Today I sat at a table with some old martial artists, each accomplished in their own way and within their respective arts.
While I sat there listening to old stories and banter between all these people I was suddenly hit with a feeling of melancholy. These are some of the last of a truly unique generation. Martial artists well-travelled and experienced, with a plethora of knowledge and stories in equal measure. These people are all so individual and unique it’s a breath of fresh air against todays generic shit that is plastered across social media and shoved into everybody’s faces.
I can jump on my browser right now and see thousands of different martial arts Nerds™, Youtube Sensei, and TikTok Sifu. But each one is just the same person in a slightly different set of pyjamas, same subjects, same arguments, same trolls, it’s all so utterly droll and mind numbingly boring! It’s not their fault by the way. Their behaviours and public image is a tightly manufactured shitshow designed for one thing, pleasing the algorithm so they get exposure. Exposure and relevance equal money long term for most (or it feeds some narcissistic need for attention that can never be sated for some). Ultimately it’s just very sad. In trying to please the faceless masses and some stupid AI algorithms, people have thrown away any semblance of individuality and personality. All this (oftentimes incomplete or false) technical knowledge and pointless trivia drowning, burying, suffocating, killing the stories and the memories of what makes martial arts interesting and fun.
I’ve always maintained that I have some true luck in martial arts. I found my Mr. Miyagi, my Sensei when I was quite young and he has and continues to be a positive driving influence on how I live my life. I firmly cemented my identity as a karateka and that continues to be who I am regardless of all the other training in other disciplines I have done and still do. But more than anything else I’m super lucky to have met some phenomenal individuals who have truly lived in their martial arts. They have travelled, met prolific figures and built their own legends. They have a story to relate to almost everything they do and will happily regale anyone who will listen to them. They revel in their present and their past, all the while with a twinkle in their eye that shows at heart they’re truly living shoshin.
The time of those I consider proper legends is passing and we’re rapidly being overtaken by the culture of the celebrity. In the process we’re losing the links that tie us to the roots of our respective arts and the unique cultures that have been created over the years. Martial arts especially has so many weird and wonderful micro cultures. They borrow from their native cultures and through an organic process of blending become their own thing over time. Karate (my bread and butter) is a great example; many schools use nihongo for certain commands or techniques, in a great number of cases incorrectly but we all somehow manage to just get on with it.
Back to the subject, I’m constantly reminded of the finite time we have left with some people. Most weeks I hear of someone passing on that at one time was considered a living legend. I see interviews with some of my favourite and most inspirational sports figures and they’re no longer the lean and young athletes that inspired me as a kid.
Recently I’ve been excitedly reading daily on Facebook, Alfie Lewis’ Keeping History Alive posts. Every day he’s posting up about people he’s trained with, fought, met, or just has massive amounts of respect for in the martial arts. This is a guy I grew up reading about in magazines talking about other guys I grew up reading about in magazines! I’m fascinated by the stories and experiences these guys have. These experiences that will (unless preserved) become lost to time when those people are gone.
That in its entirety is the real crux of things today. In the online era we’re in now most stuff you see is designed to generate some kind of income. Becoming an influencer can be a job for some and they can make good money doing it. They all do it in the same ways though and it’s become so bloody boring!
I often get shown videos from YouTube or TikTok by my students. Always with the questions “Sensei can you do this?” or “Sensei what do you think of this?”. I see mainly videos of young guys doing amazing acrobatics in the worst ‘how-to’ videos ever (step1 lift knee, step 2 turn hip, step 3 do a 540 jumping spin kick) or in the case of Karate some of the most horrendous examples of ‘bunkai’ (should be oyo but that’s another pet peeve) ever seen. But the content, all of it is very carefully packaged and has such great engagement. Even the bad engagement feeds the algorithm and gets these folks more exposure. But all of this is ‘stuff’. It’s techniques, it’s tutorials, it’s all some kind of info dump. What none of it has is a bit of personality and soul.
I’ve often said of my instructor that I don’t just respect him because of his skill and what he’s taught me. I respect him because of his humanity, his personality, and his quirkiness. I think it is a trademark of all great teachers that they’re all a bit weird in their own ways and it’s usually that weirdness that invites a lot of their experiences to occur and in turn their stories to happen. THAT is what we’re losing.
Yes I want the skills. I don’t want to rock up to a seminar and only listen to someone waffle for hours. BUT I do want to turn up and have some of these stories woven in to the session. Some lived human experiences that make it easier to remember. Ultimately I want to feel that little bit of magic like I’m a kid listening to my seniors. I want, or even NEED the wonder and the lustre of the people who were amazing in their heyday. I want the stories of the boxers who defied the odds to become great and take on champions, I want the stories of the karateka who weren’t just stoic cardboard cutouts but actually had genuine rivalries and scraps, I want to know about the figures that changed the martial arts landscape to what it is now.
I think we need these stories, these personalities. They’re the last links to our histories. I remember times where I listened to the amazing Simon Oliver and the tremendous figures he’s been fortunate to train under (with an almost childlike wonder and twinkle in his eye); the times John Johnston has gone over his past experiences (and absolute powerhouses he’s worked with) and seeing the security sector landscape changed forever by the introduction of SIA. These guys don’t have autobiographies out there, but they leave a legacy in every one of us that turns up for a seminar (if we’re paying attention). We need to be listening, taking notes and really remembering. We need to be creating great memories at these seminars.
Some folks (who I shan’t name here) have some of the most boring seminars I’ve ever seen. They publish videos online and all I see are bored (or clueless) faces. Max Beddow Sensei calls them “wrist-twisters”. Guys who are teaching the most basic and fundamental karate; delivering nothing particularly new or interesting (but adding a whole weird scientific but inaccurate vocabulary to it) but with a score of nodding heads thinking they’re learning something amazing. These folks have all the personality of a brick! No amount of technical skill can make you interesting, ONLY LIVED EXPERIENCES CAN DO THAT.
That’s what these older heads have got in spades. Lived experiences that have added colour to the lines of the total picture of their arts.
So seek out the interesting people. The older guys who are still moving well and articulating their experiences. If you get chance to grab a bite and a drink after a seminar, go do it, make some memories. If you’re lucky to catch any of these folks for five minutes ask them the most obtuse things and wait to be amazed at what you’ll hear.
Most of all though just appreciate that they’re still here, in this time and place. Make a memory, and take some notes. Yeah sure, get the photos and the signature in your license book (if that’s your thing) but remember what’s most important. Memetic legacy.
Book in for a seminar somewhere today and REALLY pay attention.
