What Karate Kata Reveals About the Center of Balance

There's a moment in training when movement begins to feel off. 

The technique is recognizable, and the form holds up. But there's a quality missing that you can't quite name. You've drilled it hundreds of times, and it still hasn't fully arrived.

This feeling comes from the center of balance, and whether the center of balance is leading.

The Body Has One True Starting Point

The center of balance sits in the lower abdomen, roughly an inch and a half below the navel. Most practitioners learn this early. It appears in nearly every text on traditional Japanese martial arts, and within any reputable Japanese Karate Association, students can point to it without hesitation by the end of their first year.

What transforms technique is whether a practitioner has felt the center function during movement, rather than being dragged along behind.

How the Center Changes Movement

Once you start looking for it, disconnected movement appears in almost every early training error.

• Students step into a punch, leading with the foot, followed by the rotation of their shoulders before the hips have committed.
• The individual pieces are moving, but the body is not moving as a unit.
• That fragmentation shows up in the technique in a way that's hard to disguise, no matter how clean the external form looks.

When a student steps forward before the center has moved, the body works in pieces rather than as a whole. This points back to a structural cause: movement that started at the wrong place.

The correction requires going back to the actual source of movement and learning fundamentals. 

What Changes When the Center Leads

Once you know the center of balance, it becomes visible in the movements within yourself and others.

When it leads through physical habit, techniques start to feel more complete and less forced. Limbs arrive in place as a natural habit, rather than pulling the body into place.

This observation goes beyond the dojo floor. When you learn to move from your center of balance, all of your movements become seamless. Posture and smoothness of movements are quick to improve.

That quality is what marks senior practitioners, not just years of training.

Deepen Your Understanding Through a Japanese Karate Association

If you’re interested in exploring these principles, the Japanese Karate Association can aid in your growth as a practitioner.

SMAA is a traditional budo organization with members across the United States and internationally. Membership connects you to an internationally recognized ranking, the quarterly SMAA Journal, seminars, and a global network of practitioners engaged in the same pursuit.

Read more in our full article, or reach out directly: https://www.smaa-hq.com/contact.

Center of Balance in Karate: What You Know vs. What You've Actually Felt

Ask a karate student where the center of balance is, and most will answer immediately: an inch and a half below the navel.  While this is correct, many don’t feel this area during movement. 

There's a meaningful gap between knowing a fact and verifying it in the body. In martial arts, this gap often goes unexamined for an extended period of time. Students accumulate information about posture, stance, and the generation of power. Retaining the information, rather than putting it into motion, often feels like understanding.

A Three-Minute Experiment

• Stand in Shizen Hontai — feet shoulder width apart.
• Touch a fingertip lightly to the navel.
• Shift the hips slowly to one side without moving the feet.
• Keep going, and the weight-bearing foot carries everything.
•  Push just past the outer edge of that foot, and balance breaks — you fall, or catch yourself.

Do the same experiment moving forward. The center approaches the toes and then passes them. Backward, it reaches the outer edge of the heels. Every direction has a point beyond which the body cannot hold itself upright.

These boundaries are the foundation of every technique in every martial art. Understanding it intellectually changes nothing. Feeling it changes the way you move.

Does Your Center Move First?

When you move, does the center go first?

Stand quietly in Shizen Hontai again, both hands resting lightly on the lower abdomen. Let the body fully settle, and hold that stiffness. Then, take one slow step forward.

What was the very first thing you felt move?

In natural, integrated movement, the answer is the belly. This is the natural way of walking, and the biomechanical model behind every advancing technique in traditional budo. Center leads — limbs follow.

When that sequence is reversed, power is lost, and efficiency disappears.

Why Seniors Move the Way They Move

The dignified ease that marks experienced practitioners isn't performed. It's the natural result of having found the center and having built the habit of starting there. Within a Japanese Karate Association, this is precisely what the senior practitioners’ model is. The dignified ease that marks experienced practitioners is a natural result of having found the center and having built the habit of starting there.

