A BALANCE BETWEEN ELITISM AND FRAUDULENCE
By Ben Haryo
If you, like me, are addicted to both Budo and the Internet, I am sure you will be a frequent visitor to many Budo forums that are kindly provided by fellow Budokas with huge Internet servers and money to burn. To them I am very thankful, because they are doing a service to the Budo community, by giving a place for Budoka to share their views. I try to do the same with the GBI Club website here, however the best we could do is posting articles and interview, which is rather nice, but are no match for the interactivity afforded by fully established Budo forums.
These past few years I noticed a trend of less-than-friendly “discussions” taking place. The theme seemed to be the same. Some individuals commited Budo fraudulence by claiming to teach certain martial arts they never learned, or creating new styles which are claiming lineages which cannot be proven. On the other hand, practitioners of “legitimate” styles seemed to have nothing better to do than to insult other Budokas which they perceive as being “fraud”, without even bothering to investigate further. So, we have Fraudulence in one side and Elitism in other side.
Frankly, I found both sides irritating. The frauds claimed amazing lineages, and yet time and time again failed to present even a logical argument (let alone proof) that their amazing styles were not conjured out of thin air. There are many humorous moments of watching these frauds tried desperately to construct their arguments, only to have it torn apart later because they don’t have a strong foundation to stand on. One certain individual claimed to have 8th Dan in a well-known Karate style, but are unable to present the name of his teacher! And we have a case of a person claiming to be undefeated in “secret death matches” allegedly done in a certain Asian country, and yet he was unable to present any scrap of evidence that those death matches really existed. Worse, he claimed to be taught “Ninjitsu” by a “Ninja Master” and yet he cannot prove that this Ninja exists!
The elitists are no better though. I have found examples where outstanding teachers like Tanemura sensei (of Genbukan fame) are being labeled as frauds by the elitists, just because he decided to teach two of his Koryu arts (Kijin Chosui-ryu Taijutsu and Shinto Tenshin-ryu Kenpo) as “Koryu Karate”. The Genbukan website has been very clear that the Karate that Tanemura sensei teach is not Okinawan-based Karate, even the Kanji characters used to write his Karate are different. But that doesn’t stop the attacks! Just because Tanemura sensei does something unusual (but, still legitimate in Japanese traditions), he was labeled as a “fraud” who practices “revisionist history”. This is very sad!
So, the frauds have this “cheat and lie at all cost” attitude, whereas the elitists have this “holier than thou” attitude. Both are annoying, both are irritating, and both attitudes should be avoided. Budoka should be concerned by training for their own self-improvements, and should not spent too much time insulting others! Yes, I agree that we must stay away from fraudulency. And yet, we have to clearly define Budo fraudulency. A person who studied several martial arts, combined then and teach them as a new art, in my opinion, is not a fraud! We should let the art stand on its merits. If he has good teaching methods, a reasonable syllabus of good techniques, and generally gave good contributions to the society, then I say let him grow and prosper. As long as he is up-front and honest about his lineages and methods, he will not be considered a fraud in my book.
BUT, anybody who conjured a martial art style out of thin air, claiming unprovable lineages, and walk around with “I am better than you” attitude, they should be avoided from the start!
Likewise, people who has been blessed with legitimate teachers should be thankful for those blessings. Just train for your own self-improvements, and don’t be so quick in giving harsh judgements to your fellow Budoka. Until next time!
Ben Haryo is the chief instructor of GBI Club. He had studied many Asian
martial arts since the early 80s, but his main art is Wado-ryu,
on which he holds 2nd Dan under Mr.