The Complete History of McDojos (pt. 1)

Dojos used to be different.

If you wanted to study Karate under a master in Japan, you had to prove yourself worthy.

How?

Your character, patience and spirit was tested through various tasks and chores.

In fact, it wasn’t unusual to wait months before you were accepted for “real” Karate training.

Today?

It’s the opposite.

New students regularly drop by my dojo to watch a class or try a free lesson, and sometimes they even demand to learn certain tournament katas or progress through ranks at their own pace.

Riiight…

That said, I like some aspects from both eras.

  • But how did we get to this point?
  • When were the martial arts commercialized?
  • Why did “art” turn into “business”?

See, it’s more than just kicking and punching…

It’s money and power too.

And if you ask my friend Jamie Clubb, the history is complex. That’s why I decided to share his extensive research of the McDojo™ phenomenon with you today.

This is a huge article, so make sure you have lots of time!

I hope this piece will bring clarity to how socioeconomical, cultural and political influences have shaped the history of Karate.

You ready?

Here we go:

Martial Arts Commercialization

The history of the commercialization of the martial arts can probably be traced back to when citizens were first taught how to fight and get paid for that privilege.

A retired or injured warrior did not always have a state pension to support him and his family. Teaching the arts of war to those who would never use them in service was an obvious source of revenue for these ex-soldiers. Horse-riding, for example, is a leisure activity and sport that has its origins in the military. Beginning as one-to-one or small group private lessons, popularity for one fighting art or another would grow until the more business-minded instructors worked out they could make a living out of teaching regular classes for the general public.

Citizens were drawn in the past, as they are today, by the desire to emulate the alpha role of the warrior who had the ability to better protect themselves and their families from violence. 18th century boxing champions Jim Figg and Jack Broughton made it fashionable for gentlemen to learn their noble art and academies gained noble patronage.[i] Meanwhile in turn of the 20th century China teachers were using fakir tricks and acrobatics, along with a welded on philosophy, to attract wealthy customers to their martial arts schools.[ii] Over in Japan the likes of Kano Jigaro – the founder of judo – and Funakoshi Gichin – “the father of modern karate” – were laying the foundations for organized martial arts schools via the classes they set up in their respective educational institutions. Kano would be responsible for introducing the most recognizable martial arts uniform, the keikogi, and bringing in the belt ranking system. Funakoshi and his teachers would work out ways to accommodate large classrooms of students by setting up militarized rows.

All the most recognizable and popular martial arts systems exist today due to the entrepreneurship of their founders. These men were not merely good teachers. They were driven by a desire to spread the name of their chosen discipline. By the late 19th century different ju jutsu instructors from Kano’s school had travelled to Europe and the USA, but it was Kano’s interpretation of ju jutsu in the form of his Kodokan judo that established an organized brand. Funakoshi and his son did the same with Shotokan karate and his contemporaries were not slow in promoting their respective karate brands outside of Okinawa and Japan.

However, it was General Choi, the man who coined the name Tae kwon do,[iii] who provided us with the most aggressive example of mass-marketing a martial art. Tae kwon-do’s demonstrations – which typically contained spectacular kicking techniques and the breaking of boards and bricks – were attractive. Many martial arts survived oppressive governments by convincing everyone that training in a particular system helped improve the spiritual growth of the country.[iv] Choi made tae kwon do, which was really Korean Shotokan karate, a patriotic art. He then went on to distance the art from its karate roots by adding new techniques, developing new patterns of movement and making the rules of the sport different.

But it was the way Choi left Korea to purposefully install tae kwon do schools around the world that set him apart from anyone else in the martial arts world. His concern over the karate connection was not so great for him to instantly promote karate black belts to instructors in his association.[v] This ensured that the International Taekwon-do Federation brand spread fast. Meanwhile Choi’s rival brand, the World Taekwondo Federation, established itself in South Korea with the backing of the South Korean government. Using its considerable influence the WTF brand achieved its status as an Olympic sport in 2000. Between these two federations and the countless number of associations that have since split from either side, taekwon-do has become the world’s most commercially successful martial art.

The idea of the McDojo fed its way into the martial arts consciousness around the turn of 21st century. By this time the tae kwon do business model had been copied by most mainstream martial arts schools and had mutated in line with other retail-based business methods. The exact origin of the word “McDojo” is not clear nor it the word it was derived from, McJob. The word McJob had already appeared in print prior to the publication of the philosophical novel, Generation X by Douglas Coupland.[vi] However, this novel is usually cited as the reason for its early popularization. Coupland used it to describe soulless employment in mass-market workplaces that treated their staff as if they were on a conveyor belt.

The term McDojo was almost definitely popularized by the internet forum, Bullshido, created by Neal “Phrost” Fletcher. They originally used it as their title and website address before the McDonald’s franchise threatened legal action.[vii] The McDojo is defined as a martial arts school that allows its teaching practices to be dictated completely by the need to increase revenue.

Selling the Dojo – Martial Marketing

In order for martial arts to become commercialized they needed to be marketed.

They were marketed to the gentry, to governments, to educational institutions and to the general public. Some martial arts, such as boxing, enjoyed a certain degree of patronage from wealthy benefactors and others, such as judo, had influence within their targeted institution. However, it was those that were forced to become entrepreneurial in order to thrive that would develop many of the models that corporate martial arts are now based.

Live demonstrations have been the time-honoured way to generate interest. Many used the primal alpha male display of a sporting contest to show off the ability of the person teaching and the style they were teaching. In Britain some of the first ju jutsu instructors and catch wrestlers apparently took on random members of the audience to demonstrate their skills. These bouts along with boxing were popular in music halls, on fairs (or carnivals in the USA) and on circuses. Inevitably the pressure of having to fight nearly every night against unknown opponents and the desire to see more entertaining spectacles led to a lot of professional catch wrestling to become staged. This became the professional wrestling of today.[viii]

Elsewhere this type of marketing was particularly prolific when different schools competed for customers. Englishmen were drawn to the exhibition of the straight boxing match, but even they engaged in cross-continental bouts with France’s kickboxing arts of boxe Francais and savate. In Japan jiu jitsu schools competed and it was one decisive tournament that helped establish judo’s business in the Japanese education system. The 1920s saw the popularity of “Boxing versus Judo” matches being held in Japan, which were bouts that pitted fighters from different countries against each other, representing their particular style.[ix] China also has a long tradition of different representatives of styles facing one another and actively engaged with Japanese schools.

