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The Road to Karate – A Budoka’s Way To Live
By Hiroshi Shoji. Shihan of the Japan Karate Association.

Part 24 Instructor Class

After my graduation from Takushoku University I first taught Karate at the Karate Club of “T Gakuin” University whilst working for a transport company in Sendai. Then I joined the Headquarters of the Japan Karate Association that was then located in Yotsuya and became a Karate instructor. Soon after I joined the JKA I was promoted to 3rd dan, and the hard training like the one that we had undergone during our university times was resumed day and night. Although I became an instructor, the physically hard training had not changed from my university days. In addition, I now had the duties of teaching.

There are a number of different ways to explain one technique in Karate. In order to help Karate students reach the ultimate form, we may give various instructions such as “Do this or this is the way”. The difficulty is that this could often be misunderstood and lead the students to wrong conclusions. There can be often gaps between the correct forms and the methods to teach the correct forms. It might be due to a lack of my ability to express myself precisely, and I experienced how difficult teaching could be. We received requests from many overseas countries for instructors. Those who were senior to me or top class Karate-ka went overseas to teach Karate one after another, leaving a very thin layer of instructors for Japan. As soon as a handful of trainees became instructors, they all went overseas, leaving no instructors for us in Japan. I remained in Japan and devoted myself to the Kenshusei (traineeship) system and teaching those coming after me. The Kenshusei system or traineeship system is unique to the JKA and it is not an overstatement to claim that the spreading of the JKA Karate and its present strong position has been achieved due largely to this system. Besides, there was an incident which worked as a springboard for the JKA Karate to become the strong Karate of today.

The time when Funakoshi Sensei did not have his own dojo lasted for a while after the last war. One day a group of top Karate-ka from another style who heard about the establishment of the JKA Headquarters Dojo in Yotsuya came to the JKA dojo. It was soon after I joined the JKA. With the long-standing history of having their own dojo and great amount of training time that they had put in, those from another style were strong and the JKA members were forced to fight very difficult battles against them. This incident made us realise that we should not be complacent as a frog in a pond in Tokyo and that there were many other strong Karate-ka like them throughout Japan. We renewed our efforts in our training. With the recognition that we were beaten and our renewed determination, the training to strengthen our instructor class began.

This incident that made us realise that occasional training with other styles was necessary became a springboard resulting in the development of the JKA Karate as a pragmatic fighting Karate. The reason why we could turn the miserable experience successfully into an opportunity was the establishment of the Kenshusei system or the instructor class. Anyone who is a university graduate with second dan or above in Karate and is prepared to adhere to the rules and regulations of the JKA can sit for an entrance examination, and if successful, become a Kenshusei or trainee instructor at the JKA. The Kenshusei system is purported for the Kenshusei to acquire Karate technique required for one to become a Karate instructor as well as to develop one’s characters as a human. Every Kenshusei will not necessarily remain at the JKA headquarters after the completion of their Kenshusei period and become a Karate instructor. After the completion of their Kenshusei period, it is up to each individual as to what to do afterwards. I think this is fine as long as Karate continues to live within themselves.

One day a Karate delegate from Okinawa claiming that they could knock out three opponents in a second was going to visit the JKA. Knocking three opponents out in a second was such a quick technique and we had never heard of such a thing before. It would be an amazing technique. We thought that since they were from Okinawa where Karate was originated, they might know something which we did not know. We had had a bitter experience in the past and this time those who seemed to be much stronger Karate-ka were coming. We prepared ourselves to fight a serious fight.

I thought it was around 2 o’clock when they arrived in a group at the JKA dojo. As a custom we showed our basic techniques to each other. In Yakusoku Kumite (pre-arranged Kumite), Kenshusei “M” faced his opponent. He had to be dead serious. The moment he swept the opponent’s leg with all his might, his opponent fell down feebly on the floor with no resistance. When “M” saw how weak his opponent was, who claimed he could knock three opponents out in a second, he was utterly surprised. He told people later how surprised he was about his weak opponent. Later when we proposed to them that we move onto free sparring, the delegate from Okinawa said that since it was before lunch, they did not have the energy and they left quickly.

When we found out later that they were a group of people who put up entertainment shows at cabaret, we were rather disappointed, because we faced them seriously and thought our victory was due to the result of our hard training that we underwent after our bitter experience. However, I learned an invaluable lesson even from those people. That was, whoever challenges us unexpectedly, we should not back out, instead maintain the spirit and confidence that we are strong. I thanked the delegate from Okinawa for the lesson that I learned. “M” who fought a member of the delegate from Okinawa is currently teaching Karate overseas.

The policy of the JKA is to welcome everybody who wants to train with us. Of course those who come to the JKA to challenge us would be a different case. This is also my policy. One day when I returned from instructions overseas, I received a report that a group of Karate-ka from another style visited the JKA. I first thought that they came for the purpose of an exchange of training. I was not listening to the report seriously. But it was not the case.

They came in a big group when a general class was going on. The general class had to be suspended. They had free sparring with the JKA instructors. It was obvious that this was a fight between different styles and what they intended was “the breaking of dojo” in the old fashion or challenge to the JKA. We had had a bitter experience in the past with the same style of Karate as they were, but we had not been hibernating during the period since then. We already had developed top class Karate-ka in Japan. The JKA was too strong for them. Probably they still remembered the past experience and they believed that their style was superior, underestimating the JKA Karate.

There was an after-incident story. Among the members who came to challenge the JKA was a westerner. He sent a certified mail to the JKA after the incident that he would sue the JKA for causing malicious wounds. In our view, if we challenged another style and as a result we had our teeth broken, we would never sue our opponents claiming compensation for the damage. Such an act would be to display one’s own shame. As mentioned before, it is very hard for one to connect his technique on the opponent even if he intends to do so. Most of us underwent training where physical connection with each other was the norm, but for those who have been trained under the no-contact and point system competition rules and regulations, it will be even harder to connect their techniques with their opponents. As to the westerner’s claim, nothing happened in the end.

What if they had beaten the JKA? This incident left an unpleasant taste in our mouth. This was an incident that made us realise how much progress we had made since the establishment of the JKA headquarters dojo. This also reminded us of the bitter experience that we had tasted in the past. We had mixed feelings. To be continued....

Read our Tribute to Shoji Sensei from November 2003

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