When the center leads, the body stops working against itself. Techniques become less effortful not because less is happening, but because everything is happening in the right order. Movement that used to require compensation and muscular override starts to flow from a structural truth that was always there.

Explore the Depth of Traditional Budo Through a Japanese Karate Association Built on Authentic Practice

These principles survive through structured education and training environments with experienced senior practitioners. If you’re interested in exploring these principles, the Japanese Karate Association can aid in your growth as a practitioner.

SMAA is a traditional budo organization with members across the United States and internationally. Membership connects you to an internationally recognized ranking, the quarterly SMAA Journal, seminars, and a global network of practitioners engaged in the same pursuit.

Read more in our full article, or reach out directly: https://www.smaa-hq.com/contact.

Seiza: The Most Overlooked Practice in Traditional Japanese Martial Arts

What if the most important practice in your dojo wasn't a throw, a cut, or a kata—but the way you sit?

In traditional Japanese budo, seiza is everywhere. It’s essential for any serious Martial Arts Organization. Students settle into it before class and return once it ends. They sit in it during instruction and in the quiet pauses that give a session its rhythm.

And yet for many practitioners—especially those new to traditional training—it’s treated as a default position with no background. 

A Posture with Deep Roots

Seiza, as we know it, developed gradually. Its formalized shape emerged as tatami mat culture spread through Japan from the late Muromachi period through the Edo period.

By the time tatami rooms were standard in samurai households, seiza had become the expected posture for formal occasions, ceremonies, and the passing down of etiquette. It carried real meaning—sitting in seiza showed respect toward a teacher, a guest, or the space itself.

That meaning didn't disappear when Seiza moved into the dojo. It deepened. 

It became integrated into kata (form), reiho (bowing etiquette), and the culture of how a practitioner carries themselves. Some classical sword and blade schools still practice entire kata from seiza. 

What the Posture Teaches That Words Cannot

• Relaxation and readiness at the same time: Seiza asks you to release unnecessary tension without going passive.
• Heijoshin in the body: the calm breath and soft-focused eyes of seiza are a physical expression of the composed mind that budo training seeks to build.
• Control through transition: how you move in and out of seiza is a martial skill. 
• Patience as practice: it teaches you to sit quietly, stay focused, and not give in to the urge to fidget.

Making Seiza a Real Practice

Arrive at the dojo a few minutes early and sit quietly in seiza before class. 

You’ll notice what's present in your body and your mind. Over time, that small habit builds a reservoir of calm you'll draw from during the hardest moments of training.

Many instructors of traditional budo have spent years refining their practice. Ask your instructor about their own practice of seiza.

Modern budo disciplines—kendo, aikido, iaido—continue to place seiza at the opening and closing of every session. This reflects that the qualities Seiza builds—alignment, breath, composure, presence—are rooted in tradition. 

Connect with a Martial Arts Organization That Honors the Full Practice

Looking for a Martial Arts Organization that treats traditional Japanese budo with the depth it deserves—including the foundational practices that most modern programs skip over?

As an organization dedicated to the full depth of traditional Japanese budo, SMAA is worth exploring. Membership gives you the quarterly SMAA Journal, access to events and seminars, an internationally recognized ranking, and a worldwide community of practitioners who take authentic budo seriously.

Read more about seiza in our latest article, or contact us to see how SMAA can support your practice.  

Improve Your Posture in the Dojo with Seiza

Have you ever noticed that the quietest moment in a martial arts class often teaches the most?

Before the first throw. Before the first kata. Before a word is spoken, there is seiza.

Students lower themselves to the floor, spines rise, shoulders soften, and breathing settles. From the outside, this stance is one of waiting. For traditional martial artists, it’s discipline and respect. 