These challenge matches were turned into a long-held tradition by one 20th century martial art. Brazilian jiu jitsu relied on it to draw future students. The Gracie family actively challenged any other martial arts school. They advertised in the local papers, goading other fighters into facing them by volunteering to injure anyone free of charge in their “Gracie Challenge”.[x] Their fights were held in garages, on beaches, in their own school and other martial arts schools and drew audiences on television as they fought under vale tudo (Portuguese for “Anything goes”) rules. They took the Gracie Challenge to the USA, where it established support from prominent American martial artists and movie stars. The challenge eventually became the mixed martial arts behemoth known as the Ultimate Fighting Championship.[xi]   

At the turn of the 20th century the Chinese incorporated acrobatic displays and fakir tricks that had little relevance to the pragmatic roots of their arts, but encouraged the idea that fighters could develop supernatural powers.[xii] Such ideas were taken on by other martial arts. Japanese sword masters would demonstrate their abilities by chopping fruit and vegetables on students without harming them. The Koreans avidly took on the Chinese and western carnival/circus strongman practice of breaking hard solid objects with their bodies to sell taekwondo, tang soo do and various other systems that appeared after World War II.

Martial arts schools have also readily taken on marketed methods used by other businesses. They put adverts in papers, on the radio, on television, put posters up in shops and use the various different media available on the internet. The desire to tap into as broader amount of students as possible has led martial arts schools to offer an expanding list of increasingly abstract attributes. As my discussion on martial arts self-help, The New Martial Mystique, points out how self-help has influenced the development of martial arts in many ways and this can be seen in their advertising. Martial arts schools offer “Empowerment” and “Leadership” skills. Critics find little empowerment in being made to stand in line and not ever question the martial arts teacher. The leadership skills are often represented by the students who are on the biggest contracts or membership deals and/or have been nominated to be “Class leaders”, a role not dissimilar from being made the milk monitor at school. In addition to lists of benefits offered, martial art school posters display images of any number of different characters from happy children to movie stars and even cartoon characters.

Perhaps the most controversial advertising practice to date was introduced by the Go Kan Ryu karate school. This franchise was founded in Southern Australia,[xiii] but has fast grown all over the world and is heavily criticized by many in the martial arts world.[xiv] From its no-contact competitions to the practice of turning out instructors after just three months of training, one can see why it might be given the label of “McDojo”. However, what really seemed to set it apart from all other groups was the way it sent its instructors to sell the classes from door to door. Here karate would be touted using the same methods a sale rep might hawk windows. This was not just to invite students to a free trial lesson or promote awareness of the art, but to effect a cold sale with the instructor’s aim to get the person answering the door to sign up to a membership.

Such recruiting methods seemed to be the extreme of the pre-commercialized days of martial arts teaching when a student might have to kneel for days outside a revered teacher’s door before he was allowed admittance to a lesson. For many this was the ultimate in the degradation of the martial arts. Other critics might wryly note that this further proves another similarity martial arts have with religion, echoing the methods of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Get Them Young

Statistics vary, but it would appear that the overwhelming majority of martial arts students in commercial schools are children.

People are more willing to part with their money for their children’s perceived benefits than their own. This has led most commercial schools to focus on this as the primary source of revenue. Children are recruited through many different methods, including parties and many simply come directly from the place where Kano and Funakoshi expanded their martial disciplines: schools. The age for a child to start has also got younger and younger. Nowadays it is not unusual to see students as young as two in a karate class. This becomes less surprising when critics of many commercial children’s classes have described them as being little more than glorified crèches, where the infants play dress-up in martial art uniforms. If compromising the content wasn’t a big enough crime, many clubs have reduced the time of the standard one hour junior lessons to fit in more classes.

Rewards for progress are an even greater incentive for children as can be seen by the acquisition of badges in Boy Scout and Girl Guide clubs. Many martial arts clubs have also used belts as mini-incentives for children. When I began my training “Student of the Year” was a prize already institutionalized for both children and adults, but today larger clubs have brought in “Student of the Month” and even “Student of the Week” certificates. It could be argued that the expansion and proliferation of the coloured belt system was driven by children in martial arts and it wasn’t long before the junior black belt grade emerged. Given the original rule set by judo and currently supported by Brazilian jiu jitsu whereby no student under the age of 16 may be awarded a black belt, many felt the introduction of the junior black belt threw this once revered rank into disrepute.

Nothing seems to shout McDojo louder than the figure of a child wearing a black belt. We have gone from an era where finding a brown belt instructor in judo or karate in your local town was a rarity and the training would likely take place in a drafty old hall, where you would endure a lot of physical hardship to a time where we have an army of seven year old black belts playing tag in centrally heated and air conditioned full-time martial arts centres.

The Belt Factories

Due to coloured belts being the most common and recognizable form of martial arts ranks, schools that virtually give away their grades with little or no standards are sometimes referred to as “Belt factories”.

Achieving a coloured belt became enshrouded in the exotic mystique that accompanied the whole concept of training in eastern martial arts ever since the westerners were made aware of their existence. The rank of black belt was perceived as being testament that the wearer was a high level fighter. Humans, often driven by a desire to be the alpha animal in their tribe, are obviously drawn to such visible displays of apparent power and therefore it is small wonder that an entire business could be built around selling such ranks.  The most extreme example of this to date is the mail order black belt service set up by the self-proclaimed “Ninja master”, Ashida Kim (aka Radford W. Davis, aka Chris Hunter).[xv] Black belt certification can be awarded through membership to Kim’s “Dojo” or through simply purchasing his book Mugei Mumei No Jitsu.[xvi]

Kano Jigaro, an educator, introduced gradings with belts to his Kodokan judo, taking it from the Japanese public school system. Just about every traditional discipline in Japan has a structured system of progression. The use of the obi ranking system was often found in swimming [xvii], as was the wearing of red and white colours to distinguish between opening sides in a sport. As the number of students taking part increased in a martial arts class and levels of different students’ experience and knowledge become apparent, it is understandable why someone would want to introduce a system of ranking. However, it is worth noting that there are plenty of combat systems and sports that have not adopted this method.

