The Search For Purpose

A 19 year old karateka, engineer apprentice and teacher. Being very influenced by the martial art of karate-do for half of my current life, I feel like it affects everything I do, and I owe a lot to it. Please feel free to ask any sort of question, I'd be privalidged to answer.

[little-karate-fighter-deactivat]

Martial arts tattoos anyone?

Any of you guys have them? What are your thoughts? I’ve thought for a while now that I would get a tattoo to commemorate achieving my black belt, so I’m curious as to what you guys think about it :)

[thesearchforpurpose-blog]

I got the kanji that's associated with 'discipline' or 'to work on a skill' to remind me of how far I have gotten within the dojo and in life with karate. I got it about a year and a half ago, nine months after my black and it was the best thing I ever did!

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[oaklandjudo]

Tomoe nage —> juji-gatame

[throwtime]

siiiiiiick

[thesearchforpurpose-blog]

Fucking hell that is cool!

[kungfufemme-deactivated20220417]

[thesearchforpurpose-blog]

Of course! A little more blood and sweat before the new year!

[thesearchforpurpose-blog]

The Importance of the Black Belt

The black belt is associated with a certain stigma among many different types of people. To them, if you achieved a black belt it can be brushed off with a simple comment such as "well you couldn't stop someone shooting you so...." or something else along the lines of "Wow you could totally kick someones ass!".

To me, these comments can be quite irritating even if the last comment can be taken as some what of a compliment. Only those who have train in martial arts or who have witnessed someone close to them learn the art can, in my opinion, hold a proper understanding of the importance of this belt.

In a proper training environment (and by saying this I am not referring to some of the 'cash cow' dojos that are lying about where if you pay the right price you can buy your black belt) the belt represents many things, such as:

Years of diligent practice.

Patience through the progression up the ranking system of the martial art.

Overcoming the steep learning curve of martial arts, including both the physical and mental aspects.

Pushing yourself to the limit.

Taking martial arts into your daily life.

The reason that the fifth point is mention is because, if you have been learning your martial art for long enough, you would have probably incorporated some of your training into your daily life routine, whether you realise it or not.

To cut it short, the black belt represents a level or personal, mental and physical commitment to an art that not everyone can achieve. By earning this, it puts all of that commitment into something that you can wear with pride, an item you can cherish and a state of mind no one can take away.