The Three Ks of Karate

The education system often talks about the ‘Three Rs’ of Reading Writing and Arithmetic.  To a casual observer, one might say that the education system was flawed from the very beginning by the fact that it can’t spell!  In Karate, however, we can spell and the three Ks really are three Ks – Kihon, Kata and Kumite.  Let’s look at each one and explain what it is.

Kihon means Basics.  Basics are the fundamentals of our art or style.  In Karate, basics are our punches, our kicks, our blocks, our strikes and our stances.  In order to build a strong foundation for our karate we must drill and practice basics constantly.  The honing of our basic technique is the very essence of our training and must be taken seriously in order to progress to a high level of skill.  If we compare karate to learning a language, our karate basics are our vocabulary.

Kata means Form.  Forms are sequences of movements that are put together in an overall pattern that we must memorize.  Kata training includes the elements of direction, technique, speed, power and rhythm.  On a deeper level the analysis of kata can lead to many useful discoveries for practical self-defense, as hidden within the different forms are many useful sequences of movements that can be directly applied to different scenarios.  Going back to our language analogy, kata can be likened to the grammar of our karate.

Kumite means Partner Work or Sparring.  Basic partner work introduces pre-arranged training drills that help us get used to using different punches, kicks, blocks and strikes.  Through these set training drills we are able to directly apply our defensive movements and counters against actual attacks.  As we progress in our skill level the drills become harder with a bigger element of surprise that is gradually introduced until we are able to deal with random attacks from multiple opponents.  For our language analogy our kumite training is therefore how we express ourselves by using our vocabulary and our grammar appropriately based on any given situation.

By breaking down our karate training into the ‘Three Ks’, we are able to focus on each core training element individually and consequently improve our overall ability with a very systematic approach.  Our ultimate goal is to combine these three elements seamlessly so that the ‘Three Ks’ become one K.  And that K of course is Karate.

When this seamlessness takes place, you begin operating from a level of what is sometimes referred to as unconscious competence.  You don't have to think of the individual pieces and parts.  Everything fits together and works in harmony, almost totally without any direction from the conscious mind.  This is the level from which the masters operate and that is why observing them is like watching poetry in motion.

Keep training hard on the three Ks and they will gradually begin to merge into one over time.

Behavioral Congruency

The idea of Behavioral Congruency is not a new one but it is one that is based on sound logical principles.

In mathematics the word congruent means something that is exactly the same size and shape.  Therefore in terms of behavior, congruency means acting in exactly the way necessary to achieve a desired outcome.  So, in other words if you can align your behavior with those who have already achieved your desired result or outcome (and are still achieving it) then you too can obtain the same result.

Let me give you an example with your karate practice that will illustrate this concept more clearly.  Probably over 90% of people who start karate would answer “Yes” to the question,

“Do you want to become a Black Belt?”

However we all know that nowhere near 90% of students actually make it to the black belt.  The number is actually quite low.  So how can we increase the number of students who make it to the black belt?  Well we can start by looking at behavior.

So what did black belts do before they were black belts and what are they still doing now that defines their success in karate?

Well the good news is that black belts don’t really do anything that is extremely difficult or radically different to the average student.  I think I can boil down their behavior to three simple things:

1. They come to class regularly and consistently.  I personally recommend twice a week.

2. They always give their best effort during class.

3. They stay focused on their goal until they achieve it.

Obviously there are other things you can do too to make sure you become a black belt such as practicing at home and reading and studying about karate from books, magazines, DVDs and the Internet.  However the three crucial behaviors are to come to class regularly, to train hard and to stay focused on your goal.

If you are someone who “wants to be a Black Belt,” I suggest that you ask yourself honestly if your current behavior, in terms of your karate practice, is congruent with the behavior that I just described.

If it is, then you are well on your way to becoming a black belt, if not then it’s not too late to change!

The same simple question can also be asked about other important aspects of your life...

Basic Stances

This video shows the three most common basic stances of Shotokan karate.

