|
MARTIAL ARTS USA® |
|
|
NOBODY WANTS TO BE UKE
Nobody wants to pay their dues. Everybody wants to be a Master, Grandmaster or
Soke. They are on every street corner dojo/dojang.
They even advertise “Father & Son Soke Instructors!”
They are everywhere across the United States, lurking in every city. Teenage
Grandmasters. Five year old children wearing their black belts, running around
the mats looking for their coloring books. You see this at many martial arts
after-school, baby sitting academies!
It’s all a matter of money, supply of bodies and demand for rank!
It’s growing faster than little-league sports. Parents will pay hundreds of
dollars every few months so little Johnny can get a new color belt…. It makes
me want to vomit!
I have never in my life seen any martial artist under the age of seventeen,
who qualified for a black belt! Even if he/she knows a lot of techniques,
there is still the lack of maturity, knowledge and responsibility that goes
along with awarding a black belt.
Where has all the loyalty gone? Where is the commitment?
Where are the real mentors? Where are the faithful followers?
Paying your dues is not financial, it is spending the necessary time in
training and in grade. For the most dedicated of martial artists, there is
the brave, the few! They are known in the martial arts world as the uke.
What is a uke? He/She is an intricate part of a precision, well-tuned
duo, who has spent hundreds if not thousands of hours in training & practice.
There is the uke and there the tori. Tori (Master /mentor), will execute the
technique, while uke (student / understudy), is the recipient of the
technique.
The team will practice to perfection, every technique, until their program is
flawless.
Like the world-class ice skaters who perform at the Olympics, they know each
others every move, every thought, every strength and ever weakness. Timing is
critical!
The tori & uke will perform their skills at clinics, seminars and special
performances. If one (tori or uke) fails to show for a scheduled event or
seminar, could you imagine the damage this would do to his/her partner. You
can not just grab someone from the crowd and use that person as the uke for
instance. Your performance would suffer greatly, regardless of how skilled
you are in your art.
The uke must completely commit himself to years of dedicated service to his
(mentor) teacher.
He will take the falls, take the strikes, kicks and blocking drills.
He will be the constant companion, volunteering to assist his highly skilled
teacher.
As uke, he/she will be on the receiving end of every technique taught or
demonstrated. As uke, you not only see the technique, you are feeling the
technique, understanding the body contact and the positioning. You are not
just observing a technique, you are the technique!
Spending the necessary time required, results in years as the understudy.
Listening, feeling, watching and repetitive training in every technique, this
is paying your dues!
The uke commits to this in exchange for receiving cost free one-on-one
training from his teacher, promotional drills, rank certification, and the
promise over the years, that he will be taught everything his teacher knows.
Uke just has to hang tight in his commitment.
Those days seem to be gone. Nobody wants to be uke. Nobody wants to work,
train or sweat. It’s easier to buy your way through
with some diploma mill!
I literally purchased a Rokudan (6th Dan) Judo Certificate for my cat from one
of these diploma mills. The certificate is framed and hanging over my cat’s
littler box!
I have acquaintances who I know for a fact have paid thousands upon thousands
of dollars for high level black belt rank.
They travel to every clinic, seminar or tournament just to walk around the
facility with great self-pride and a puffed out chest. They wear their
purchased belt-rank like a false badge of honor! They avoid taking part in any
of the activities, because they do not know what they are doing and know in
their heart & mind, that they are not worthy to shine the shoes of a real
certified qualified Master!
I see this new trend everywhere I travel… It is sickening!
I speak of these things from experience, because I came up the hard way. I
earned my rank and grades over the past fifty plus years.
My teachers were strict, demanding of perfection and insistent on time in
grade.
There were no mothers and fathers standing around with an open wallet, wanting
to buy little Johnny his next color belt.
My God,… they and their little Johnny would have been thrown out the front
door on their asses!
Non-qualified students are out there purchasing new rank more often than I
change my underwear… Again, it makes me sick to my stomach!
Back in the 1940s and 50s, a black belt was rare, much less a Master or
Grandmaster. Grandmasters in those days, were the real thing. They were
usually more than fifty years of age, with thirty or more active years in the
arts. A twenty year old Grandmaster was unheard of, and would have been
challenged every time he walked on the mat!