Originally the belt was a wide sash, as found on Japanese kimonos. In 1906/7 Kano adopted the narrower judo belt as we know it. Originally there were two white belt grades and three brown belt grades before the shodan (first degree black belt) was reached. A violet or purple belt was introduced to boys under the age of 18 in place of the brown belt and it was forbidden for anyone under the age of 18 to be awarded a dan grade.[xviii] Funakoshi wasn’t slow in picking it up for karate and soon many other Japanese arts followed suit.[xix] Korean taekwondo, tang soo do, hapkido, kong soo do and others had their basis in Japanese martial arts imported around the occupation of Korea, and adopted their grading practices as well. Their coloured belt order was different from the Japanese arts, but they retained the white belt to designate novice and the black belt to designate a student at the end of his coloured belt promotions.[xx]

It is important to note the reverence the black belt has achieved in the west is out of sync with the country of its origin. In Japan it is not uncommon for a student to gain a black belt in a martial art within a year. The legendary karateka Joe Lewis famously achieved his first dan in Okinawa after just seven months.[xxi] Such speedy promotions would be frowned upon in the west. When judo and karate clubs first started springing up in the UK, the British teachers were not typically black belts. It wasn’t until 2004 that the first British Brazilian jiu jitsu black belts were awarded. Arguments over standardization of grades in martial arts have long been a hot topic, even before the arrival of the “belt factories”.

The reasons for gaining a grade differ from school to school. Some demand a formal grading examination, which is typically paid for in addition to regular classes. These gradings are sometimes held outside of class time on a separate day as an important event on the martial arts calendar and it can consist of a complete ritual where a grading award is given to one exceptional participant. Others offer it after a lesson or hold it within the lesson or even instead of a lesson.  However, some clubs do not have an actual grading examination procedure and bestow new coloured belts on students they feel have achieved a certain standard. Then there are those schools that use the belts to designate how long a student has been with the school rather than any level of ability.

Since Kano introduced the belt system the number of grades between white and black belt have increased in many martial arts. Originally there was only the white belt and the black belt, but this eventually changed to include a series of progressively darker colours in the Japanese styles. The Korean styles used their colours as symbols. The Chinese styles were late converts and used sashes instead of belts, and followed various sequences. Some Thai boxing academies have used arm-bands or sashes. Some Filipino and Indonesian martial arts have adopted belts whilst others have opted for coloured tee-shirts. The French system of savate uses coloured gloves. Even some western boxing schools have a progressive grading system now.

Additional grades have sometimes been represented by the adding of a tag to the previous grade’s belt. I guess this was done to not undermine the original colour order. However, some associations and schools had no problem with adding whole new coloured belts to their grading system. The camouflage belt or “camo belt” is an example of a controversial extra belt added to the rankings, and its creation is often attributed to the American Taekwondo Association, which is a common target for McDojo criticism.

Defenders of the decision to add extra grades argue that they are required to lessen the jump from one grade to the next. To be fair, we have seen similar arguments used with good justification in education when new qualifications have been created. However, cynics observe that few students make it to black belt level and most of a school’s profit is made from the coloured belts. In other words, if more belts are added then more payments are gained from gradings.

Instructor Mills

If you don’t have the patience to buy your way through the belt ranks, have no fear as there is service that will fast-track you to instructor status in a fraction of the time.

Of course, martial arts were far from being the first type of unaccredited institution churning out qualifications on demand. Diploma mills and degree mills are a global phenomenon whereby unaccredited qualifications are issued in a variety of formats. At their very worst they offer counterfeit accredited qualifications and are blatant fraud. At their very best they are honouree qualifications awarded to an individual in respect of their experience and achievements. However, in the main, these institutions are factories that manufacture qualifications for a fee. Typically a qualification is gained in order for an individual to stand a better chance of getting a job. You might feel that having some experience in martial arts might pad out your CV for a vocation in security or stunts, but few are under the illusion that it will get you a job. The only martial arts qualification that carries a job description and therefore the only one that carries any sort of weight is an instructor certificate.

The health and leisure industry was ripe for the exploitation of such qualifications. Pushed to provide a wider variety of services many leisure needed their fitness teaching members of staff – which are typically in possession of accredited qualifications in sport and leisure – to be able to run a wide range of classes. It was only a matter of time for entrepreneurs in fitness, often taking their cue from aerobics classes, to come up with their own brands and then offer instructor qualifications so that others can teach the franchise.

Today we have a variety of one hour fitness classes that gym memberships offer. The most famous aerobics/martial arts franchise, of course, is Taebo. This was the brainchild of karate champion and B-movie action star, Billy Blanks, who was clearly inspired by the aerobics boxing fusion known as Boxercise. It has spawned many imitations such as Body CombatThai-Box and many more besides. It wasn’t long before other martial artists worked out that they could also provide a class that used martial arts movements and a thumping high energy dance soundtrack to create their own attractive variation on conventional aerobics lessons. These programmes were very easy to learn and virtually anyone with a good grounding in fitness training could teach them.

Given the drive behind the belt factories, offering fast-track instructor courses was a no-brainer. Our more enlightened age of martial arts cross-training has put pressure on instructors of one art to try to accumulate more black belts and their equivalents. This provides a founder of an established or trendy new brand of martial art with another source of revenue coming directly from someone who might be regarded as his competition.

However, there is another longer term benefit for promoting more people to the rank of instructor in your brand of martial art and this falls in with the same business model that fitness franchises were offering leisure centre staff. General Choi, the founder of taekwon-do, worked out that he could spread his franchise by recruiting karate black belts in other countries and making them taekwon-do instructors.[xxii] Historically it is not unheard of for traditional martial arts instructors to create more than one martial art. However, today’s opportunist martial artists have taken their cue from the leisure industry and now offer a variety of programmes that provide instructorship qualifications. The previously mentioned aerobics/martial art fusion is the perfect example of a programme where an instructorship can be gained in a very short time – sometimes no more than a day – and given to someone with relatively little experience in the martial arts.

We have arrived in age where more and more instructors have multiple teaching grades in different systems. The aforementioned Go Kan Ryu School of karate has a common practice of giving promising students a black belt with a white stripe so they can start teaching their own class. The white stripe black belt helps to distinguish the student from the club’s genuine black belts, but many argue that the unknowing new student just sees a black belt teaching his class. It seems rather cynical for the non-black belt teacher to be given a type of black belt when he teaches beginners. Surely a badge or some other less misleading form of identification would suffice. However, the wearing of the belt is the least concern for many ex-GKR students and instructors who say that many of the white stripe black belts were complete beginners themselves as little three months prior to running their own class.

