What is a "martial art"? And what is "karate"?

 After thinking about it, I realized that I have no sense of how common these terms are for people NOT in the martial arts world and so it may be worth spending time talking about martial arts in general.

“Martial arts” are a catch-all term used to describe a number of different fighting traditions and methods. I would say that martial arts usually have two sides to them –

1) specific techniques students can use in a violent confrontation with another person (the martial part)

 2) a competitive or philosophical focus on improving the student (the art part)

“Martial arts” is such a general term that there is lively debate over what fits in and what doesn’t. 

For example:

• Boxing and kickboxing are sports. It’s about competition and besting your opponent, not necessarily self-improvement or self-defense. So are these martial arts?

• Tai chi and similar practices focus on developing balance, breathing, and cultivating inner harmony. Very few Tai Chi practitioners are focused on attacking or defending against attacks. So is Tai Chi a martial art?

Eh, I don’t know. This argument shouldn’t be taken so seriously, and, after all, “martial arts” is supposed to be an umbrella term. How big of an umbrella do you want?

A final point: The term “martial arts” usually suggests Japan, China, or other East Asian origins. I think this is a holdover from the post-war period when a lot of Eastern martial arts were being introduced to the West, along with a strong component of exoticism. This seems to have died down as familiarity has grown with terms like karate, kung fu, and tae kwon do, and as more Western practitioners have reached high ranks in these arts. But there are Western martial arts as well. Boxing and wrestling, for sure, but also there has been a revival of European weapon traditions contained in medieval manuals for broadsword, longsword, rapier, and whatever else.

Alright so in this stew of martial arts, what is karate?

Karate is an unarmed martial art, originated in Okinawa and spread through Japan, that focuses on self-defense and self-cultivation. Karate-do translates as The Way of the Empty Hand. “The Way” signifies a journey as the student progresses through the art, while “Empty Hand” simply means weapons are not used, but rather the hands and feet are developed for blocking and striking.

One last point about karate – it isn’t actually very martial. Meaning it was not developed by or for the military and it was not used on the battlefield. Unlike other martial arts, like Japanese jujitsu which is rooted in techniques that samurai would use if they were disarmed, Okinawan karate was developed by civilians for self-protection in the ports and on the ships of Asia. As a maritime trading nation, the Ryukyu Kingdom had extensive relations across southeast Asia, China, and Japan. This could be dangerous, but also provided plenty of opportunity for learning other martial arts from the region, especially southern China. A few hundred years of this resulted in a good martial arts base on the islands, which would be further refined after the Japanese conquest (and ban on weapons) in 1609.

More emphasis on personal development and personal improvement would continue to be added to karate, especially when Okinawans start promoting the art in mainland Japan in around the 1900’s.

Contrary to most of what you may read on the internet about karate, I believe that today we are seeing a great flourishing of karate in all its forms. Sport karate is a mature arena that includes many different types of contests, from point sparring to forms to full-contact fighting. Many karate students practice “healthy lifestyle” karate to stay active and fit as they age (it doesn’t have to be all bang-and-crash). And many practitioners have turned their karate study towards practical self-defense applications. For myself, I have decided to focus on teaching karate as a martial art. Not a sport or a defensive tactics course. And I’m certainly not the only one doing that.

I hope this explanation helps a bit with the terminology. Like any enthusiast, it’s fun to learn and debate different martial arts and styles, but I wouldn’t get too wrapped up in it. The best martial art is one you enjoy training in and can get to class regularly.

Who trains in karate (as an adult)?

I’ll be making some generalizations in this post, but I think these broad categories may be useful to someone thinking about karate training. You may be asking yourself: What kind of adult does karate?

Well, there are three major types that I’ve seen:

• Let me start with the one that is near and dear to my heart because it could have been me – the person who trained as a kid, but then stopped (for whatever reason). The 90’s were a golden age for kids’ karate. You have Karate Kid in ’84, plus the sequels, the ninja turtles and similar cartoons and comics to start the karate craze. My gateway drug was the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. All of this created good demand for karate classes and strip mall karate places start popping up like daisies. In my hometown there were three in the same area and a decent percentage of kids in my high school had done karate at some point, especially in elementary school.

