Taido/Blog

04/07/2006 In Georgia Tech Taido, Rankings / Evaluations by andy

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It’s potentially interesting to note that there have been no written examinations for black belt promotions in America for several years. This is sloppy administration. A quality school offers quality instruction, tested through quality evaluation methods.

I believe that Taido requires intellectual understanding as well as physical ability, and as a result, have always taught in a manner that I feel provides both. When Bryan and I began discussing the possibility of promoting students to black belt, we had no doubts as the quality of our teaching, but we were concerned about the quality of the evaluation.

To that end, we decided that we would require a written examination and essay/creative component in addition to the physical test administered by the american headquarters. I’ve discussed the hokei assignment previously. In writing the theory exam, I wanted to be careful that the questions were actually testing the things I hope to have taught. For those of you with no experience at test-writing, i’ll let you know right now that it is difficult to write a good test - this from someone whose job requires him to do it often.

It’s potentially interesting to note that there have been no written examinations for black belt promotions in America for several years. This is sloppy administration. A quality school offers quality instruction, tested through quality evaluation methods.

I believe that Taido requires intellectual understanding as well as physical ability, and as a result, have always taught in a manner that I feel provides both. When Bryan and I began discussing the possibility of promoting students to black belt, we had no doubts as the quality of our teaching, but we were concerned about the quality of the evaluation.

To that end, we decided that we would require a written examination and essay/creative component in addition to the physical test administered by the american headquarters. I’ve discussed the hokei assignment previously. In writing the theory exam, I wanted to be careful that the questions were actually testing the things I hope to have taught. For those of you with no experience at test-writing, i’ll let you know right now that it is difficult to write a good test - this from someone whose job requires him to do it often.

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05/07/2006 In Miscellany by andy

Note: Lest I come off as if i were trying to sound like an expert, I should mention here that my Japanese is not great. I am not fluent in Japanese, but I am fluid in using Japanese to the degree I understand it. my Japanese language skills are exactly as good as they need to be in order to do what I need to do - no better, no worse. My responses are written from the perspective of someone with no desire to be possess native-level Japanese skills.

G initiated this discussion with the following:

I find there are quite a few US Taido students who go on to study/learn Japanese, my son included. Not only do they learn Japanese, but they seem to learn it with ease and correct pronunciation. Since you are an educator, I was wondering about your thoughts on early exposure to Japanese, through Taido, and the ability to learn Japanese. Do you think your early exposure to Japanese aided in your desire and/or ability to learn the language?

Note: Lest I come off as if i were trying to sound like an expert, I should mention here that my Japanese is not great. I am not fluent in Japanese, but I am fluid in using Japanese to the degree I understand it. my Japanese language skills are exactly as good as they need to be in order to do what I need to do - no better, no worse. My responses are written from the perspective of someone with no desire to be possess native-level Japanese skills.

G initiated this discussion with the following:

I find there are quite a few US Taido students who go on to study/learn Japanese, my son included. Not only do they learn Japanese, but they seem to learn it with ease and correct pronunciation. Since you are an educator, I was wondering about your thoughts on early exposure to Japanese, through Taido, and the ability to learn Japanese. Do you think your early exposure to Japanese aided in your desire and/or ability to learn the language?

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05/07/2006 In Learning / Teaching by andy

Gabriel wrote this:

I feel that in recent years there has been a move away from (in US Taido) teaching the theory and underlying principles (i.e. why moving a certain way is effective). I’m not saying that this reflects poorly on the instructors, who I happen to look up to, but i definitely feel that the vast majority of participants have little or no understanding of theory or even all the terminology. I will say that there has been some efforts in the upper level classes to address this, though most of the learning is based on learning the japanese names of more advanced techniques. I feel that i am woefully behind where i should be as far as the depth of my knowledge (i find myself looking up some of the terms on this site). As a shodan i think that it definitely time to get serious about learning and applying the theory behind techniques. if you have any suggestions of where to start studying I would appreciate the advice. I have some resources (such as the taido binder my father compiled), but am not completely sure the best method for acquiring this knowledge. I feel that understanding the principles will help me become more creative as far as expanding my technique base and becoming a better instructor.

Gabriel wrote this:

I feel that in recent years there has been a move away from (in US Taido) teaching the theory and underlying principles (i.e. why moving a certain way is effective). I’m not saying that this reflects poorly on the instructors, who I happen to look up to, but i definitely feel that the vast majority of participants have little or no understanding of theory or even all the terminology. I will say that there has been some efforts in the upper level classes to address this, though most of the learning is based on learning the japanese names of more advanced techniques. I feel that i am woefully behind where i should be as far as the depth of my knowledge (i find myself looking up some of the terms on this site). As a shodan i think that it definitely time to get serious about learning and applying the theory behind techniques. if you have any suggestions of where to start studying I would appreciate the advice. I have some resources (such as the taido binder my father compiled), but am not completely sure the best method for acquiring this knowledge. I feel that understanding the principles will help me become more creative as far as expanding my technique base and becoming a better instructor.

