WELL, THAT WAS FUN...

 by Phillip Starr

As Westerners, we place a lot of value on “having fun” when we engage in various activities, including martial arts. Having been involved in teaching the martial ways for more than five decades (and practicing them for more than six), I will say that more emphasis is placed on this idea than in years past. For those instructors who run full-time schools, it has become one of the top priorities of their class curriculum; after all, if students don't have fun in training, aren't they less likely to continue to attend class? Probably. Our priorities are flawed.

When you enroll in a martial arts school/group in the East, the #1 priority is learning the art and acquiring skill as opposed to having “fun.” They feel that strength of will and spirit, and the building of character is achieved primarily through very hard training. Period. For instance, kendo is very arduous and rigorous. After training one day, one young man remarked to his friend that “class today was a lot of fun.” He didn't notice that the instructor happened to be standing within earshot. The next day's class was fairly brutal...

The teacher(s) aren't trying to mistreat students at all; they're determined to teach them an authentic martial discipline and assist them in becoming better people. Spirit and character, they feel, is not to be developed any other way. I've had many students over the years who expressed a desire to learn the “spiritual” side of the martial ways, but were apalled at the severity of the training. The spiritual side of these arts is not to be achieved through meditation or simply reading about it; the spiritual truths are revealed only through relentless training over a period of time.

Now, I'm not anti-fun or anything like that...having fun has its place in training, but for the most part, training should be serious and rigorous.