Stillness That Works

Seiza translates to "proper sitting." The posture demands that the hips stay settled, the spine extend upward, and the shoulders stay relaxed—all at once. It’s essential for any serious Martial Arts Organization rooted in traditional Japanese budo. 

Eyes hold a soft, alert focus: not darting, not blank. This is a physical expression of heijoshin—the composed, balanced mind that martial arts training works to build.

Seiza teaches you to stay still without fidgeting, endure minor discomfort without complaint, and approach training with sincerity. These are the foundational elements of traditional martial arts.  

What Seiza Actually Trains

The benefits translate directly to the dojo:

• Spinal alignment: Seiza aligns the spine and strengthens the lower back—structural qualities that show up in every technique.
• Deep breathing: The posture encourages slow, full, abdominal breath—the same breath you'll rely on under pressure.
• Mental presence: Seiza is a practice of mindfulness—leaving the noise of the day behind and entering the dojo with full attention. 
• Martial transitions: How you move into and out of seiza is a skill in itself. Senior practitioners lower straight down and rise in one smooth motion—no hands, no hesitation. 

More Than a Bow

In classical Japanese martial traditions, bowing from seiza is a deliberate act. It signals that the mind has quieted, that you are ready to train.

Some kata in classical sword and blade schools are performed entirely from seiza—a reminder that in an earlier era, defending yourself from the floor was a possibility. 

Bringing Seiza into Everyday Life

You don't need a dojo to practice seiza. Many experienced practitioners sit in it for a few minutes before meditation, after morning movement, or as a simple pause in the day.

If it's uncomfortable at first, start shorter. A folded blanket under the ankles or a seiza bench can help while flexibility builds. The goal is awareness, not endurance. Bring your full attention to every moment you spend in it.

Explore Seiza and Traditional Budo with a Martial Arts Organization That Goes Deeper

Want to bring practices like seiza into a real, structured training environment?

As a Martial Arts Organization dedicated to the full depth of traditional Japanese budo, SMAA exists for one reason: to serve practitioners like you.

Membership connects you to a global community of dedicated martial artists, a recognized ranking, the quarterly SMAA Journal, and resources drawn from authentic practice.

Read more about seiza in our latest article, or contact us to see how SMAA can support your practice.

How to Use "Sensei" for Western Martial Artists

Are you a western martial artist? 

Are you feeling a little unsure of how to use the word “sensei?”

Western practitioners sometimes worry that calling more than one person sensei is disloyal. In Japan, this concern does not exist. A person may address many teachers or professionals as sensei in a single day. Loyalty belongs to one’s lineage, instruction, and training relationship—not to exclusive use of the word.

Traditionally, Japanese students use sensei both inside and outside the dojo. The title reflects an ongoing teacher–student relationship, not a situational courtesy. Limiting its use to the training hall can unintentionally reduce the teacher’s role to that of a technician rather than a lifelong guide and mentor, which runs counter to the values of budo.

For Western dojo wishing to honor Japanese practice, several principles are helpful: use Name Sensei rather than reversing the order; reserve sensei for addressing others, not for self-promotion; and clearly distinguish between courteous address and formal qualifications by stating ranks and teaching titles directly. It is also important to remember that sensei is widely used outside martial arts in Japanese society, reinforcing that it is a living part of the language, not a dojo-specific rank.

Read more in our latest article.

Join a Martial Arts Association that Supports Your Art

SMAA has divisions for aikido, iaido, judo, jujutsu, and karate. If one or more of these is your passion, SMAA is the martial arts association for you!

To reach out about joining, call 734-720-0330 or submit an online contact form.

What Does "Sensei" Mean?

You may use the word “sensei” for your martial arts instructor, but do you know what it really means?

In Japanese culture, the word sensei (先生) is an honorific used to show respect for someone recognized as a guide through knowledge, skill, or public service. Teachers, doctors, lawyers, artists, authors, and elected officials are all commonly addressed as sensei. The word literally means “one who was born before,” emphasizing experience rather than rank or certification.

