Black Belt Training
When training in Bushin Ryu or any martial art for that matter it’s of vital importance that the student or deshi takes a front seat in driving their education. While of course good students and practitioners are the product of good teachers the teacher or Sensei can only be a guide. The job of your Sensei is to provide the entrance to the way as well as walk the path with you. This is where the best guidance comes from. Having a partner and someone who will hold you accountable and give just enough information for you to figure it out. The job of the Sensei is not to answer your questions but to help you see other questions. Only by this type of exploration can a student really dig to the heart of the subject. At the same time it is paramount that the student have the passion as if seeking the knowledge was some sort of infectious disease will the student be successful. The deshi must have the drive within them to set the goals and move closer towards them day after day. Your Sensei has already done this for if they haven’t they wouldn’t be in the teaching position.
So while the emphasis should not be solely on the ego portion of attaining a Black Belt the Black Belt in and of itself should be the first goal any martial art student looks at. It is a very logical and understandable achievement. One with which is a keystone to your success within your personal martial arts training. There are some schools that view the sole attainment of the black belt within a negative light and this misconception comes from the commercialization of American martial arts in which the product being sold is the belt and not the skill, knowledge, or journey of the thing. The problem with acting as if this shouldn’t be a goal to pursue however is also just as flawed. What is your stepping stone, where are you going, how can you effectively gauge your progress? When Jigoro Kano Sensei came up with the Kyu/Dan (White – Black) belt ranking system he approached it as an educator, and very wisely so in my opinion. This was a way to signify your students success, view challenges along their path, and at a glance determine what material the teacher should be focused on for that specific student. This is a brilliant strategy for the success of the students, and is concerned with the students progress more so than the egotistical viewpoint of “not everyone should be a black belt” mentality we see in “traditional” schools. In the history of martial arts there has been a lot of abuse. Abuse that flows from teacher to student. “My teacher was overly mean and made me jump through these hoops for my black belt so I will in turn run my students through the mill and if they don’t like it they can quit which shows everyone they don’t deserve to be a black belt.” Now this isn’t to say that anything of value is not earned, in fact to be a black belt in our system a student must go through a lot, however this journey isnt about me as the teacher it is about them as the student. Further each student walks their own journey and every single person is unique so in turn their path will be unique. This means there is no universal standard for black belt as it is a deep seated personal venture and can only be decided within the student teacher relationship. I disagree with some of the traditional schools that see black belt as a weeding out process for “losers who cant cut it.” What a horrible view of the martial arts in my opinion. As a teacher my job is to see you succeed, if you fail is it really the students fault? I think not!
In the end I see it as my job to get every single student of mine to black belt as the start to real martial arts training begins at black belt. The more people interested in Budo as a whole and committed to achieving black belt, and further attaining this achievement the more successful I am as a Sensei. So I pose the question to you as a martial arts student, are you black belt training? This should be the begginers number one goal for it is the mile marker which states that you have dedicated enough of yourself to start learning martial arts. I hope each and everyone of my students takes this challenge and shows me they have the determination and dedication to earn their black belt and I will make the commitment and dedicate myself to seeing you to success! My Sensei once challenged me to be a great man, and I will issue the same challenge to each and everyone of my students.
In Oneness,
Sensei
