Ian McCook

Ian Cook was a valued member of the Victorian JKA team for some time. He trained in the JKA Melbourne Instructors class and assisted with teaching in the Hombu Dojo general class. Ian once committed himself completely to the path of JKA Karate at a time when there was only one approach - 100% or nothing.

In the early 1990's he went to live and train in Japan on his own. This "Cold Turkey" stay in the home of Karate, together with his overall experience of years of training have left their marks on him as a husband, father and (in his words) "lapsed Karateka".

Ian now lives, works and runs a JKA Dojo in Victoria's Yarra Valley. Although not as active as before, he is a declared Karate thinker who contributes to any Karate related discussion.

Through this series of recollections, Ian tells us of the effect his exploits have had on him at a personal level and on the people around him.

Karate Widows
An instructor, a Scot by birth, when once asked what he wanted for his birthday by his wife replied, “a new dogi” So his wife bought him a Labrador.

Whether they like it or not, our partners are involved with Karate, as we are ourselves. Karate is serious training; either at a club level or on a more personal level. The seriousness of the training often reflects in the level of commitment to training that is expected from students, but often students can't commit to what is expected. Even the serious players are sometimes overwhelmed by the commitment and stop training, as they know in themselves that they can not give it total commitment. But not all of us have the desire to train at that level, so what is wrong with club training? Those players who have for whatever reason dropped out, please prevail and come back. The JKA is a family, and like a family we all have our differences, either in philosophy or technique. It would be so boring if we were all the same.

Club training is just that. It is all the children, mums, dads and ordinary people that are the foundation of the JKA. For those who aspire to more, there are Gasshuku’s, Kangeiko’s and training seminars, but if you were once a serious player then come back and train just at a club level. I was once a serious player - a dead set Karate hippie. But I needed a career, I wanted to get married, have a family, buy a house etc. But the ego did not allow me to consider just club training and there was always the expectation that I train hard. On reflection, I was being hard on myself as no-one expects players to forgo everything for Karate. It took years to work it out because I was so absorbed in training. So if you want to come back to train, try not to dwell on the hard training, think of some of the fun you have had. Too many times in the past serious training has led to family and personal life being left behind. There are too many Karate widows.

A Karate Hippie
Many people would recognise the signs, don't fight it. Getting involved is the aim. Eat, live and breathe it. It is not for everyone and at the time I had no responsibilities except earning enough to eat and to pay the rent. I did not need clothes - I had a Dogi! My actual occupation became “Karate student”. Chook sensei (Ian's sister Bev, JKA Instructor in Bendigo and Australia's highest ranked female Karateka) actually tried to get away with filling in her immigration forms when she travelled by putting that down as her occupation. Like many of us, her job in hospitality was just a means to an end. And that end was Karate. Days, every day, were organised around training. Training had become a full time occupation. The job I had as a security guard suited me as far as the shift work allowed me to train, and the job brought in enough money for me to support my habit. My whole day was set about the evening training sessions. I had become a Karate hippie. Other signs that you have become a Karate hippie are:

- Quitting your job when it interferes with training
- Not getting involved in a serious relationship because it interferes with training
- Walking around doing various blocks or punches when no one is watching
- Doing the same thing unconsciously with everybody watching
- Being on a first name basis with your doctor and accepting that Karate is just a continual healing process
- Knowing that if one injury is healing, another is about to occur
- Using Osu when addressing family and work mates
- Wearing loose fitting clothes constantly so that you can react if you have to
- Possessing a library of x-rays on your own limbs and torso

When I started dating my wife in 1990, she had already known me for three years. I feel bad now that I did not pay her the attention then. She never got used to coming second. She was a Karate widow before we even got married.

Crazy Zany
There is a story I heard once from Takahashi Sensei about an Aoyama Gakuin University O.B. I heard the story again years later from some Aoyama students so I guess it's true. The O.B. was married but had a mistress. The O.B. apparently had a reputation of being a bit crazy, even at university. Anyway, he arrived one night at the girlfriends' apartment only to find the wife there with her. Apparently the O.B. had not mentioned that he was married. How to get off the hook? Feign insanity. He stripped naked and performed Heian Shodan in the lounge room before grabbing his clothes and disappearing naked down the street. That’s pretty insane. Result - TWO Karate widows!

Most of us have performed Kata somewhere where it maybe should not have been done. We (me and my sister) used to go out some nights and do Kata out on the Lagoon pier at Port Melbourne. One of my most memorable Karate experiences was on that pier on a warm Autumn night performing Heian Nidan with the captain of Aoyama Gakuin, Noda Sempai. We had only met a few hours before and that moment, things between us clicked and we became good friends for many years. The beautiful thing was that my (then) fiance was watching us perform the Kata. By this stage she had watched so much Kata being performed in the lounge room etc. by many different players that she actually became a fair judge of what was hot and what was not. So from insane to surreal - don’t you just love Kata.

