Karate: Sport or Budo
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics highlighted and boosted the growth of karate as a sport with the kumite and kata very entertaining and the importance of putting on a good show evident over both events. Despite seeming to be widely enjoyed, karate was dropped for the 2024 Paris event. The discussion this stimulated highlights the contrasting values karate as a sport and karate as budō, focused on self-development. Budo is the values and code of conduct that underpins martial arts to emphasise exercising determination, self-restraint, and respect. The values of sport don’t usually align well with the values of budo and this issue provides a way of understanding why our dojo operates as it does. It also relates to the place of sport karate in our students’ learning, how they should behave in karate competition and its place in their karate journey.
From 1868 to 1912 Japan made radical changes from a feudal society to a modern, industrialised state that saw the end of a need for samurai. However, the government maintained and promoted samurai values as the values of all Japanese. This included maintaining the traditions of bujutsu (the way of war) in the development of modern martial arts called budō. This includes judo, kendo, jujutsu, and aikido with karate introduced from Okinawa in the early 1920s and first public demonstration by Gichin Funakoshi in 1922. Despite its late introduction to Japan karate’s practice was guided by the values of budo, as the martial path or way, and the idea of education and moral learning through its practice. The strong values of budo developed from the samurai’s code of conduct and virtues of justice courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honour, and loyalty. They guide the practice of karate as budō but have been increasingly weakened since the end of World War II when karate and other Japanese martial arts became so popular across the globe and developed as sport.
Training in our JWK Karate dojo promotes values and the strong development of individuals through karate. We value the same virtues of the samurai such as courage, loyalty, and respect. Students who wish to complete in tournaments will be fully supported and trained to do their best, which is more important that winning. Competing in tournaments puts you under pressure and helps you to discover yourself. If you win that is a bonus but your behaviour, attitude, effort, and humility, are more important. If you lose it presents an opportunity to reflect and learn. Competition is part of the karate journey through life, but it is not the destination. David Eckford trained with me in Lismore from the age 12 to 17 after which he went to Japan to commit his life to karate. As the only non-Japanese karateka to ever win the All-Japan Karate Championships he told me recently that this idea of tournaments as only part of the journey has governed his path through karate, and he still strongly believes in it.
In our dojo we encourage students of all levels to be restrained, humble, respectful, and focused on their internal development. You need to be humble to learn, be internally aware, and focused. Do not show off or try to impress people. A Japanese saying tells us that ‘Nou aru taka wa tsume wo kakusu” (The clever eagle does not show its talons’) and when I told my Japanese friends and fellow karate students the saying, “Empty vessels make the most noise” they loved it. Showing off and seeking to impress people with your skill is not being humble and lets your opposition know what you have. When you are at a tournament, and you see a likely opponent showing off take note for when you face him/her while keeping your strengths grounded and internal.
Always avoid being ‘hade’ (loud and acting to draw attention) and instead strive for a kensonna (adjective form of humbleness, modesty) attitude. At the Linden dojo where I trained for 6 years in Osaka the only coloured belt before black was brown. We had levels (kyu) but they were not indicated by coloured belts. Your skill, understanding, experience and knowledge should be evident in how you perform, move, and behave rather than relying on the colour of your belt. Keep this in mind in the dojo and at tournaments. In Japan there are coloured belts but mostly for children. Perhaps not having coloured belts tends to make karateka put more effort into training every night to make it clear and feel what level they are.
So far, I have addressed the tension between sport and budo but there is now a term that finds the middle ground. Budo sports (or sports budo), differentiates orthodox budo from sports budo and gives a platform from which to argue against behaviour that is not commonly accepted in budo circles such as fist pumping after a point or a victory, or rude behaviour toward an opponent. Some people might say that, “If karate is going to be promoted as a sport, why can’t the athletes celebrate their point/victory with a fist pump like other sports do?” My response to this would be: “If the sport (karate, judo, kendo, etc) comes under the name of ‘budo sports’ the athletes are expected to follow the precepts of budo, and this is something that distinguishes budo sports from other sports and is an ethos that budo athletes can demonstrate proudly”. In kendo matches, if a competitor celebrates a point, that point is taken away from him or her. I personally think this is commendable, but it clashes with trends in sport that encourage loud and egotistical behaviour such as LIV golf.