In Japanese usage, honorifics follow the name—Tanaka Sensei—and are never used for oneself. This reflects keigo, the Japanese system of respectful language, in which honorifics elevate the other person, not the speaker. Understanding this simple rule helps Western martial artists use the term more authentically.

Because sensei is an honorific, it is not a rank. In budo, formal qualifications include dan and kyu grades, as well as teaching licenses or titles such as menkyo, shogo, shidoin, or shihan, depending on the tradition and organization. Legitimate martial arts associations clearly list these credentials, but none list “sensei” as an earned title. While it is appropriate to address a teacher as Sensei, their certificates will reflect rank or teaching authorization—not the honorific itself.

Read more in our latest article.

Join a Martial Arts Association that Supports Your Art

SMAA has divisions for aikido, iaido, judo, jujutsu, and karate. If one or more of these is your passion, SMAA is the martial arts association for you!

To reach out about joining, call 734-720-0330 or submit an online contact form.

Historical Figures and Meditation

Have you ever tried meditation?

Prominent figures such as Zen priest Takuan Soho, swordsman Yagyu Munenori, and Miyamoto Musashi wrote about freeing the mind from attachment and fear—principles still central to budo today. This mental discipline was considered just as crucial as physical skill, forming the triad of shin-gi-tai (心技体): mind, technique, and body.

Beyond Zen, many warriors also practiced esoteric Shingon Buddhism, using mantras, mudra (hand gestures), and meditation to build concentration and courage. These practices were integrated into schools like Katori Shinto Ryu, reflecting the seamless union of martial and spiritual cultivation.

Facing death without fear was another cornerstone of the warrior spirit. Texts like Hagakure and Budo Shoshinshu taught that meditating on mortality freed warriors from hesitation in battle. By accepting death, they found clarity and purpose—a lesson echoed in the term seishi o choetsu (生死を超越): “to transcend life and death.”

Learn more in our latest article.

Train Your Mind and Body at a Japanese Martial Arts Association

SMAA is a martial arts association for all martial artists who want to be part of a community of dedicating to keeping the spirit of budo alive. If you love your art and want to share it with others, give us a call at (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form to talk about joining!

Intro to Meditation in Martial Arts

Did you know meditation is a key aspect of budo?

In many dojos, it’s common to see students begin and end practice with mokuso (黙想)—a brief meditation to quiet the mind. This tradition reminds us that Japanese martial arts are not only about physical technique but about cultivating the mind and spirit.

Historically, the samurai (bushi) integrated spiritual disciplines like Zen and Shingon Buddhism into their training. Zen’s focus on discipline, awareness, and acceptance of fate resonated deeply with the warrior class. Meditation improved their focus and calm under pressure, leading to the belief that mastering combat required mastering oneself.

Over time, meditation became a vital part of martial training. Concepts such as mushin (無心, “empty mind”), fudoshin (不動心, “immovable mind”), and zanshin (残心, “remaining mind”) described mental states of clarity, emotional stability, and alert awareness. These ideals, often cultivated through meditation, allowed warriors to act decisively and without fear.

Learn more in our latest article.

Train Your Mind and Body at a Japanese Martial Arts Association

SMAA is a martial arts association for all martial artists who want to be part of a community of dedicating to keeping the spirit of budo alive. If you love your art and want to share it with others, give us a call at (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form to talk about joining!

Excellence is a Choice

Have you ever encountered a martial arts master that didn’t seem to fit the archetype of wisdom and
integrity?

Here’s what Sensei Wayne Muromoto has to say:

I looked upon my iai sensei in Kyoto with deep respect and affection. After I left Japan, we continued to write and correspond in between my visits back. He answered my questions about the history, theory, and techniques of iai, and encouraged me to dig further—to study the philosophy and spirituality behind budo. To him, a person’s nationality was no barrier to budo training, even though he had suffered through a Manchurian prisoner-of-war camp under the Russian Communists before he returned to Japan at the end of World War II. As long as you were serious about training, he would teach you.