But you grow up and you pick up other things. Traveling soccer, football team, theater, a band, a job, whatever it is. Karate just slips away for most people. And if I had a shred of talent for any of this it probably would have for me too.

Now it’s 10 years later… 20 years later… and your old ass ain’t playing football anymore. In fact, all the NFL players are younger than you now. Or your clarinet is gathering dust in your parent’s attic and you don’t remember how to read sheet music.

And you’re feeling the itch. Karate was fun! And you were pretty good at it. And there was so much more that you didn’t get to before you stopped.

If you were one of these kids, I encourage you to pick it back up. There’s a lot there for you!

Karate is a good physical challenge, a good mental challenge, and it’s something really sustainable as you get older and as your fitness level varies over your lifetime. 

• The second type of adult that you see training in karate are those who wanted to train as children, but couldn’t. Maybe there wasn’t a dojo nearby, maybe it was too expensive, maybe they moved a lot or were just shy or busy. These are the people who kept the dream alive, nurturing that flame until now when they are in a position to do something about it. I love that and I think it is so empowering when someone decides to pursue a long-held dream. And these people are hungry for it. The knowledge, the training. Just great students. If this sounds like you, just go do it! Even for just a few months. You learn so much about yourself from even a little training. And honestly, we need more people chasing a dream.

• My last broad category of adults who start to train in karate is the active adult looking for a challenge. Maybe you’re a fitness enthusiast who is bored with working out. Maybe you’re a former athlete dealing something that has sidelined them from their original activity. Like the gymnast who’s aged out, the tennis player with a bum knee, whatever. These are active people who enjoy physical activity combined with skill development. Karate is often described as a lifelong pursuit and this group is here for that.

Your training changes with your life, but I think karate is an activity that is beneficial at any stage and really sustainable (physically) over the long term. Goju-ryu especially. We are deliberately cultivating this balance of hard and soft. It’s not all high intensity bashing and crashing. Add in how the curriculum itself progresses – the kata (forms) get more complex, we add in weapons and partner work – and you have a really robust traditional to dig into. I’ve always struggled with jogging and lifting because of the boredom. But I’ve never gotten bored with karate because there is always another facet to examine.

Alright, alright, I’ve left out a few categories that are still worth mentioning -

• I’ve left out the obvious category – adults who develop an interest on their own – because I have no sense of how big this group is. I can imagine an adult who enjoys watching MMA or boxing and decides to start training in martial arts, but does that person end up in a traditional karate dojo? I’m not sure. But hey, if this is you, let me know!

• I’ve also left out a smaller, but also obvious category – adults who need combat and self-defense skills for their jobs. Law enforcement, security guards & bouncers, military personnel, orderlies & nurses, EMTs, bodyguards, trained assassins, vampire hunters, demon slayers, the list goes on. The distinction I make here is between those who want to learn the skills and techniques and those who want to learn the martial art. I’m teaching the martial art. While I think this will be useful to someone in any of these professions, I’m not offering a laser-focused defensive tactics type course. You’re gonna get all of the art. The useful and the useless. And it’s going to take time. So, I exclude this group because I feel what I’m offering isn’t quite checking their professional boxes. But hey, if this is you and you’re ok with what you’re getting, I think there’s a lot to like about traditional karate. Certainly several of my Sensei worked in these jobs and the training only helped them.

People come to training for all sorts of reasons. Maybe I’m right with what I wrote above, maybe I’m off base. But again, if you have an interest in this, the only way to know if it scratches the itch is to get in the dojo and try it.

What I Don't Offer

I talk about honesty in training a lot, so it seems fair to be honest about what I don’t offer at Lantern. You can read my other posts about why I set the dojo up the way I did, but it comes with tradeoffs.

Here are a few that I can pick out –

Flexible Training Schedules – In a bigger dojo, there are usually more classes to pick from across the week and weekend. Maybe a nice dawn wakeup class at 6am, followed by several evening classes, then maybe a Saturday morning class too. Friday is sparring night, Tuesday is weapons night. You could theoretically be going to class 5 days a week at some places. Other places also offer additional styles/training too. Something like a cardio kickboxing, yoga, meditation, etc. I think it’s great to offer all these things! It’s just not what I offer.

