not in karate skills. Yet, he seems very sincere in expressing his gratitude to his teachers.
In his early days of teaching karate in Tokyo, Master Funakoshi often just scraped by financially. Occasionally, he was reduced to using the services of a local pawn shop.
“I was ashamed even to show the two objects to the clerk in the pawn shop, for both were old and worn… After a few moments the clerk reappeared and handed me an astonishingly large sum of money.
“I was mystified until I learned later that the clerk’s younger brother was one of my karate students. Indeed, now that I think upon those years, I recall a number of kind benefactors … and to all of them I feel an abiding sense of gratitude.”
Eventually, Karate-Do became popular in Japan and his financial stress was relieved except during the general distress resulting from Japan’s defeat in World War II. But even after his fortunes were restored his gratitude never wavered.
“… the numbers of my former students run into the tens of thousands. So frequently I do not know what to call them, and am forced to fall back on that standard phrase, ‘How tall you have grown!
“But whether I remember them clearly or not, I am always happy to receive visits from my former students, and I am most grateful to them for helping to popularize Karate-Do.”
Gichin Funakoshi is an exemplary martial artist. And his example of gratitude is worthy of emulation.
Link to the Special Report: "Karate-Do: My Way of Life - What All Martial Artists Can Learn From Gichin Funakoshi"
Gichin Funakoshi had two primary teachers on Okinawa, Master Itosu and Master Azato; of them he wrote,
“I have always been conscious of the compliment paid me by these two masters. In return I performed a rite … I burned incense at the Buddhist alter of each instructor and pledged myself never to make use of my trained body for any illicit purpose.”
“Now that I look back I realize that I and my children, the two generations of us, have all benefited enormously from the teachings of these two masters. Where shall I find words to express my gratitude?”
Master Funakoshi arguably surpassed his teachers in accomplishment, if not in karate skills. Yet, he seems very sincere in expressing his gratitude to his teachers.
In his early days of teaching karate in Tokyo, Master Funakoshi often just scraped by financially. Occasionally, he was reduced to using the services of a local pawn shop.
“I was ashamed even to show the two objects to the clerk in the pawn shop, for both were old and worn… After a few moments the clerk reappeared and handed me an astonishingly large sum of money.
“I was mystified until I learned later that the clerk’s younger brother was one of my karate students. Indeed, now that I think upon those years, I recall a number of kind benefactors … and to all of them I feel an abiding sense of gratitude.”
Eventually, Karate-Do became popular in Japan and his financial stress was relieved except during the general distress resulting from Japan’s defeat in World War II. But even after his fortunes were restored his gratitude never wavered.
“… the numbers of my former students run into the tens of thousands. So frequently I do not know what to call them, and am forced to fall back on that standard phrase, ‘How tall you have grown!
“But whether I remember them clearly or not, I am always happy to receive visits from my former students, and I am most grateful to them for helping to popularize Karate-Do.”
Gichin Funakoshi is an exemplary martial artist. And his example of gratitude is worthy of emulation.
Link to the Special Report: "Karate-Do: My Way of Life - What All Martial Artists Can Learn From Gichin Funakoshi"
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Karate-Do: My Way of Life – Rules
In his autobiography, “Karate-Do: My Way of Life”, Gichin Funakoshi lists six rules – he actually lists them as 1, 2, 4, 5, & 6 skipping over the number 3. My reading of rule 2, however, reveals a natural division where, in my opinion, rule number three starts - but is simply not labeled. Perhaps it was a printing error, or, perhaps I’m completely wrong.
Nevertheless, I’ll show you what I think is rule number 3. Just understand that the label isn’t in the text.
Rule #1
“You must be deadly serious in training.”
Synopsis: Mentally visualize a realistic opponent and practice as if you’re in combat.
Rule #2.
“Train with both heart and soul without worrying about theory.”
Synopsis: Mastering kata takes a long time and much practice; “a thousand times” as the saying goes.
Rule #3.
True practice is not done with words but with the entire body.”
Synopsis: Training is a physical thing not merely mental. Another phrase commonly heard in American martial arts schools is “muscle memory”. The notion is that when you have repeated a motion enough times (a thousand?) your body “remembers” how to do it; you don’t need to think about it. That is a necessary condition in hand to hand combat because the little time available for thought must be allocated to strategy and tactics – not how to perform a technique.
Rule #4.
“Avoid self-conceit and dogmatism.”
