Why Karate?

Even with all of the McDonalds martial arts available out there (that are to martial arts what McDonalds is to real food) eliminated from the mix, there is still quality kung-fu, jiu-jitsu, aikido, and taekwondo (although so many halls exist in this art that finding a good one is like finding a particular needle in a haystack-sized stack of needles), not to mention arts from South Asia, or even, once in a while, western arts like wrestling, fencing, or boxing (these are usually less ‘do’ oriented, as they have been reduced to sport from art since at least two hundred years ago).

Honestly, for me, choosing karate was a coincidence of who I met and what was available where I was. I encountered karate through trying a McDonalds American style, not knowing the differences at the time. I was lucky: there was an assistant instructor there who was a classical artist who was just paying his bills. When he left to start his own dojo, a few of us went with him because of the do he modeled. Not only was he tremendously fast, strong, flexible, and technically proficient, but he is kind, compassionate, fun, modest, and humane. A lot of this is who he is naturally, but that is what drew him to the classical experience, and the classical experience reinforces those qualities. Thirty years later, he's not as fast, strong, or flexible as he was. He's more proficient, of course, but more important, he is more deeply rich in the humane qualities I so admired.

Those are the qualities I sought, and I was very lucky that he was there. There is a Taoist saying that, when you are ready, a teacher shall appear. All these years later, I am not sure I was really ready for what he had to offer, but appear he did.

When I moved from North Carolina to Minnesota and then from Minnesota to Chicago, I was able to continue my journey on an only slightly- adjusted path. In short, there is a great deal of serendipity in the choice of classical experiences, since they are not as widely available as other kinds of experience. If you have twelve other kinds of martial arts, but one traditional, classical kung-fu hall in your town, kung fu will become your classical path. It’s hard to take cello lessons from a violinist, so you’d better be willing to take violin lessons if that’s all that is available.

It may be rationalizing after the fact to feel this, but I believe I was doubly lucky: Not only did a classical experience appear just when I was able to start to appreciate and take advantage of it, but the particular one that appeared is a remarkably comprehensive one.

Classical karate is from Okinawa, a set of little islands which served as a sort of cultural clearing house for ideas from all over Asia, especially China and Japan, for several hundred years. Karate is the cultural set of ideas synthesized by the Okinawans most famously, and for good reason. Many of the rich and diverse schools of kung fu in China had Okinawan students over the years, who returned to their home with the arts they acquired.

Japan’s jiu-jitsu, ken-jutsu, martial cultural organization, and approach to art made their way to Okinawa as well, all tempered by the pragmatic culture of an island of farmers, fishers, and merchants.

The stew of all these influences produced a classical martial arts heritage that contains a genuine classical do, and waza that encompasses striking, grappling, and evasion in equal measure. Okinawan karate comes in hard, hard-soft, and soft varieties, external and internal foci. A master in any one becomes at least conversant in some of the others. Okinawan karate is varied, rich, effective, and beautiful. Who could ask for more in the challenge of training in a classic discipline?