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.