Martial Artists Aren't Liars!
by O'Sensei Phil Porter
I’ve been
administering Martial Arts rank promotions for 52 years. When I
came back from England while serving in the Air Force in 1958, I was
elected as Secretary of the old SAC-ARDC Judo Society, and that’s
how it all began.
At that time we
had several hundred black belts registered, and we handled only
Judo. We required that for every black belt, we had to have in our
files a photo copy of his or her Kodokan (Japanese Judo Institute)
rank certificate. As our new Secretary, I carefully searched our
files and found that for about 50 of our black belts, we had no
Kodokan rank certificate.
With relentless
zeal, I wrote to both the Kodokan and to the US Kodokan affiliates
(called “yudanshakai” or black belt groups) about the rank status of
every single one of these members. In every case, without
exception, I found that they indeed had the rank they claimed! We
verified them all, every one. That’s when I became convinced that
Martial Artists don’t lie about rank matters, they would be ashamed
to do so.
Not that we
haven’t found exceptions to this rule, we have. Over the past 52
years I can remember at least four cases where someone lied about
his fights won, his years in the arts, or some other aspect of his
background. The truth is that less than one out of a thousand
Budoka will falsify their records. However, just as soon as these
people’s ranks are published, leaders who knew the facts immediately
contacted me (and maybe a host of other leaders!) to expose the
falsehoods. The ranks, if any, were rescinded.
This means we have a sort of
self-correcting feedback system. In the long run liars can’t get
away with it, and they realize it.
Everyone knows
that there are big variations in ability. We all know of teachers
who claim to know everything, but you can’t get them to get out on
the mat to teach in front of people who are really competent. We
have an expression that covers these people: “Everybody Knows
Who Can Dance!” All of us who have been kicked around for
20, 30 or even 50 years can spot a phony in about two minutes
watching him or her attempt to demonstrate, teach or coach. But
that’s just physical ability. These same people might be highly
qualified in other aspects of the Martial Arts.
Rank is awarded
for many reasons. In Japan, the birthplace of Judo, JuJitsu, Aikido
and Shotokan Karate, leaders are sometimes awarded 8th
Dan for large monetary contributions made for the benefit of Judo
development. In fact 8th Dan is often defined as
“Important person of the Martial Arts.” Certainly, a donation of a
million dollars or more makes one an important person indeed. All
this is not to say that our USMA rank system is perfect. It’s not.
It’s just the best system that has ever been developed. Please read
my other essays on ranks in the Martial Arts for further
information.
You are always in
my heart,
O-Sensei Philip
S. Porter
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