Synopsis: Bragging is a sign of immaturity regardless of skill level. It brings dishonor to the braggart, to his dojo, to his art, and to the entire martial arts community.
Rule #5.
“Try to see yourself as you really are and try to adopt what is meritorious in the work of others.”
Synopsis: Watch other practitioners. Learn from what they do well and from their mistakes.
Rule #6.
“Abide by the rules of ethics in your daily life, weather in public or private.”
Synopsis: Perfecting your martial art is done with the help of others; instructors, fellow students, and eventually the students you teach. We’re all fellow travelers in the martial arts way and we all, regardless of rank or skill, deserve respect.
Master Funakoshi taught these rules and lived by them. He also sometimes fell short. And so, when – not if, but when – you fall short of them too, you can forgive yourself for your failure and recommit to following them – until the next time you fall short. This cycle will repeat for as long as you live. Master Funakoshi’s last example of his own falling short of these ideals occurred when he was 80 years old.
Link to the Special Report: "Karate-Do: My Way of Life - What All Martial Artists Can Learn From Gichin Funakoshi"
Nevertheless, I’ll show you what I think is rule number 3. Just understand that the label isn’t in the text.
Rule #1
“You must be deadly serious in training.”
Synopsis: Mentally visualize a realistic opponent and practice as if you’re in combat.
Rule #2.
“Train with both heart and soul without worrying about theory.”
Synopsis: Mastering kata takes a long time and much practice; “a thousand times” as the saying goes.
Rule #3.
True practice is not done with words but with the entire body.”
Synopsis: Training is a physical thing not merely mental. Another phrase commonly heard in American martial arts schools is “muscle memory”. The notion is that when you have repeated a motion enough times (a thousand?) your body “remembers” how to do it; you don’t need to think about it. That is a necessary condition in hand to hand combat because the little time available for thought must be allocated to strategy and tactics – not how to perform a technique.
Rule #4.
“Avoid self-conceit and dogmatism.”
Synopsis: Bragging is a sign of immaturity regardless of skill level. It brings dishonor to the braggart, to his dojo, to his art, and to the entire martial arts community.
Rule #5.
“Try to see yourself as you really are and try to adopt what is meritorious in the work of others.”
Synopsis: Watch other practitioners. Learn from what they do well and from their mistakes.
Rule #6.
“Abide by the rules of ethics in your daily life, weather in public or private.”
Synopsis: Perfecting your martial art is done with the help of others; instructors, fellow students, and eventually the students you teach. We’re all fellow travelers in the martial arts way and we all, regardless of rank or skill, deserve respect.
Master Funakoshi taught these rules and lived by them. He also sometimes fell short. And so, when – not if, but when – you fall short of them too, you can forgive yourself for your failure and recommit to following them – until the next time you fall short. This cycle will repeat for as long as you live. Master Funakoshi’s last example of his own falling short of these ideals occurred when he was 80 years old.
Link to the Special Report: "Karate-Do: My Way of Life - What All Martial Artists Can Learn From Gichin Funakoshi"
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Karate-Do: My Way of Life – Visualization
“You must be deadly serious in training. When I say that, I do not mean that you should be reasonably diligent or moderately in earnest. I mean that your opponent must always be present in your mind, whether you sit or stand or walk or raise your arms…
“You may train for a long, long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning karate is not very different from learning to dance.”
Gichin Funakoshi
I’ve learned many forms (kata in Japanese, poomse in Korean) during my years in the martial arts. Most of the forms are lost to me now. It takes them only a few months to fade; a year to completely vanish as useful exercises.
I practice my Neko Ryu forms every week; rotating them with other drills. It’s my intent to keep these forms always. I think forms are quickly forgotten because people fail to visualize a realistic opponent in every phase of the form.
My early training in Tae Kwan Do and Tang Soo Do was a mixture of forms, drills and sparring. There’s no problem visualizing the opponent when sparring against a live person. He stands before you. In sparring, the problem is maintaining good technique in the midst of competitive stress.
Visualization in drills is a mixed bag. Some drills use a live partner, others use a striking bag or target, and others use no tangible resistance. The last group makes it easy to “merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet”.
Judo kata are performed with a live partner. Not surprisingly, I remember them better than the Tae Kwan Do and Tang Soo Do poomse.
“… the best way to understand Karate-Do is not only to practice the kata but also to gain an appreciation of the meaning inherent in each of the various kata.”
