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tom-shea
White Belt
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 1
Location: Billerica, MA
Styles: Shotokan
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 7:00 am Post subject: Kaizen - Daily Improvement |
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This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community.
Kaizen is a Japanese word that is simply translated as improvement. However, like many Japanese terms, the word encompasses far more than its literal English translation. It means more than simple improvement and instead suggests continuous, gradual, orderly and never ending improvement, as well as the willingness to pursue incremental improvement a small step at a time. The concept of kaizen in Karate training means that your techniques must be a little bit better than they were yesterday.
A ski instructor once provided me with an important example of kaizen. Despite living in New England all of my life, I never attained any skill at skiing. Finally, during a winter vacation, I enrolled in a week long ski program at a local ski resort. We would ski in a group lesson in the morning, then have free skiing time in the afternoon. One evening, after the third day of lessons, I ran into my ski instructor in the pub. He greeted me enthusiastically and asked how my free skiing went that day. I told him that I thought I did great... he asked how many times I fell. I proudly replied, "None!" He shouted as if perplexed, "None?!?!?!?," and shook his head sadly. When he saw the confused look on my face, he continued, "I thought you would try harder than that," then patted me on the shoulder and walked away. He later explained that he wanted his students to push themselves at least a little beyond their abilities and if I had done that, I would have fallen down at least a few times. Since then, whenever a student falls down in my class while we are practicing spinning kicks or flying kicks, I congratulate them for pushing a little beyond and tell them the above story about my ski instructor.
I consider that kaizen is a perfect approach to Karate training for two reasons. The first is obvious: each time I enter the dojo I try to make everything I do be just a little bit better than the day before. The additional hidden meaning that I find in the concept of kaizen in training is not to become impatient, push too hard and frustrate myself. Rather, I strive to maintain incremental, but constant improvements. Life is busy and complex... I feel that it is important to have patience with yourself and incorporate your training into a pattern that you can maintain. In the end you will progress further. I used to run one mile a day, every day, on the grounds of the university where I worked. It took less than 15 minutes to change into my running clothes, complete the mile and change back into my regular clothes and didn't leave me overly winded, so I could integrate it into a daily routine. After a while, I increased my run to 3 miles. Unfortunately, this became too much of a challenge ... a burden, actually ... for an everyday approach and, not wanting to step back down to only one mile (which psychologically felt like quitting), I actually ended up skipping more and more days of running, always under the guise of being too busy and promising to get to it tomorrow, sometimes justified, sometimes not. As a more extreme example, I've seen many students and many of my peers over the years, dive head first into karate, training every night, staying after class and doing extra. What typically happens is that these people burn out after a relatively short time and never train in karate again. While it is certainly true that I had my lazy periods and could have devoted more time to training here and there, I'm still at it decades after I started and I am convinced that this is because of maintaining an overall approach of small, but consistent, advances. Kaizen.
The same approach is what can help anyone maximize their abilities at daily tasks, including school, studying a musical instrument, painting, etc. It can also help one overcome major but temporary tasks like writing a term paper, a thesis, or remodeling a house, etc. _________________ "Train more than you sleep" -Mas Oyama |
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Patrick
KF Administrator
Joined: 01 May 2001
Posts: 28758
Location: Los Angeles, California
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Sohan
Black Belt
Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 1986
Location: Atlanta
Styles: Shorin Ryu Karate-Do, Muay Thai, Shudokan Karate-Do, Boxing, BJJ, Hung Gar Gung Fu
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 1:01 pm Post subject: |
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Great article! With your permission, I'd like to distribute it to my class--with full credit to you.
With respect,
Sohan _________________ "If I cannot become one of extraordinary accomplishment, I will not walk the earth." Zen Master Nakahara Nantenbo
"A man who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in his every action." Samuarai maxim
"Knowing others is wisdom; knowing yourself is Enlightenment." Lao-Tzu |
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lordtariel
Black Belt
Joined: 19 Jan 2006
Posts: 1709
Location: Oregon
Styles: (Past)Judo, Yang Family Tai Chi, (Current)Shito-Ryu Karate, Kobudo(Tonfajitsu)
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Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 10:45 am Post subject: |
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That was great! Thanks for the article. _________________ There's no place like 127.0.0.1 |
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cathal
Black Belt
Joined: 20 Nov 2003
Posts: 2237
Location: Atlantic Canada
Styles: Shotokan (Ryukyu Kobujutsu, Iaido)
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 10:22 am Post subject: |
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That is a very good story and will definitely help anyone training in martial arts. Thanks for sharing _________________ .
The best victory is when the opponent surrenders
of its own accord before there are any actual
hostilities...It is best to win without fighting.
- Sun-tzu |
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ninjanurse
KF VIP
Joined: 13 Feb 2003
Posts: 6154
Location: Upstate NY
Styles: TKD;Shotokan;JuJitsu;Tai Ji
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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It is "kaizen" that I try to instill in my students everyday in the hopes that one day they will embrace it on their own. Thanks for the article!
_________________ "A Black Belt is only the beginning."
Heidi-A student of the arts
Tae Kwon Do,Shotokan,Ju Jitsu,Modern Arnis
http://the100info.tumblr.com/ |
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Killer Miller
Brown Belt
Joined: 29 Nov 2002
Posts: 732
Location: California
Styles: JKA Shotokan
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Scotty
Yellow Belt
Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Posts: 92
Location: Newcastle, England
Styles: HSD Karate, Kickboxing, boxing
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Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 9:57 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I know the word kaizen from my business studies in school. Never really thought about its MA application. Nice story! _________________ The best armour is to keep out of range. |
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bushido_man96
KF Sensei
Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 30188
Location: Hays, KS
Styles: Taekwondo, Combat Hapkido, Aikido, GRACIE, Police Krav Maga, SPEAR
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ps1
Black Belt
Joined: 09 Nov 2004
Posts: 3025
Location: NE Ohio
Styles: Chuan Fa, Shotokan, JJJ, BJJ
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for the wonderful article!! _________________ "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenius." |
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