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05/07/2006 In Learning / Teaching by andy

Andrew posted about one of the classic sticky issues in the “martial arts industry”:

Random question: how important do you think it is for a teacher to be as good or better than his/her students when teaching them something? I don’t have any students per se, but I do try to help people out when I see them making the same mistakes I do. Sometimes I feel somewhat like a hypocrite telling someone to do something that I am not able to do myself.

Andrew posted about one of the classic sticky issues in the “martial arts industry”:

Random question: how important do you think it is for a teacher to be as good or better than his/her students when teaching them something? I don’t have any students per se, but I do try to help people out when I see them making the same mistakes I do. Sometimes I feel somewhat like a hypocrite telling someone to do something that I am not able to do myself.

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19/07/2006 In Event Log by andy

The annual Tama Taikai is a regional tournament held in Higashi-Kurume. Participants include much of West Tokyo and parts of Saitama, Kanagawa, and Yamanashi Prefectures. It’s one of the larger “local” events, and considered kind of a warm-up for more more serious events at the end of summer which determine the teams for the four national events held each fall. This year, the Tama took place on 25 June - one day after my birthday.

This was my second year representing the Yokohama dojo at the Tama Taikai, and I was determined to do better than I did my first time around.

The annual Tama Taikai is a regional tournament held in Higashi-Kurume. Participants include much of West Tokyo and parts of Saitama, Kanagawa, and Yamanashi Prefectures. It’s one of the larger “local” events, and considered kind of a warm-up for more more serious events at the end of summer which determine the teams for the four national events held each fall. This year, the Tama took place on 25 June - one day after my birthday.

This was my second year representing the Yokohama dojo at the Tama Taikai, and I was determined to do better than I did my first time around.

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20/07/2006 In Event Log by andy

Unless there’s a damn good reason not to (like our 30th Anniversary Tournament last year), American Taido hosts a yearly practice excursion sometime during the summer. We load up the cars, stock up on beer, and drive the entire school to the beach for three days of practicing and partying together. Year after year, summer camp is one of the most exciting and fun events for American Taido teachers and students. I love summer camp.

My family skipped camp for our first few years in Taido, but I have great memories of each camp I attended. At my first summer camp in 1988, Bryan and I fed potato chips to alligators from the back porch. Later that evening, Mitsuaki and I had a joint birthday party.

Unless there’s a damn good reason not to (like our 30th Anniversary Tournament last year), American Taido hosts a yearly practice excursion sometime during the summer. We load up the cars, stock up on beer, and drive the entire school to the beach for three days of practicing and partying together. Year after year, summer camp is one of the most exciting and fun events for American Taido teachers and students. I love summer camp.

My family skipped camp for our first few years in Taido, but I have great memories of each camp I attended. At my first summer camp in 1988, Bryan and I fed potato chips to alligators from the back porch. Later that evening, Mitsuaki and I had a joint birthday party.

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20/07/2006 In Rankings / Evaluations by andy

In light of the recent black belt testing process that wrapped up at summer camp, I’ve been rethinking some of my ideas about teaching children and what happens as they inevitably grow in skill and approach black belt.

Anyone who has read much of this site knows that I have a lot of opinions about the belt/ranking system and some internal conflicts regarding promotion to black belt - especially at very young ages. This is because I feel that a black belt should understand what Taido is about. While I don’t wish to diminish the accomplishments of the younger group of candidates at this recent test, the research still stands that humans do not develop their full cognitive abilities (and i’m speaking in a purely neuro-function sense) until they have completed puberty. Some members of this group are currently ten and eleven years old.

In light of the recent black belt testing process that wrapped up at summer camp, I’ve been rethinking some of my ideas about teaching children and what happens as they inevitably grow in skill and approach black belt.

Anyone who has read much of this site knows that I have a lot of opinions about the belt/ranking system and some internal conflicts regarding promotion to black belt - especially at very young ages. This is because I feel that a black belt should understand what Taido is about. While I don’t wish to diminish the accomplishments of the younger group of candidates at this recent test, the research still stands that humans do not develop their full cognitive abilities (and i’m speaking in a purely neuro-function sense) until they have completed puberty. Some members of this group are currently ten and eleven years old.

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25/07/2006 In Polls by andy

well, i’ve given it a little time, just in case there was a surprise turnover, but things have panned out just as i expected - hengi is the number one favorite taido technique.