Sensei’s Take: Such a wide offering is also usually done by bringing in other instructors to fill out the schedule. At Lantern, you are taught by me. And although we only have class twice a week, that time is for focused instruction in the martial art. So I'd say that the fairer comparison isn’t just the quantity of training time, but the value of it.  Also, realistically, how many people can take full advantage of what’s being offered anyway? How much free time do you have?!

Big Organization Benefits – A lot of dojos are part of large martial arts organizations. This can provide opportunities for seminars, training camps, and other events within the organization that can be really enriching. It can also provide members the chance to train in different dojo if they are traveling. A lot is made out of the fact that your “rank is recognized” within the larger organization too, so if you move you may be able to continue your training in a sister dojo. I'm an independent dojo and not part of a larger organization, so I don't offer these things. 

Sensei’s Take: Membership in an organization comes with strings attached, usually related to rank, but sometimes even trying to limit where you train or what you can teach. I don’t think the benefits outweigh the restrictions. Our area has plenty of open seminars that any martial artist can attend, and there’s even more available if you’re willing to travel. Same with finding a dojo to train at if you move or are traveling. I’ve done both of these things and in general, the martial arts community is very welcoming. As for rank… if you’ve developed the skill, the rank will come, even if you change dojo. It’s skill that I’m more interested in developing.

Tournaments, Competitions, and Demonstration Teams – Some dojo are very focused on sport karate and this can be a really exciting and empowering experience for students. Others have specific “Demo Teams” that either compete or perform at events like a county fair or Memorial Day parade. Tournaments have never been my specialty, and while I’m happy to encourage my students and help them compete, that isn’t the main focus of my dojo.

Sensei’s Take: There is a healthy tournament circuit in the DMV and anyone is welcome to enter. I’m happy to work with students if they want to compete locally, but for serious competitors – like national and international competitions up to the Olympic level – I will be a dismal coach and simply don’t understand that world. The fitness, self-defense, historical, and introspective parts of karate training are much more interesting to me, and honestly I think will be much more useful to you as well.

Just because I do not offer the things above doesn't mean they are bad. The martial arts world is big and our small dojo is focused on only a single part of it. 

If you are interested in what we offer at Lantern (focused instruction in a martial art), please contact us. 

If it's not your cup of tea, I encourage you to find a different dojo to try out. Martial arts have been a positive force in my life and I think it can do good things for a lot of people. Just take the leap!

Welcome to the blog for Lantern Dojo!

 Hello all,

Welcome to the blog! I intend to use this space to record some of my thoughts on martial arts training and teaching. Please check back for updates.

-Sensei Ryan Payne

Why a small dojo?

When karate was becoming more public in Okinawa, more than 100 years ago, most of the training was done in small groups with a Sensei. The training and curriculum were less formal than today, but there was a heavy emphasis on the relationship between teacher and student. Karate was recognized as precious by both the teacher and the student. It wasn’t easy to get accepted by a teacher and the training was difficult and slow. But the dedicated student could excel. It is telling to me that even as karate was introduced (in a simplified form) to schoolchildren and eventually to mainland Japan, the Okinawan Sensei kept personal tutelage and direct instruction for their closest students.

It is this sort of environment that I am trying to mimic at Lantern. I think this type of instruction is good for the student for two main reasons –

• The instructor is focused on you, at your speed, and in the way you learn. 

I take my job of teaching seriously and believe that most anyone can learn karate given time, effort, and proper instruction. That proper instruction is much easier one-on-one or with a small group. In a large group, the instructor has limited time to spend with any individual and there can be a “camouflaging” effect from the crowd. You can’t hide when you’re the only student (or even one of five). A smaller group can also engage in more complex training that is difficult in a larger crowd with mixed skill levels.

• This type of instruction fosters personal accountability in the student.

When you know that Sensei is going to see you next week there is a pressure on the student to put in the effort at home, outside of class, to look good. I love teaching new material to students, but there’s no point if they can’t remember the steps we learned last week. In a small group, it’s really obvious to the student that the effort you put in is what you get out, especially in the early ranks. Progress is determined by that effort. Small group training teaches this lesson immediately and it is one that you need if you’re going to take ownership of your art.