Gichin Funakoshi
All of my martial arts instructors explained the meaning of the movements of each form as they taught it. But none of them emphasized visualizing an opponent during the execution of the form. And, in truth, they didn’t emphasize the “meaning inherent” in each movement. Usually, their explanations responded to student questions. They were intended to provide enough “inherent meaning” to end the questioning not to truly communicate the form.
This was true of even my best instructors. Partially, this comes from the knowledge that repetition is the heart of learning a physical skill – especially a martial art. There’s a common saying in the martial arts that it takes a thousand repetitions to master a form.
I arrived at visualization in a roundabout way. After reading about visualization techniques used to enhance the performance of college and Olympic athletes, I looked for and found other visualization references. I made the connection to my martial arts and incorporated into each phase of every kata visualizing an opponent attacking me in a specific way.
Visualization trains my mind to recognize an attack and to respond automatically with an appropriately drilled defense-counterattack sequence. It also sharpens my techniques during the kata because each technique must reasonably succeed in my imagination. If there is no visualized opponent, there is no standard for measuring the technique’s effectiveness. Therein lays sloppiness.
Reading Funakoshi’s words, quoted from “Karate-Do: My Way of Life” at the beginning of this post, filled me with satisfaction and disappointment. I was filled with satisfaction, because I uncovered Funakoshi’s connection between visualization and kata independently; disappointment because this teaching wasn’t faithfully passed down the years through my lines of instructors. In all the years I’ve trained in the martial arts none of my instructors taught visualization as an integral part of kata or solo drill – I had to rediscover it for myself.
Link to the Special Report: "Karate-Do: My Way of Life - What All Martial Artists Can Learn From Gichin Funakoshi"
“You may train for a long, long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning karate is not very different from learning to dance.”
Gichin Funakoshi
I’ve learned many forms (kata in Japanese, poomse in Korean) during my years in the martial arts. Most of the forms are lost to me now. It takes them only a few months to fade; a year to completely vanish as useful exercises.
I practice my Neko Ryu forms every week; rotating them with other drills. It’s my intent to keep these forms always. I think forms are quickly forgotten because people fail to visualize a realistic opponent in every phase of the form.
My early training in Tae Kwan Do and Tang Soo Do was a mixture of forms, drills and sparring. There’s no problem visualizing the opponent when sparring against a live person. He stands before you. In sparring, the problem is maintaining good technique in the midst of competitive stress.
Visualization in drills is a mixed bag. Some drills use a live partner, others use a striking bag or target, and others use no tangible resistance. The last group makes it easy to “merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet”.
Judo kata are performed with a live partner. Not surprisingly, I remember them better than the Tae Kwan Do and Tang Soo Do poomse.
“… the best way to understand Karate-Do is not only to practice the kata but also to gain an appreciation of the meaning inherent in each of the various kata.”
Gichin Funakoshi
All of my martial arts instructors explained the meaning of the movements of each form as they taught it. But none of them emphasized visualizing an opponent during the execution of the form. And, in truth, they didn’t emphasize the “meaning inherent” in each movement. Usually, their explanations responded to student questions. They were intended to provide enough “inherent meaning” to end the questioning not to truly communicate the form.
This was true of even my best instructors. Partially, this comes from the knowledge that repetition is the heart of learning a physical skill – especially a martial art. There’s a common saying in the martial arts that it takes a thousand repetitions to master a form.
I arrived at visualization in a roundabout way. After reading about visualization techniques used to enhance the performance of college and Olympic athletes, I looked for and found other visualization references. I made the connection to my martial arts and incorporated into each phase of every kata visualizing an opponent attacking me in a specific way.
Visualization trains my mind to recognize an attack and to respond automatically with an appropriately drilled defense-counterattack sequence. It also sharpens my techniques during the kata because each technique must reasonably succeed in my imagination. If there is no visualized opponent, there is no standard for measuring the technique’s effectiveness. Therein lays sloppiness.
Reading Funakoshi’s words, quoted from “Karate-Do: My Way of Life” at the beginning of this post, filled me with satisfaction and disappointment. I was filled with satisfaction, because I uncovered Funakoshi’s connection between visualization and kata independently; disappointment because this teaching wasn’t faithfully passed down the years through my lines of instructors. In all the years I’ve trained in the martial arts none of my instructors taught visualization as an integral part of kata or solo drill – I had to rediscover it for myself.
Link to the Special Report: "Karate-Do: My Way of Life - What All Martial Artists Can Learn From Gichin Funakoshi"
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