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The North American view of the martial arts black belt as a tough-fighting machine that can do battle with multiple opponents is one of fantasy and supposition. It is tainted with the misconception of the peak performance in sports and dedication to the traditional martial arts as being the same thing. It is a common belief that a "black belt" has mastered the martial arts and therefore no matter what their age, sex, size and weight that they are capable of fending off any number of assailants, carrying any array of weaponry. Nothing could be further from the truth. The medium of film, that has in the past been responsible for great up swings in the popularity of the martial arts, is also often responsible for many of the misconceptions that hinder many martial artists in fully developing their true potential.

I bumped into an old business acquaintance a short time ago. We exchanged pleasantries and quickly updated each other about the last few years that we had not seen each other. During the course of the conversation the subject of my training and recent promotion to Fifth degree came up, and he asked me "So how many could you handle now, three, four, at the same time? " The question quite caught me by surprise. After training for 20 years and recently having turned 50, I was very surprised that he equated that to whether or not I could do battle with several opponents at once was indicative of the rank. His interpretation of rank in the martial arts was based on something out of the fantasy of movies and legends. He expected the North American legend of Jean Claude, Bruce, Jackie Chan and the undefeatable warrior. Not that martial artists of this caliber do not exist, but they are definitely not the normal student found in most martial arts schools, nor are they a true image of the martial arts student who quietly trains over many years into his or her later life.

If we have the unrealistic expectation of what effect training in the martial arts will have on our daily life we will be sadly disappointed. Working a 9 to 5 job, cultivating a normal and healthy social life, family, friends, and dealing with all the day to day mundane rituals of daily life can be put on hold for a short time to allow us to compete and train as a youth. It is an impractical expectation, however, to expect anyone to hold that pace indefinitely and that once our physical peak is attained that they will maintain this peak level for years on end, in order to live up to this expectation. The practitioner this martial warrior represents does exist in a manner of speaking. He is the competitor, the Olympic athlete, and the professional fighter who is at his peak of fitness and skill. He trains daily and trains with a goal in mind of competition and excellence in performance that we normally associate with any other "sport". In years gone by he would also have been the samurai warrior preparing for an honorable death, or the U.S. Marine preparing for battle in the Korean or Vietnam war.

What we fail to allow our martial arts practitioner, as we impose this standard on him, is the luxury of life; The right to grow old, to be, what many would call, "past his prime" and to enjoy his life, unlike the football player or Olympic runner, who can grow older, become a coach, and still hold his titles and accolades. People seem to think that if you are progressing and training at your middle years, and can't do a flying side kick, that you are a "sorry" excuse for a black belt. In fact the opposite is the truth. If we consider that as with the football player, or Olympic runner, all those years of training and competing combined with maturity of spirit and soul combine to make a "complete" martial artist and the basis for a solid, wise and well rounded teacher. In the Martial arts during this time, the real learning begins.

Studying the arts is a life long vocation. It is more than a sport to those that truly pursue its teachings and lessons. The largest difference is in viewpoint. In sports the physical peak is generally considered the "Height" of the career, in the martial arts the physical peak is only a stage of the training. The martial artists development as a person, as a warrior and as a martial artist are all as significant a part of the training and experience as the competition aspect. His long commitment to training is not only beneficial to health and welfare but also his knowledge of technique and body mechanics will increase and improve as time goes on. His personal development in his chosen art will continue to develop and grow. His speed may slow down and his body may become less nimble as time and old age creep up on him but he views this as another challenge, not as defeat. It is unfortunate that other sports are not seen in this light. What is viewed as the autumn of an athlete's career in North American sport is in fact the prime of the Martial artist's life.

Age and wisdom are what the martial artist strives for and it is through this experience of the physical peak that he develops the maturity to further his training and to finehone his skills, on both a physical and intellectual level. What appears to some, as the peak, is in fact simply another step in the path, to the mountain.

Mike O'Leary

http://www.geocities.com/dragons_wing3/Sensei_Mike.html

 

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