Bluegrass Budokai 2013

I suppose I am no different than many in that the beginning of a new year gives me reason to pause and consider much. As the director of Bluegrass Budokai I am in a position which can prove to help others, both youth and adults, to improve themselves in various areas. I am guilty of not setting organizational goals for us in due to the somewhat convoluted mindset of attempting to "live in the moment".  That is a personal flaw in that I am aware of.  With that said here are some of my thoughts as we live in the moment today, with an eye towards tomorrow.

Youth Classes - Our youth classes has seen a increase in membership for December like no other before it which is quite promising.  Alongside that we have unfortunately lost a few of our advanced kids in December for various reasons.  Those reasons are simply boredom, injury, apathy and the lure of other things that steal their attention away (particularly video games).  Most of us can agree that a balanced existence is important, especially for our kids.  However, it is my hope that we can continue to instill in our youth classes a few important things:

• Hard and challenging work (whether physical or mental) pays off dividends later in life.  
• Exercise, particularly that which makes you sweat, get hot, and breath hard is a good thing.
• Use the belt testing as a method for kids to see goals before them, and assist them in reaching goals.
• Continue to use the dojo before and after class as an opportunity for kids to socially interact face-to-face, rather than through electronic means.
• A new focus in our youth classes to help the older and more advanced members to develop leadership skills they can use at home, school, church, and community.  

Aikido classes - we saw a huge experience drain occur when we lost some key members in the last few months.  Doug Combs was out most of the fall with injury, Spence Dillehay left for Japan, and Tracy Trimble and myself have been dealing with back issues.  Other than Spence, December saw all of us back on the mat and getting those kinks hopefully worked out .  I would like to see a renewed emphasis on two fronts in Aikido, to get these guys who have trained with Moore Sensei regularly up front in classes more often, and particularly a renewed effort in our regular classes.  Upon reflection, we put a lot of energy into our weapons this past year, to help bring that skill set up.  I would like to see us do the same in 2013 for our regular unarmed classes.  Due to so many injuries, I would also direct us to have a renewed emphasis on everyone's ukemi skill set, with consideration to age of our membership.  Quite frankly, we have been training extremely hard, perhaps too hard, for years now. We must allow that our bodies are getting older and seek out assistance from Moore Sensei especially in helping us know how to continue to train effectively while at the same time keeping our selves healthy.  Moore Sensei has already confirmed he will be coming to Kentucky again this year in the summer.  We look forward to his visit as usual.  

Judo Classes - Our grapplers are part of a growing grappling community in our region that are dedicated to cross training with others like us, and with other teachers.  This is a trend that I want to increase our efforts towards in the new year.  I am disappointed that we missed some opportunities to train with other like-minded folks in 2012 due to travel and scheduling difficulties.  Since that appears to be a possible issue for the future as well, we will be dedicating much effort to getting other instructors to come our way.  With that said, there are not too many facilities around that have as many yudansha (black belts) as us .Between Donnie Gibbs, Garry Snow, and myself we have nearly 60 years of judo experience right there, and each of us is similar, yet unique in our approach.  Jeff Crouch is now back in to classes as well, and he brings the experience of being uchi deshi for 3 years to our group too.  This all bodes well for our students/members.  Not to mention 2013 will be black belt testing for two of our students.  This always serves to heighten everyone's skill set as we prep these guys for that grueling test.

Defensive Tactics - DT started as a series of seminars over 3 years ago, and now includes regular on-going classes 2 days per week.  Our goals for 2013 include the development of a program of skills testing, so that we too can set some goals and achieve them.  Our friends, both seen and unseen, who have spent careers in the military and law-enforcement community are an integral part of this process.  We want a program of no-frills, effective methods to help the average, ordinary person to be able to adequately defend themselves, at home, school, work, or in the community.  

If you are reading this and have not been to the dojo in a while, then join us.  We are dedicating our efforts to help improve the physical, mental, and spiritual lives of our members one moment at a time.  