Deterioration
I was once told by a respected Sensei that if you don’t drink then your technique will deteriorate. Alcohol however is the great leveller. Some JKA boys out one night in Brisbane got split up but continued to party on. The next morning they met up again on a plane heading back to Melbourne. One of them had received a considerable hiding (too inebriated) and was supporting an eye patch and massive facial swelling. They other group who had no trouble cracked up laughing, they had wondered what had happened to the others. My fiancee was not impressed by the early am phone call from Sempai Robert Matthews warning her that I was not looking too good. A case of Karate coming first again (well second training anyway). There has always been a bit of alcohol where JKA is concerned. Probably one Japanese custom we can back off a bit on.

All is good in moderation, and after a hard day's seminar, Gasshuku or Kangeiko, a beer is wonderful whether it be in Australia, New Zealand or Japan. There are some stories to tell, but I can not even change the names to protect the innocent, so some stories are better off not being told. But so many good times I had, and my fiance not being involved. Jetting here and there in the name of Karate, and not once did I consider that she may have liked to come along.

Going out for a drink (known in JKA as "second training") was pretty common with the Melbourne crowd, so I was not surprised that it was much the same in Japan. I missed a connecting train one night and had an eight kilometre walk to where I was living. So I was off walking down the train track. The first station I came to I knew I had had enough. Now, at most bicycle parks at Japanese train stations there is a place to dump unwanted bicycles. I sorted through the dump and found a half-decent one and started to ride home. Have you ever tried to navigate on Japanese country roads in the dark, riding on roads you have never been on before? You get a bit worried when you lose site of that train line. I got lost and it took me two hours to get home. The next day at training when I related the story to the others, I discovered that what I had done was very Japanese. A few weeks later I missed that train again. This time I went straight to the main road and hitch hiked home. Memorable experiences that I would not have had if it were not for Karate - and drinking.

Nightmares
The commitment that I felt I owed to Karate weighed on me after a while. I began to have nightmares. I would recite the Dojo Kun in my sleep, after my time in Japan I still did it, but only in Japanese! It began to freak-out my fiance (the Karate widow) Then the dreams began and that freaked ME out. They were always on Monday nights - Instructor classes began on Tuesdays. There was a recurring dream, we were in a swimming pool doing Oizuki. Forwards and backwards, backwards and forwards. The resistance in the water making every movement torture. Standing at the edge of the pool was Nishimura sensei and Omar sensei. Looking at them I thought “enough!” and then the water disappeared. I was standing and moving in clear air while everyone around me was still training as if they were in the water. Omar started to giggle as I looked Sensei in the eye and told him that his mind control wouldn’t work on me anymore.

It got to the point where we were behind barbed wire in a little village where we trained all day. At the end of the day we were paid so we could buy food etc. The money had Nishimura Sensei’s face on it instead of the queen! Crikey, I still trained flat out for years after that and the dreams sometimes occurred long after I left Melbourne.

Reflection
I can't really explain why I left the mainstream of training now. It got to the point where I could not face the continual hard slog week-in week-out. I have so much respect for those that I trained with who are still at it, or have gone back to it. I can not be that committed anymore, it is not expected of me, or anyone. You can train at your own pace and still get so much out of it. Many drop training for many reasons, but still love Karate. I have trained at home now for years, I even have a Makiwara under the children’s tree house. I would go back and train occasionally when Takahashi sensei was in town but it was my old punching mate Russell Smedley who eventually got me back (he was one of the people training in the pool in the nightmare). He was out for about eight years himself, got a career, had a family and came back and now trains full-on once again. His sons train as well. I started training again in October 2003 and even my son has his ninth kyu. We train at Billanook dojo with Walter Stark on Saturday mornings. My son struggles with his Heian Shodan and has no attention span (he is only five) but I do not expect THAT sort of commitment from him.

So, all past students please come back. I know you regret dropping training, but you will never regret coming back. My wife knows what I am like. She is preparing to become a Karate widow again.

Training in the Wilderness
Training in the wilderness is something that is experienced by a few, as many never return. It is often not a pleasant experience, and for some it can be considered a self-imposed exile from the main stream of training. The Japan Karate Association (JKA), or Nihon Karate Kyokai, can be a politically controversial system to train under, this is probably the number one reason why senior members leave. Many lose interest in training, find the pressures of training too demanding or circumstances (professional, family) change as the focus of our lives change.

The biggest piece of advice I can give to those training in the wilderness is to believe in the Dojo Kun, and keep faith with the JKA. There is no such thing as an ex-JKA Karate-ka. You are a “lapsed” Karate-ka. Your experiences with JKA are yours, and yours alone; good, bad or otherwise. Even if you can't face the real thing of dojo training, train at home. I would like to share some experiences with you that will hopefully make you feel that you are not alone.

