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swan_towerAfter seven and a half years of practice, two months of really hard work, a couple weeks of rather gruesome stress, and fifteen minutes of actual kata . . . .
. . . I am a black belt in shima-ha shorin-ryu karate.
In a way, the test is more ceremonial than anything else. Shihan’s been watching you the whole time; he cares more about your general level of skill than how you perform in a single, specific moment. I screwed up the footing at one point on jitte — knew it even as my feet were moving into place. But I still passed. Because I don’t always screw up the footing on jitte, and even if those weren’t my best performances of each kata — my performance in a test is never my best; nerves get in the way too much — I showed that I know what I’m doing, well enough to qualify, at least.
My sister-in-law, who is a sensei at the dojo, said something very useful to me about two weeks ago: as much as we want to feel like we’ve earned our black belts with the test, her take is that you earn your belt after the test. The test itself is a formality, a thing to get out of the way so you can go back to working on your karate and growing into the belt you now wear. Her words of wisdom did a lot to help me stop stressing (well, stress less). And now, with the test over, I know exactly what she means. Shihan gave me some esoteric tips on movement; now in class, rather than running all my kata back-to-back in order to build my endurance and learn how to pace myself, I can stand there wiggling my shoulders and sticking my knuckles into my ribs and doing things that won’t have an immediate effect on my kata, but will make me a better karateka in the long run.
Because the thing to remember is: as much as outsiders think of getting your black belt as “graduation,” as having arrived . . . it’s really the starting line. All those belts below black are more recent inventions, a way to let you see the progress you’re making on your way to, not mastery, but basic competence. I have now achieved basic competence. Yay! Time to really get to work.
. . . no really, time to get to work. Because my test wound up being scheduled for a Wednesday afternoon, I have class tonight. I’m looking forward to sticking my knuckles into my ribs and seeing what happens. :-D
Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.
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Date: 2016-03-10 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2016-03-10 09:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 09:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 02:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 03:17 am (UTC)Seriously, though, I've been wondering if this test is much like your doctoral defense: a marking point of all the work you've done to get to the level of basic competence in your field of study.
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Date: 2016-03-10 05:29 am (UTC)I have decided that if I ever physically recover enough to do anything that strenuous again, I will take up martial arts again. Not Shotokan; I already wrecked one knee with that. Either karate that doesn't do deep stances, or kung fu that either doesn't do them or doesn't hold them for long.
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Date: 2016-03-10 06:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 09:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 09:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 10:53 pm (UTC)And yes. The sensei who teaches our class frequently reminds us that black belt means "To begin" :-)
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Date: 2016-03-10 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-11 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-12 06:37 am (UTC)Nonetheless, congratulations! Competence is still real.
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Date: 2016-03-15 04:06 am (UTC)