Of you want to lead learn to follow... Another discussion on Rank & Politics.

I was sitting here watching over past Game of Thrones seasons. And, I came across a phrase I heard many times in the military, "If you want lead, first learn to follow."

Most people don't get this but, you will hear it in team sports as well. What does it mean? It means that you must first learn to do things you would not enjoy doing. To place a greater focus on duty, to follow orders to fulfill a goal, then do what is comfortable or desired. You learn to do this under the command of someone else.

But, the thing is this person doesn't just command, they lead. Leaders lead the way, as the saying goes. A leader sets the example by action. They don't tell you to suffer being cold, wet, tired and hungry. They do it with you, suffering in silence as they place duty above comfort. They take satisfaction in things they have suffered through. They set the example. They might be telling you what to do but, they are following someone else's orders. Someone else is telling them "go here be miserable and do it for a reason they may not fully understand." More important then leading you is following the orders they are given to reach goals needed to fulfill the mission.

That kind of experience prepares you to lead. Leading means you set the example. In terms of martial arts this is seen as instructors who lack the discipline or resolve to lead by setting the example. Setting this example can go from lying about others, drawing out conflicts and drama and, making up stories about themselves.

A self-styled "master" or "Soke" is not so much a concern to the martial arts world, it is often other frauds declaring others to ne frauds. Nor do they really matter, as far as that goes that someone is legitimate or not. What is a legitimate martial art anyway? A system useful for self-defense is legitimate to some. A system with a long lineage is legitimate to others. A system with aliveness practiced in sporting competition is a legitimate martial art to others... What someone considers legitimate is of no real consequence.

Why? I know your mind is riddled with that word, that question of why not? Or why this or what if that? It doesn't matter because by and large the martial arts is a joke. Rank is not of much concern as ability. A boxer with no rank and a certain amount of ability holds a great deal more respect in a fight then someone with a belt or a piece of paper saying they are 10th Dan grand guru.

When discussing the matter of rank, I have heard people argue which is better the Kyu/Dan system or the Menkyo system. This is honestly a pointless debate. A Menkyo license was simply a means of controlling a trade within a geographic area by means of granting certain members of incorporated families to practice a trade and to what standard. Menkyo could be given or taken away based on internal politics and carried as much weight as a grade in the Kyu/Dan system.

In the Kyu/Dan System, martial arts rank and a teaching license among the various organizations are regulated by the parent organization. Much like the Menkyo system, a license to teach must be issued by the parent organization. If a person doesn't have the ability to follow someone who taught them their art, they don't have character or experience to make a good teacher. They were never a student.

If you want to lead, you must understand how to follow. We've covered how a good leader leads by example. A good teacher doesn't just show you techniques, they build you up and set the example by doing it themselves. Of you want to teach, you must understand what it is like to learn.

This is vitally important for a teacher to do this because, they must put themselves in a position of a student. Rank is not a sign of skill, it is a sign of position. The only sign of skill is ones ability to fight... A good fighter doesn't aways make a good teach but a good student makes a great teacher.

You see, the Kyu/Dan system is based on the grades in the Japanese public school system. Each belt, each grade is a level of training based on learning certain material. Using this system you would learn certain techniques, principles and forms at each grade. A person who was studying and practicing advanced levels of training (Dan or Black belt grade) students. Much like the Menkyo system a licensed instructor would have a teaching license issued by the parent organization. They would meet certain qualifications and standards.

In Brazilian Jujitsu, rank is awarded based on the standard of how well one does in competition. Now there are a host of things competition doesn't prepare you for. But, there are a host of things competition does provide.

In some styles of Karate, competition and kata are part of the standard for gaining rank. In other styles of karate only kata are used to determine rank. Some styles of karate use non-contact or light contact sparring, something common during the early years of karate in the 40s to the 60s, others are more concerned with full contact sparring (something pioneered by the late Count Dante/John Keehan).

What you study produces the results for skill and knowledge. I could easily point to "legitimate martial arts" which are utterly useless in real life self-defense situations. The simplest truth is that, rank has no bearing on skill. Rank is much like going to college, before you can have the rank to teach you must first "pay your dues."

A student learns the basics, gains the knowledge just as a college professor must start with kindergarten when they are child, graduate from basics of grade school to attend Jr High and High school. Graduate from high school attend college. The more vital the course and harder to requirments to graduate. Martial arts are no different the harder the training the higher the standards placed on the student.

In my little country state of West Virginia we have people who graduate from the school of hard knocks. Often many street fighters having been raised in violent homes and associating with violet people they develop traits that most martial arts, except for the full contact competitive sports, don't produce.

