That’s the tone part. I don’t see any implication in the original story that it was actually a suggestion. He was pointing out the color of the belt shouldn’t be the emphasis - it’s the work behind it that matters.
Contradictions In The Martial Arts
- Thread starter PhotonGuy
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That’s cool. It never occurred to me that would be a thing, though it makes sense with the size of the organization.
Sure. And some folks might choose the navy (consciously or not) for this. And others might not choose it, for the same reason) as there are folks who choose unranked systems in part because they are unranked). You’re claiming introducing rank will change what motivates people, but I know of no evidence that backs this. I’d expect pretty much everyone to tend toward systems with easier ranking, if that were true.
Didn’t seem to be. In many places, there’s a distinct difference in the BB test versus those prior. And many times each prior belt was also a gateway to some of the curriculum. The BB rank didn’t offer enough motivation, so they didn’t bother with it.
That’s something not in evidence in the original. That change in canon makes the original line a bit odd. Without that change, the original line makes more sense.
That’s likely, but not necessary. I could teach my primary art without offering rank of any sort, in spite of my own rank (or, more properly, because of my view of rank).
If making them look dumb was his point, I agree. I suspect it wasn’t, but could be wrong.
I like where this post is going. Can you expound?
We'll see. I do sometimes disagree with my peers and my instructor on whether someone is ready for promotion. That's part of why we often discuss promotion to higher ranks among ourselves to make sure we have some sort of consensus.And you obviously did a damn fine job of it.
Tony, I realize every style, dojo, student, teacher, sparring partner, opponent are all different. If you break down each and everyone of those, as well as all the etc I didn’t mention….it seems that Martial Arts and Artists are as pure as the driven snow. AS IN, no two snowflakes are alike.
I don’t test and promote by rote, I test and promote individually. My guess, which I’d bet my dog’s life on, is if YOU ten years from now, was to train a different version of you, you’d promote him to Black Belt when the time was right, as well.
Go ahead, argue that, I double dog dare you.
So far I've only promoted two people to black belt.
One came to our gym as a brown belt with extensive competition and fight experience and I always regarded him as a peer rather than a student. (Although I'm proud that he currently claims me as his primary coach, the fact is that I've learned as much from him as he has from me.)
The other is a young man who started training in our gym at age 11 and is currently in his early 20s. I helped teach him, but I was only one coach among many and he's been self-guided for a while now. He didn't really want the rank, but he's just too dominant in rolling to be anything else.
I figure I'm about 5 years away from having someone ready for black belt who has primarily been my student up through the ranks.
I suppose you can say the same thing about letter grades in school (A, B, C, D, F) the letter of your grate shouldn't be the emphasis, its the work behind it that matters.
Hot Lunch
Master Black Belt
I tried telling my parents that when I was a kid. Didn't work out too well for me.
Well it also depends on what kind of school you go to. I knew a fellow growing up who got straight As and was at the top of the class when he was in public school. Then he switched to a really hard private school where he was getting mostly Bs and. Cs and was in the middle of the class.
And different posters have given different explanations.
Hot Lunch
Master Black Belt
I would say that most people joining the Navy aren't aware of this in the first place. But for those that know about this prior to selecting a branch to join, I would say that you're absolutely right about that being a reason some people choose another branch to join.
While those uniforms create a greater perceived prestige among the E7 to E9 grades in the Navy, it comes at the expense of the E5 and E6 grades (nobody cares what you have to say if you're not wearing khakis in the Navy, while this is a non-issue in the other services). Furthermore, only about 40% of career enlisted in all branches of the military ever make it to E7; so it's far easier for a retired E6 in other branches to shrug off having never made E7 than it is for someone who retired at E6 in the Navy. For those who feel that they might not make it that high, they could take this into consideration when choosing a branch.
But to your point earlier, following Vietnam up through the mid-80's, there was a time where everyone in the Navy wore the same uniform (the sailor suit for E6 and below was discontinued). I've talked to people who were in at the time who claim that the caliber of those who made E7 back then were different, which may have affected the Navy's decision to bring back the sailor suit.
Oily Dragon
Senior Master
Pat Morita's character is based on the founder of Goju Ru, but even moreso this dude, his stunt double.
Fumio Demura - Wikipedia
They are legion. I myself have a small bonsai.
Taiji Rebel
Black Belt
Yes, there was a good documentary on Fumio Demurai called The Real Miyagi a few years backPat Morita's character is based on the founder of Goju Ru, but even moreso this dude, his stunt double.
Fumio Demura - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
They are legion. I myself have a small bonsai.
The original movies inspired many kids to take up the martial arts in the 1980s. My nephew got into them about ten years back, and even wanted his own bonsai
Those Karate Kid films did a really good job of putting across the essence of karate-do, but that is what they were made for 
Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today - Robert McKee
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But that's just the thing, not everybody else has gotten it, or at least not everybody else has agreed on what it means to get it when they give different answers and different interpretations.
wolfeyes2323
Green Belt
At shodan you have learned what is required practice to enable you to progress and develop on your own. A teacher can only show you what to practice and teach you how to practice, (shodan), after that its up to you to add years of practice.
Hot Lunch
Master Black Belt
Although this isn't exactly what PhotonGuy said, it's close enough. I think you'll get some kudos on this, where PhotonGuy gets ridiculed and grilled for saying similar things.
Hot Lunch
Master Black Belt
In my opinion, I can't care what anyone's motives are, as long as that motive has them showing up and giving 100%.
The problem with "black belt and nothing more" being the motive is that you've already grabbed and eaten the carrot being dangled in front of you once you have the black belt, so what's motivating you now?
But again, that's my opinion.
I'm not completely familiar with Goju-ryu (the nearest Gojo-ryu dojo from me is an hour drive away, and out in the sticks), but I do know that Suparinpai is its highest kata, and that isn't learned until 5th or 6th dan. For me, that's my motivation (or, in my case, Unsu in Shotokan). At that point, I'll feel like I'll have "everything" and can start self-actualizing from there.
Ultimately, I think every individual has to decide what it means to them.
The problem with "black belt and nothing more" being the motive is that you've already grabbed and eaten the carrot being dangled in front of you once you have the black belt, so what's motivating you now?
But again, that's my opinion.
I'm not completely familiar with Goju-ryu (the nearest Gojo-ryu dojo from me is an hour drive away, and out in the sticks), but I do know that Suparinpai is its highest kata, and that isn't learned until 5th or 6th dan. For me, that's my motivation (or, in my case, Unsu in Shotokan). At that point, I'll feel like I'll have "everything" and can start self-actualizing from there.
Ultimately, I think every individual has to decide what it means to them.
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