To see or train with a real Master, was like being in the presence of some
god! It was an awesome opportunity to listen to them, to watch their flawless
flow in the arts, to experience the power and technical skills if you were
lucky enough to be selected as uke. Oh, how I long for the return of those
days!
When I was a teen martial arts student in the 1940s-50s, I never missed a
martial arts session. I would travel great distances to have the privileged
opportunity to study from any grade higher than mine.
I always volunteered to be uke. I wanted to have that one-on-one contact with
the Master, to feel the technique, to experience the thrill of the throw and
the fall. In my mind, I was the world’s number one uke for more than 20 years
from the first day of my martial arts.
Because I was a good uke, and always volunteering, I had the opportunity to
train with some of the greatest, most highly skilled black belt teachers in
the world.
In Judo/Yudo especially, I paid my dues with sore muscles, mat-burns, bruises
and scrapes. I learned how to fall quickly, so I never experienced a broken
bone.
Finding a uke today, who is willing to pay his dues, is almost non- existent!
To all qualified black belt teachers, I say this: You must have a great
uke.
Your uke must be faithful, dependable, willing and full of enthusiasm.
You must take care of your uke and guarantee his care & safety. Both of you
will put in many years of hard work and training, so uke must be rewarded for
his loyalty. Teach him everything you know and take him through his ranks as
he becomes qualified.
If your uke travels with you to seminars or clinics, cover his costs.
Treat your uke as a brother, but always retain the professional
teacher/student relationship. Remember, you are his mentor!
I trained just about every day for the first five years of my martial arts. It
took me five years to earn my first degree black belt.
From there, I came up through the higher ranks and promotions about once every
three to four years. I earned black belt ranks from both Korea and Japan.
When I reached the level of Godan (5th degree), I remained there for the next
fifteen-years.
Not because I was not qualified for elevation, but because in my heart, I knew
my next rank promotion would put me into the red/white checker belt, with the
title of Master or Professor.
I kept asking myself if I was worthy of this tremendous honor!
After fifteen years as a Godan, my peers elevated me to 6th Degree, Rokudan,
because they knew I had paid my dues and had far exceeded my time in grade.
If you have not paid your dues, if you have purchased your rank without
meeting the qualifications and time in grade, then you are not only a fool,
you look like a fool in the eyes of your peers!
A warning to qualified teachers of the arts, when choosing a uke:
Choose your uke wisely. Be careful that you do not spend five, ten or fifteen
years teaching and training your uke to perfection, just to have him walk
away, leaving you cold turkey.
Don’t find yourself scheduled for months of seminars or clinics, with a
“No-Show Uke”, who has decided he has other interests
that prevent him from fulfilling his obligations!
This leaves the teacher in one hell of a position, trying to scramble around
to find a replacement. It is not like you can just walk out on the street
corner and pick up a new uke. Pulling a non-experienced uke out of the
seminar to demonstrate your advanced techniques in not recommended. They are
not qualified or familiar
with your moves and/or capable of receiving your throws safely.
If you have made a mistake in choosing your uke, and find yourself
in this situation,…you will find a way to adjust though it will be difficult!
Do not allow your uke to talk his way back into your trust. Believe me when I
tell you, he will do it again! Drop him like a dirty diaper and get on with
your life!
At 67 years of age, I am saddened by the present day status of martial arts
and it’s politics. I think it is time for me to retire and let the future of
martial arts take it’s course. It’s just not the same, and no longer holds the
prestige, integrity or honor of martial arts past.
As president and founder of Martial Arts USA, I will continue to take care of my most honorable members for as long as I live. Martial Arts USA will remain active, recognized and respected, as one of the most prestigious martial arts associations in America.
I will devote my future to better health and more relaxation by watching
beautiful sunrise and sunsets with my wife, while taking slow walks, barefoot
on the beach and in the surf.
God Bless.
Professor John Chambers President / Founder Martial Arts USA
[ Links ] [ Professor's Corner ] [ News Letter ] [Jujutsu Requirements Page ] [ Membership Guidelines ] [ Photo Page ] [Bios Page] [Lineage] [Board of Advisors]
Martial Arts USA |