Tradition and the Martial Arts…

This weekend the Encino Judo Club was engaged in giving the annual Judo exhibition at the Buddhist Church during their Obon Festival.  A fun time was had by all - and the local paper actually showed a photo of Judo this year. (Usually its a photo of some Japanese lady in traditional garb for Japanese dance)

What I found most interesting was the two exhibitions given by two different local Karate clubs.  One was quite classical - lot’s of kata, breaking demonstrations, and a little jiyu kumite.  It was interesting to watch, and I found it quite easy to judge the experienced from the less-experienced, even though all of them were wearing black belts.

What disturbed me was the other demonstration… it was actually pretty slick, done to music, lots of choreography.  Had one interesting bit done to the music of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” featuring a katana wielding karateka playing the part of the devil, and the opposing side taken by a karateka wielding two iridescently metallic red Nunchaku.

What was disturbing is that the demonstration was performed with an eye to pleasing the crowd rather than fundamentals.  Those with Kama’s were tossing them in the air, and even more fantastic, the Karateka with Katana was tossing it in the air… sometimes catching it by the blade.  I do hope he never tries this with a live blade…

There was also a weapon I’ve never seen before… it looked like a bladed weapon shaped like a triangle… the outside appearing edged... with a wooden handle roughly 1 foot long.  Are we merely inventing traditional weapons nowadays?

My question: if you aren’t teaching tradition - what are you teaching?  Most of the Karateka in this second exhibition were teenagers and younger - a drastic difference from the first, more traditional exhibition where all of them were black belts, and were all young men in their 20’s to 30’s.

If you teach a tradition that you’ve learned, and are passing on - then you have nothing to be ashamed of… but if you’ve modified your art to ‘look’ impressive to an audience, then all you’re teaching is modern dance.  Just my two cents worth…