However, the mills don’t just stop at the doors the corporate leisure and karate industries. The swift awarding of instructor grades has become quite widespread on the seminar teaching circuit and many teachers, of varying degrees of reputability, grant them upon completion of the course without a formal examination. Seminars are aimed directly at people already training in martial arts. Many rely on established clubs to pool the bulk of their participants. However, the need to sell this service to as wider an audience as possible pushes many teachers to offer something more tangible. Following the martial arts pyramid scheme model, the teacher offers the student the perception that he will walk away from the course with the ability to deliver the same course.

Some might argue this is simply responding to supply and demand. After all, I have even known instructors who train on intensive courses with highly respected and famous martial artists and then award themself a type of instructorship without anyone’s blessing or authority but their own.

Memberships & Contracts

Like many other businesses that run classes, an increasing number of martial arts clubs insist on advance payments.

This practice has been around for decades for many US schools.[xxiii] Some clubs ask for a termly payment whereas others are on a monthly basis. As time has moved on direct debits and standing orders have been set up in many clubs, and there are several billing companies that specialize in organizing these instant bank transactions for martial arts schools.

Many clubs in the UK saw the arrival of the direct debit class fee collection service as an example of US commercialism influencing and changing the way martial arts were being run. The argument put forward by critics of the advance payment method is that schools that provide a good enough service have no need to worry about whether or not students will attend their classes.

Membership fees are also very commonplace in most marital arts schools. This annual payment is normally built into acquiring individual student insurance. Instructors usually pay a higher premium to those who run the association of their affiliated school. This is public liability insurance and students who are charged it are usually given record books for gradings and courses along with details on club rules and code of conduct along with an insurance renewal slip. Often these booklets are referred to as licences and may hark back to the martial arts myth that all martial artists had to be licensed. Many clubs copy gym memberships and include a joining fee, but might also include a club uniform. Some clubs use the opportunity to also sell various items of training equipment or offer different levels of membership with a scale of prices. Again, there are clubs that see no point in having students take out individual insurance let alone the various other fees.

Taking their cue from the leisure centre industry, some martial arts clubs took it all a step further by having their students sign contracts. This procedure allowed schools to offer an annual programme, which stipulated the maximum number of classes a student could attend during a month or a term and suited full-time martial arts gyms. The top end contract, offering an unlimited number of lessons, often has an attractive title such as “Black Belt Programme”.

The contract is perhaps the most controversial of all payment agreements as it binds students often beyond the time they have ceased training. Many argue that it is wrong to take fees from those who no longer wish to train and, again, a good school should not feel a need to carry out this procedure.

To be continued in part 2.


[i] Bare Fists by Bob Mee, 1998, Lodge Farm Books
[ii] Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals: A Historical Survey by Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo, 2005, North Atlantic Books
[iii] I am following Alex Gillis’s example by spelling tae kwon do, when I am not referring to a specific title of an association, in this manner.
[iv] The Japanese interpretation of Chinese Shaolin martial arts via Shorinji kempo is a prime example of an art thriving by making the argument for growing a sense of national spirit.
[v] A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do by Alex Gillis, 2008, ECW Press
[vi] Generation X: Tales from an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland, 1991, St. Martin’s Press
[vii] From my interview with Phrost on 30 November 2005: “Bullshido started back in May of 2002, as “McDojo.com”. Within a few months we had the Intellectual Property lawyers from McDonald’s all over us and we changed the name to Bullshido going into 2003”
[viii] Western Boxing and World Wrestling by John F. Gibney (pseudonym of Robert W. Smith), 1986, North Atlantic Books, The Odyssey of Yukio Tani by Graham Noble, 2000, InYo: Journal of Alternative Perspectives ejamas.com
[ix] The Fighting Spirit of Japan and Other Studies by E.J. Harrison, 1912, New York: C. Scribner’s Sons; London: T. Fisher Unwin
[x] The Gracie Way by Kid Peligro, 2003, Invisible Cities Press
[xi] No Holds Barred by Clyde Gentry, 2002, Milo Books Ltd
[xii] Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals: A Historical Survey by Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo, 2005, North Atlantic Books
[xiii] http://www.gkrkarate.com/index27.php?x=ABOUT-GKR~|^`1A ” Go-Kan-Ryu Karate (GKR) is a traditional Japanese style of karate. GKR was founded by Robert Sullivan in Adelaide, South Australia. Robert first began training in the art of karate in 1964, and spent time training and teaching in both Japan and the USA before establishing GKR in 1984”
[xiv] Virtually every martial art style, system, organization and established instructors are criticized in some way by other martial artists. However, one has only to put Go Kan Ryu into a search engine to see the first page full of criticism coming from a very wide range of martial arts websites and online forums.
[xv] Ashida Kim, Samuel Browning. http://bullshido.org/Ashida_Kim
[xvi] Mugei-Mumei no Jitsu  THE 21st Century Martial Art, Ashida Kim, 1998, Dojo Presshttp://www.dojopress.com/catalogbk7.html
[xvii] “THE TRACY SYSTEM OF KENPO – HISTORY SERIES – THE HISTORY OF THE BELT SYSTEM(JUDO — KARATE) – PART I I (last updated 10/18/10) by  AL TRACY “MYTHS AND REALITY”
[xviii] http://judoinfo.com/obi.htm The Judo Ranking System
[xix] http://www.minrec.org/wilson/pdfs/History%20of%20 Belts%20and %20Ranks.pdf
[xx] A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do by Alex Gillis, 2008, ECW Press
[xxi] The Secret of Inner Strength by Chuck Norris, 1987, Little Brown and Co.
[xxii] A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do by Alex Gillis, 2008, ECW Press
[xxiii] The Secret of Inner Strength by Chuck Norris, 1987, Little Brown and Co.

