I started karate at a local community centre in my old primary school building when I was around 18 years old. The Sensei was my next door neighbour, Rab.
Rab was a cool dude, he had heaps of martial art VHS videos (mostly Bruce Lee) and a very cool old karate book, which he gifted to me and I still have it. That was the first karate book in what has grown to be a big collection.
I'm not sure who passed Rab for his black belt or how much I knew about his own karate experience. But I remember clear as day walking him home back to our street after a training session one day and asking him what style of karate we were practicing. It sounded like he replied "sho ho kan" - but this was just a thick Scottish accent destroying the actual word - "Shotokan"
I cannot recall why or when I stopped training there, or even if I got passed white belt.
My next class was also in a school - my high school. I'm pretty sure it wasn't until after I had left school though so it must have been around 1987. This was a more formal class as it was part of the JKA with regular courses and gradings.
I was always procrastinating though so, it was many years until I sat 1st Dan in front of the fearsome Sensei Enoeda. I failed every aspect of the grading, basics, kata and kumite. I remember being at early age peak fitness in those days. After class I headed to the showers absolutely sweating - brilliant. And I thought my karate was brilliant too. Clearly not however, because on the second attempt I also badly failed again.
The second fail was really damaging. I thought my karate was good, and nobody was telling me any otherwise. And back then there were no online resources to compare yourself against. I was non-plussed, what was going on?
I kept training regular and eventually Sensei Enoeda passed me for 1st Dan on the 3rd attempt.
I remember my coach reminding me that black belt was just the start of the journey, "when you pass black belt, your merely have the basic tools that allow you to properly learn karate". And I gave my most convincing "yes, of course, I understand". But back then, for anyone who not in the know, black belt was black belt - the epitome of training, a master!
As one continues training as a dan grade though, the truth of those words rings very very true. In fact, understanding that realism is what drives a dan grade to continue, to continuously improve, and strive ever onward.
After many years I would pass 2nd Dan, and then many years later 3rd Dan. More recently 4th Dan was on the horizon however my focus was on personal improvement. I had been on so many courses with high ranking JKS and latterly JKS instructors that I knew what a properly delivered technique should look like, how to develop power, and all the common errors. I knew it, but wasn't doing it. At that point I was my own worst critic, and when I watched myself in the mirror, or in a video, I could see plenty of difficulties that were not up to standard and needed a lot of work. So for me, 4th Dan was a long way off.
Karate is not a certificate on the wall for me anymore - that feeling stopped after 2nd Dan. It was all about being the best I could be, and being my own worst critic, that was going to be a long journey.
Eventually I ran my own karate club under the JKS umbrella. It was great for many years. Teaching is an absolutely fantastic way to improve your own karate and I loved it. Both my kids joined my class and I loved having them there and seeing them pass their gradings and come up the coloured belts. However COVID put an end to my club which never recovered from lockdowns etc.
I became a judge at karate championships, and judged at the JKS World Championships, one of my greatest and proudest achievements.
Then, after decades of training without much of a break at all, I had prolonged time off due to a significant life event. Eventually though, I refused to let life deny me of my Karate, my way of life. I started training again around 1 year later. Not in my old club, not in a dojo, not in my Gi, not with my blackbelt on, but on my own, in a sports centre hall, in a t-shirt and trackies.
And I loved it.
It's not a stretch to say it saved me.
After a few months I came up with the idea of learning all 50 Shotokan kata, then completing them in one continuous performance. It might surprise some to know that after 40 odd years training, I did not know all 50 kata well enough to perform them all, however for reasons I might go into in another entry, the fact is I only knew around half of them well enough to perform.
So, approx 25 "new" kata to learn, then the stamina to complete them all in one performance. I'm thinking this would be around 1500 moves, but I've not done the proper arithmetic on that one just yet. Too busy training.
Edit > It's actually 2,554 moves!
Karate for life.