OSS!

Firstly, I have to admit that I am merely a 10^th kyu learning the ropes of karate for less than a year. This short introspective is gleanings of understanding of the above mentioned topic and is a personal opinion rather than the opinion of any dojo’s or ryu ha’s.

Seiza 

Since I was young, I always wanted to learn martial arts.
What was it that piqued my interest?
Was it the colored belts?
Was it the persistence of the mudansha’s during their training?
Was it merely just the uniformity of the kata’s being displayed?
Perhaps I was young and I was fascinated and sensitized with the media world.
Perhaps it was a statement of identity.
Of belonging to a particular ryu ha and ultimately being associated with something.
Perhaps its part of what everyone wants to be. Whole.

Shomen ni rei

But what is whole? What is complete? Are we complete being a shodan?
If so, where is the art in martial arts?
I believe art is like a skillfully drawn painting. Without the canvas, the artist or the inspiration there is no art.
The perception of art would depend very much on the background of the person but it speaks to everyone in a universal language as there is no language, as it exists in the fabric of expressions and abstract. It does not rely on sounds, just imagery and feel
As they always say, life imitates art and vice versa.
Art can exist with just one of the three. A canvas is still born an art form; the artist, is a living testimonial of art; the inspiration is an abstract form of art found in the realm of neither the living nor the dead.

O tai ni rei

Many ask which art is more supreme than the other. Karate? Aikido? Judo? Taekwondo?
But that is out of the point, as an art is an art.
One does not ask which artist is the best.
One can only admire from afar and learn the subtle gestures of the artform.
Each stroke tells a story within itself.
Each kihon has a story of its own.
Each kata has a life of its own.
Each being expressed to the current reality as each move is perfected.

Timing.
Posture.
Pose.
Each tells a different subtle somber tale from the past traditions.
Handed down from generations to generations.

Perhaps it was a form of communication.

Like dance.
Just used in a different context and different culture.
Currently, this art form has sprouted as a life form of its own, seeping to different forms (or ryu ha’s).
But each has the same essentials.
Different cultures.
Same essentials to unite them.

See the pattern?

 

Sensei ni rei

 Thus my class begins and my journey to this art form starts. The artist. The canvas. The inspiration. The head. The body. The tail. Birth. Life. Death. Start. Middle. End. Foreplay. Climax. Release. The living form of art and life itself.

-Sidney Ng

 

www.sidneyng.com

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