Sincerity of Training

Makoto - Sincerity

One of the useful tools for teachers and students of Japanese Budo to consider in their practice is the idea or understanding of the term bushido.  Bushido can easily be understood by its most general of translations which means , "the way of the warrior".

While there are many texts that have been written on this subject, most of these are written by outsiders to the topic (including myself here).  Therefore there is a tremendous amount of information to wade though before coming upon the dry land of decent and honest understanding of the topic at hand.  

I would like to avoid the topic of Bushido as a whole, so we can consider one small aspect of it.  Today I would like for us to consider the idea of makoto, in Japanese, most often translated as sincerity in English.  Today as well, I would like for us to consider how this applies to physical training and not just, how ones conducts themselves in their day-to-day interactions with others.  

Sincere training in the Japanese budo begin, and end, with proper show of respect and this begins with a proper bow.  Too many times, I have been a visitor to other facilites where the bow is nothing more than a mere annoyance that teachers feel they must do in order to begin class in martial arts.  A proper bow shows the person you are about to learn and study with that you respect them, even before you know what their skill set is.  It quite simply doesn't matter if the person is more skilled than you or not, what does matter is that the practice you are about to engage in, starts with a respect towards one another.  Too often we have allowed our own culture to infect these budo, to the point of trivializing such practice.  For example, although it is a big part of our male dominated sports culture, "giving each other five", is of little importance after you have shown your training partner sincere respect by bowing to him/her.  While I fall into this trap myself ( I grew up playing sports into the collegiate level), it is a sad reminder that showing someone sincere respect is being lost in the budo.  

Once the training begins, you must give yourself fully to your partner with sincerity of training.  Sometimes this means you work hard to submit them, and other times it might be best to allow them to submit you.  This is done so that those that are new to the training can get some benefit of repetitions going their way.  There is a delicate balance between just lying there and being a dummy, and allowing others to submit you for the purpose of positive training.  Mostly it means that each of us who are senior students must help to keep everyone's egos in check.  When you see that someone is getting a bit overconfident it might be time to step up the training and not be so allowable to them finding the locks, pins, throws, or holds that you might be working on.  

As for the individual in training on your own, ask yourself, are you sincere with your warm-ups, are you sincere with your injuries?  This could be found at opposite ends of the spectrum, but they should really be of the same mindset  When doing squats as a warm-up, are you going all the way down, all the way up?  If not you are not being sincere in your training.  When you get injured, do you consistently use that as an excuse to not train fully?  If so is it a good reason?  It might be, however there are more things you can do.  If you currently have an sprained ankle, when doing something that will cause more problems to it, with permission take a break and use the time for some pushups, or abdominal work.  

In his book, The Spirit of Budo, Mr. Trevor Leggett related a story that has always resounded with me.  In the story (I have not read the book in a while so forgive me if I miss a few details), one of his judo teachers had a habit of keeping tacks on the bottom of his zori (sandals/shoes), so as to make a clicking sound while we walked.  Mr. Leggett asked him of this and why exactly he did it.  The teacher responded that it would be too easy for him to sneak up on an adversary.  Therefore, he kept the tacks on the bottom of his shoes, so he would not be inclined to do so.  This would allow for he and his adversary to engage in a sincere battle and not one win which the other was surprised.  

I wish to always have that much sincerity in the day-to-day training of our own little dojo here in Winchester, KY.  I think of that sincerity when correcting students in the dojo at times.  I will often sincerely tell you when you are doing well, and at times sincerely tell you when you are not doing well.  Anything less is a waste of the students' time, and financial resources.  I hope this mindset of sincerity in training carries over into my daily life.  The budo have helped me push myself beyond my self-imposed limits.  It is my sincere desire that they do that for all students of the martial arts.

What is ukemi?

Most martial arts practitioners, particularly those of the grappling arts of Japan such as Judo and Aikido, will tell you that there is a whole lot of falling down that occurs in any given practice.  Not only is this valuable  practice misunderstood by many, but the term itself is also quite misunderstood.  