For more videos, check out my YouTube site at www.youtube.com/user/seishin73.

The Trip of a Lifetime

I was born and raised in England for 22 years, lived in Germany for 1 year, Japan for 3 years and now the United States for over 10 years.  I have traveled throughout Europe and also South-East Asia.  As you can see I have been very fortunate so far to have had the opportunity to visit so many places and experience so many cultures.  Many of these trips and experiences were both life-changing and inspirational but I can say with complete honesty that the ‘trip of a lifetime’ for me is still continuing to this day, and that is my study of karate.

This trip, or maybe journey would be a better word, started on a cold January morning in 1982 in an even colder dojo in North-East England.  I was 8 years old at the time and could never have known what a huge impact karate would have on my life, and to be honest, it probably took about 10 years of training before I really began to understand the impact and some of the benefits that karate had already given me.  However on that cold evening I didn’t know what to make of the lesson or of the experience, and I almost quit after the first lesson.  To this day I still can’t figure out what made me go back, but I’m certainly glad that I did because what I’ve gained in the years since is immeasurable.

The goal of this article is not to give you a blow by blow account of my own experience in karate, but rather a perspective on what lies ahead.

What lies ahead is a very difficult journey, full of success and failure, a journey of self-discovery and ultimately a journey of honest introspection.

Let me start by telling you that I have failed a grading 4 times, I failed my Green Belt as well as each of the three Brown Belts once.  It took me 6 years to get my Black Belt, when it should have only taken me about 4 years on average.  Despite being top of the class at school, I was NEVER top of the class in karate.  Why am I still doing karate?  Why am I still wasting my time?

...because I understand the value of karate.

Karate is not about being able to beat somebody up, karate is not about being able to kick high, karate is not about back flips, karate is not about aggression or anger, karate is not about weapons, karate is not even about keeping fit and healthy (despite that being a side benefit).

Karate is ultimately about fulfilling your potential, it is about developing the discipline needed to deal with daily life in a consistent manner, it is about friendship, it is about harmony with others, it is about never giving up, it is about being true to yourself and others, it is about testing your limits and constantly challenging yourself.

There are three main aspects of karate - Kihon (Basics), Kata (Forms) and Kumite (Sparring/Partner Work).  These aspects can be applied to everyday life.  The true value of karate is found in how the different components of karate are relevant to everything that we do.  It might sound strange to think that our everyday life is made up of Kihon, Kata and Kumite, but it really is.  Kihon represents those things that we do day in day out such as going to work or school, making dinner, brushing our teeth, organizing our day, Kata represents the set routines that we follow everyday, such as the order in which we do things in the morning when getting ready, the route that we follow to school or work, the school schedule or the work routine and Kumite represents how we apply our basic movements and our set routines to have an effective, successful and productive day.  As you can see it is necessary to repeat the basic techniques of our life again and again, we will constantly follow set routines and will always add new routines but our success ultimately depends on how well we apply the things we have learned on a consistent basis.  I believe that karate can help provide the disciplined structure to ultimately improve our lives.

Enter Form, Exit Form

There is a saying in Japanese martial arts that translates as “Enter form, exit form”.  When you first see these words they don’t really make much sense as there is no context in which to place them.  However the meaning should become clear during this short article.

The phrase refers to the process of learning that we go through during our journey along the path of martial arts.

First of all we walk into the dojo on the first day armed with a sense of excitement at trying something new as well as a little bit of caution because we don’t know what to expect.  At this initial stage of our training most of us know very little about fighting but despite this lack of refined fighting skill, we possess something very useful.  We possess natural reactions because of our survival instinct as humans, we have the element of surprise because the people in the dojo have never seen us before and therefore know nothing about our ability, and we are also unpredictable for the same reason.