So in viewing martial arts as physical skills with technical knowledge akin to automotive repair or being an electrician. Rank is either a social position within an organization or a grade of learned knowledge and physical skill.

In terms of tradesmanship, I have friend who would make an excellent example. She is a wonderful mechanic. She is a better mechanic then her husband and while he has a certification in automotive repair she has years of working on cats with her father. She lacks the certification to get a job in a autoshop but, she has the knowledge to repair a car and could as an uncertified mechanic open her own automotive shop.

It doesn't matter what the rank structure is Kyu/Dan system, Menkyo Kaiden System or a simple system of titles. Perhaps a hybred system of all three...

The reflection on rank is also a reflection on attitudes and political ideologies. Those obsessed with rank and titles are often obsessed with what rank others have or claim. Who cares if a person claims to be a grandmaster in a martial art? I don't remember Royce Gracie claiming to ne a grandmaster or even claiming to ne a master. We know je is a master by his competition record and demonstrated skills. I don't think he is a master as Tae Kwon Do style jump spinning back kicks or Wing Chun style trapping. I also don't want a proctologist doing my open heart surgery either. I mean they are both doctors right?

In American politics we have seen a similar argument about professional politicians and how Donald Trump isn't one. We see an idea of "experts" being used to declare someone without said and presumed "expert certifications" as a basis for taking away said "non-experts" rights. This is seen in the justifications for the anti-Trump rioting and for every 2nd Amendment Argument where it was said people don't need guns (non-experts) because we have police officers (experts). Yet even the experts have issues with exessive force and wrongful death based on mistakes that have been made.

When addressing rank does the rank matter or the context of the knowledge and context of the claimed expertise? Do you demand the world comform to your desires for how they should think and act, like the millions rioting because they did not get the president they wanted or, do you make the best of what you have and accept the ranks of others as imperfect productions outside the context of your martial arts system?

What is Rank..?

I had a nice discussion with a friend when talking about rank in martial arts... We both have two separate levels of thought, his is shaped by what his "Sensei" (I don't know the Korean word for it) says "That Rank cannot be taken away it is a sign of skill." I say rank is meaningless and can be taken away just as easily as it can be lost. There is a different in having rank taken away and losing your rank. To see where my thinking goes on this, you need to understand how I see rank and why I don't put much stock in it.

What is rank? Lets start with what is rank in the first place. The Kyu/Dan grading system as we know it was invented by Kano Jugaro, who copied the Japanese school system grading for progression in public school and took some insights from an English school uniform where the students of different grades wore colored school suit jackets. The older Koryu systems in Japan used no such measure but instead had a simple method of grading the students in martial arts... They used a simple ranking structure Deshi (student) and Sensei (teacher). Sensei taught Deshi, the Sensei was the Sempai (senior student) of the Shihan (master). A Shihan was someone awarded the status of teaching those who did the teaching. Now that sounds awesome right, a Master Teacher!

The reality is that the "Sensei" might not be in a great position to stand out as a teacher because the "sensei" might only be a Deshi who is a little further along then you. While you are learning from him, you are also his test from the real Sensei who wants to see if he understands the ideas and how to demonstrate them. In the old system of ranking and in martial arts a Deshi was give a series of certificates showing they had studied a certain art... this is not limited to martial arts but to flower arranging, tea ceremonies and so on. This system was called Menkyo or License and referred to licensing someone in a martial art.

Someone who starts training was sometimes given a Okuiri or a license that says they had entered into the art and what day. Okuiri is made up of two words Oku meaning secret and iri meaning enter and can be translated to mean to enter secretly or to enter into the secrecy of learning an art or trade. Many times this is a contract between the student and master to uphold the Dojo Kun or Kun of the art. This is symbolic of the student's oath to never teach methods to those outside the organization. After a time following basic training, one was given a Mokuroku license meaning one had been entered into the official school roles as a student. Again it varies between traditions and many such systems simply don't issue a certificate to the student for the Okuiri or Mokuroku grades, some do. One is not a student until they are a Mokuroku student. Shomokuroku is a license to learn the basics of an art. Many arts do not award a license until one can gain a Shomokuroku license can mean you have learned the basics of an art or system or that you are permitted to learn. A Gomokuroku holder is someone who has learned the Advanced methods of an Art. Most times Mokuroku was a blanket for Shomokuroku and Gomokuroku rank.

So a Shomokuroku grade would call a Gomokuroku a Sensei when they were helping them to learn the basics but a Gomokuroku would call a Shomokuroku Deshi and Menkyo holder, a lincensed teacher would call both Deshi or the Shomokuroku Sempai. Menkyo means license and means the bearer is a licensed teacher. A holder of a Menkyo Kaiden was a license of full transmission and a founder or successor known as a Soke.

