Which JKA are we talking
about?
There are now so many "JKA"s, its difficult to tell which one is being
referred
to.
In England there are former
JKA
groups who have formed their own orgs and offshoots from them. In the
US,
there are now so many, its difficult to count them all. All have, or
have
had affiiation with the JKA. Some are connected with one JKA in Japan,
others
with the "newer" one and those with no affiliation.
All of this really doesn't
matter
with respect to training in JKA Karate. But it does matter if you will
be
moving around and think your rank from one org will be accepted by
another.
They most probably won't be. If you are high ranked and you want to
train
or teach by yourself, it won't matter. Just self train or open up a
dojo and
start teaching. If you are qualified and know what you are doing, and
can
get intelligent enough pupils who don't need tournaments every other
month,
but are satisfied with only learning karate in your dojo without the
social
interaction of an org, you won't need to be part of one. If your pupils
need
the interaction of tournaments and seminars, you'll most likely have to
be
a member of an org along with all your pupils. If you want to change
dojos,
or orgs, your rank may not count at your new one. Having spent years of
training at one dojo and your hard earned money as well, you will
have
to retest, at great expense. Why? Well, the official reason will be
they
have to mantain their integrity in order to keep their "rank" system
pure.
The real reason will be to make more money from you even though you're
all
supposed to be members of the "JKA", which is the world criteria for
testing.
Another thing you probably don't know. If you have not ranked in Japan,
no
matter what rank you have, you are more than likely not registered in
Japan.
If you go to Japan to test for higher rank, you'd better be able to
prove
your rank by action and deed, not words or a piece of paper. Your
certificate
won't count for much. If however, you get out on the floor and can
prove
yourself in all ways, you will be accepted as a JKA karateka.
I've written in previous
articles
about the disparity between ranks from Japan and here in the US and
elsewhere.
A 5th- 7th dan in Japan is not like the dans over here. Here, it's
probably
been earned from years of being loyal and contributing lots of money to
the
org that issued your dan. There are always exceptions as with any
disipline.
In Japan, the dan is earned from hard training and knowledge. The
reason
is, the only thing you'll be doing in Japan is training, with no dojo
or
pupils contributing money. I wish it weren't this way, but it is. The
higher
dans in the US that I'm familiar with would not even be strong sandans
based
on their kata, kumite, and kihon techniques. Most only have superficial
knowledge
in all of the 3 "k's"in karatedo.
So don't be too surprised if
you
switch from one JKA org to another and find the rank you worked for is
not
any longer yours. If you have a high rank, over 3th dan for example,
and leave
one org for another after being loyal to the first for many years, the
newer
org you join will most likely give you a higher rank just for joining
them
especially if you bring along many pupils as this generates a lot more
income
for them and you have left your old org which is a "feather in their
cap".
The test will be almost meaningless.
Another thing that annoys me
no
end. If a very qualified sensei is invited to teach by a dojo belonging
to
an org he does not belong to, he is not allowed to teach. There have
been
sincere sensei's who have been thrown out of their orgs just because
they
invited a qualifed instructor to teach a seminar from another org or
one that
is independent. What are they afraid of? That perhaps the org
instructors
will find out that they have not had the correct kind of training and
that
their so called "master" doesn't really know too much, or if he does,
he will
not share his knowledge. Orgs are also fanatical about rank testing.
There
are karateka, who for their own personal reasons, ( perhaps the bs
going
on with most orgs) have not bothered to test for higher rank for many
years.
Even though some of these karateka are far more advanced in every way
from
the ranks of others in the org, they are considered pariahs. The only
thing
that should be considered is skill and knowledge, not a political rank.
How
small minded these so called "masters" are with respect to any others
who
are not in their org or have not bothered to test to a higher
meaningless
political rank.
These are the conditions
that
prevail right now. If something is not done soon, politics will
override
everything else. But traditional pure JKA Karate will be lost in the
process.
I don't have much hope at this writing for most of the karateka in some
of
the orgs. They are already brainwashed to the extent it may be too late
for
them. Maybe this is the reason for the original breakup way back in
1957
as the JKA was being formed. Some of the older members foresaw
the
kind of politics I'm writing about over 40 years later. They knew with
a
certainty that karate would become very commercial with everybody
wanting
to make a living off it. I feel the best karate is taught when the
instructor
does not need to make a living off the teaching, but only does it for
the
love of the art and wanting to pass on the knowledge gained in the true
spirit
of karatedo.
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