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Thoughts
from Japan
By Way of Introduction...
by David Hooper,
Ph.D.
By
way of Introduction...
Whenever
I pick up a Martial Arts magazine and find an article
or column about one or another aspect of karate,
my first instinct is to skip straight to the end
and find out who it is who is giving us the benefit
of their insights and wisdom. Indeed, the first
time I was asked to write something for a British
publication (an article that I have to confess was
considered somewhat controversial by the then karate
establishment, and resulted in my subsequent expulsion
from the association of which I was a member), the
editor had the foresight to add a brief appendage,
giving my "credentials." As it was, there were still
a considerable number of subsequent inquiries as
to who this Dave Hooper was (or thought he was),
writing so critically about much of the karate in
Great Britain, especially when numerous of his countrymen
had already proved themselves formidable competitors
at international level: a British team had previously
won the World Championships, proving once and for
all that the Japanese were not as invincible as
everyone had once thought. "And anyway," some of
them asked, "what's Dave Hooper ever won?" - as
if this might have lent credence to the article,
or at least helped me to justify my position. So,
let me right at the outset lay my cards on the table,
and give a little of the background which led to
my involvement in karate, and in particular, training
in Japan.
When
I first took up karate as a schoolboy in England,
in the 1970's (a time when the great Kung Fu craze
was just getting under way), it was purely by chance
that it was a Shotokan club that I first joined.
At that time in the UK, clubs were springing up
at an alarming rate - the entrepreneurial spirit
evident all over the country as numerous enterprising
individuals jumped on the bandwagon, clearly recognising
a good thing when they saw it. That's not to say
that there weren't some good, genuine clubs around,
but as the cash registers went into overdrive, and
the punters still kept rolling in, there were simply
not enough experienced teachers to go around. Like
a game of Chinese Whispers, the original source
of much of the instruction - a handful of Japanese
instructors from the Japan Karate Association (JKA)
in Tokyo - became almost unrecognisable by the time
it had filtered through the system. And whilst David
Carradine, the star of the popular Kung Fu television
series, kept armchair enthusiasts enthralled with
his slow-motion, choreographic displays of combat
and his philosophical words of wisdom, back in the
real world, the Japanese sensei that did appear
on the scene from time to time, lived up to their
reputation for inscrutability, and left most of
the foreigners simply to get on with it.
In
hindsight, it was not so much that they weren't
interested. There were practical difficulties involved
(no matter how adept at karate the Japanese instructors
were, even they could not be in more than one place
at once). Moreover, there were vast cultural differences,
a lack of mutual expectations (from teachers and
students), and formidable language and communication
barriers, all of which needed to be overcome. It
was, therefore, perhaps not surprising that misinterpretations
and misunderstandings occurred on both sides.
An
additional problem was the lack of direct contact
with Japan. Back in Tokyo, the JKA itself seemed
to be unconcerned about what went on outside of
Japan. Admittedly they had sent representatives
abroad, but once out of the country, those instructors
were left largely to their own devices. As far as
the average, Japan-resident JKA instructor was concerned,
he knew very little and (in some cases, certainly)
cared even less about what went on in the rest of
the world. After all, what did it really matter?
Karate was still Japanese. If foreigners wanted
to have a go, fine; if they wanted to establish
foreign dojos, well that was fine too; and if they
were really so concerned about the colour of their
belts, then even that was easily solved. None of
it really mattered - it was all happening a long
way from Japan and, by implication, didn't have
to be taken too seriously. Even when the Japanese
domination in competition began to come under threat,
the attitude still persisted: competition is, after
all, just competition - in terms of real karate,
the JKA had nothing whatever to fear.
I,
meanwhile, had been coerced into joining this karate
club in South East London: twenty students were
required to get the club off the ground, and I was
roped in by a good friend in order to make up the
numbers. In a fairly short space of time I had become
rather hooked. Nearly eighteen months later I made
up my mind to go to Japan to train - the result
of my first encounter with Osaka Sensei1. He had
been invited to London as a guest instructor on
a special course. Within ten minutes of being in
his class, I realised that here was a totally different
level of karate. It was this karate that I wanted
to learn, and this was the person I wanted to learn
from. I informed him at the end of the session that
I would be coming over to Tokyo as soon as I had
finished high school. Osaka Sensei smiled politely,
not understanding a word of English, and then smiled
again when I repeated everything a little louder.
However, when I arrived at the JKA Honbu (the headquarters
of the Japan Karate Association) about one year
later, Osaka Sensei was the first person I met and
I was convinced he remembered me.
