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EDITORIAL.

It’s been quite a few years since we featured Richard Amos sensei in SKM. So, I’m pleased to say that this edition has a new interview with Richard sensei who has stuck firmly to his Traditional Karatedo roots and continues to teach this approach to his many students around the world. It’s well documented that when he was training in Japan at the JKA Honbu dojo, one of his main mentors was Mikio Yahara sensei (also featured in this edition) and his training regime was an austere experience. Richard sensei was one of only a few westerners to genuinely have gone through and graduated from the extremely rigorous, gruelling JKA karate Kenshusei programme. This is a prodigious, profound interview from a senior Traditional Shotokan karate sensei, with an enviable pedigree.

I have to say a huge Thank You to Richard sensei’s wife, Yanti Amos 4th Dan WTKO for all her hard work, excellent input, photos and joint/questions for this well overdue interview for SKM.

The full title of the Mikio Yahara article reads: ‘Bushido In The Modern World. Lessons From Mikio Yahara Sensei.’ Yahara said, “You might think there is nowhere to apply the ideas of bushido today, but that’s not true.” The term Bushido came into common international usage with the 1899 publication of Nitobe Inazo’s book entitled, ‘Bushido: The Soul of Japan’. Nitobe Inazo believed that Bushido and Karate were deeply connected through shared principles of self-discipline, respect and honour, embodying the core values of Bushido by emphasising ethical behaviour.

This was before Gichin Funakoshi used Karate-do to signify a “way” or “path” of life, indicating not just physical training but, importantly, moral and spiritual discipline.

There’s been so much contradiction, inconsistency and often totally opposing accounts regarding the History of Karate and the Martial Arts in general that it’s sometimes hard to know what to believe!

In Karate terms, we need only look at the endless amount of ‘splits’ amongst the various groups that we’ve observed over the years. A perfect historical example being the original fallout between the Shotokai faction and the then newly formed Japan Karate Association (Shotokan). They had quite disparate beliefs including many technique and Kata issues and certainly a quite different agenda regarding Karate’s future. The JKA fostered the introduction of competition, whereas the Shotokai rebuked the idea of competition after the death of Gichin Funakoshi in 1957.

Regarding Bushido, there are also many opposing beliefs, tenets. As Dr Wolf Herbert, a professor, an academic who has lived and worked in Japan for many years states in his article: “Let’s make it very clear and state it bluntly from the start: Bushido, the code of the Japanese warriors of lore – and Karate, have nothing to do with each other.” Draw your own conclusions regarding Bushido!

Regardless of whichever Shotokan Group you may belong to, and who you wholeheartedly support, always remember, Karatedo is for yourself, that’s paramount, it’s your body, your mind and your spirit.

Good Health, Good Training, Editor.