You are only as good as this morning’s workout. That’s always been my training motto and I stick by it. I haven’t always been able to train every morning, sometimes I have taken time off from training for periods and I have even had periods of downright slackness. But I never lost sight of that truth: I am only as good as the training I did this morning. It’s a good approach. It keeps you honest.

The grading system in the martial arts often leads to self-deception. The black belt is not like a university degree, which, once you achieve it, that’s that. Rather, it is like a milestone, a marker by the side of the road, the continuous path of self-improvement that only stops when you stop wanting to improve. And as Sosai said, there is no standing still in training; you are either training and progressing, or not training and falling behind.

I think grades should be periodically retested if we want to keep them. As one ages certain aspects of the grading can be changed. The technical and psychological aspects can  change according to the age of the student. So a 50 year old who re-sits a 5th Dan may not be required to do 30 or 40 hard rounds, but he should be required to show consistency in his technique, improved timing, maintained or improved flexibility, and an increase in understanding of what he is doing. He should also be able to show he has gone deeper with his karate wherever possible. Instead we see too many 5th dans who rest on their laurels, wind down their training with all the excuses of life, but still expect to receive the respect and privileges of the 5th Dan.

I don’t mean be harsh on yourself. Life should primarily be lived in joy. But if one wishes to be respected as a martial artist, the respect should be humbly earned, not demanded.

Throw your belt away. If we all did that it would end so much of the bullshit we see in the martial arts. And whilst you’re at it, throw the ego away with it. “Shoshin o wasurezu.” Do not forget the spirit of the beginner. It is the beginner who is humble, hungry and open. Like the sign says, leave your ego at the door when you enter the dojo. There are always greater and lesser persons than ourself. If you think you’re better than the next guy, go and win the Hawaii Ironman. Sponsor an orphan. Spend your weekends helping those in need. Meditate without fidgeting for an hour. Humility is a valley that gathers the rains of all good things. Pride is a barren mountain which may look good from a distance but up close serves no real purpose to anyone.

I had a workout at the gym with my mate Lee Sang Tai last weekend. Lee Sang is a personal trainer in Sydney who is somewhere in his fifties but has a biological age of about 35. It caned me and I realized how much I have to do. Not for any reason other than that’s what we do as students of Mas Oyama. We set goals, we train and we reset the goals. We do it with joy. And we stay humble, being honest with ourselves. The reward of training is training itself. Not for the challenge, but for the humility. What is the Spirit of Osu? We read many interpretations, but at the end of the day, it is humility.

Osu.

Cameron