This whole falling down business in Japanese is referred to as ukemi.  More often than not this is translated as breakfalling, or simply, breaking ones fall.   While this may serve as a decent and easy to disseminate translation, it fails to convey the entire and deeper meaning of this part of training.  Ukemi at its root, means to receive a technique.  This may help to understand why the term uke (oo-kay), is translated as "one who receives".  In the video shown above a friend of mine Chris, is seen taking ukemi from my Aikido instructor Meido Moore Sensei.  

Judoka in mid throw 

The role of uke, and of ukemi, is primarily there for safety.  Outside observers of these arts will often think they see a person purposely falling down during practice. Quite frankly this is true.  Particularly when it comes to demonstrations of technique by whoever may be leading a class.  It is within these sorts of demonstrations that the teacher is doing his/her best to show the students a technique as close to it being perfect as can be. Uke will receive and go with the technique to assist the instructor in doing this.  Students will then take their visual understanding of what they saw and attempt to duplicate it.  The reps done with an agreeable partner will help to develop good habits of movement and then the practitioner may graduate to a training partner who resists the technique.  This is typically done at the discretion of the instructor and there is a wide variety of how and when you should start utilizing a resistant training partner in such drills.  

I recently attended a Judo clinic that was hosted by our friends at Valhalla Grappling Academy in which Eb Keislich Sensei, 6th Dan was teaching those in attendance.  Keislich Sensei demonstrated incredible judo skill.  I was nearly equally impressed with his uke for assisting in the demonstration of technique. When a teacher develops a good a student to take ukemi properly they are only helping to continue the quality of the budo in which they are training and or teaching.   Through the years, I have heard many high ranking teachers in Japanese budo (including Keislich Sensei this weekend) discuss the need for everyone to take falls as a means of developing an understanding of the throwing aspect of technique.  While this is initially misunderstood by most beginners (who doesn't want to come in and just start throwing people down), I have found this to be incredibly true.  

Moore Sensei demonstrating, Uke is Craig Caudill

This past summer my  Aikido instructor made his annual visit to our dojo, I had the good fortune to take most of the ukemi for him during the weekend seminar.  It had been quite a while since I had taken so many falls.  While this proved to be very entertaining I suppose for our Bluegrass Budokai members who enjoyed seeing me thrown across and into the mat many, many times.  It was an incredible learning experience for me.  There were things, nuances I suppose, about technique that I had seen before, but had the opportunity feel for the first time.  Taking so much ukemi, only served to make my practice better. 

In summary, ukemi  means to receive the technique.  This means through your instructor, your training partners, and if you are practicing solo, simply receive the mat.  Otherwise, you will simply just be falling down alot....

The martial artist's belt (obi)

So what’s with the all the belts and stripes (or lack thereof) in martial arts?  This is one of the most- asked questions that someone with no previous knowledge with martial arts, asks.  It is also one of the most misunderstood aspects of training, improvement, and growth of those of us who practice the martial arts.

First, one must understand the history of the belt itself and then we can take a look at the modern use of it.  There must also be an understanding that there is quite the difference between the way in which martial artists in different regions of the world have utilized the obi, particularly in modern martial arts. Today we will only be considering our understanding of things with a Japanese origin.  These ideas do not apply to those martial arts outside of Japan, namely those of Chinese or Korean origin (Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do, etc.) nor do they apply to very modern martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I am not a student of these arts and have no formal training in them  other than brief visits to my friends' facilities to train with them.  

Kaku Obi

The belt in its simplest use was very utilitarian in that it simply held an overjacket such as a kimono closed.  For the warrior class it also served as the connection point for a swordsman and his sword.   For those who study martial tactics in the koryu manner (old school, before the Meiji restoration) the belt worn was something similar to the one shown here and listed as a kaku obi.  These obi were much wider than what is usually worn in martial arts dojos today.  Often you will still see practitioners of koryu arts as well as some gendai (modern) martial arts such as Aikido, Kendo, and Iaido wearing them as well.  As with most things related to martial arts, this is certainly not a rule for these modern students, but certainly is possible.

