Why Should a Person Study Karate?

For the most part we study Karate today for many of the same reasons men studied centuries ago. Defense! The Chinese incorporated Karate exercises into their religious training. Legend has it that a meditation form similar to our Sanchin Kata was developed to train the monks to be more 'aware'. This too is one of the primary benefits a student today derives from his Sanchin study. Even if the student is mainly concerned with developing a self defense skill as their primary motivation, they must benefit from the other effects of Sanchin along with the obvious self defense techniques.

This training does not occur within a short time however, and unfortunately many American teachers would have their students believe that they can become skilled in a short course. Other, more understanding teachers try not to mention time, concentrating on the benefits and basic skills that can be acquired in a relatively short period. This teacher also helps keep the student's attention by giving them tricks and techniques that the student can easily learn. Eventually the student will study for more legitimate reasons and won't need these teaching aids to sustain interest.

Those of us who have spent many years studying and teaching Karate and who have attained some degree of understanding of this subject expect and in some cases demand the same degree of understanding from our new students. You cannot expect a person to walk into a class off the street and study with the same degree of appreciation the teacher has after ten years of training. Often a new student who really wishes to study for strictly self defense reasons will pretend for his teacher's benefit that all those things important to the teacher are also important to him.

New students don't have lofty reasons for wanting to study Karate. They may have read about the philosophy and are interested in that phase of Karate, but they could learn from other sources; sources far less difficult. No, they come to Karate because they wish to learn how to defend themselves.

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