Development
I came to Melbourne from Mildura (a lot of JKA people come from there) in 1986 and moved in with my sister Beverley. I had taken up Karate three years earlier as cross training for my bicycle racing, something that I was quite good at. Karate was only a secondary thing and at this stage. I was still a 10th kyu and never took a grading. I either couldn't see the sense in it or I was away racing bicycles. I was just too hung over from one or the other to participate. At that time, the Dojo was in South Melbourne in a converted warehouse. A beautiful floor, large training area and in good condition. There was a boxing gym next door. We lived in South Yarra, training on the bike was dangerous so I attended with Beverley to keep up the fitness. What I discovered was real Karate. Nishimura sensei, Omar Cucovic and a couple of times a week Walter Stark.

I trained there up to three times a week and on the off night would even travel down to Parkville to train with Stark sensei at his other Dojo. Robert Matthews, now a very lapsed JKA Karateka (gone over to SKI) would travel down from Mildura every week and fit in three sessions in three days. He had the only car so we became Karate hippies.

What students?
South Melbourne was too good to last (politics) and we moved to another premises at North Fitzroy. Nishimura Sensei lived around the corner and the training became a lot more serious. An Instructors class was included, a closed training session with invitation only. I started attending in 1990. The hall was everything that South Melbourne was not. The floor was rough to a point where nails would have to be hammered in between sets. The floor was also dirty (the hall was shared with others) to a point where you would avoid doing floor exercises. Student numbers were low to a point where black belts outnumbered colour belts. But they were serious students. Peter Roberts, Peter White and his cousin Chris as well as two mates of Mark Bonassin. These lapsed Karate-ka (apart from Mark who died) and others like them are the one’s I encourage to train. There were a few others from time to time, but generally there were not many people who were prepared to take training so seriously.

To attract students, it was decided that a more attractive venue had to be found. Collingwood was the next Dojo. A nice gymnasium with a dance studio. And the students came. Class sizes were the largest I had seen at Melbourne, and we were still pretty serious. The blackbelts still had the Instructors class, and the general classes were toned down a bit. At about the same time, another Dojo opened up in Malvern and Beverley who instructed the general classes whet to Japan again on an extended visit (she was gone for four years). Many of the students who were from the south relocated there and I started instructing the general classes, which more than halved my actual training time. And this is where I lapsed.

The Wilderness
I was married in 1992 and for the first time in my Karate life I had more pressing responsibilities. I changed professions (my occupation changed from Karate student to student) and the time I would have normally put into training I put into a science degree. The Collingwood Dojo languished, and then died. At about the same time, a good training partner, Mark Bonassin, was also lapsed. I was stunned when he died. For years I felt as though I could not even show my face in the Dojo. I went in once to visit Takahashi sensei when Beverley returned from Japan and now try to do so whenever he is in town. There are members who have come and gone in the time since I trained seriously.

But why do people lapse or leave JKA? I have never left, just lapsed. The number one reason would have to be a loss in interest. There are usually those who after training for awhile, decide that the JKA is not for them. There is not much you can do about that, though other styles in the past have tried to accelerate the training syllabus to the detriment of technique. The JKA has a very strong traditional base. If you have developed an understanding of what you are doing, you do not get bored. Students want to learn advanced Kata and complicated techniques. This can only happen with time and as a beginner the learning curve is extremely high. At what other stage would you learn ten different Kata from scratch in a three-year period? You will only have to learn another fifteen in the rest of your Karate life. Attitude to training. With the right attitude, there is a lifetime of learning so just train.

Politics is another reason. When I say politics, I mean the belief in an ideal that is different from the governing organisation. Many people just want to do their own thing. Even within the JKA, Instructors have different ideas about training but are held together by a common goal. In these circumstances it often best that the individual or group leave to preserve the peace in the main body. The JKA is to Shotokan what the Catholic Church is to Christianity. All other styles are breakaway’s.

I even train occasionally at Stark Sensei’s dojo in Mooroolbark. I still feel the demons that put me into the wilderness and will one day exorcise them. I love Karate. To the point that where I do not train regularly in the Dojo, but it influences every facet of my personal and professional life. The Dojo-kun to me is a prayer and Karate-do is the true way. There is more to it that just training in the Dojo and it has taken me all this time to work it out. What it is to me would be different to someone else, but if you adhere to the Dojo-kun, you can’t go wrong. But you must still train. Suggestions;

- Erect a Makiwara. It is a good training tool to gain focus. You can hit it whenever you like and it frees the mind to help with problem solving.
- Keep up with Kata. Take a systematic approach, ie pick a Kata of the week or month etc. You can perform a Kata three times in five minutes so surely you can find time for that.
- Practice a defence and an attack combination. The Kihon element can be worked out with in the Kata practice.
- Adhere to the Dojo-kun.

The best thing though is to just “shut up and train” and do something every day. Karate is a waste if you are not practicing. I use Karate every day in my personal and professional life, the mental aspect that is. The discipline and respect that you learn to develop over time to me is th