I learned these lessons in my own training. I grew up in a commercial dojo as a child in a very typical karate experience. But shortly after I earned my black belt the dojo closed and my sensei switched to teaching a much smaller group once or twice a week at her home and other locations. This put the onus on me to learn how to train on my own if I wanted to improve. As I moved for my education and career, I came to rely on the few private lessons I could arrange each year for focused instruction. Similarly, when I moved to Maryland and joined a new dojo, the small group setting allowed Sensei to focus on me very often, especially on the nights when I was the only student that could make it to class. In all of these situations, I had to maximize the instruction time I had with my teachers, which meant training on my own to master what had already been covered so we could keep pushing on. This type of training is not easy and takes dedication, but I know that it is an effective way to learn. As a student gets more advanced, it’s really the only way to keep improving.

This post is getting long, but I’ll end by saying that this type of instruction is also good for the teacher. I want to be able to develop students to a high level because it pushes me to get better and helps my own development as a teacher and martial artist. With the amount of material I have learned over the years, I can think of few things worse than 20 years of teaching white belts the same blocks and punches over and over.

There is so much that I want to pass on, that I want to test and play with… but that takes trusted and skilled training partners. Small group training is the most effective way to develop skill and trust AND provides the exact venue you need to work those advanced requirements. As my old sensei used to say, a quality training partner is worth their weight in gold.

Minimum Effective Dose

Karate-do means the Way of Karate. There is a sense of being on a journey or moving along a path. I really love this imagery and encourage my students to think of their training in this context. I even pulled my dojo name from a quote about a path. Clearly, I believe that training is for the long-term.

But

This does not mean that I think you need to train for a lifetime to develop effective skills. Specifically, I mean effective skills for self-defense, fighting, combat, “hard skills”, insert-your-own-term-here. The bang and crunch part. I think you get much deeper and more rewarding insights by focusing your training beyond this, but you do get those hard skills from karate training. And relatively quickly.

For those new to karate, here is my rough back-of-the-envelope calculation for how those hard skills are developed in Goju-ryu:

Assume a complete beginner, no prior martial arts experience, but in decent shape without any health or physical problems.

• White Belt – 10^th Kyu – You’re going to start with the basics. Stances, strikes, blocks, etc. All of it will feel awkward, movements will probably be robotic, and any partner work is going to be at a distance, usually arm’s length. But you are learning to move your body through space with balance and with power. You are also learning how to strike correctly, in a way that doesn’t hurt yourself. All very useful and a foundation to build on.
• Orange Belt – 7^th Kyu – At least half a year of training, maybe close to 1 year. At this point the student has developed strong basic technique, especially punching and blocking. The movements are feeling more natural and the student is comfortable in that arm’s length distance, and maybe even closer. In my mind, the 7^th Kyu karate student is already effective against an untrained person. A hammer is a very useful tool and our orange belt has that tool… in the ability to hit a target hard. There is much to be learned, but they are not such an easy target anymore.
• Green Belt – 5^th Kyu – Probably around the 2 year mark, the 5^th kyu should have a clear command of the basics. They can hit hard. Harder than you expect. Kicks, punches, everything in between. This is symbolized by the traditional tameshiwari test for 5^th Kyu where the student breaks through a wooden board. But more generally, the student knows how to move with power.

In my mind, that journey from White to Orange to Green is working to develop the Go, or hard, portion of Goju-ryu. This will continue to be refined as you move up, but a Green Belt is already dangerous. One could spend the rest of their training in this mindset – attack-and-smash karate – and I think a lot of other karate styles do just that. Picture the quintessential 1970’s Karate Man here.

So that’s 6 months to 2 years to develop an effective set of “hard” skills in my opinion. Obviously the specifics will depend on the person, but this doesn’t seem like such a long time to me. There’s a lifetime of work to perfect this one aspect of training, for sure, but capability and familiarity come much sooner.

Hmm so what is the rest of the training for then? I’m glad you asked, Reader!

