The Teacher’s Harvest: A Legacy of Variation

Tuesday, May 9, 2017 by C. Michial Jones

Glyn Jones Sensei once posed a poignant question in his article, The Karate of Chojun Miyagi: If you practiced and taught your art for over forty years, what would you actually leave behind?

The answer is not a monolith of perfect clones. Instead, a Sensei leaves behind a complex spectrum of students:

• Those who trained in the early years versus the later years.
• Those who understood the “inside” of the art versus those who only saw the “outside.”
• Those who stayed loyal for decades versus those who stayed for months.
• Those who expanded the teaching versus those who diluted it to a lower level of understanding.

In the case of Chojun Miyagi, we see this play out in the names we honor today—Higa, Yagi, Miyazato, and Toguchi. They were the ones who stayed, the ones who listened, and the ones who understood his personal Karate inside out. But even a master of Miyagi’s stature undoubtedly had students who fell into every other category on that list.

The Myth of the “Mirror Student”

There is a common saying that “a student is only as good as the teacher.” I’ve spent nearly forty years in the dojo, and I can tell you that this is a fallacy.

I have seen every type of student walk through the doors of the Yushikan. I have had students who half-ass their training and those who work their butts off every single day. I have had “naturals” who quit the moment things got difficult, and “uncoordinated” students who became masters through sheer grit. If the teacher is the only factor, why the disparity?

Owning Your Karate

While it is critical to have a qualified teacher to guide you, it is equally—if not more—important to have the right attitude. You must take radical responsibility for your own training.

A Sensei can:

• Show you the correct path.
• Correct your posture and intent.
• Provide the historical and technical context.
• Push you past your perceived limits.

A Sensei cannot:

• Do the repetitions for you.
• Force you to pay attention to the details.
• Give you the “heart” to continue when the sweat turns to exhaustion.

The Two-Way Street

If the teacher is excellent and the student is poor, the result will always be mediocre. In traditional Budo, the Sensei provides the map, but the student must provide the engine.

To the students reading this: Don’t just show up and expect “Karate” to be poured into your head. You must own your development. If you fail to progress, ask yourself first if you are truly a student of the art, or merely someone who “attends” a class. In the end, your Karate will be a reflection of your own character, not just your Sensei’s pedigree.