… your spouse has to park their car outside because you’ve turned the garage into a dojo?

Jeff H.

I think we all have had days when we jump to a conclusion we ordinarily would not have. However you, unlike many, quickly realized that doing so wasn’t right and have apologized for it like a man – like a karateka. Forgiven, forgotten.

On a side note, I don’t think you and I are so different in some of our views of the martial arts. While I dont have the decades of experience and history to draw upon like you do, I can still see some writing on the wall and it gives me cause for concern as well. However, I have read many blogs from karate sensei and martial artists of other disciplines which gives me great hope for the future.

I look forward to future comments from you, Jeff, and wish you the best of luck on your new blog.

Osu!

P.S. If you’d like a quick reference to some of my more serious articles, you might start here, here, and here.

Just to add – I will follow your blog with interest and I will look at the article you mentioned. I will do my best to build a better understanding of who you are. I will learn from this experience and I will improve.

Osu.

Yes – I owe you an apology for the short-sighted way I replied to your article.

I do not know you and I do not know your family, friends, sensei or any aspect of your life – other than you train in Kyokushin.

I should have presented my opinions in a better way, and I can see that my approach makes me come across in a bad light. I was wrong.

I will not try to make excuses…I wasn’t drunk when I wrote it for instance.

I have been training in Kyokushin for a long time and so much has changed in 30 years – training methods, dojo etiquette…so many things and many not good.

In very recent times I have become very concerned about the direction things seem to be taking and I let my frustrations get the better of me – to the point that I didn’t see the humour in your article and I made judgements I shouldn’t have made.

I sincerely and humbly apologise.

Best regards,

Jeff Harrison

Thanks for stopping by – and allow me reply to your comments:

1. The bruises on my wife’s forearms and shins are an indication of her training. I know, from conversations with other karate-ka, that it is not uncommon to see diligence of training in the opposite sex as an attractive quality. Your thinly veiled accusation is disgusting and unfounded.

2. “Abbreviated” was meant to imply that you arent actually using full stances or strikes – use your imagination, it will help your language comprehension. Also, on the subject of training in odd places, let me direct you Dan Djurdjevic. He wrote a great article on this very topic that you might find illuminating.

3. Funny…If I come home covered in bruises it means I had a great training session, and my classmates and I worked very hard with one another. If you, Jeff, dont come home with bruises every now and again, then you are ignoring one of the “3 K’s” – kumite.

4. You say this about stances as if to imply I dont know the terminology. Don’t be so presumptive. My use of English terminology is for the benefit of my readers who practice other martial arts and may not be familiar. This makes my articles more relateable and easier to read without forcing them to Google said terms.

5. My sensei is a very serious martial artist and one of his favorite pastimes is to mock cheesy action flicks with poor technique. Are you trying to judge the dedication of a man you’ve never met?

6. This is what is called “hyperbole”. Since I can tell you aren’t familiar with the concept, it means to exaggerate something, usually to the point of humor.

7. You’re not sorry at all. You’re not trying to help. You are a self-righteous blowhard who believes that only you are living the true “Way”. And you only descend from your high horse in order to pass judgement on on others.

8. The way of karate is a life-long journey of introspection and self-appraisal. It is a serious pursuit and, like all things human and imperfect, should be joked about.

Get bent,
Brett

And just for fun: In your 5/1/13 article titled, “Tardiness” you quote Funakoshi, “Karate begins and ends with courtesy”. Yet you come to my blog and pass judgement on me and my dedication to my art all based on one article. I hope that bringing your hypocrisy to light has illustrated to you how much more “introspection and self-appraisal” you really need.

Yes! You nailed that one! hahahaha! I’ve done that too!