49 Comments

  • Excellent piece and, well researched and cited. Thank you.
    • Pete Sudbury
      I agree this is a great article: I'd never heard the early history before. However, I'd like to put forward my experience of the GKR "McDojo" in the UK, which is that it is a long way from the parody of a serious system that is presented. I've been training with my son (now 8 years old) for 3 years, and we've both done getting on for 400 classes. My daughter (now 6), joined in a year or so back: minimum age is five. The Senseis we have been taught by are all excellent teachers, clearly highly skilled and actively involved in their own development. Achieving the grades is no joke, and the level of effort, skill and learning required even to get to 3rd kyu, where we both are now, has been very tough. I'm glad the kumite is non/low contact: I've already been knocked unconscious for an hour in a motorcycle accident, and really don't want to pick up any further brain damage; my kids are both into running and don't want their legs bruised. The non-black belt instructors have all also been excellent. Sure, GKR is aimed at kids as well as their parents, and is marketed as a family club, so the first few grades aren't too demanding, but it's great to be able to train in the same class as my kids, who learn a lot from seeing their dad struggle and suffer. My son will not be permitted to attempt junior black belt until he is 12, even if he has reached the required standard earlier. I find the arbitrariness of that uncomfortable: if there is a standard, it should apply across the board, whatever age you are. Sensei Jesse, I'm great fan of yours: keep up the good work!
      • Ryan Hurley
        I agree. My grandkids have just started doing GKR. I was dubious at first from the reputation and had not experienced it first hand, It came down to a choice between this and Choi Kwang Do, And they were never going to be doing that, as it was rubbish in the 90s and after giving it the benefit of the doubt found out it had just got worse. So GKR it was. My thinking was that I could use my years of karate training to make up for any shortfall in the quality of training. However, from the first class I watched I could tell that he knew his stuff. His technique is good, and he is good with the kids. They are yet to grade so I can't comment on that yet, but it doesn't matter as I will keep up the quality of their Karate. My only concern now is the door knocking, but that is a problem for another day.
        • Ryan Hurley
          I would like to add to this as one has quite as karate wasn't for him, the other has now been doing it for nearly 2 years. I have even joined as I have a shoulder injury which has stopped me from doing the art I had been previously doing. The quality of the karate is very high, at least within the group of classes we train at. As I said previously I had my doubts about it from things I had read years ago. With regards to the black and white belts, yes they can be low grades but at the clubs I am at they can only assist in classes until they get more experience. To teach their own class they have to be at least brown belt.
  • Jesse San This is disturbing information, but I commend you for taking the time and trouble to bring this to our attention I have been very fortunate to enjoy the mentorship of proven great teachers, a privilege I would never take for granted I practice every day , and karate is now an integral and vital part of my lifestyle.....I simply could not bear the thought of not practicing....but without those masters , who have spend in excess of 50 years honing their skills , this path would prove too difficult to follow I retired after a very successful 40 year stint as a professional financial consultant....and we understand the need and value of all professional service....be it medical, law , architectural, art etc....and that such services demand hefty fees... A $1000 per hour is not uncommon? So then, it must follow, that someone who is a proven , recognized and graded master, with some 50 years or more experience, should also be entitled to charge a fair fee for his invaluable and rare skills? But it is perverse that many karate students do not understand or are willing to pay such fees....so invariably, the teacher ends up making a very average living....ie this is the other side of mc DOJO.? Perhaps , you can also do an expose on this equally reprehensible state of affairs? Thank you again for the very valuable work you are doing...I am now settling down to some serious stuff...carrot cake and Yirgacheffeccoffee from Ethopia Warmest
  • Love the article. One thing that always drives those of us who teach is that parents do not care if they are getting ripped off. They see the McDojo and that it is more expensive than a traditional school yet will drop off their children at the McDojo.
  • David
    The business model that is GKR, and it is a business model is a product of Robert (Bob) Sullivan's experience. According to his autobiography, he opened Bob's Karate School in Adelaide at the same time as he was selling Amway-like products door-to-door. The sales were an income source for the church of which Bob was a member. He was, and I believe still is, a devout Christian. So a fusion took place that allowed a network selling business model to be applied to karate instruction. All it took was a few willing karateka, the creation of your own brand - "Go Kan Ryu" - appoint yourself shihan (then kancho) and start selling. The business model also relies on volunteers who do the bulk of the selling and the delivery of the instruction. GKR has some regional staff on retainer with commission, the bulk of the workers get a small percentage of the fee for signing people on. The 'sensei' get nothing for their effort, an excellent business model - for the business owner! It is not a living wage. Once you attend class there is also the on-sell "Do you want fries with that?" that includes 'essential' equipment, seminars, gradings, and a glossy magazine. The sense is that at bow out after training that Bob Sullivan has his hand in your pocket for something! Anyway, I guess you are all too familiar with GKR the martial art and the business model. BTW having attended a GKR reps seminar as a "handbag", I was mesmerised by adulation the GKR reps had for 'Kancho"... it was at that time I realised that I was not watching a business seminar but a cult meeting... Now I understood how the reps and instructors were motivated to sign-on students and sell product, it was love of the leader - I was concerned.
    • art buncher
      BTW having attended a GKR reps seminar as a "handbag", I was mesmerised by adulation the GKR reps had for 'Kancho"... it was at that time I realised that I was not watching a business seminar but a cult meeting... Now I understood how the reps and instructors were motivated to sign-on students and sell product, it was love of the leader - I was concerned. No you were at a business (sales) seminar. Just like new home salesmen, amway salesmen, car salesmen etc. attend rah-rah sales seminars, so do karate salesmen. They increase enthusiasm about the product. Attendees (hopefully) love their company, local management, and/or executive management, but they're there to enhance their part of the marketing effort (which includes a financial benefit, even if it's just free gym time in the case of instructors). Adoration for the leader is associated with the commissions or whatever benefit is received by the marketer.
  • Greetings David I paid GKR website a visit.....and viewed a few of the kata,s on display Absolutely stunned at just how bastardized and corruption levels achieved.....a melting pot of shotakan and goju katas? How can this be tolerated?.... Sandy
    • Sancha
      Is that a positive or negative thing??? I’m confused
    • Odee
      That is exactly like Kyokushin Karate. Kata is hardly a place to be poking holes, it is just a handbook of techniques to look at for inspiration before moving on to sparring where you trial those techniques and even different Shotokan and Goju Ryu schools do kata with the same name differently because they imagine different applications and for their gradings a good number of Shotokan and Goju Ryu schools require you demonstrate bunkai and pull a designated kata apart to find as many applications within it as you can, things change because students emphasise different applications to their teachers. The fact that their sparring is either non-contact or requires an excess of padding just to do light contact means they'll never get a genuine reaction for those techniques is the bigger concern.
