old karate
The 10 Rules of Old School KarateBy
Jesse Enkamp
“Classical Karate.”
“Traditional Karate.”
“Old-style Karate.”
“Orthodox Karate.”
These descriptions, and many more, are frequently thrown around, when people are talking about their style, school or association. They want to feel original, like what they do is the “one and true way” and everything else is a variation or copy of their stream. They feel safe, somehow, knowing that what they do is the “original way”, because then you can’t go wrong, can you?!
“Hey, we do like this because the ancient masters did so hundreds of years ago. It’s the old way, so it can’t be wrong”.
Okay, okay, calm down, let’s see.
There is a simple test to see if what you train is actually the “old way” of training Karate.
Please answer the following ten questions (based on historical facts):
1. Do you frequently try your skills in fights with other people/thieves/thugs/streetfighters to see if it actually works? You can either decide the place and time to fight with someone, or you can just search your town for a gang to fight. Because that’s what they did in the old times
2. Do you constantly train and study one kata every day for years, (approximately three years), before you even think you have grasped something as essential as the basic stance and footwork of the kata? Because that’s what they did in the old times.
3. Do you frequently pursue activities tht may look like the exact opposite of Karate, like calligraphy, philosophy, literature, music or gardening? Because that’s what they did in the old times.
4. If you are an instructor: Do you make new students beg for months, give you gifts, and have them perform chores around the dojo/house, before you finally – with a hint of doubt – accept them as your students? Because that’s what they did in the old times.
5. If you are a student: Did you beg for months, give your sensei gifts, and perform chores around the house/dojo, before you finally – with a hint of doubt – became accepted as a student? Because that’s what they did in the old times.
6. Do you consider the three K’s of Karate to be these: Kata (form) Kumite (sparring) and Kihon (basics)? Or do you consider them to be: Kitsui (hard), Kiken (dangerous) and Kitanai (vulgar)? Because that’s what they did in the old times.
7. Do you consider applications and techniques brought from China (mainly Qin-na, Shuai Jiao and Quan-fa), mixed with your own Okinawan mindset, combined with a bigdose of Siamese Boxing (like the preferance for closed fists over open, unlike in China) to be the source of what you train? Because that’s what they did in the old times.
8. Do you train with weapons and various farming tools (converted into weapons), with names like tonfa, sai, nunchaku and kama? Do you also train with sharp Chinese broadswords (da-dao), spears and hilebards? Because that’s what they did in the old times.