Back to the bullets-

• Brown Belt – 3^rd Kyu – An estimated 3 to 4 years of dedicated training by this point. Moving from Green to Brown is where the student begins to learn the specifics of the Goju-ryu style. Up until 5^th kyu, we are focused on building a solid foundation of quality, but somewhat generic, karate. The Goju-ryu style begins to move the student closer to the opponent (closer than arm’s length), adds in grabbing and pulling to unbalance, throwing, sweeping, and joint locking techniques. We have moved from “Punch-Kick Karate” towards a wider set of skills as we work to develop a well-rounded martial artist.
• Brown Belt – 1^st Kyu – This is the penultimate rank before black belt and it is usually a difficult time for most students. You are being exposed to a lot of new and difficult requirements at the same time that you are expected to consolidate and polish up everything you’ve learn up until now. This mental friction can be overwhelming and it definitely can raise feelings of inadequacy and doubt all through the brown belt ranks. But the skill is building! If the student can push through.
• Black Belt –1^st Dan – The student has accomplished something rare and empowering at this point through years of dedicated training. Physically, the student is strong, balanced, and can bring force to bear when needed. Mentally, the student is tough, sharp, and knows when to charge in and when to back off. Spiritually, the student has faith in their own ability, confidence in themselves, and understands how to endure a challenge. There is more that lays ahead in karate-do, but a black belt is an accomplishment to take pride in.

The key for this second half of training is that we started with developing the powerful, percussive striking that is often associated with karate. Then we’ve worked to broaden our student’s skill set so that they are more capable in a range of situations. They have more than just a hammer. This includes grappling, take-downs, and weapons training, all of which help to create a well-rounded martial artist that can fight at a range of distances. We certainly aren’t expecting the student to out wrestle a wrestler, but we don’t want them to be a complete fish-out-of-water in an unexpected situation.

At the same time, as we approach black belt and beyond, we are also working to soften the hardness we’ve developed. Goju-ryu is the hard-soft style and we want to be able to respond to situations with hardness or softness as required. If we began with an attack-and-smash mindset, we’ve evolved towards a defend-and-protect outlook.

All together what you end up with after five… eight… ten years of training on the way to black belt is a well-rounded karata-ka who has a lot of different martial skills that they can apply effectively. Again, there is much more to learn and much more to refine, but I think those so-called “hard” skills have been developed quite effectively and in much less than a lifetime of practice.

What is karate training like?

 I’ve been trying to imagine what a potential student would want to know if they stumbled upon the dojo website and I wanted to provide something up front about what Lantern Dojo is about and can provide.

I offer instruction in traditional Okinawan karate. This is a martial art focused on self-protection for civilians and was developed in a more dangerous time when the chances of a physical confrontation may have been higher and the cost of an injury certainly was. I begin by pointing this out because there needs to be a serious mindset when you approach karate training. Sometimes that seriousness is front-and-center, other times it is an undercurrent, but as martial artists we have to respect the power of the techniques we are developing. This isn’t dance.

At the same time, a traditional dojo will force the student to look closely at themselves as they move through the training. The power of karate techniques needs to be balanced with temperance, humility, and wisdom. Traditional karate training puts a premium on developing this self-awareness so that we do not abuse the skills we are developing and can move through life with balance.

It is my belief that the very act of working to improve our techniques serves to improve us in turn. It is difficult, monotonous training over time that required self-reflection and can expose our inner nature (to ourselves at least). I have used karate as a mirror that reflects my own strengths and weaknesses back. This can be as simple as examining how you react to learning a difficult movement that you can’t quite do to something as deeply rooted as a need to win, to be recognized, or to seek external approval. Karate helps me tame my temper and rein in my arrogance. I know others who train to counter their own laziness, their tendency to overindulge, their jealous focus on others. Pick your poison. It isn't often that we confront our own nature, and I think traditional karate training is invaluable as a method of self-examination.

I don’t mean to make it sound as if we’re all stone-faced monks training to purify our spirits. I think a lot of the training is quite fun! And the gentle burn in the muscles after a good training session is one of life’s great pleasures, as is the solid ~thwack~ of a good punch against the makiwara. But martial arts training is for life, for improving it and deepening it. The focus, over the long term, is on yourself. The fight, over the long term, is with yourself.

So, what is karate training like?

It is like being present. With yourself. While you strive to build a deeper mind-body connection.

Gosh it’s frustrating. It’s honest. In some moments, when it clicks, it’s transcendent.

It's not for everybody. Most people are looking to skate through life without facing such tough questions about themselves. The martial artist is seeking that. 

Is that something you are seeking?