So we come to the Karate dojo possessing “no form” and then we are put into a rigorous program of teaching us technique after technique, form after form and sparring drill after sparring drill.  At this point we are “entering form”.  After a couple of years of this training we no longer look like, react like or move like the person who entered that very same dojo two years earlier.  In fact we have become quite proficient at executing all of the different techniques, we know several different “forms” and our sparring skills seem to have improved dramatically.  What’s more, that white belt we were given to wear has now changed color to purple or maybe even brown.  By anybody’s standards we’ve come a long way.

The problem at this stage of our training is that we are so immersed in “form” that when faced with a spontaneous attack that isn’t pre-arranged (like the sparring drills we practice) oftentimes our mind is so confused by choice as to which technique to use against the attack that our defense actually is ineffective despite our good technique.  This is a common occurrence at this level of training because of the vast amount of new material that our minds have had to take in over the past two years and unfortunately for us this process will probably continue for several more years as we continue to accumulate knowledge about the martial art and try to integrate it and assimilate it into something meaningful and natural.  This requires many hours of practice.

Finally we accomplish a higher degree of understanding and we now start to break away from “form” and we begin to slowly “exit form”.  This process of “exiting form” also lasts for quite some time and is full of inspirational moments when we gradually start seeing things on a deeper level and from a different perspective.  Simple things that we thought we already understood suddenly open up and show us something we had never thought about before, thereby giving us additional skill and knowledge.

Finally we fully “exit form” and essentially return to the beginning, to that same person who walked into the dojo on the first day possessing natural reactions and the elements of surprise and unpredictability.  The only difference being (and a big difference it is) is that we now have a very refined skill base and an extremely deep level of understanding that just reacts to whatever situation it is faced with in an appropriate manner without thinking.  Essentially all of the skills that have been practiced for years and years have now become second nature and we have finally reached the highest levels of the martial arts.  This is what I believe is meant by the phrase “Enter form, exit form.”

Truth or Belief?

I started karate at the age of eight on an extremely cold dojo floor in the North-east of England on a January evening in 1982.

My truth that night was that my feet were freezing cold like blocks of ice; my belief was that karate was extremely hard and unforgiving.  I cried after the class and wanted to quit before the next lesson.  Despite my initial experience, I stuck with karate.

At the age of 10, I passed my brown belt after failing two previous gradings.  My truth that night was that I was a tough young boy; my belief was that I was actually good at karate.  I answered my parents doubts that night and was brimming with confidence.  Thanks to my newfound confidence, I stuck with karate.

At the age of 14, I passed my first degree black belt after spending four long years as a brown belt, after failing two more gradings, after trying to convince my parents that their money was well spent on my karate training, and after almost giving up on karate altogether.  My truth that day was that I was a very stubborn individual who had reached a goal; my belief that day was that karate was in actual fact very difficult and that maybe I should quit now while I was ahead.  Instead of quitting, I stuck with karate.

At the age of 22, I graduated from university, left England and went to Japan and enrolled in Master Kanazawa’s Headquarters Dojo in Tokyo.  At the time, I was a third degree black belt in my previous style, well-versed in my new style of Shotokan and had experience in Ju-jitsu and Aikido.  My truth that month was that I finally had some bona-fide experience on which to build.  My belief was that I could actually be successful in karate.  Thanks to my fearless decision to move to Japan, I stuck with karate.

At the age of 26, I left Japan as a third-degree black belt in Shotokan, awarded directly by Master Kanazawa.  I had spent three hard years in Japan learning the art of karate and experiencing the melting pot of culture shock, intense training sessions, and strange yet rewarding experiences that I will never forget.  My truth in that moment was that I didn’t really know who I was, or what I wanted in life; my belief was that it didn’t matter because I could do anything that I put my mind to!  Thanks to the inspiration of Master Kanazawa, I stuck with karate.

Over ten years later and many many hours of hard work and a lot of help from family and friends, I am responsible for teaching well over 100 people this art of karate on a weekly basis.  As a fifth degree black belt I represent Master Kanazawa’s worldwide organization and do my best to promote his message of harmony and strong spirit through my teaching.