However, when he passed away, I was told that I was no longer welcome to train at the main dojo. One of my Japanese sempai was oblique as to the reason why, and I didn’t find out until I encountered several other people in the same situation that I discovered the real answer. The sensei who took over the organization hated anyone who wasn’t a native Japanese, myself included.

That is why, if you find a good teacher—one who is not only technically proficient but also a decent human being—you stay with him or her. They are not the norm, just as excellence is not the norm in any endeavor. But in such a short lifetime, why not seek excellence? Anything less wouldn’t be worth it.

Learn more in our latest article.

Looking to Join a Martial Arts Organization?

SMAA is a martial arts organization for all martial artists who want to be part of a community of dedicating to keeping the spirit of budo alive. If you love your art and want to share it with others, give us a call at (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form to talk about joining!

Wise Masters: Fact or Fiction?

Do you think of martial arts masters as fonts of wisdom?

Here’s what Sensei Wayne Muromoto has to say:

One of the notions that many people have is that martial arts masters are wise in the ways of the world. The appeal of the original Karate Kid movies, starring the late Pat Noriyuki Morita, or the Kung Fu series starring David Carradine, lay partly in the fact that the martial arts teachers could not only kick butt, but also dispensed wisdom as they kicked butt. 

That’s a nice positive stereotype—but not always true, unfortunately. And it’s one we have to guard against as martial arts students looking for good instruction. Budo sensei are not necessarily good personal role models, those movies notwithstanding.

The basic concern of most martial arts training is becoming technically proficient in one’s art style. Of course, in budo, it is hoped that by adhering to this long and arduous regime of physical and mental self-discipline, one’s spirit also is polished and refined as a matter of course.

Learn more in our latest article.

Looking to Join a Martial Arts Organization?

SMAA is a martial arts organization for all martial artists who want to be part of a community of dedicating to keeping the spirit of budo alive. If you love your art and want to share it with others, give us a call at (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form to talk about joining!

Solo Kata Systems and Free Exchange

When is it appropriate to improvise in kata training?

Although in kata geiko (“forms training”) it’s best to try to perfect the kata as is, unless you are aware of the possibility of your partner “breaking” the form and going at you in a different way, you’re just going through the motions. You don’t have the right frame of mind of being focused on executing the right counter to the right attack. That’s why solo kata exercises are great for developing your own stance, balance and timing, but it’s a good idea to also include partner-based training or some form of free exchange. For kata-based systems, going overboard with “free exchange” might taint the style with too much emphasis on sports budo. But sans that, working in kata with different partners, who have different heights, weights, timing, and attack patterns is a decent way to develop the ability to adjust one’s form.

Thus, if you look at the few solo-type kata styles, such as iaido, karate-do, or even a Chinese art like Tai Chi Ch’uan, the solo exercises are always augmented in some way with partner-based training. You never know what a partner will think of doing, even in a regulated exercise. Your distancing, angles of counter, and attacks will change according to your partners.

Learn more in our latest article.

Grow Your Skillset at a Japanese Martial Arts Organization

SMAA is a martial arts organization dedicated to preserving traditional Japanese budo in the west. To get more details about joining, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here.

Adapting Your Kata

When you practice kata, do you think about improvising?

We’ve stressed the importance of repetitious training in order to be “natural.” Kata training is really glorified repetitive drill training (well, it’s more than that, but mainly it’s drilling) that is supposed to embed movements and reactions into your body and mind, so that you don’t need to spend precious amounts of time cogitating over whether or not to block, say, a sword stroke at your head or scream like a little girl and just die. Hopefully, through such training, you won’t curl up and die should the actual time arise.

