Budo Begins Where Sport Ends My sensei used to say, “Any time a martial art is turned into a sport, you weaken it.” I first heard those words more than forty-five years ago, early in my Kyokushin training, and they’ve stayed with me ever since. He didn’t mean that competition is bad, only that we…
Tag: Reflections
Lessons From My Sensei
Martial Art vs Sport “Any time you turn a martial art into a sport, you weaken it.” My sensei said that often, and after forty-five years, those words still shape the way I think about training. What was his point? Pretty simple really. In the real world, rulesets don’t apply. There’s no referee there to…
Is Kyokushin Kinder and Gentler now?
A video posted in Kyokushinkai Karate, one of my groups on Facebook recently generated a bit of controversy. According to the OP, the video was a fight from an IFK Kyokushin Junior Championships. Some of the comments were very critical of the fighter who won. Although possibly they responded without taking the time to realize…
The Best Karate Style? – Reflections on Training
“I have not permitted myself to be ignorant of any martial art that exists. Why? Such ignorance is a disgrace to someone who follows the path of the martial arts.”- Mas. Oyama Today I ran across a post in our Facebook group that got me thinking. It was a link to a YouTube video asking…