Once again I found myself contemplating the fact that everything comes around in time. These days, MMA is king, yet the MMA crowd is starting to have to deal with fake rank, sham schools, and McGyms. I figure since McDojo is coined, I’d get a head start on attaching the McDonald’s tag to gyms. Last month was Karate Rules month over at Bullshido (caution – if you are easily offended, just don’t go there – you’ll be happier that way) celebrating achievements of Karate exemplars like Lyoto Machida who used his Shotokan to pound BJ Penn, BJJ star extraordinaire into mush a short while back. Who could have seen that coming?
My point isn’t that BJJ is bad and Karate is good. It’s that in the end, good, hard training – the kind where you hit and get hit – wins at the end of the day. There are better and worse ways to go about it, but in the end, it’s more how you do it than what you do.
In an only vaguely related ‘everything comes around again’, I’ve seen a lot of hand wringing about rank, especially in Kenpo / Kempo. Many of the old timers can be heard regretting how quickly and young the new generation gets rank. I stumbled across this character while searching the web earlier today:
Age 9 – takes kempo.
Age 15 – Starts Karate lessons.
Age 17 – 2nd Dan
Age 20 – 4th Dan.
He then trains in Judo for four years – zoom – there’s another fourth dan for you, thank you very much.
Two fourth dan ranks before age 30, after at most 15 years training. Then a short while later, he starts his own style and eventually does flashy demos on TV. Sacreliege!
I expose the charlatan after the jump.
I’m guessing you are a bit suspicious, so I’ll give up the ruse now. I profiled Mas Oyama, the legendary founder of Kyokushin. He was no charlatan – he was the real deal. His rank had meaning – the kind of meaning he could back up with his fists. Is that how it’s done now? Are we substituting time for skill? I say we should get over it – our infatuation with rank – and focus on what we can do. Can we teach, execute the skills, fight, whatever. I don’t look at a belt and think ‘oh – they’ve got a bunch of stripes, they must be good’, in fact, I usually look at someone with a bunch of stripes with a suspicious eye. I’ve seen it too many times. I want to see what they can do. Wear whatever you want. Just make sure you can back it with knowledge and skill. Young folks with high rank? It’s been with us all along.
Excellent article Matt!!
I’ve been pointing out similar stories for years. The founders of Shotokan, Judo, Aikido, etc., are all credited with mastering multiple systems at a young age before founding their own.
Aikido is interesting because it has multiple “subsystems” from where different students left the founder’s school to teach on their own. The ones from when the founder was fairly young are very “rough & tumble” styles, while the later ones are more “Hearts and Flowers.”
Thanks Justin!
Mark – thanks for stopping by. How’s the FAQ going? It was quite a project and has really stood the test of time. I should get a link to it somewhere on here.