On the other hand, you may have trained incessantly for a specific action, but when the time comes, the situation is not quite right, and your technique needs to be altered in order for it to work. For martial artists who have a component of training with a resistive partner (as in sparring), “catch as catch can” action-reaction is nearly second nature. No partner is going to let you apply that chokehold perfectly without resistance in judo mat work, for instance. So, you improvise. For kata-based training, however, developing this ability to improvise is a bit more problematic, but still important nevertheless. Not everyone is going to come at you with a perfect forward-leaning stance so you can throw him magnificently in a kote-gaeshi, for example. In a self-defense situation, you may have to improvise a lot to get that throw to work.

Learn more in our latest article.

Grow Your Skillset at a Japanese Martial Arts Organization

SMAA is a martial arts organization dedicated to preserving traditional Japanese budo in the west. To get more details about joining, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here.

The Basics of Budo: Relaxation and Physics

How do relaxation and physics factor into your budo practice?

Here’s a quick guide to these important basics:

Relaxation

Martial artists, like those engaged in most other physical activities, must learn to relax. Tension is your enemy. After developing the ability to do some basic techniques in a relaxed fashion, the techniques must be practiced thousands of times to imprint the movements into the body and the brain. But the practitioner must always be relaxed.

If you want to throw a good front punch, you must relax your upper body including the muscles in your face. Do a small experiment, please. Try to get a tense, tough, mean look on your face and simultaneously try to completely relax your upper body.

You can’t. It’s impossible. Your face and your upper body must both relax simultaneously. Then, and only then, can you punch effectively. If you remain tense, effective punching is nigh impossible. Your “punch,” if you can throw it at all, will inevitably be slow and weak.

Physics

Kinetic energy, or “moving energy,” in this case the energy you deliver to whatever you are punching, is directly proportional to the mass you can generate by the use of your body mass and directly proportional to the square of the velocity (speed) with which your hand strikes its target. 

Said in a slightly different way, the mass delivered is how much of your entire body mass you can recruit into your punch and deliver to your target. If you double the mass you deliver, you double the kinetic energy delivered to the target. 

In other words, if you increase the mass you deliver from one unit to two units, you increase the amount of kinetic energy delivered by a punch from one unit to two units. You double the kinetic energy delivered.

Learn more in our latest article.

Nurture the Basics at a Traditional Japanese Martial Arts Organization

SMAA is a martial arts organization dedicated to preserving traditional Japanese budo in the west. To get more details about joining, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here.

The Basics of Budo: Anatomy and Physiology

How do anatomy and physiology factor into your budo practice?

Here’s a quick guide to these important basics:

Anatomy

Learning the basic karate-do horizontal front punch illustrates the need for understanding at least a little anatomy. The knuckles of the index and middle fingers of the fisted hand, the part of the hand that transmits energy to the target, must move just a tiny bit to the outside just before impact with the target. This allows the alignment of these two knuckles and the metacarpals behind them with the radius and ulna in the forearm, thus enabling the delivery of the kinetic energy generated by your body mass and the punch’s velocity to the target. 

If these bones are not properly aligned, the punch will deliver less energy and be less effective. You will also be at increased risk of injuring your hand.

Physiology

Physiology is also important. Your muscles must have energy to function. If your muscles and liver are, due to fatigue, depleted of glycogen, a precursor of glucose that is the basic fuel of skeletal muscle and most other tissues, you simply cannot deliver an effective blow.

You have heard of marathoners and triathletes who “hit the wall.” They “hit the wall” because their muscle and liver stores of glycogen were too low to sustain prolonged exercise. They may quit, or often they struggle to finish, sometimes collapsing either physically, mentally, or both during the struggle. Nausea, cramps, and mental disorientation can result. 

The same thing can happen to martial artists who do not understand the need to fuel their muscles. While martial artists are not generally thought of as endurance athletes, even moderate glycogen depletion with the resultant reduction in blood glucose levels can reduce mental acuity, reduce reaction time, reduce coordination, and decrease strength.

