Last week I was feeling pretty fookin crook - Crook enough to get off the booze. Phlegmy, coughy, and feverish I was and still am. When one of my students rocked up, they said I could have cancelled. Weirdly enough, that had not once crossed my mind. Maybe that’s why it’s difficult for me to understand when others do so for a similar reason. But that’s not what I’m going to be talking about today. Halfway into it, I was feeling pretty lethargic and so decided to be the “traditional” Ossu kinda Sensei. What does that involve? One must only stand at the front, strictly watching and instructing with fingers shoved into the belt and/or with hands supporting the belly. A student stated that I didn’t have the jiggly guts to fill that role......I was gutted!
That comment did make me think about our invited grading in the coming year (Yes wife, another Okinawa trip). Some people casually say gradings don’t matter to them, but personally speaking, they absolutely really really don’t with a cherry on top for me. Maybe I’m a tight ass and don’t want to fork out half a K when I could be spending that on some fine wining and dining. Or maybe…. I don’t know, yeah tight ass it is haha. My trip to Okinawa last year they mentioned it was time I graded to such and such dan. To their bemusement, I responded by saying I was already that rank. Heck, even my own sensei and seniors don’t even know my rank.
As the karate years move on, many occasions have I come across people that have super impressed me or in contrast, overly uninspired and even been demotivating. So, if you had the choice who would you want to train with? Was rank even a consideration? Can you even respect a fingers-in-the-belt-support-the-jiggly-fat-15th dan karate master?