Defining Karate-do, Presentation and Demonstration of Karate-do at the ACE 2015 In Kobe, Japan

I am happy and somewhat relieved to tell you that I have recently had a paper on Karate-do published in the proceedings of an educational conference. The full paper titled "Finding a Place for Karate-do in Mainstream Education" can be found online:

http://iafor.org/archives/proceedings/ACE/ACE2015_proceedings.pdf

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, last year I was asked by the CEO of iafor, Dr. Joseph Haldane to be a featured presenter at the Asian Conference on Education (ACE) 2015, held in Kobe, Japan from October 21st ~ 25th. My presentation was to be a demonstration of Karate-do. As the theme of the conference was “Education, Power and Empowerment: Transcending Boundaries” Dr. Haldane thought a Karate-do demonstration would be very appropriate for the opening ceremonies of the conference. With the help of my good friend Nishioka Hiroshi Sensei and his students I was able to co-ordinate a very well received Karate-do demonstraion on the main stage of the 神戸芸術センター Kobe Geijutsu Senta, Kobe Arts Centre.

(Above Left. the cover of the ACE 2015 Proceedings. Below, a photo taken toward the end of the demonstration of the members of Nishioka Dojo and Dr. Haldane breaking a board. I found out later that it had been a childhood dream of his to break a board like he saw the karate masters do on TV when he was young.)

As a result of attending this conference as a featured presenter, I was also able to present my own research paper for publication in the proceedings. In keeping with the above mentioned theme and the fact that we had already demonstrated the physical part of karate-do, I decide to focus on the academic and health befits that come with long-term study and practice of this art as a result of its 文武両道 Bunbu Ryodo approach to learning (See full paper).

Some of the points made in the paper are, a brief history of karate, its close relationship with the Japanese education system, and the difference between the terms karate and karate-do and in doing so tried to provide a better definition of the term karate-do. In my opinion, these two terms should not be used interchangeably.

In this post I will share with you what I wrote in the paper regarding the definition of the term karate-do.

Defining Karate-do
The Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines karate as a Japanese system of unarmed combat using hands and feet as weapons. Christopher M. Clarke in his book Okinawan Karate: A History of Styles and Masters Vol.1 (2012), he states that, “At its simplest, karate is a system of unarmed self-defense” (p.7), implying that karate is actually something more complex. Karate is indeed a self-defense system, but the discussion I wish to have deals with karate-do which requires more clarification in its definition.

In order to deepen our understanding of the terms covered in this paper we must also look at the Chinese Characters (kanji). The word karate, as we know it today, is made up of two kanji 空 and 手, Kara; Empty or vacant and Te; Hand. These two kanji combine to become ‘empty hand’ which describes this weaponless art of self-defense. The two definitions given above, while accurately defining the term karate, are lacking when we attempt to define karate-do and therefore should not be misunderstood to encompass karate-do as well.

Taking a closer look at Shu Gyou

I apologize for the long wait. It seems that life and work always seem to have a way of getting busy all at the same time making it very difficult to stay on task. That, however, is the most important challenge, isn't it.

In one of my previous posts titled 'Analysis of the Showa Part 1', I didn't go into very much detail on  the interpretation of 修業 Shu Gyou, that appears in the motivational poem the 唱和 Showa written by the first generation Soke of Chito-Ryu Karate Do, Chitose Tsuyoshi Sensei.  I simply wrote that it means "to study." However, this translation is lacking in substance and doesn't really express the deeper meaning of the kanji. I am very happy that the blog has generated some interesting discussion. After being asked to share my thoughts on the term 修業 Shu Gyou, I've decided to take a closer look at the term. I began by checking some other sources for translations and found one I felt the readers of this blog may be interested in. The translation is "the pursuit of knowledge." Perhaps this more accurately explains the nuance of the term Shugyo, that it requires one to devote their time and energy into a focused pursuit of whatever it is that they wish to attain deeper knowledge of. It is not, simply describing passive learning. However, there is still one more point of concern that needs to be addressed and that is the two different ways of writing Shu Gyou in Japanese; 修業 and 修行, and the differences in the usage of each. I would like to take a closer look at Shu Gyou in this post.
 

(Chito-Ryu Karate Do First Generation Soke, Chitose Tsuyoshi Sensei)



 

As I said, discussion lead to the variations of the kanji that can be used to write Shyugyo, listed above修業 and 修行. In this post I will try to address the differences between the nuance of each of these. I also welcome knowledgeable readers of this blog to post in the comment section of this entry to further deepen our understanding of these terms and concepts.

 

Two Important Concepts Within Karate Do Practice (Part 2)

Introduction
The next concept that I would like to write about is 文武両道 Bun Bu Ryo Do, this is the concept of developing one's academic and physical skills and is commonly a focal part in the foundation of the approach to teaching many Japanese martial arts especially 剣道 Kendo and 空手道 Karate Do.

 

I am sure that the concept of Bunburyodo is familiar to you or, at the very least, you have heard your Sensei talk about the concept during your training. Its presence in the Japanese education system is resonant. I have often heard references made to this concept both in the classroom and the dojo during my time here. I'm confident that you can find a great deal of information on this topic on the Internet and in martial arts texts.

 

At first glance, this may seem to be just another mystical Asian concept, but like many of these concepts, it will quickly become clear the more you research that there is nothing mysterious about it at all. If anything, the concept is poetic. Have you heard the famous saying, The pen is mightier than the sword? While this concept combines both of these in an eloquent balance. In fact, this is one of the main principles of Bushido. In this is where we find the beauty and the strength of the way of the 'warrior'. In modern society this concept has become more and more theoretical, but in feudal Japan this is what helped many 侍Samurai maintain their sanity enabling them to balance the grotesque nature of the gruesome things that they did during war time with the ability to recognize and appreciate the beauty of something like the cherry blossoms in full bloom while at peace. The contrast of feelings and actions, of what is in our hearts and what our bodies must do could also be likened to bunburyodo. (Our thoughts and feelings are represented by the pen and our actions are represented by the sword)

 

 

However, in the modern academic context the study of subjects has taken precedence over the practice of combat so much so that many teachers whom I know and have taught with often stressed the importance of the physical element in the form of maintaining a strong healthy body in order to achieve the best academic results possible.