Learn more in our latest article.

Nurture the Basics at a Traditional Japanese Martial Arts Organization

SMAA is a martial arts organization dedicated to preserving traditional Japanese budo in the west. To get more details about joining, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here.

It Doesn't End at Your Rank, Part 2

Is earning a new rank the most important part of your martial arts experience?

If your primary focus is on the next rank, your ability will top out. Your attendance will spike just before tests but will fall off between them. Your focus and attention will lag during “consolidation” periods – those times when the very purpose of training is to repeat your top-level skills until they are hard-wired into your nervous system. There are ability and character transformations that can only be gotten through real immersive training. That’s why it’s so important to pick an art and a dojo that you like; there will be some heavy weather on the way to greatness, but starting in the plus column of love for your art will help you get you through. It’s also critical to constantly remind yourself of the big picture so the connection between determined practice and your personal mission is clear.

Some exceptional martial artists don’t need to be told this. They're gifted with the passion or energy or obsession to train intensely most of the time. But those who may lack passion from time to time, or who have gotten as far as we can on what comes naturally, may need a push to break through to the next level.

Getting past that intellectual understanding and into a true emotional understanding of the depth and joy possible in your training has to come from inside you. Commit completely.

Learn more in our latest article.

Looking for a Martial Arts Organization that Clicks?

SMAA could be right for you!

As part of the Shudokan Martial Arts Association, you can learn karate, aikido, iaido, judo, and jujutsu. If you’re ready to get immersed in your training at a traditional martial arts organization, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here.

It Doesn't End at Your Rank, Part 1

What is the most rewarding part of training to you?

You’ve played the game full out and your gains are starting to stack up. You’ve risen past getting discouraged by small obstacles, and have actually realized that almost all obstacles are small when you’re focused on extreme learning. You’ve started to pay attention without judging. When all these factors come together and you put them into play consistently over several months or years, you’ll notice a new depth to your training … even your will to train comes from a deeper place.

Congratulations! That’s called “character.” It’s one result of consciously getting yourself on the path to becoming exceptional. So let’s talk about rank.

The exceptional martial artist keeps rank in its proper perspective. The momentary joy of getting a new belt or certificate fades. Don’t go for that.

The deep internal joy of learning and doing great martial arts changes you forever. Go for that.

Getting a new rank can be very motivating. It’s recognition from your instructor or your system that you’ve worked hard and learned key aspects of your martial art. It’s something of a Catch-22, however; getting new belts (or sashes, or whatever external emblems of progress your system uses) is nice, but if you only focus on training for the next belt, you’ll be an amateur forever.

Learn more in our latest article.

Looking for a Martial Arts Organization that Clicks?

SMAA could be right for you!

As part of the Shudokan Martial Arts Association, you can learn karate, aikido, iaido, judo, and jujutsu. If you’re ready to get immersed in your training at a traditional martial arts organization, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here.

Practice Doesn't Always Make Perfect

What do you think of the phrase “practice makes perfect?”

Koryu study is basically this: you break down bad habits and try to institute new ones, hopefully better ones. It takes years of training, but training without thinking or self-correction produces no improvement. You are simply reinforcing bad habits and making them harder to break. I think it was football coaching legend Vince Lombardi who said something like, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

What he meant was, even if you put in time and effort in training, if you are training the wrong way, you aren’t really getting any better, you’re only getting better at doing something badly.

Even the best teachers I know are never satisfied. Of their own kata, they would say, “Mada, mada.” (“Not yet, not yet.”) They were constantly polishing their skills. These were men and women who were superb in their arts, yet they were never satisfied. And that dissatisfaction was what, perhaps, caused them to excel as far as they did.

Finally, going back to your mental approach: You also need the ability to self-evaluate. That means you have to see clearly whether or not you are doing things right for yourself. You need to tame your body and ego so that they do not get in the way of a truthful, honest feedback.

