Golden Sage Martial Arts

Will it work for real?
Martial Art Madness
Observations from Prof. Bob Karnes “Bobasan” 3-26-2022
From my good friend and Master Martial Artist in Hawaii Prof. Steve McLaughlin
“Jujitsu without morality is just so much bad wrestling”
The code of Bushido the Japanese code of the warrior https://www.invaluable.com/blog/history-of-the￾bushido-code/ resembled the a code of honor that emphasized bravery, loyalty, and generosity for the
knights at war in the 11th and 12th centuries.
Bushido in practice
I heard stories about traditional Judo competition before WWII. One story was the Japanese would
sometimes give up a point and protect their opponent if the opponent was about to be severely injured
with a bad counter to the technique. This story taught me compassion on the work out mat. Safety first was insisted upon.
Japanese and Western Judo
At the Kodokan in Japan non-Japanese quests would train separate from the Japanese as the traditionalist
who would fear that the westerner guests without the discipline and natural toughness of the Japanese
race the Americans would be hurt. Some non-Japanese after WWII were studying Judo and given the rank
of Shodan, and they went back to the USA and opened schools although Shodan was a beginner Black Belt
and not yet a teachers rank but a type of courtesy rank in some cases.
Judo and Godo
As American Judo competitions made it to collage age competitors, they were sometimes caught up in the
art that one of my Professors in Judo and Jujitsu called Godo or hard way. These overly aggressive western
competitors would keep count of how many opponents’ arms that they broke as bragging rights not aware
of the code of Bushido or the history and philosophy of Judo the gentle way.
Will it really work? How do I test myself?
Judo divided up teaching into three categories.
Kata
Structured Learning
Randori
Free Practice
Shiai
Testing Oneself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a13EfnmFHRM
Other types of testing oneself using ethical martial arts for self-defense and character development
I followed the Prof. Okazaki DanZan Ryu Jujitsu from my teachers in the American Judo and Jujitsu Federation (AJJF) and the system from my Sensei Herb LaGue, Shodai founder of the Bushidokan International Federation teaching his system of DZR Zenyo Bujutsu.
Many of my peers and teachers teach the Judo Kata but the hard style practice (Shiai and heavy Randori) of western Judo caused many injuries while the western egos and aggressiveness “win at any cost” was not developing the positive character development that was most important. It was fun until you count the permanent injuries that you or your opponent suffered.
To Judo or not to Judo
My Sensei, Herb LaGue trained in traditional Judo under Mack McIntosh and with the French Judo teacher Pierre LaCarre. Herb said after bring awarded his Shodan he wanted to look for his upper Dan ranks to see where he was headed in his Judo study. Herb, Sensei was unable to find an upper Black Belt that did not have various parts of their body taped up and a few had major injuries from Randori competition or from intense Judo practice. It looked like injuries was the price to pay for more rank and Herb, Sensei was not interested in gaining rank in Judo.
As I interacted with Judo players while teaching at a university for a short time the Judo students threw very hard and fast randori style but with an additional crash mat about 8 inches thick placed on the workout mat. I asked can they throw Kata style slower with control, so a crash mat is not needed they said they only knew how to throw hard and fast.
Other ways to safely test oneself
In the DanZan Ryu I study and teach we once used Black Belt rank exams to stress test to students’ ability
to remain calm and effective while relaxed during the 4-to-5-hour test doing 300 or more techniques for
their next black belt. The test for black belt rank became streamlined to 2 hours with fewer arts required to be demonstrated. To be fair the examiners were on a learning curve trying to be fair and not subjective to let their bias and feelings influence the exam. This procedure has been misused by politics in the upper ranks to who want to promote their way of doing the arts or to be critical of the student and their Sensei’s way of doing DZR.
DZR Kata Contests were a good way to test your fears of doing arts in front of your teachers and peers.
This was to be done with scoring based on 1. Safety 2. Variety and Control 3. Overall Effectiveness. With time and legal liabilities to consider the AJJF rules for Kata contests are now 41 pages long. Freestyle was introduced by the end of my association with the AJJF and it was an honor to see it’s creation and to help promote the fine and ethical way to safely compete without the dangers of injury and aggression. Partners not opponents.
https://www.ajjf.org/events-home/contests/
As far as I remember it
Prof. Bob Karnes, Sensei, Hachidan, Shihan
Golden Sage Martial Arts www.bobasan.net

Home | Golden Sage MA Screening and medical tests for all martial art students before and bi yearly after are needed. Two years ago (I am now 66 years old) I was taking falls and teaching rolls and falls as if I was still 28 years old. This was very dangerous and dumb. Prof. Bobasan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YJ4OOdSrP4&t=1s
This mirrors my current approach

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