In some people’s eyes I have made it as an instructor.  The truth of the matter is that I have a very long way to go before I can even begin to claim some measure of success.  My own personal truth at this stage of my karate journey is that I have come a very long way since first stepping out on that freezing cold floor in England, and that my study of karate has revealed many personal weaknesses that I have had to face along the way.  The process of trying to correct these weaknesses, both physical and emotional, is never easy but it is necessary if we are to continue growing as a person.  My belief at this point in time is that I truly can achieve anything I set my mind to, regardless of how difficult it may seem at first.  Thanks to all of my experiences, I still do karate!

My instructor, Master Kanazawa, once said that one of the reasons to practice karate is to learn how to “make the impossible possible”.  This simple phrase sums up the difference between truth and belief very well.  The truth of our current situation or of a goal that we want to achieve may very well seem impossible, but our belief that we will ultimately be successful is what propels us forward and drives us through the invisible barrier in front of us.

Time and time again in my own life I have come up against very difficult challenges that seemed insurmountable at first.  Yet with determination, perseverance and self-belief, the challenge gradually changed from being impossible to being very difficult to finally becoming imminently achievable.  I suspect that all of you reading this have had similar experiences throughout your own lives.

So what have all of these different experiences and my karate training taught me.  Well, I think that after searching for truth in everything I do, I have finally come to the conclusion that it is not the so-called truth of our situation or challenge that really matters; all that actually matters is our belief and how we handle it!

The Benefits of Failure

To use the words “benefit” and “failure” in the same sentence probably qualifies as an oxymoron.  Like any good lesson in life, however, the things that we are afraid of the most often give us the best insights.

I have come to realize that we all avoid failure as much as possible.  It’s almost a kind of taboo subject that gets swept under the carpet.  In our culture nobody wants to admit that they made a mistake or that they were wrong.  Why is this?  Is failure really that bad?

It seems like it is bad.  After all, who can deny the feelings of disappointment and disillusion when something doesn’t go our way, or even the harsh feeling of despair and regret when we really crash and burn.  Why does life treat us so badly?  Don’t we deserve better?

No we don’t!  We deserve absolute honesty in everything we do.  If that means failure instead of false praise, then so be it.  If that means that we have to admit that we lost, or that we were sub-standard, then so be it.  If that means that on that day we just missed out, then so be it.  Don’t gripe, don’t moan, don’t throw a fit!  Be happy that you have just received a lesson that you need to learn!!

I received this lesson for the first time when I was 9 years old.  I had been very successful at school, passing every test, getting top grades, being on the sports teams, getting praise from the teachers…

I thought karate was going to be the same...until I took my green belt test.  I stepped forwards when my sensei called my name, expecting to receive my belt.  Instead, I was shut down and demoralized with that one word, “FAIL!”

Absolute shock!  I was still an orange belt, I had to wait three more months to test again, I was not good enough!

This was the first time that I had failed at anything, and as it turned out I failed in karate three more times on my way to the black belt, before I finally made it on December 5th, 1987 (a day I will never forget based on the hardship that led up to that occasion.)

How could I fail? I thought I was better than that.  Well, as it has turned out, karate has shown me over the years that I’m not really that good at anything.  I just get ahead of myself at times and think that I know something, which basically means that I am a little stubborn, and that on occasion I can be a little too self-confident.

I needed to learn humility!  Karate continues to teach me this quality.  My failures along my karate journey were exactly what I needed, and they have definitely taught me some very valuable life lessons!  Thanks to these hard lessons, I have come to realize that failure can actually be a good thing, despite the fact that it doesn't feel very good at the time.  As long as you learn the lesson that failure brings, the experience is valuable, but if you stubbornly refuse to face up to yourself, then the lesson will have to be repeated again and again until you notice.

When I first met my most influential sensei, Master Hirokazu Kanazawa, he wrote a piece of calligraphy for me that has inspired me in my life on so many occasions I have lost count.  What he wrote in Japanese translates as,

"Never be afraid of failure, if you try your best."

I am very thankful for my sensei's wisdom and I hope that his words will inspire you too.