A teacher may guide you along the way, but a teacher can’t carry you to the end. He or she is only a guide, who points the way. It’s really up to you to walk that road and get to your destination yourself. The really hard work has to be done by you, as in other aspects of your life.

Read more about effective practice in our latest article.

Work Towards Perfection at a Japanese Karate Association

Looking for a martial arts community?

SMAA is a Japanese karate association that also offers aikido, iaido, judo, and jujutsu. To get started, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here. If you need a second opinion, check our Google reviews!

Perfect Your Practice

How confident are you in your martial arts skills?

In all traditional Asian combative arts, there is a strong emphasis on reaching a particular expertise in the repetition of proper form, none, perhaps, more so than in iai. Since iai proper does not have competitive matches (although lately they have instituted a kind of forms competition in some organizations in Japan) that pit one person against another, the only way to evaluate expertise in iai is through perfection of form.

There may be variations from one dojo to another, and one teacher to another in the same school, but there are some basic signposts that declare that you either “get it” or you don’t: your timing, perhaps, or the way you move, handle the sword, the angle of your chiburi, or angle of the cut with the sword. This is one step beyond simply repeating the steps or procedure. This is polishing the steps and instilling in them the particular way you move with the sword in hand.

When you begin to “get it,” your sword work begins to assume an actual personality: that of your own, of course, but also that of the ryu you are performing. That balance, that tension between individual character and the characteristics of the ryu is the hardest to attain as beginners. When you start with iai, everything may seem random and arbitrary. If you progress, however, and you observe other ryu, you should come to a realization that there are implicit reasons why you do things a certain way, and why another ryu does things a different way.

You may want to slouch and hunch your shoulders because all your life that’s how you’ve stood. Or your body wants to use your shoulder and arm strength instead of your hip muscles. You have to consciously, mentally, force yourself to make the corrections. The other part is you also have to make the connection with your own body, forcing it to move that way too when you perform the kata. Again, there may be long-standing habits in your body that you have to break.

You have to see what is being done, internalize the concept in your mind, but you then have to transmit that movement to your body. A lot can mess things up in this two-step process.

Read more about effective practice in our latest article.

Work Towards Perfection at a Japanese Karate Association

Looking for a martial arts community?

SMAA is a Japanese karate association that also offers aikido, iaido, judo, and jujutsu. To get started, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here. If you need a second opinion, check our Google reviews!

Building Up Small Steps

How does focusing on the small steps make a difference?

Envision the outcome if your time in the dojo was 100% engagement 100% of the time. Improvement would be continually notable. Skill level would skyrocket. And this, of course, is the obvious reason for such conduct. It is the reason it became a maxim on a daimyo’s wall.

Now envision the outcome were this is always the case, period. To propagate principle analyzed in the dojo to everyday life is perhaps the most valuable element of martial arts training. If we can muster the mental and physical fortitude to be wholly engaged in the interval between bowing in and bowing out, and expand that awareness to the interval between waking and sleep, we can tap into one of the most powerful techniques for character development and personal growth.

This is the way to treat matters of great concern lightly. What is the big, but a concentrated buildup of the small? The big can be overwhelming with a backlog of minutiae trailing unattended in its wake, but when the small things are mastered, the big loses gravity. To analogize, a test is no problem when its material has been personalized through diligent study; a physical confrontation loses its edge when the mind and body are integrated through methodical practice. Most importantly, the daily challenges we face in life become surprisingly manageable when we eliminate clutter and execute matters of small concern with full attention and ambition.

Unfortunately, the effort to lead a life of happiness and success is monumental in nature. But it is easy to fix the small things one at a time.

Bolster Your Routine at a Martial Arts Organization

Sliding back on your martial arts goals?

Find the support, encouragement, and discipline you need to stay on track at SMAA. Our martial arts organization offers aikido, iaido, judo, jujutsu, and karate-do. To get started or reach out with questions, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here.