Torii gate |
Traditional martial artists are not so overly focused on competition they forget about other members of the ryu. For traditional martial artists, such as those at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate on the border of Gilbert and Mesa, the trophy is seeing others progress in martial arts and gain benefits of martial arts that include better health, focus and self-confidence. Traditional martial artists do not compete with others, only with themselves, but they are offered a curriculum of martial arts that is unmatched in sport martial arts schools. Traditional martial artists are a group of highly educated people who help one another because of their bond in the traditional way. The Great Okinawan Shorin-Ryu martial arts master, Gichin Funakoshi stated, "
In the West, many students take advantage of low fees while martial arts instructors, who are taught the Okinawan way (teaching martial arts and not dojo economics) that they are often forced to close dojo doors because they can not make lease payments or salaries. In many cases, this is why so many taekwondo and mainland Japanese sports schools have an advantage.
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Kyoju (professor) Hausel teaching jujutsu classes at the University of Wyoming after being awarded 'International Instructor of the Year' (University of Wyoming photo) |
Pencil sketch of Gichin Funakoshi by Soke Hausel. |
Walk into any sport martial arts facility and you will likely be accosted by used car salesmen tactics providing a contract before you can even take a breath. Money is top priority, not training. While in most traditional martial arts schools (those without rock n' roll music blaring in the background and without trophies filling windows), the quality of instruction of martial arts is often considerably higher. Even so, few traditional martial artists ever open a dojo and most rely on teaching in colleges, private gyms, etc.
In most traditional martial arts dojo, money is seldom brought up until the potential student asks about fees. The instructor relies on the integrity of students to pay each month and unfortunately, both tactics are not good. Traditional martial arts instructors need to learn to charge more money to keep afloat as dojo leases must be paid each month because landlords never have the same attitude.
Many traditional martial artists in the world have flawless credentials compared to sport and MMA schools. Yet few Traditional Martial Artists ever charge what their martial arts education is worth. As a result, martial arts become an expensive hobby. Many have actually paid more money into martial arts than they have received.
Martial arts student (Kate Lehman) at the University of Wyoming receiving yudansha certification in Shorin-Ryu Karate. |
It is somehow ingrained in the thinking of traditional martial arts instructors. Traditional martial arts schools will soon be placed on the rare and endangered species list if something isn't done.
One of my students recently was searching traditional Okinawan Shihan obi on the Internet and found only one or two martial arts equipment outlets that still sell the red and white shihan obi and only one that still sold the black and red kyoshi obi. This is how rare traditional martial artists are becoming - its not from poor martial arts teaching - its from poor marketing strategy. There are hundreds of shady martial arts teachers with schools who have no lineage and no proper evidence of certification.
My best friend, Hanshi Ron Smith (left) and the author at the 2013 JKI national clinic. |
What I need to do is to grab every traditional martial arts instructor (starting with myself) and shake sense into them before every traditional dojo closes. Besides, we all love to teach and it would be nice to be able to make a living at what we love to do. What most of us need are not only marketing classes, but possibly someone else to run the marketing and \finances of a dojo. We may be black belts in karate, but we are white belts in marketing.
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A common sport martial arts obi? Or a Tibetian prayer flag? |
Sport martial artists on the other hand often are well off as they require contracts, exorbitant fees, and promotion practices considered by traditional martial artists to be unethical (i.e., promotions every two weeks and providing dozens of colored tapes on an obi [belt] in order to collect more fees). I recently saw a student in Utah who had so many pieces of colored tape on his obi, it looked like Tibetan prayer flags and I had no idea what his rank was.
Sensei Paula Borea (center) and Sensei Bill Borea (far right) have provided many donations to the decor and weapons cache of our dojo. I am very thankful for these two wonderful people. |
Dai-Shihan Neal Adam provides time to teach classes when I am out of town and periodically creates weapons that he donates (we also appreciate his creativity in kata). Neal is always considerable enjoyment to talk to and we enjoy having him at the dojo. He has been a student of mine since about 1990 when we first met at the University of Wyoming.
Dr. Neal Adam, professor of biology at Grand Canyon University and Dai-Shihan for Seiyo Kai International. |
Finally, I want to thank a wonderful individual I just met. Out of the blue, a potential student started communicating with me by email. We had never met until yesterday when this person stopped by the hombu dojo and made a donation of several $hundred in training weapons with some books. Thank you so much Scott Monahan for this donation - I greatly appreciate this contribution as this will help so much in training our students!
Although Scott is not one of my students (even though both of us had hoped otherwise), he will always be welcome at our dojo. Thank you very much Scott!!!
Sensei Ryan Harden (center), one of our best martial artists |
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