Picking a Martial Arts School in the Phoenix Valley

Horror stories abound about many martial arts schools in the Phoenix valley. One of the largest traditional American-Okinawan-Japanese martial arts associations in the country, which has ties and lineage traced to Okinawa and Japan, notes that more than 85% of martial arts instructors and schools, have no proof of lineage, with instructors displaying diplomas purchased on- line from diploma mills. So, you can be guaranteed to run into this problem when searching for a school. 

So, why doesn't government control the licensing of martial arts instructors?

Heaven forbid if that ever happens!

Government is even more ignorant of martial arts. 

One school we are familiar with in France, teaches out of a Catholic School, because the French bureaucrats do not recognize Shorin-Ryu karate, and instead they only license Shotokan karate.  This is insane, particularly if one has any knowledge of martial arts history.

Shorin-Ryu karate is one of the primary forms of karate developed on Okinawa hundreds of years ago, the home of karate. Karate was invented on Okinawa! So, in this sense, France is outlawing the most legitimate karate schools, because the government is ignorant of history.

'Aerial karate', original sketch
courtesy of Soke Hausel

In 1922, a master of karate from Okinawa by the name of Gichin Funakoshi traveled to mainland Japan and taught Okinawan Shorin-Ryu at Jigoro Kano's dojo in Tokyo. Kano is known for many things including the creation of judo from jujutsu, a modern yudansha-mudansha ranking system for martial artists, and the introduction of judo and kendo to the school curriculum in Japan, which later opened the door to karate clubs in Japan's schools. After teaching the Japanese Shorin-Ryu karate for decades, the Japanese members of his dojo decided to rename the simplified Shorin-Ryu after Funakoshi. Funakoshi wrote some articles and books under the pen name of Shoto, so his students called their karate Shotokan in his honor. Even though it is called Shotokan, it is actually Shorin-Ryu karate without kobudo. So, you should now understand how ignorant the French government is about karate. And based on what we have seen in the past with government in general, it is not something we would like government to get involved in. After all, it was just last year (2019) that Arizona finally made it legal for Shorin-Ryu martial artists to carry and train with nunchaku in public, and the Arizona legislature had no idea why the Okinawan farmers' tool had even been outlawed. 

'Eye of the tiger' original sketch by
Soke Hausel

We know of a husband and wife combination of legitimate martial arts instructors from Gilbert Arizona, with proper credentials and the wife was even of Japanese samurai lineage. They both taught periodically in a Mesa karate dojo, and mentioned that their grand-children were taking classes from a martial arts school in the East Valley that had no evidence of lineage or proper certification. The owner of the dojo (a dojo is a place for training in the traditional martial arts as well as a place to practice sane meditation. Dojos are places for dao, and typically include arts that end with the suffix - 'do', meaning a 'path' or the 'way'), periodically would walk into and interrupt classes and lean against the wall wearing a jacket over his gi, and talk to the students while sipping on a can of coca-cola. His instructors were teenage black belts. The grandparents were appalled at their daughter's choice.

In another case, another mother took her two kids to two popular dojos in Gilbert, Arizona. One was described on its own website to be mixed martial arts (note - there is no such thing as mixed martial arts). After leaving that school, she moved to another school near the Gilbert town hall. This one taught the kids how to do forward rolls, run around in circles, do push-ups, while a lady screamed on top of her lungs (and wearing street clothes) different orders. She had two large teens wearing yellow and white belts as her assistant instructors as they taught the kids everything but karate - yet this was listed as a martial arts school and the class was listed as a beginners kid's class.

So, learn what you can about martial arts, history of martial arts, what it requires to be an instructor, what a diploma looks like, and search the internet about the schools before you waste thousands of dollars on a bogus contract.

There are many things one can look for in searching martial arts schools - here are a few:
(1) Is the instructor's diploma available to view - is it written mostly in kanji?
(2) Is the school affiliated with a international martial arts association?
(3) Is the school a mixed martial arts school?
(4) Does the school have a kamidama? Do they recognize the shoman of the dojo?
(5) Check the internet and search the name of the dojo, the name of the association, and the name of the instructor.

Women's Self-Defense Clinics

We attended a self-defense clinic at the Chandler Public Library.  Few people (including martial artists) would have ever thought that so many things could be used for self-defense - magazines, books, credit cards, PCs, cell phones, car keys, spare change, pens, belts, staplers, chairs, cups, tote bags, purses, brief cases and even reading glasses. The instructor kept pointing out that we are surrounded by weapons in libraries, homes, restaurants, schools, etc. We just need to learn to use them. Any object of just about any size and mass can be quickly made into a martial arts weapon. 

(C) by Soke Hausel

The clinic focused on weapons because the instructor noted that few people taking such clinics will show the initiative or interest to sign up for a martial arts class, so by learning to use weapons, the librarians will have a better chance of survival from an attack on the street or in the library. In karate, one learns mushin, the art of muscle memory. This is one of the methods that gives martial artists such a great advantage over those who do not train. It is a form of repetition and training reflexes. So for those librarians not interested in learning karate, they can achieve a lower state of mushin by learning how to use the tools around them for self-defense, and then keep reminding themselves every time when they walk into the library, that they are surrounded by weapons. They should try to visualize how they used that magazine and car keys in the self-defense clinic. So if they are every attacked, their mind will not go blank with panic, but it will search for a nearby weapon of self-defense. The clinic also focused on teaching the librarians how to use their God-given weapons such as their elbows, knees, fingers and palms - things that require little skill to learn.

