"Wax On, Wax Off" - Mr. Miyagi
Who can forget that wonderful scene in the Karate Kid? Mr. Miyagi took Daniel San to clean his old, classic car and at the same time taught him to block by waxing a car. But does this make sense?
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| Respect is paramount in karate. This is shown in many ways in the traditional karate school. One notable way is that of bowing. |
It does! Karate is about muscle memory, about rote and what we refer to as mushin. Mushin is a method of repetition to teach a student how to react without thinking. This is why Okinawa karate has been such an effective form of self-defense for hundreds of years.
As one progresses in martial arts, they start with no rank, known as mukyu in Japanese and wear a white belt to hold up their pants. But with each major step in karate training, they advance through the mudansha martial arts ranks (color belts). Hopefully, one day, after a few years of training, they will rise from mudansha (one without dan rank) to yudansha (one with dan rank) and put on the coveted black belt sought by all martial arts students.
Karate is about building life-long goals that also teach us to defend ourselves and at the same time teach us to grow as people. Respect and consideration of others is most important in this type of training in martial arts. We recognize this at our martial arts hombu dojo in the East Valley of Phoenix.
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| O'Sensei Bill Borea prepares to practice kata (karate forms) in Mesa. O'Sensei is a retired air force pilot who spent time training in karate in Japan with his wife - Sensei Paula Borea. |