You have to understand were this form of ranking comes in and what it means... This isn't a form of martial arts rank but a form of Iemoto or Soke system ranking for trade guilds/clans (families tied togather via politics, marriage and economics) that became common after the Sengoku period of war. The "martial artists" during this time were in fact warriors and many were in fact conscripted farmers and tradesmen. A samurai, even a Jizamurai or country samurai, might be trained in a particular school of combat using the same Menkyo system as the trade guilds for pottery, painting and so on.

A student's dedication might be judged by giving them pointless tasks to judge the student's worth and character. This is entering into the Okuiri status, certain students or prospective students would be trained and skip the Okuiri status because their family had to serve in a particular function. Others had to be Okuiri for a time to judge them, this is a copy of systems for licensing trades during the feudal Japanese system. Graduation from the Okuiri status or just by being born into the position. Mokuroku/Shomokuroku meant was learning the basics and being licensed or certified in the basics meant one was a low level martial artist or bushi/warrior.

During the Sengoku period many peasants and even some lower status merchants were given a Shomokuroku license to be used as Ashigaru (Light Feet or Light Infantry) warriors. Some wealthier merchants and low ranking samurai or even a few jizamurai (country samurai) acted as Non-Commissioned Officers or Sergeants leading groups (or squads if you like as Ashigaru). Some such samurai even made up whole columns of elite shock troops & mounted archers in battle, these warriors were ranked in a particular school of warfare or combat as a Gomokuroku. With many high ranking Jizamurai in the country and many lower ranking samurai from the cities ranked as Menkyo or licensed teachers.

Only a Soke held the Menkyo Kaiden (License of Full transmission) but during times of war the Soke often made sure his students were "over qualified" as the better one's school proved in warfare, the better it's reputation and more people paid to be trained. So for this reason Menkyo was awarded sparingly and each Menkyo holder had to pay the Soke to teach their traditions. During Tokugawa period the schools of combat were limited to geographical regions and training became more expensive, as not only could one pay to learn a system of combat and/or warfare but one could also pay to be protected by those trained within said schools. Thus, under the Tokugawa Shogunate Ashigaru became part of the Samurai caste of warrior governors, below the Jizamurai. This also limited training to the Samurai caste (a form of peasant disarmament).

Many schools of warfare and combat died off and a few survived being passed down along family lines. Some started new schools but it was of little concern with staged Shiai or Contests between rival schools that was basically as realistic as modern professional wresting. One Soke would argue and challenge the other Soke, then student's would fight in tournaments, Shiai, that charged people to watch said bouts. Both Soke were in on the rigged and dramatic displays to attract spectators. How does this answer the question of what is rank?

Because it demonstrates that rank is nothing more then a means of controlling competition and generating revenue or social status. In some cases when the head of family died and heir did not earn their Menkyo Kaiden, they were given a Menkyo Kaiden to "rubber stamp" Licenses while they learned their whole art in secret often from instructor holding only a Menkyo themselves. In trades the rank of Menkyo Kaiden is awarded only after one has been a part of the art for 30 or more years but it does not make one a Soke in the Iemoto tradition.

If this ranking system is based around making money and limiting competition to from one's own students what does it really say about the Menkyo ranking system? Rank is like this, I can train in a martial art and have a Menkyo after many years. I can teach and pay a Soke (if the Iemoto system was active) to do so in his name, and use the name of his art. If I failed to pay the Soke for using his art to teach my Menkyo could be revoked. Just like if I was a Ashigaru who rose to being a minor samurai in the country, a jizamurai and I displeased my Shugodai (governor appointed by the Shogun) I could find my status dropped to Ashigaru again and lose control of the lands I managed/ruled. So rank once given could always be taken away...

More so, can rank be lost? Rank can be lost... If Rank is a sign of skill then one must always work to achieve greater skill. If one fails to train due to illness or injury, or because one has to spend more time working and caring for one's family in today's complicated, fast paced world... skill gets degraded and in time can be lost. Its like being a doctor, you can be an awesome heart surgeon... but, if you stop operating for a year, you might have all the knowledge you always had but you don't have the practice. This is why, non-martial arts Menkyo systems require only a Menkyo to achieve full transmission and why Menkyo Kaiden is awarded after 30 years of practicing said skills.

Rank is an illusion mankind's need to seek status... What to prove your skills are effective, fight someone. Want to prove your rank means something, show it! In nature the Alpha is the strongest who proves his strength and the others fall to wayside. In our unnatural human civilization, tokens of status such as rank is the illusion of having proven ourselves. Rank does not will a fight, skills do and skilled fighter might not have rank to show for it.