  • The article and research into the business of karate indicates a dilution of the recognizable black belt and over commercialization of instruction. There by giving the martial arts availablity and convienience has proven the value of promotion and public exposure to the eastern methods within culture. Those who cherish the rigors of hard work give creedance to the skill necessary that uniquely defines the black belt. Heros and role models are necessay motivators to success and achievement in karate implies that you overcame obstacles. The author clearly explains the evolution of current day problem. No longer does hard work and strong will define success but the symbols and public declarations give its appearance. Testing the ability is unneccessary therefore unproven. We have incorporated a make-believe appearance and cause of ridicule which defeats the purpose. However like someone who has climbed Mt Everest it is not necessay to continually climb the mountain to achieve celebrity. If you believe you are a black belt then you are. Simple build it and they will come.
  • dwight schrute
    Interesting article. When you "rush" thru the belt rank, you learn "what" to do but never think about "why" you do things. When you do a kata or pomse without understanding the application(s) of the moves and combinations, you are just dancing. Unfortunately, most people focus on the destination (to get a black belt) and not on the journey. When you get to the black belt level, (at least for me), I began to focus on the why we do things and how to apply them which has kept me engaged.
  • Shamus
    Well said and well written! And so very accurate!
  • Great to have all this info in one article, sirs. Or two. ;) Thanks!
  • Chris Collins
    I may have knocked some of your posts in the past, but this one is spot on. In fact it is almost identical to the lecture I have given since the early 1960's and comments I make when regularly expose phony martial artists and Qigong "masters" by explaining their "feats" to their audiences (they usually perform magic and strength demos - using tricks from what is referred to by magicians as "Chinese Magic" or even "bar bets" as my former student Lee Jun Fan was wont to do at times - to impress especially elderly Asian audiences of their power then soak them of all their money by claiming they can cure cancer and whatever else ails them. I should note, however, I have never been able to trace the claim of colored belts to Japanese swimming tournaments as has been commonly asserted by many. Ed Parker - to whom I first introduced Lee Jun Fan when I was the associate editor of Black Belt magazine (using the pseudonym Bill Evans) - used to regularly claim this but stopped after I asked him for proof of original source material.
    • Swimming has long been taught as part of the physical education curriculum in Japan, beginning with the bushido schools in the 17th century. I agree, however, that there's no evidence that colored belts were ever used to denote rank within the classes. I spent a couple of years studying the history of Japanese education in grad school and saw no pictures or text referring to this practice, if it ever existed. (And why would anyone put a cloth belt around a swimmer still soaking wet from a meet?) Yet I see the story appearing over and over again in articles about Japanese martial arts history. Is it possible this is one of those apocryphal "origins" tales that have been passed from one karate-ka to another? Excellent article, Jesse. Really enjoyed reading this; looking forward to the next one.
      • Thanks for the kind words, guys. This is what I love about putting my material out to a wider audience and why I use citations. I receive feedback that I can use to improve my research and improve the article (this article will make up a book of collected works on "Martial Arts Scepticism"). All the stories regarding swimming being the origin of the belt system seem to go back to Ed Parker or, at least, his instructors. This article on the origin of the belts is quite interesting: http://judoinfo.com/obi.htm "Other colored belts for students who had not yet achieved black belt originated later, when Judo began being practiced outside of Japan. Mikonosuke Kawaishi is generally regarded as the first to introduce various colored belts in Europe in 1935 when he started to teach Judo in Paris. He felt that western students would show greater progress if they had a visible system of many colored belts recognizing achievement and providing regular incentives. This system included white, yellow, orange, green, blue, and purple belts before the traditional brown and black belts. "The Judo practice uniform and belt system eventually spread to many of the other modern martial arts, such as aikido and karate, which adapted them for their purpose. Karateka in Okinawa didn't use any sort of special uniform at all in the old days. The kyu/dan ranking system, and the modern karategi (modified judogi) were first adopted by Funakoshi in an effort to encourage karate's acceptance by the Japanese. He awarded the first shodan ranks given in karate to Tokuda, Otsuka, Akiba, Shimizu, Hirose, Gima, and Kasuya on April 10, 1924. The adoption of the kyu/dan system and the adoption of a standard uniform based on the judogi were 2 of the 4 conditions which the Dai-Nippon Butokukai required before recognizing karate as a "real" martial art. If you look at photographs of Okinawan karateka training in the early part of this century, you'll see that they were training in their everyday clothes."
    • Interesting..an article knocking McDojos by a McBlackbelt?
      • Ur right
        Lol
  • KCO
    Im pretty sure to have read many different places that the obi/coloured belt system was forced upon karate in order to be accepted by the goverment, and was not a choice or attempt to follow Kano?
    • Josef-Peter Roemer
      That is very correct, in order for Karate to be recognised by the Japanese Government (Mainland) they had to accept the belt system and also have a Style name or it was not recognised.
  • Ian
    Thanks for the article ... I look forward to Part 2!! I've often been perplexed at the claims that McDojo make money off belt gradings ... perhaps because where I come from grading fees seem hardly sufficient to compensate one or more sensei(s) for all the time involved in the gradings ... working at an actual Mcdonald's would be a better way to make money!! But I suppose that a McSensei can bastardise and cheapen that aspect too, so that it becomes a money maker. But really, I think the McDojo gradings seem more like "positive reinforcement" for the money-making scheme rather than a money-maker in and of themselves: getting a shiny new belt every few months makes the student (and the parents, for children) happy at the "progress" that he is making. Thus, the willingness to continue paying for the training continues and increases. Nobody quits a dojo because "Sensei passed me to the next belt level again" ... but we all know a few students who have quit out of frustration at NOT being advanced as quickly as they thought they ought to be. I think that the McDojo sensei has figured this out, and makes sure to pass people frequently enough to keep them interested, loyal, and happy.
  • Aaron
