“Recently, some Karate men have used funny and strange sounding names for their own styles of Karate. A Karate man of this kind does not have a real understanding or knowledge of the orthodox Karate or he has no confidence in his ability as a Karate man. He uses these funny sounding names for his own style of Karate as an evasive answer when he has a hard time demonstrating a very difficult technique or even an incomplete one. […] Karate does not have any one style. Karate molds an individual to be the only object of defense or offense and, through this, it teaches the fundamental concept of self-protection.” – Kanken Toyama founder of Shudokan Karate (1888-1966)
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What does it mean to be traditional? Being traditional does not mean that things do not change. It means we are following the principles used in the past. Tradition is not history. History refers to nothing more than the measurement of the passage of time. Tradition, on the other hand, is about continuity, and evolution.
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I think too many people in the martial arts focus on being a traditionalist and only accepting ideas and concepts that have a recorded and accepted lineage. What’s more important to the traditionalist is the historical perspective of the art.
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“Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” ~ Thomas Moore. This timeless notion says so much about keeping tradition alive. Rather than blindly following the teachings of our instructors from many years ago, who tell us “we do it this way, so you must do it this way too”, without any further explanation.
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Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot evolve. Understanding the kata that have been left to us by previous generations, to continually explore that which we do not understand, is much more inline with the teachings left to us by those that created the kata in the first place.
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Matsuo Basho, 17th Century Haiku Master, summed up tradition nicely when he wrote; “Seek not to [blindly] follow in the footsteps of the men of old but rather continue to seek out what they sought.” ….. This timeless concept says so much about keeping tradition alive, rather than blindly adhering to. ??
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Inspired by Patrick McCarthy Hanshi. With thanks to Jesse Enkamp