This is a subjective subject similar to terminology because like terms it depends on a plethora of factors where the cultural belief system differences of Asia vs. America can be so wide and deep they make the Grand Canyon seem like a pothole. People, once they reach a certain stage in training and practice, will venture forth to other dojo, other systems and other styles only to find that each one is “different” in the etiquette department. I short, it depends on where you are, who is running things, and the atmosphere and attitude of practitioners, sensei and dojo. Don’t sweat it, there are far more important things to learn, understand and apply then whether or not you bowed properly or deeply enough.
What folks should know and understand is that most of the etiquette performed in the dojo, regardless of whether in Asia or America, etc., is not strictly dojo centric, I.e., these customs come from the social structure, culture and beliefs of the Asian people so when they first opened the dojo doors those same things naturally and unconsciously came to be in the dojo. Folks thought that it was a karate, martial art and dojo thing.
I see the Asian art of etiquette as a “yin” thing while American etiquette as “yang.” Total and complete polar opposites that often Americans get wrong more than right. You see, as I know you can see all sides of this subject, Asian cultural systems use, “shikata” for everything. It explains a lot why asking questions and such in the dojo, as in society in general, is not done simply because each Japanese is expected to follow shikata process meaning in a mental way they already know what is expected and just need to apply and adjust that shikata to the discipline itself.
Shikata [仕方]
The characters/ideograms mean "way; method; means; resource; course." The first character means, "attend; doing; official; serve," the second character means, "direction; person; alternative."
The character, Romanization word, was found through the original book of reference, the Shin Gi Tai, by Mike Clarke where a reference was made as to karate kata being of greater importance over the system of Te vs. the current belief that kata is a part of Te. Clarke Sensei's reference material led me to the book on Kata or "Shikata."
In that study material we find references to "kanji." I will try to bring a bit of interest to this by some data that led me to believe that kata drives Japan, and I believe now Okinawan, Karate - shikata.
Shikata is often referred to simply as "kata" for brevity so I will do the same in this and any follow-up postings. But I want to begin with references to "kanji" to continue this particular post because kanji seems, from my studies so far, to be the reason for kata.
Some historical influences to kata begin with Shintoism, the way of the Gods. Then of importance is Buddhism, Confucianism, the ideographic writing system, and other cultural influences from China. All this led to a "highly controlled behavior" model that would express subservience and respect toward superior beings. There are then presented various other factors that led to kata in Japan that should be fully understood so "read the book."
This post tho wants to speak to what the author presented as the "mother of kata." Kanji, what was called by the Japanese as "Chinese Letters." Korean scribes transcribed Japanese language into Kanji. The writing of kanji involved other principles but in a nutshell it resulted in a particular form of training to lean how to read and write the complicated characters where the strokes to create kanji became kata-ized, i.e. the conjoining strokes were taught is very specific order and there were no deviations allowed. It was referred to as "way of writing" or "Kaki-kata."
The mental concentration and mechanical aspects of writing in kanji required memorization and that is done by repetitive practice over time. It involved thousands of kanji characters which were more of a translation of concepts communicated by sounds vs. simply utilization of what we use, i.e. A, B, C's which also became a very personalized experience with strong mental or psychological aspects.
The mental concentration was governed by specificity in a kata like manner. The learning process for kanji resulted in a high degree of the sense of group harmony of form and style, which imbued a deep sense of aesthetics. An art form or way of writing. It also, much like we profess to achieve in karate kata practice, provided a means to increase a person's patience and to persevere in all they do to an extreme.
The requirement to practice and learn kanji became the "way" to shape Japanese physically, intellectually and emotionally further binding them to the group mentality through this kata of the kanji writing. This became a core aspect along with others to create their group style culture.
Every person in Japan were now required to follow this kanji-kata to create these characters in a manner that became an art form which is known today as "Sho-Do or Way of the Brush." We call it calligraphy.
Writing kanji also denoted one as being of great character and worth. Thus was born shikata or kata. It is not much of a stretch even for non-Japanized persons practicing the Asian traditional martial arts to see that this led to the kata within the art from the kata-mization of the art itself. As you read the book on its many subjects which are all governed by their individual kata you begin to get a fundamental understanding beyond our limited view of what we perceived, until now, as karate kata.
I may have it right or maybe wrong but you can begin to see why understanding of the kanji that describe the sounds as some more conceptual meaning could lead to greater understanding of our practice and training.
And now you know, the beginning of the story!
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