    Another awesome, well researched article, thanks Jesse. In my early twenties, I trained a few years in Kempo, which gave me a reasonable grounding in karate-type stuff. Although the history and lineage is traceble in that style through to its chinese roots, it used some of the Goju Ryu kata. A couple of years ago, after around 15 years out of the scene, we found out the New Zealand GKR head office and dojo were just around the corner from our house. I sent my then 6 year old daughter along for a few trial lessons, and liked what I saw. I joined up a few months later as she was enjoying it, and I had to be there for her anyway. Although I found it a bit weird mixing Shotokan and Goju-Ryu (I'd also done Shotokan for a year as a young teenager) I've found the progression quite logical, and as we have both been 7th kyu for the best part of a year now, I don't think it can be called a belt factory. In addition, if students don't perform on grading day, they can fail, as four people did last weekend. I can't speak for the rest of the world, but I've seen kiwi GKR practitioners competing in open tournaments, and winning against both Shotokan and Goju competitors of similar ranks. We also get blackbelts from other styles coming to train occasionally. Is the black and white belt thing such a bad idea? On this one topic I'm un-decided, although I will say that in my experience, the extra training those instructors get is very advanced, and on the few occasions where almost-instructors are still competing in kyu grade events, they do tend to fill the top places. Mostly, they seem to have good technical knowledge, even though they may not have perfected certain techniques themselves. At GKR tournaments they are separated out once qualified so those of us not in the program do not have to compete against them. Overall, I think GKR is fine, and I have often wondered why Robert Sullivan gets slated for basically doing the same thing as Ed Parker. Right, time to sit back and watch the comments roll in over "that" sentence...
    • Andrew
      If it works for you then that's all that matters and I agree he did do the same as Ed Parker in America. Being from South Australia though I know his history and it was never in martial arts. I have been in martial arts for 45+ years and have never met anyone who trained with or under him, and South Australia is like a country town. All the best and enjoy what your doing.
    • Ur right
      I agree. Before taking up GKR style I did judo, shotokan and boxing. Now I just do GKR as my instructors were also black belts in other styles. Don't be fooled. GKR is legit
  • Andrew
    Hi Jesse, Great article, goes along with everything I have learnt over my 45+ years in martial arts. We now have a worse one in South Australia (what you called (Southern Australia)than GKR (we call it kangaroo karate), if I name them they will sue me. There new promotion is that you go up a grade/belt if you can get a friend to sign a contract. I also have taught disaffected GKR people over the years and even their black belts need retraining completely. Again, cool article mate.
    • Joso
      That is a total lie
    • Joso
      That is not true Andrew
  • Fernando
    Hi Jesse, Great article, as usual. What a handful of inconvenient truths! Among them I am particularly concerned about the issue of karate for children which you deal with in the section “Get Them Young”. “The overwhelming majority of martial arts students in commercial schools are children”. (…) “The age for a child to start has also got younger and younger. Nowadays it is not unusual to see students as young as two in a karate class”. As a PE Teacher and someone who has been involved in teaching karate for children I have nothing but arguments against these facts. According to experts, the age of initiation into the practice of any sport (karate as well) should be chosen according to the phases of motor development of children and not according to decisions made by parents, coaches, clubs and federations, the latter only interested in doing business and not in the welfare of children. Karate is a highly specific and specialized activity that can be considered specialized movement while children under 10 are in the fundamental movement phase. In short, children under 10 are being asked to do something for which they are unprepared. As a result, karate classes for children end up being an incongruent mix of games, exercises and techniques of karate..., all under the principle of learning by playing and for the sole purpose of avoiding the boredom of children. If karate classes are fun -and there's nothing funny about karate training (hardness, long training-hours, repetition, strict training systems) - children continue attending and parents continue paying fees and examinations. Anyone involved in teaching karate for children knows what I'm talking about... For further information in the topic of the phases of motor development see the works of researchers such as McClehaghan, Gallahue or Wickstrom, among others. And draw your own conclusions. There are loads of pedagogical arguments against early specialization but mostly it is questionable from an ethical point of view. We should think about it. As a Karateka I feel nothing but shame.
    • lena
      While I may agree that teaching atrial arts to children simply to create income could be an issue, I do not agree that you should avoid it completely due to children of that age being in the fundamental movement age. Creating a firm foundation and a love of the science to build upon when the child is ready will make a HUGE difference in the later years, when you begin to point out and hone the more specific movements.
    • You don't have to wait very long ;) Thank you for your support.
  • Ian Rey
    Excellent post Jesse-san!
  • Jason Wang
    Well written. Unfortunately this seems to be the case for Taekwondo and Kung Fu as well. (Albeit both are more modern in nature nowadays).
  • Irwin Chen
    Excellent article Jesse-san! I grew up back in the 80s when non-Chinese were even prohibited from learning Kung-fu. When I had the opportunity,I myself fell into a Shotokan McDojo and later a Kungfu Noodle House. Found a quiet TaiChi teacher who doesn't charge an arm and a leg and stuck with him since. Same with my recent Uechi-_Ryu Sensei who has 50 years experience under his belt. Classes are small and lessons highly technical. Cheers!
  • Jean Bertin
    There were dozens of "Salles" or training halls in Paris and other major French cities by the 1830's where Savate, Chausson and Canne / Baton were taught to paying customers. The Savate Master Micheal dit Pisseaux had a training hall which attracted students from all walks of life including notables such as the Duke of Orleans. Charles Lecour a student of Pisseaux later refined the self defense into a codified sport which later evolved into Savate Boxe Francaise under masters such as Charles and son, Joesph Charlemont. Many of the later Parisian schools were exclusive, expensive and catered for the gentry keen to defend themselves from street ruffians and gangs. Boxe Francaise appeared in health gymnasiums and in schools as part of the curriculum. A man named Louis Leboucher taught street self defence to paying customers in cellars. The style was old and brutal Parisian Savate which was used to settle scores and conduct duels using stree fighting techniques, kicks, palm and fist strikes, sweeps, grappling and "dirty tricks". This style is practiced today as Savate Defense, Defense dans la Rue and taught in the French Special Forces. One could say that the French were the first to commercialize, market and professionalize martial arts as a popular past time to paying customers keen to learn self defense, stay fit and perhaps compete.
  • Thank you for your input, Jean. Savate history and French martial arts are included in my upcoming booking, which features an extention of this article. The English were already commercializing their form of Boxing prior to the 1830s. You will note that Jim Figg and later Jack Broughton were onto it in the 18th century.
  • Jean Bertin
    Thanks Jamie, In reality Savate goes back to the Renaissance or earlier. Literature from the 15th Century shows "Jeu Savate" as a popular past time. Kicking was always a part of French military fighting. Before the storming of the Bastille in 1789 the street form of Savate was practiced openly in the slums. There were several "Masters" who would duel opponents and gangs fought openly "using whatever means". Savate was derived from the old Sabot (shoe). The guard was low as were kicks and palm strikes were complimented with head butts and gorging. The street form was useful in the narrow alleys of the slums. The French never took up the pugilist form of a closed fist until French aristocracy returning back to France after the restoration of the French monarchy brought it back with them. Some of the Soldiers and Sailors of the Napoleonic Wars imprisoned on British Hulks or in England picked it up off the Prison Guards and taught them savate. It was not until Lecour integrated English Boxing into Savate and the higher kicks of Chausson did it start to resemble BF. As far as who opened the first Training Hall. It probably was the British. However these were probably for those wanting to take up Prize Fighting. The first "Savate Salle" opened in Paris in 1825 to anyone who was willing to pay to learn. At first it had a low reputation and attracted riff raff, it soon gained popularity. Gentlemen soonpaid to mix it up with the lower classes and learn how it was done in the rough streets in the spirit of fraternity and egalite.
