Between the ages of 16 and 22 years
old I was fortunate in my Martial Arts journey to spend a great deal of time
training under the direct tutelage of Japanese Sensei.
I learnt many lessons from these
Masters. Some of these lessons were immediately apparent, others took years to suddenly
make sense.
Here I am going to discuss one
particularly valuable lesson I learnt as I progressed to my black belt and
beyond.
I hope it will help and clarify some
prominent issues for those on their own journeys.
The Japanese have a term in Martial
Arts named SHU-HA-RI.
This term isn’t just exclusive to
Martial Arts but generally how they learn any traditional art.
SHU- Means to PRESERVE
HA- Means to BREAK
RI- Means to SEPARATE
Let’s look at these 3 points
individually.
In Martial arts terms SHU (preserve)
means when you first learn a technique you practice it exactly how your
Instructor showed you. You don’t deviate from it in anyway.
The way it is initially shown might
not be the only way, but it is a starting point that you adhere to until a time
were another piece of the puzzle will be revealed to you.
As a ‘Gung Ho’ young man full of
testosterone and a burning desire to prove myself I used to get frustrated when
I was told to perform a technique repeatedly.
I wanted more. I was eager to run
before I could walk. I didn’t want to wait.
I see now that physically I may have
got the technique down well but mentally I wasn’t ready to move on.
Training back in those days under Japanese
Sensei was 2- hour classes of repetitive training of maybe tops 3 or 4
techniques. That was it. Fuck telling them ‘I’ve
got that, what’s next?’
No, you kept your mouth shut and kept
on drilling unless you wanted a broken arm or leg.
SHU is the foundation of your art. It
is the deep roots of the tree going way under the soil.
The tree and its various decorative
branches is only as strong as its roots.
Many of us as Westerner’s cannot
grasp these principles. We live in a society now that can’t wait for anything
and need instant gratification.
I now firmly believe in the saying. ‘All good things come to those who wait.’
Ask any high ranking black belt of
their art that trained under Japanese supervision how many front kicks,
wristlocks, hip throws, sword cuts they have done over and over.
The widely touted theory, highlighted in a 1993 psychology
paper and popularised by Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, says that anyone can
master a skill with 10,000 hours of
practice.
Scientists, however, remain sceptical. They also say you can add
intelligence, age, personality or maybe something else into the mix.
But let’s say it takes you 10,000
hours to learn a Martial Art.
How long would you need to train a
day? Well to put it in perspective if you trained 90 minutes a day (which is the usual length of a
training session) it would rough take 20 years to be on the ‘tipping point’ of
greatness.
Train 8 hours a day that time will
drop.
The question is how good to you want
to get?
Also, what is the quality of the
training you are doing?
We have the old example of the guy
who says he trained for 3 hours in the gym today.
Reality says he trained an hour,
scratched his balls and looked in the mirror for another hour and the final
hour was taking up chatting to his mate and eyeing up the woman.
When you see an athletic at their
peak winning gold, a football team winning the world cup a tennis player
winning Wimbledon or a fighter winning a world title then you are beginning to
understand what it takes to master your chosen art.
Dabbling isn’t going to cut it. A once
a week 90-minute class isn’t even going to get you to average.
Japanese Sensei didn’t want average.
They demanded greatest. Most students didn’t cut it. Many fell by the wayside
when the going got tough.
Now don’t get me wrong after 40 years
of training I am still looking for greatness, but the difference is I am still
on the mats trying.
The lesson to be learnt here is a
good instructor at the top of his game and his intentions honourable and not
for self-gain will know when it is time for you to grade, move on or learn
something new. Not you.
HA-Breaking.
This means at this level the student
can now start to take apart technique and examine the material. Now with solid
roots in place they are ready to play around with things and determine the
principles and reasoning behind them.
Their technique now is not just a
bunch of ‘tricks’ they are delving deeper into their origin, inner core and
meaning.
You may have learnt a technique in a
certain manner up to this point, but it doesn’t mean that is the only way to do
it. Also, you will begin to understand why that technique has been taught that
way up to now and why you are going to see it in a different light.
Again, many don’t stay around for
this level and have given up with a half assed idea of what that Martial Art is
all about.
My base art of Japanese Combat
Jujutsu originates from the Katana (sword). How many people out there training
or teaching jujutsu know this let alone be-able to show the links between sword
and unarmed?
I know this because this is what my
Japanese Sensei showed me at HA level. Why? Because I stuck around and came
through the SHU level.
Ri means to separate.
At this point in your training you
are now expected to take those core principles and techniques and add your own
expressions to them. To have the knowledge and ability to come up with new or
different interpretations.
You should have gone through the
rough, scrappy training phase and now developed a smoothness and flow to your
technique. You will have been through your ‘proving stage’ and you will be now
working towards a higher level of mastery.
This really outlines your journey
from white to black belt.
Higher mastery goes with you through
further Dan grades and how far you wish to go in your chosen art.
I recall as a young man hell bent on
achieving my black belt and Japanese Sensei telling me that you will have only
then learnt the basics. Once you have reached your goal of black belt that is
when you really start learning.
Now I know they were right.
In this rapidly evolving world of
Martial arts we must always be working to move forward after all we are only as
good as the last time we stepped on the mats, but we must never forget the
lessons learned from those who went before us. Those lessons are surprisingly
still relevant today.
But as Winston Churchill once said, ‘Wise men stumble upon the truth and get up
and walk away.’