In 1883, a change occurred that would prove to be the genesis of when distinguished ranks occurred.  It was then that the founder of Judo, Jigaro Kano Sensei, awarded shodan to two of his long time students.  However, it was not until 1886 that he asked all of his shodans to start wearing a black obi.  Again this was like the one pictured above, to distinguish themselves from the mudansha (those without a dan.)  It was not until many years later in 1935 that Mikonosuke Kaiwashi Sensei, who was teaching in Europe at the time, began using colored ranks before achieving a shodan.  It is believed, although the research is not clear, that Kaiwashi Sensei had so many students that he could not keep up with their progress.  To help him sort his students out, he started using dye, paint or some other sort of coloring upon white belts or their uniform to help him distinguish between the particular ranks of his students. 

It is this author's belief that proponents of the colored belt system have found a wonderful home in the United States of America.  For it is within America that self-aggrandizement and self-absorption is at a high.  Most have missed the internal aspects of proper budo training and think that belt colors, uniform adornments, trophies and medals are in some way indicative of one's skill.  While this is certainly the case in tournament fighting and such, it is in no way an indicator of one who understands the maze of arcane traditions of martial arts training.  I have been fortunate to train with many high-ranking martial art teachers of both Japanese and American birth and background.  These men and women never indicated to my understanding, that their abilities lie within a belt and its color.  My understanding of their teaching to me is, particularly from a Japanese perspective, attainment of a black belt means nothing more than you have finally grasped most of the basics. 

Some would think that a black belt means that you are now a teacher, sometimes referred to as a Sensei.  This too, could not be further from the truth.  The more advanced a student and the rank that goes with it do not necessarily mean that they yield a certain power over less advanced students.  What I believe, is that they may have more knowledge, but having that knowledge means more responsibility goes along with it. 

From a pure business perspective some dojos and other martial arts facilities utilize the belt as a carrot for continued connection to the training.  While we must admit this is an important aspect to some martial artists training (and at times I am a bit ashamed to admit, my own), it should never be the first and foremost goal of the trainee.

At one point in my training many years ago I was researching ranks and titles and such and came across a forum discussing the topic at length.  It was there that a very self-absorbed person was detailing how to use sandpaper to sand the edges of his black belt so that he could make it seem as if it was more worn and old.  Therefore, from is perspective,  he would garner more respect among his students.  I am naive' at my core and I was completely disheartened that such a practice was being done, let alone the method of doing it being taught in such a way. 

For those of you reading that are familiar with our dojo here in Kentucky (Bluegrass Budokai), we have a colored belt system in place for our youth classes and only white and black belts in adult classes.  Many ask why this is so, and the answeris very simple.  I saw my Aikido teacher doing it that way and I was trying to imitate what he was doing. I never asked him why, because that would have been rude. The longer answer is perhaps my personal feelings and observations after doing it this way for a number of years now.  Youth simply need the positive reinforcement of the colored belts to keep them motivated. It is within those classes that we do very specific activities so that none of the kiddos get too focused on the belts.  However, we mostly have only dedicated students in our adult classes because there is no certificate, belt, or other outward display to indicate their rank.  While this sometimes causes problems when our adults travel to train, it has not proven to be a problem for our dojo.  However, we do lose those students seeking the belts before they every really get started.  Our loss I suppose.

Our dojo was very fortunate for a short two years to have a fine older gentleman training in judo, aikido, and iaido with us.  This gentleman was 63 years old at the time, had very high rank in judo and aikido, along with being an olympic gold medalist from the Phillipines in his youth.  He chose to wear a white belt most of the time while at our dojo for various reasons that are known only to a few of us. At 63, he was one who would simply do breaking balance and loading up practice and throw us without even trying.  He would tell me his "secret" every time he appeared at our dojo and this secret was three stretches and this particular hip movement practice that he utilized in each of our martial traditions.   He had been doing this daily since he started his judo training at the age of 12. 