  • Jean Bertin
    References: Savate Chausson & Boxe Française d'hier et d'aujourd'hui by Michel Delahaye; Savate - Canne - Baton au fil des siecles La Vértable Histoire de la Boxe Française by Pierre Tarravello & Luc Cerutti; & Histoire de la Savate Du Chausson et de la Boxe Française (1797 - 1978) by Espaces et Temps du Sport L'Harmattan
  • ade
    Was doing jkd for a while. No belts no rankings just teacher and students. Everyone was equal. I believe it is the best way.
  • Great job on this artical. I currently have been Coaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for the past 3 years, and it sickens me that so many people get taken advantage of by these belt factories. I buy belts for $7 to $10 and sell them at MSRP for $15 to $20 that is all they are worth no matter the color. A students skill set should dictate progression and this varies greatly between students. In any combative sport were competition is the ultimate equalizer it would be really unfair to promote anyone to a level they have not proven beyond doubt they can handle. This takes time a long time and an instructor who spars and drills with you at least twice a week. Because let's face it I am a purple belt and some days I have blue belt days, other days I have brown belt days, but most days I have purple belt days. Great artical Jesse.
  • Hi,I check your new stuff named "The Complete History of McDojos (pt. 1)" like every week.Your humoristic style is awesome, keep doing what you're doing! And you can look our website about proxy server list.
  • Sancha
    Mate, I really want to know how you and your buddy came across GKR. The company runs classes only in Australia, New Zealand, UK and Texas, US. Not in Sweden. I agree with all the points you have made in this article. I used to go to GKR and they were pretty good. Except I’m still confused about what style they teach...
  • Andy Jackson
    I know this is an old article and I'm sorry. I agree with 90% of what you're saying although I do GKR and my sensei is Okinawan so there is no way we'd be able to get belts we didnt deserve. Our dojo is very traditional. Yes there may be some bad ones but I think you overstepped the mark by saying all of gkr is like that and besides no one has the right to. Judge another karate practitioners journey. If you are ever in Australia we would love to have you visit our dojo as we are big fans of yours and who knows, it might change your outlook. All the best, love your work.
    • Ur right
      I agree here Andy Jackson. I would go further to say that you can visit NZ as well to test your skills with the seniors of our GKR club. Good luck to you Sensei Youtube McDojo
  • Gornall Bell
    Love your karate stuff Jesse and your an inspiration to many including me. I'm 52 years old and have recently returned to karate training. I've got some arthritis in one knee due to a karate related injury from when I trained in my youth and a dodgy ankle from a motorcycle accident. I trained with a shotokan class for a few months which was fun but had a bit of a haphazard approach to teaching. I then went to a GKR class which was the total opposite. They teach in a methodical way that builds your knowledge and prepares you for your next grade. They have accommodated my limitations due to my medical issues. They have been friendly and supportive from the start! I pay £32 a month for classes and attend 3 a week, I could attend more if I want to. This works out at around £2.60 a class for a 90 minutes session each time. Gradings are £20 plus the price of a new belt if you pass the grade. All my instructors are black belts, I've never seen a black and white belt instructor. I enjoy it and feel like I'm progressing well. I've followed your channel a while now and was wondering if your view on GKR has changed as I've seen that you have taught a seminar for GKR students in one of your videos?(https://youtu.be/ukP5rC_Gm3Y).
  • Michael Malone
    Luckily, I was a kid in time to hit that Karate kid craze. I wanted to do Karate more than anything in the world. I begged my parents, until they took me to a local place that had KARATE plastered all over the building and vans. My childish excitement couldn’t contain itself. I was young and naive, and my parents didn’t know the difference. All I knew was, I was exited to received my fresh, white gi and belt. I didn’t question anything, I was committed. Later down the road, at yellow of green belt I believe, I started seeing Taekwondo written on things. I asked my “master” what they meant, and be said it’s the style. I asked why the signs said Karate, and he told me that it was the same thing. It turned out that my master was trained by a legit grandmaster, who was still around in the Tang Soo Do days. I did learn a lot of Shotokan-ish techniques, joint locks, takedowns, and a even weapons. At first we even spared a lot like Karate does. I remember giving and receiving some really hard blows. My friend even got his nose broken by a kick at one point. But over time, the Dojang started to fill up, and I started to see WTF stuff around. I had already gone to tournaments that were ITF, and didn’t understand the changes. I guess he went where the money was. By the time I became a black belt, I was I just turning 18. I wasn’t part of the “fast track program” the the kids who could afford it. But by time I’ve noticed that we stopped doing a lot of the traditional stuff, and focusing on the tap, touch point sparring. People could pay more for special belts, uniformed and patches; and black belts kept getting younger and younger. I was even asked to replace my traditional wrap around, white gi, for the sporty Dobock with a black color, or whether colors I wanted for an up charge. I was even forced to buy patches with the school and style ads on then. The master was really hard on me. He said he expected a lot from me. I worked my ass off to yet my black belt, and it took me all of my childhood. I started seeing these kids go through black belt testing, and just giving it bare minimum, like they didn’t even want to be there. And they were handed black belts line it was noting. The day after I saw that, I walked out and never returned. The master was doing very well for himself though. He has a huge house and fancy car. Later I stated working with an old man at Home Depot. This guy looked like way too old to still be working. People called him Sensei. I found out that he was a high ranking Karate teacher. He had his own Dojo, but had to work full time just to keep the doors open. I couldn’t afford to go, but he would teach me between customers. He never bragged about his style or his rank, so to this day I still don’t know. All I know was that his belt was read and white. Whatever that means. Unfortunately, so still don’t know much about Karate. I didn’t get to spend much time with him before he had to retire, but the little time I did, I learned more, technically, spiritually and life lessons than I did on the road as a black belt in TKD. I wish I would have been able to have a that time back and spend it with a true Sensei like him, but unfortunately flashy ads won over true knowledge. Now, I want to achieve my life long goal of practicing actual Karate. I’m almost 40 years old, but better late than never.
  • John Russell
    I think there is (was?) a part of Japanese culture that was focused on self perfection that is quite different to the Western way of thinking, and it doesn't necessarily apply just to karate but to any type of hobby, including things like tea ceremony and ikebono. Students sign up essentially to be a disciple to a master in the subject and study for years and years. Perhaps it's also due to the idea of being "in the now" rather than studying towards an objective like a belt color or championship.

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