There
had been many people in attendance at that special
karate course and all had trained with Osaka Sensei.
I fully expected at least half a dozen of them to
have made their way to the JKA by the time I'd got
there. After all, it had been so obvious - nobody
back in the UK, as far as I could see (with all
the experience and confidence of a very mediocre
yellow belt) was doing karate anything like Osaka
Sensei. When I eventually arrived, however, I seemed
to be on my own. Not only was it a shock to find
that no other Englishmen had got in ahead of me,
but it was an even greater shock to realise that
any who might have been contemplating a visit had
already been beaten to it by a small contingency
from France. Four French dan-grades were already
well-entrenched at the JKA: I could already see
that training here was going to be far worse than
I'd previously imagined.
I
practised regularly, six days a week, for the next
year and a half, and was awarded my shodan before
returning back to the UK, to begin a three-year
undergraduate course at university. In order to
maintain the level of training to which I had become
accustomed in Japan, I ran a club at the university
in Wales. During this period, I was introduced to
Kawasoe Sensei2, who had fairly recently gone to
the UK to teach. He agreed to be responsible for
grading my students at the university club, and
periodically, we would travel the 250 miles down
to London to practise at his own dojo - a dojo that
was straight out of Japan.
Apart
from a brief visit back to Japan in the summer vacation
during my first year as a student, I had to wait
until graduation before I could return to Tokyo
and resume my training at the JKA. This second stint
in Japan lasted for the next four years, during
which time I was invited to train at the infamous
Takushoku University Karate-bu (club), from which
many of the JKA instructors (Kawasoe Sensei and
Osaka Sensei included) had graduated. I was also
a member of Nakayama Sensei's private dojo (The
Hoitsukan dojo) for a couple of years, in addition
to continuing my training at the JKA.
I
took my sandan under Nakayama Sensei in the summer
of 1985, and then returned to the UK for another
three years where I completed a Ph.D. in motor-control
and learning, also at the University of Wales. During
this period, I once again ran the university karate
club, but much more on the lines of Takushoku's
training regime. It was encouraging to realise that
contrary to everything I was told on my return,
British students were, in fact, quite receptive
to this style of training. They didn't require a
watered-down or compromised form of karate to keep
them interested. "You're not in Japan now, Dave"
was a comment levelled to me on several occasions
by other westerners teaching karate, but as far
as our training at the university club was concerned,
we might just as well have been.
In
1988 I left Britain for the last time, and came
back to Japan to live. I am currently working full-time
in one of the major universities in Tokyo. As for
the karate - well, I'm still rather hooked on it.
Since
those early days when the JKA first sent representatives
abroad, much has changed, not only in Japan, but
worldwide. The JKA itself, at least in political
terms, is in serious decline. As I've implied, in
many ways, they have only themselves to blame. Had
they made some attempt from the beginning to retain
some element of direct supervision and control over
affiliated organisations around the world, the situation
might now be very different. As it was, they appeared
complacent and indifferent to anything outside of
Japan - a reflection in part, no doubt, of a supremely
confident and assured sense of their own superiority,
and a well-deserved reputation that eliminated any
need for them to have to sell themselves. And perhaps
also, a reflection of the very nature of the Japanese
character: Japan is an island country with, many
would argue, still very much an island mentality.
For all its recent attempts at internationalisation
and integration in, for example, the field of business,
such concepts are inherently alien to the Japanese
and remain elusive. Indeed, xenophobia scales new
heights in this country, and is a primary source
of frustration for any gaijin (foreigner or, more
literally, outsider) attempting to infiltrate any
aspect of the culture.
I
am convinced that Nakayama Sensei, the former head
of the JKA, had become seriously concerned about
Japan's relative isolation, during the latter years
of his life, and the great disparity in standards
that was becoming increasingly apparent. He realised
that what happened outside of Japan did, in fact,
matter, because ultimately, the reputation and,
indeed, the very name of the JKA was at stake. He
had just arranged another trip to Europe with this
in mind when his untimely death, just a few years
ago, plunged the JKA into turmoil. His death was
untimely because what I believe was his vision for
raising and maintaining standards across the world
and re-establishing the JKA in authority, was not
to be realised. In fact, the very opposite occurred.
In place of greater conformity and unity, there
was further fragmentation and discord, with even
the JKA itself unable to remain immune from political
in-fighting. The result today is a JKA Honbu split
into two distinct factions, and a host of organisations
around the world whose links and affiliations to
"The JKA" (whichever one that might be) are more
tenuous than ever. There are still many groups,
clubs and individuals eager to use the name of the
JKA as a badge of recognition and authenticity.
