I am not a Master nor a Grandmaster of any art form or system. I do not even like or allow others to use that term with me. I have over 42 years training in the martial arts directly. I have personally lived and trained in Asia and Japan for more than 20 of those years. Training in Japan at several of the top (Hombu) dojos was a delight and high honor. Although it’s a great opportunity to have trained with such great teachers of traditional martial arts, I have never thought that the location of training was ever a real evaluation of skill and dedication. I have only received my 6th Dan certificate after a rigorous belt test in Japan with no less than three higher ranking Black Belts from the school around 2 years ago, just before my return to the USA. When I was awarded my 6th Dan rank I was told that I was one of a few that have attained the rank of 6th Dan. Of that, there were only around one hundred and twelve 6th Dans in all Japan at that time. Of those I was one of only fifteen foreigners to do so. I was of course delighted to hear such news and noted no myself that I had accomplished much in my many years of study. Growing up in Japan it would have been an amazing sight to meet or even train with someone of the rank of 8th, 9th or, God forbid, even a 10th Dan. As I reflect back I cannot actually remember ever meeting in person a 10th Dan instructor in Japan or China. There was an article in one of the Martial Arts magazines years ago, in which a high ranking Black Belt (unspecified) from Okinawa visited the USA. He exclaimed, “In all of Japan, there are but a handful of 10th Dans, yet in the NYC Yellow Pages, there are so many men with 10th Dans. The Martial Arts here must be very good!”- he was being sarcastic.
Upon my return to the United States after a 14 year hiatus, I could not believe the multitudes of 10th Dan masters that I have encountered on my travels. Some instructors claiming rather boastful ranks that upon demonstration and application would not be allowed a 1st Dan ranking in any school that I ever officially trained in. It’s a sad statement that martial artist and students are hung up on rank levels and will believe that anyone can simply start their own system after a few years of training.
The term Soke (Founder or Father of a system) is so overused in America. In Asia I can’t even remember the last time I even met a Soke. Here I only need walk three miles and I can hit ten or more. I believe personally that the statement used by Bruce Lee, Founder of Jeet Kun DO (Way of the Intercepting Fist) “use what is useful” has been misused and propagated to a level and status in America beyond its intended reference.
When he made that statement he was speaking to a group of dedicated martial artist that mostly already had their brown belts or black belts in other arts. These students who attended classes regularly with Bruce Lee had already learned the basics and the basis of martial arts within their respective martial arts training prior to their study with Bruce Lee. However, just because you have trained in a martial art (even for several years) does not imply that you have mastered an art or system. “It takes more than a lifetime to master a single kata in a single level.” O’Sensei Gichin Funakoshi (Founder of Shotokan Karate and Father of Traditional Japanese Karate today). Yet, here in America we have so many Masters that have begun their own styles and systems with less than 10-15 years training in various arts.
WAKE UP and smell the permeating decline of martial arts in America. We should not fall victim to Rank and Status. Training in the martial arts as a balance of life and fitness regimen should be our only suffice and conclusion of our time involved. Not as a way to boast yourself or to have others “kow tao” to our benevolence. O’Sensei Jigaro Kano (Founder of Judo) once said of martial arts “Se Ryoko Zenyo Jita Kyoe’.” (Train in the arts to honor your country and your community).
Some have misquoted that even the great teacher Jigaro Kano (born in 1860) started his own art of Judo at the age of 22. I’m sorry to say that O’Sensei Kano did not found Judo as a system of his own until 1898 which made him 48 years old at the time of its implementation of the art now known as Judo (Originally Jikinshin ryu Jujitsu). This was after years of study in traditional Jujitsu under Master Fukuda and Master Fukushima (from the age of 14). Also he had already been the Professor of the prestigious Tokyo Imperial University in Japan ( Professor of Physiology) and later became Minister of Education in the same year he began to teach Judo as a Rentai Ho (Physical excersice) Shobu Ho (Martial Art) and Shushin Ho (Cultivation of wisdom). History is in the details gentleman. Professor Kano never took a 10th Dan title. However he was the person solely named as the inventor of the Kyu grading system with in belt ranks that we all use today. Kano gave, before his death, the only 10th Dan ever given to that point to his student Sensei Kyuzo Mifune. To insure that there would be no disputes among his followers as to whom would oversee the Kodokan Dojo and the art of Judo’s future.
