Karate is one:

Stimulating Progressive Debate About Karate Underlying Attitudinal Concepts of the Ikenamikan Karate Curriculum by Elmo Diederiks

We can have endless debates on Karate and martial arts practice and techniques. Luckily, we do. As long as we do not challenge to challenge or ‘just to be different’, discussions (combined with passion) are the only way to understand and progress our Karate. As a life-long practitioner and teacher I am led by three concepts that help have such progressive discussions and develop a inclusive and holistic perspectives.

Similarities before differences

The different Karate styles have roughly the same roots in Okinawan Tode and to some extend Southern Chinese Wu Shu styles, specifically White Crane. All styles have also in different extent been mixed with Japanese Bujitsu and Budo aspects. The modern styles we practice today only took shape after World War II with a lot of knowledge being lost during the war or simply lost in translation. This resulted in a re-discovery journey of Karate which is still ongoing and continues to give rise to passionate debate.

In this context, I believe that the pursued end-result (in terms of technique and application) of the different Karate-styles and schools (Ryu) is in its essence the same. I therefore also believe that the differences between styles and schools merely reflect a difference in didactical approach or perspective (‘that what is considered important at different steps in the path of development’). However, some variations seem to have risen from the (commercial, social or perhaps egotistic) need to differentiate.

This line of thought suggests there is a solid common root which seems to be obscured and blurred by continuous discussions on details and differences. Therefore, I am driven to find similarities and inspiration in other styles and schools (and even different types of martial arts), rather than focus on the differences. As many Sensei often say: “Karate is one”. The similarities will expose the core of techniques and application, while the differences will most likely only expose different didactical perspectives. These are of course also interesting but they might distract from the core and sometimes might even be mistakenly elevated to an end-goal rather than a means to learn a movement, technique or application.

The tradition of continuous improvement

There is a lot of talk about what traditional Karate is. I believe there is only one tradition in Karate (and martial ats in general) and that is the tradition of continuous improvement. All great teachers that have walked the path before us have welcomed inspiration from other practitioners, styles, martial arts and even other sports, didactical models and science. As mentioned before, our styles stem from Southern Chines styles and Okinawan Tode with clear influence from Japanese Bujitsu and Budo, but Funakoshi was also a school teacher brining didactical perspectives and it is also argued there is influence from the West through Savate and Fencing. For example, basic Heian (or Pinan) kata have been introduced for didactical reasons as is the coloured belt system, while our most spectacular kicks are said to be inspired from Savate (as Jesse Enkamp argues in this video).

Improvement of Karate does not mean that we should do away with our past. In fact, the history of Karate development provides context that allows us to embrace new insights to enrich and give (new) meaning to what we already have, and only put to rest that which no longer has value due to developing insight.

Shoshin and different perspectives

To continuously deepen our understanding and elevate our Karate, I firmly believe it is important to keep an open mind, or beginners mind (Shoshin) to welcome new insight and perspectives. Therefore, it is important to realize that this document merely reflects a snapshot of a possible perspective on the Karate curriculum at the moment of writing based on my personal experience since I started practicing Karate in 1988, enriched by interactions with various teachers and practitioners (H. Shirai, J. Smaal, F. Baggen, R. Pesce, S. Torre, P. Aschieri, L. Maurino who is a dear friend, S. Sanchez and M. Sofuoğlu & A. Sofuoğlu to name a few), experience with other martial arts (I practiced Fujian White Crane Wu Shu, Win Chung, Shaolin Kempo, Judo and Taekwondo), and discussions with movement scientists (such as L. Maurino and prof. P. Beek at the VU in Amsterdam).

Shoshin calligraphy.

To summarize, the system and perspective laid out in this document do not represent the absolute, single and complete truth, but rather are a snapshot in a path of continuous improvement, aimed to enrich and improve our Karate practice, based on commonalities, knowledge and insights from multiple styles, different martial arts as well as from didactics, sports science and movement science. It is one of many perspectives which undoubtedly will be subject to future evolution.

However, developing, teaching and training this system has led me to believe that it represents a safer and more natural training method and contributes to more skilled (Karate) movement and ultimately higher mental resilience.

This blog post is and extract from my 6th Dan dissertation