HIS Karate-Do

Well, we just went through our bi-annual exams, which lead to bi-annual promotions (hopefully), which lead to the usual congratulations and to… a new level of incompetence. For us old guys (from the 1980’s), there was the Peter Principle, the idea that one would work hard, achieve, and get promoted to a higher level…step by step, one would go through this process, higher and higher, until one ultimately reached his or her level of incompetence. These days, the Peter Principal has fallen away as a leadership concept, and it was certainly never the last word on the phenomenon of promotions. There is some veracity to the idea, and if we look back, we probably all remember some old boss or manager who was excellent at what he/she did, until one too many a promotion happened, and the poor manager struggled and floundered at the new job, often for years, unable to repeat the successes that got him/her there. However, what I see more often than not, are folks who have never tried hard enough or believed enough in themselves to get promoted to the level they truly had the potential to reach. Which would you rather be? Personally, I’d rather [...]

I was just thinking about everything in the news this week, commemorating the passing away of “The King” Elvis Presley, back in August of 1977….thirty years ago. I heard the news when I was attending a small dinner in my honor, at my boss’ home in Vandenberg AFB. Yes, I was leaving the Air Force and we were getting ready to come back to Hawaii. Everyone at the dinner table was in shock, as we were all children of the Rock and Roll era. As a little kid in elementary school, one of the first taunts I can recall was some innovative girl yelling at me, “Wesley-Pesley, Elvis Presley.” Elvis’ career ran the gamut from young, shocking-pelvis Elvis…to gold record Elvis…to G.I. in Germany Elvis…to Has-Been Elvis (thanks to the British Invasion)…to B-Movie Elvis…to Re-Invented in Vegas Elvis. The last incarnation of Elvis is how we most like to remember him; huge side-burns, cool sunglasses, white gem-studded jump suit with the collars up, white boots, stretching into his long, stylized zenkutsu-dachi and kokutsu-dachi and vibrating “karate hands”, sweating profusely and tossing out scarves to his admiring fans. He was a kenpo practitioner who received his black belt from the late [...]

My wife and daughter are hooked again this season, on the tv show…”So You Think You Can Dance.” Out of all the thousands of dancer-wannabees who entered the tryouts in the various cities, it’s now whittled down to just a handful of extremely talented, hard-working young dancers. I marvel at their work ethic, at how they hold up under intense stress that seems to bring out their best. I can’t believe that, whatever their individual dance background, they successfully learn different styles and routines every week…sometimes two routines with partners…and still come through dancing like pros. Then I wonder…if I had these dancers as karate students, would I be able to teach them karate, especially kata so that they could perform like experts and how long would it take for them to pick it up? What is it that separates kata in karate-do from skillful dance? Well, here are my thoughts: 1) All of the movements in kihon, and therefore, the sequences and combinations in the kata of karate-do are meant to generate purposeful focused power. Not for the sake of generating power, but to generate and impart force into selected targets on an opponent’s body. In addition to the [...]