A recent question was asked of me in a forum that I found quit interesting and was a well-founded query. “Why can’t there be Master and Grandmaster in America? Since there have been Martial Arts in America for more than 60+ years.” In Asia there are actually ministries (such as the Japanese Butokukai) that oversee the authority and certification of all Black Belts. It also permits and registers or disallows schools to be opened in cities throughout Japan or not. A registry that cannot be denied of lineage. This makes it actually impossible or more improbable for anyone to declare themselves a master or rank that they have not actually been certified to. Martial Arts in America has been around since the early 1900′s (references to Jujitsu in printed book form can be found circa 1904) but not openly taught until after WW2 when it opened to the general public to study. Mostly it was returning Gi’s that had studied in Japan and Asia for a few years in their respective arts. Since then there was merely a handful in the scheme of populace that actually helped build martial arts throughout the USA. In the early 1960′s there was a boom in both schools and proliferation of martial arts in America. That is the point of most inception to martial arts here in the USA. So when others begin referring to martial arts being 60+ years, it was at this high point that most began their journey. From here students began to experience the arts in its basic element. Because the individuals teaching were not of high level at that time. The understanding of study was somewhat limited and slow paced for students. Training and understanding was slow, therefore many students did not stay in a single school or dojo.
Even the great Robert Trias (Shotokan instructor and owner of the very first recorded martial arts school in the USA in 1946, was not even a 6th Dan until the mid-1980′s). Therefore any students training under Master Trias would not have been able to promote a student past the rank of 4th Dan until that time (1980′s). Martial students began searching elsewhere for higher levels of training and became wandering Ronin (Master-less Warriors), until more formal schools began opening and expanding in the early 1970′s.
In Asia the martial arts as a whole is ingrained within the societal culture. This is found within the history and formality of etiquette that all natively raised Asians are taught from childhood. This allows them to devote their understanding of the arts much easier than most foreigners, because they have no necessity to study the language and etiquette of their own cultural upbringing.
There are so many facets to the history of martial arts in America that it is hard to establish a clear timeline from this point. There have been very few schools that have survived and are still in operation today that began further back than the 1980′s. Whereas in Japan and Asia schools have records that establish themselves and their specific lineage that date over 500 years or more.
SO to answer the question…..”Why can’t there be Masters and Grandmasters in the arts here in America?” The answer is that the statement of 60+ years actually can only be boiled down to less than 40 years in actuality. That would still be more than adequate time to create Master level instructors if they ALL had begun then, and stayed within that single art or system since, without long or prolonged breaks in training and study. The sheer number of Master and Grandmasters far outweigh the amount of certified students of the founding schools. Since America does not yet have an official or even self-imposed authority over certification of martial arts it’s hard to know whom to trust and who is a true master at a glance.
A good student of martial arts made a statement and proffers a few honest questions we should all ask ourselves and those around us. These questions and statements I felt were the truest understanding of rank that I have heard in many years.
Glenn Perry wrote “This is a current topic of SERIOUS discussion in many martial arts forums. The situation exists in the United States for a multitude of reasons, and some are truly valid. First, I would point out that Japan/Okinawa are lands of martial arts tradition and probably not as open to change and innovation like what is found and accepted in the USA. Martial arts has been in North America for over 100 years and has evolved and continues to permeate into our Western culture.” He continues with “Are we dealing with a situation of over inflated rank and misrepresentation of martial arts titles, YES! Are the martial arts in the US operating under the same guidelines that influence age, time, grade, one’s personal skill level and accomplishments, contributions and giving back to the martial arts community, etc., as the guidelines and measuring sticks being used in Japan and Okinawa, I’m not sure, but I don’t think so!! I am left with the question, how is it possible for someone to claim at 25 or 30 years of age to be a Grandmaster, Soke and founder of a martial arts style during peacetime study? Our arts don’t have switches turning on and off when we put on and take of our gi (uniform)! This way of life is to be lived first and there are no short cuts! The belt, whatever color, is made of cotton and is symbolic of something much more meaningful than rank….”
“Walk a single path, becoming neither cocky with victory nor broken with defeat, without forgetting caution when all is quiet or becoming frightened when danger threatens.” – O’Sensei Jigaro Kano
These final statements I must admit are a strong cast of martial artist thinking today. However I believe they are true to the nature of the questions we seek in our training.
“The answers are all on the dojo floor.” – Shihan Allen Woodman
Source:
http://www.worldwidedojo.com/traditional-based/martial-arts-articles/where-we-come-from-vs-where-we-are-going/