41 people cast their votes in my poll about favorite taido techniques, and the results are not even close - 16 votes for hengi over 9 votes for tengi in second place. my favorite movement, nengi, scored only 5 votes, even with sengi (5) and ungi (6).

so why is hengi so popular? i have a few ideas. actually, several people told me that they expected tengi to win (despite not voting for it themselves) because i had mentioned the movement that is the most fun to perform. that seemed valid. after all, tengi is a lot of fun and a lot of flash - nobody can deny that bakuchugeri is cool, but it’s damn-near unusable. i think the fun-factor of tengi accounts for second-place status, but most people are just not good enough at using tengi to call it their favorite.

well, i’ve given it a little time, just in case there was a surprise turnover, but things have panned out just as i expected - hengi is the number one favorite taido technique.

41 people cast their votes in my poll about favorite taido techniques, and the results are not even close - 16 votes for hengi over 9 votes for tengi in second place. my favorite movement, nengi, scored only 5 votes, even with sengi (5) and ungi (6).

so why is hengi so popular? i have a few ideas. actually, several people told me that they expected tengi to win (despite not voting for it themselves) because i had mentioned the movement that is the most fun to perform. that seemed valid. after all, tengi is a lot of fun and a lot of flash - nobody can deny that bakuchugeri is cool, but it’s damn-near unusable. i think the fun-factor of tengi accounts for second-place status, but most people are just not good enough at using tengi to call it their favorite.

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25/07/2006 In Polls by andy

i’m willing to bet that most of us have more than one reason for practicing taido. in fact, i personally have been doing taido so long that i have a really hard time imagining what life would be like without it - identifying my reasons to practice are like defending my decision to eat chicken or listing the benefits of drinking water everyday. however, let’s be simplistic here, and for the sake of trend-spotting, attempt to isolate our biggest current reasons for practicing taido.

this poll isn’t asking why you started taido or what benefits you think you may eventually achieve through continued practice. i’m interested in finding out why you are doing taido right now - what benefit do you receive that prevents you from skipping practices and watching tv? ideally, these should be immediate benefits (ie, not “because someday maybe i can kick ass like bruce”).

i’m willing to bet that most of us have more than one reason for practicing taido. in fact, i personally have been doing taido so long that i have a really hard time imagining what life would be like without it - identifying my reasons to practice are like defending my decision to eat chicken or listing the benefits of drinking water everyday. however, let’s be simplistic here, and for the sake of trend-spotting, attempt to isolate our biggest current reasons for practicing taido.

this poll isn’t asking why you started taido or what benefits you think you may eventually achieve through continued practice. i’m interested in finding out why you are doing taido right now - what benefit do you receive that prevents you from skipping practices and watching tv? ideally, these should be immediate benefits (ie, not “because someday maybe i can kick ass like bruce”).

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25/07/2006 In Event Log by andy

August 2006

This past weekend, I participated in the first ever Tokaido Regional Meet, and I had a great time (but I’m almost always having a great time). This tournament very much resembled the 2nd Kanagawa Meet I wrote about in February in a number of ways. First, it was held in the same location - the Tokai University Budokan. Second, the competitors, judges, staff, and spectators looked suspiciously similar. In fact, it was almost the same competition all over again.

The Back-Story

To explain how this happens, I should mention a few things to which I alluded in my report on the Kanagawa meet. Specifically, it comes down to the fact that Honshu (the largest island in Japan, and coincidentally the one on which all but a handful of Taido clubs are located) is small and mountainous. The result of Honshu’s geography is that there are several distinct regions (each with its own subculture) in close proximity. Tohoku, Kanto, Kansai, etc each have their own Japanese dialects and ways of thinking. However, they are all crammed together on a piece of land about the size of California.

August 2006

This past weekend, I participated in the first ever Tokaido Regional Meet, and I had a great time (but I’m almost always having a great time). This tournament very much resembled the 2nd Kanagawa Meet I wrote about in February in a number of ways. First, it was held in the same location - the Tokai University Budokan. Second, the competitors, judges, staff, and spectators looked suspiciously similar. In fact, it was almost the same competition all over again.

The Back-Story

To explain how this happens, I should mention a few things to which I alluded in my report on the Kanagawa meet. Specifically, it comes down to the fact that Honshu (the largest island in Japan, and coincidentally the one on which all but a handful of Taido clubs are located) is small and mountainous. The result of Honshu’s geography is that there are several distinct regions (each with its own subculture) in close proximity. Tohoku, Kanto, Kansai, etc each have their own Japanese dialects and ways of thinking. However, they are all crammed together on a piece of land about the size of California.

Continue Reading...

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