Chapter 4. Karate, an alternative story.
A long one, BUT one that includes my first foray into speculating on the technical development of Wado karate in the UK.
In this post:
Gradings.
Courses (including the summer courses).
A personal take on Suzuki Sensei’s methods and challenges and how ‘Project Wado’ was unfolding in the 70’s and beyond.
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Gradings.
I took my first grading, 8th kyu, on 23rd February 1975 (although I actually started training the previous year). This allowed me to have a single black tag on the end of my white belt. The grading was under Sakagami Sensei; I remember not knowing what I was letting myself in for, although Chris H filled me in with as much detail as he could; he was also grading, but for 7th kyu (two black tags on a white belt). As was normal in those days, there were many students up for grading and nerves jangled through the assembled candidates. This was the beginning of a pattern that I followed for the next sixteen years.
Taking a tumble.
I think I enjoyed the travelling as much as the events; although, there was certainly an addictive high from passing the grading exam. Failing a grading is always a crushing blow to the ego. At 2nd kyu in January 1977 I was shocked to discover that Sakagami Sensei had failed me. I was perhaps too complacent, and I know that I hadn’t focussed on the right things in my preparation; I was also juggling both my training and keeping a relationship going - the same girlfriend where the whole thing ended on bad terms, not that I am going to blame another person; the choices were all mine.
Failure is a hard experience to stomach; even more so when you see your friends and contemporaries celebrating and enjoying their successes. But the support network was really positive; we all stuck together and I didn’t need reminding that the best strategy is to jump back on the pony and double up, and prove your mettle.
The size of these events.
Between 1975 and 1978 gradings got so big that whole sports centres were taken over for the entire day. The waiting got longer and longer, particularly the higher the grade you were going for. David Allsop recounts that there were up to 400 people grading in one day. I have a memory of four examiners set up across a huge sports hall; David Allsop, Mel Parry, Sakagami Sensei and Maeda Sensei.
At another event the organisers decided things would run much smoother if everyone had a number, and that the number was written on the back of your hand with a felt tip pen. My number was 210. This was an awfully long wait, and a long time for the nerves to build up.
There was always a scattering of failures amongst the passes; but one time Sakagami Sensei failed an entire cohort of people going for brown belt; he was in a really grumpy mood and called them all together afterwards and told them how bad they were. The only comfort they took from it was that they were all in it together, and there were an awful lot of them.
We developed the habit of travelling to as many courses as we could; inevitably this meant seeking out the Japanese Sensei. As Sakagami was based in the midlands we attended so many of his courses.
A course in Birmingham (things were starting to shift – technically).
Around 1977 I trekked across to Birmingham for a weekend course with most of the resident Japanese instructors; this one was hosted by Peter Suzuki Sensei. We hadn’t had much contact with him but we’d heard about his potential for volatility, not somebody you wanted to cross. He was quite large by Japanese standards, burly built and intimidating.