Make no mistake about it, the only way to develop a skill in martial arts is practice.  It is through such hard practice that one's understanding of self will grow and hopefully flourish, particularly under the tutelage of a capable teacher and a mat containing like-minded students.  The belt itself is not an indicator of true skill.  All martial arts have their imposters and ridiculous methods of pretending to put their skill set on display.  At the same time there are many martial artists with great skill who never wear anything other than a white belt, or no belt at all.  Some great martial artists throughout history have suggested you can see great skill by how a budoka walks into a room.  So are your powers of discernment that keen?  If not how do you go about getting them?  My guess is by following the three most important aspects of training, and those are:

1.  Practice.

2.  Practice.

3.  Practice.

Yours in Budo,

Craig Caudill

What is a dojo?

So I recently asked a number of our students what the word dojo means.  I was not surprised to receive several different answers.  One said "training hall", another "place to practice", and yet another answered with the more literal translation, "place of the way".

I would dare say that they are all correct because a dojo is many things to many people.  One thing it is not,...it is not a gym.  While I say this often, I believe there is a inherent misunderstanding that for some reason that I think dojos are better than gyms.  I certainly do not feel this way.  A gym, whether it be one in which you lift weights, engage in boxing, zumba! or even a martial arts gym are valuable places. It is in such places that we can reap the benefits of our own hard work through exercise, as well as many other benefits.

A dojo ideally has the added benefit of being a place in which the training you engage in has meaning beyond the physical techniques that are practiced there.  There are many things that are quite different in a dojo than what we experience here in typical American culture.  One of those is in dojo relationships.  In a dojo these relationships are at the crux of the matter but rarely spoken of.  Senior students have certain responsibilities to the younger students, and the younger students likewise to the older students.  Some would say mentoring is an equivalent term for the senior-to-junior relationship.  For our purposes here today in this post, I will agree.  However, I ask for your allowance to come back to that topic in depth in a post to be written later.  The junior-to-senior relationship is one of support and avid listening skills simply because the seniors are "ones that have come before them" and have many experiences to be learned from.


A dojo is also one of those places in which trophies, medals, walls with colored belts, and all sort of other accouterments are of little importance.   We would dare ask, can you get a trophy for being a good [insert your job title here], do you earn rank for being brave in situations that are important, do you get a new colored belt just for being the dad/mom/husband/wife/son/daughter you are supposed to be?  These are the tasks in front of us each day in which people who "get" what a dojo is all about say they utilize their training  for "off the mat".


Some have often said that being part of a dojo is like being part of church.  I understand that.  Dojos can be a place where people feel as if they belong, where people are supported by both positive reinforcement and the sometimes brutal honesty of a fellow trainer or teacher.  This is not done because a teacher wants to belittle someone but rather to help those around them immediately and without hesitation.  However a dojo is not a place where the worship of a god occurs.  My Christian brothers and sisters are often misled in thinking this based upon Hollywood and the teachings it ridiculously imposes upon our lives and those that surround us.  Also many counterfeit martial arts teachers use the same verbage as do many counterfeit preachers do, so the two can be confused at times.   Both of these types of people rely on intangibles to persuade others of their supposed glory.   Make no mistake about it, the problems of a dojo can be answered with tangible solutions, and those solutions involve, hard work, sweat, sore joints, and blood.  It is from these tangibles that we learn within our own selves, sometimes, the lessons being taught by a teacher.  


A teacher once taught me that the past is a only a thing that exists in our imagination and the future is only a dream of sorts and that all we have is the present, the here and the now.  Dojo teachers who follow this sort of thinking are often times very direct, there is no better time than the present to deal with any issue we might have.  


What a great lesson, learned in the dojo, to apply to everday life.  


Yours in Budo,


Craig Caudill