Color pencil sketch by Soke Hausel (C)

It is the same for women's self-defense clinics. These clinics are taught all over the Phoenix valley at martial arts schools, police stations, fitness clubs, universities and community colleges, but the only good any of these are to the students is that they may attract one or two women to sign up for karate classes. According to Grandmaster Hausel, who taught martial arts classes and clinics in karate, kobudo, iaido, jujutsu, samurai arts, self-defense, women's self-defense, martial arts history, etc for 3 decades at the University of Wyoming and has 5 decades of martial arts experience, a person cannot expect to achieve the self-defense abilities and awareness in a single self-defense clinic that a person who has been training for 5 or more years has. It takes considerable time to learn to react and block, develop focus, timing and power. But in todays society, many people want a quick fix, but it is just not out there - at least not until science comes up with a self-defense pill. So for now, if a person wants to learn self-defense - either sign up for karate, or learn how to use a gun. There are several indoor gun ranges around the valley that have a Ladies Night and will assist women in gun training.



Grandmaster Hausel demonstrates how to use
a library book for self-defense at the Chandler
Public Library

Both men and women who sign up for karate classes should look for schools that focus on adults, not kids. Adults will have a better time and also learn to defend against adults instead of 6-year old kids. Shy women should find a friend and join a class together - the classes will help them become more positive over time - its one of the side benefits of karate classes.

The purpose of the clinics is to provide attendees with a general introduction to self-defense and modern kobudo. One clinic attendee, an engineer from Boeing named Amanda exclaimed, "Wow, I'll never be able to look at another magazine or towel without thinking I'm holding a self-defense weapon - who would have guessed?"



Few self-defense clinic attendees will continue in martial arts education, so martial arts instructors have to be creative with clinics. So goes for a Master of Karate, Dr. Neal, who is also a professor at Grand Canyon University. He showed other martial artists how one can use protractors, rulers, pens, pants, glasses, suspenders, straw hats, corn-cob pipes, and even corn cobs as weapons. Other off-the-wall weapons include picture frames, flashlights, batteries, memory sticks, markers, and Duck Commander style duck calls.

Self-defense clinic attendees at the Unversity of Wyoming.

The World Health Organization reported recently that 420,000 murders occurred in the US. Sounds like a lot, but we have a very large population (>311 million). The report goes on to state 109 countries which have 100% gun bans (most with considerably smaller populations than the US), had a high of 9.16 million murders to a low of 420,000 murders during the same time frame. Imagine that, 109 gunless counties with murder rates higher than the US!

One country was a distinct anomaly – Switzerland. During this same period, Switzerland reported ‘zero’ murders. What makes Switzerland different is most adults in Switzerland are required by law to own a gun and required train and qualify as marksmen. So, would tighter gun control laws or banning guns altogether in the US lower the murder rate? Based on historical data, our murder rate would skyrocket. Sorry about the detour, the US Constitution is fine and guarantees Americans to have access to guns for self-defense. After all, this does not seem to be the problem.

Shinto Gates and Martial Arts Schools

Recently, I was asked about decorative oriental gates known in Japanese as torii (pronounced 'tore' 'eeeeee'). These are often found in Japanese and Zen gardens around the Phoenix valley and it wasn't too long ago we saw a interesting torii at Home Depot made into a fountain with water that cascaded down from the cross bar. I love fountains and thought about buying one, but it was a little costly. 

Torii (鳥居) is a traditional Shinto gate, which in Japan, marks the approach of a Shintoshrine. Some are also found at Buddhist temples in Japan. The traditional torii has two upright supports with two crossbars on the top that are usually painted vermilion. Many have kanji (Japanese/Chinese characters) displays mounted on a plaque known as a gakuzuka between crossbars, while others have kanji displayed along vertical supports known as hashira.

Traditionally,torii are constructed from wood and gates are interpreted to mark the transition from the spiritual to the physical world. Shrines that are dedicated to a particular Shinto god known as Inari have many torii.

Torii are often donated by successful Japanese businessmen who give gratitude for their success. The origin of the word "torii" is unknown: one suggestion is the gate was designed for birds (tori) to rest upon, which is suggested in the kanji. For instance, part of the kanji used in torii contains a symbol for bird (鳥) (see the feet and wings of the bird in this symbol). The second kanji (居) in torii is possibly derived from 鶏居 meaning 'chicken perch'. This is because birds are considered messengers of gods in the Shinto religion.

A second thought is that toriiis derived from the term tōri-iru (通り入る) meaning pass through and enter. It is unknown whether torii are indigenous to Japan or if they were imported from some other country. If you are interested in building a torii in your Japanese garden, there are building plans available on the internet.

In some traditional martial arts schools (dojo), torii decorate walls or entrances to the dojo. These can be very attractive in a martial arts school.