Many, however, would be surprised at how far removed
many of those same groups, clubs and individuals
are from each other in terms of their practice of
karate.
Let
me say in defence of the JKA that the issues that
have resulted in this sorry state of affairs have
little, if anything, to do with karate itself. Both
factions have world-renowned instructors whose philosophies
and teaching methodologies are completely consistent.
Instructors from both sides do karate that is easily
identifiable in Japan as JKA karate. As high-ranking
karate-ka, they deserve and command great respect
in this country, and display levels of performance
and ability that are unsurpassed. Just what it is
that makes JKA karate so distinctive within Shotokan,
I shall leave for another article: suffice it to
say that it is JKA karate that I'm interested in,
and it's JKA karate that I would like to see understood,
promoted, developed and practised.
If
I have given the impression at all in this introduction
of being in any way anti-Japanese, that is certainly
not my intention: the very opposite is true. I am,
however, disappointed that the JKA took so long
to wake up to what was happening around the world,
and by the time it did so, it was in no position
to do much about it. Britain, which I suspect was
similar to many other Western countries, readily
embraced karate, and with what to my mind was still
a relatively superficial understanding of the art,
quickly decided that they had no need for the Japanese.
What, after all, could the Japanese have left to
teach the World Champions? What indeed!
It
has been over twenty years since I first came to
Japan and in many ways, the actual training itself
has changed relatively little. In subsequent articles
I hope to consider what changes have taken place,
and what the situation currently is, here in Tokyo,
as far as I see it. The views I express in these
pages are, of course, entirely my own, and whether
my opinions are favourably received or otherwise,
I trust that they will be regarded as, at least
to some extent, informed opinions. I make no apologies
for what will become evident as a total lack of
impartiality when it comes to the JKA and the style
of karate that it represents. And if future issues
are controversial, then I trust it will result in
some worthwhile discussion and debate.
When
Nakayama Sensei was alive, he advocated a constant
re-examination and re-evaluation of karate in terms
of both its physical practice and its underlying
philosophy - a process of continuing appraisal and
reflection on what is done inside and outside the
dojo. Many Shotokan groups seem to lack any clear
direction. Those who have looked to the JKA for
their lead in the past have, on occasions, been
left out in the cold. The JKA is, however, much
greater and more significant than its physical structure.
It represents a way of karate. Whatever problems
it has as a political entity are secondary. JKA
karate has developed and matured to a point where
it will survive, regardless of what happens to the
JKA itself. Whilst I certainly have no reason to
suspect that the JKA as a political force will ever
become insignificant, I doubt whether it will ever
again have the opportunity or potential to influence
and oversee the development of karate worldwide,
that it once had (more's the pity). Nevertheless,
the continuation and development of JKA karate will
only come about outside of Japan if all those individuals
who wish to align themselves with this way continually
refer back to the source - the JKA in Tokyo, and
its instructors abroad who represent it. (Some of
those representatives may, of course, head groups
and organisations that have no actual political
affiliation to the JKA, but, nevertheless, practice
JKA karate.) As a starting point, perhaps we would
all do well, instructors and students alike, to
follow Nakayama Sensei's advice.
On
the front of Nakayama Sensei's original JKA Kata
Series of video tapes, that were produced to accompany
his Best Karate books, he wrote these words:
This
completes my system that I finished once in my life
with all my enthusiasm.
Nakayama
Sensei's karate is JKA karate. It is the karate
that was first introduced to the West; it is the
karate that was, and is, held in such high regard
in Japan; and it is the karate that is still practised
at the JKA in Tokyo.
Notes:
1.
Osaka Sensei is a senior instructor at the JKA Honbu.
As well as previously holding the title of JKA national
kumite champion, he has won the All Japan and World
Kata Championships a record nine consecutive times.
It is no surprise that Nakayama described him as
:
"... a karateka whose basic techniques are penetrating
and whose kata are of the first rank."
He
is currently also the coach to the renowned Takushoku
University karate club, which was recently officially
reopened, after being shut by the Ministry of Education
for several years, owing to a death of one of the
students.
2.
Kawasoe Sensei, a previous winner of the All Japan
University Championships, is a sincere and dedicated
karate instructor whose level of skill and technical
ability earns him the highest respect, not only
in Japan, but around the world. He is currently
the head of the United Kingdom Traditional Karate
Federation and is based in Great Britain.
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