Respect Is Not Blind – It Seeks Understanding, Tested in Reality.

 

Posted by ADAM CARTER on JUL 22, 2025

Respect Is Not Blind – It Seeks Understanding, Tested in Reality.

(Approx 2 minute 25 second read)

My article on hikite had the usual amount of naysayers but this comment caught my eye:

“Interesting that you know better than Funakoshi, Nakayama and all the Sensei’s that came from that line. Some may say you were being very disrespectful at the very least?”

He went on to say, “If you went through the years of training that they did, you may be able to comment on what hikite was or wasn’t / is or isn’t. If you haven’t you are just commenting on something you know nothing about.”

He closed his comment with: “Remember, Karate begins and ends with RESPECT.” – in all capital letters, as if that alone settles the matter.

This comment is a classic example of appeal to authority – not an argument by reason or evidence. It’s basically saying, “Who are you to question what the old masters said?” – as if karate were a frozen museum piece rather than something that should be tested and proven in reality.

The person making the comment assumes the old masters were never wrong. He equates “tradition” with “infallibility”.

When people make this kind of argument, they’re not really defending anything – they’re defending their comfort zone. It’s much easier to stand behind a name than it is to stand in front of an idea and test it in reality.

There’s a strange irony here. The same teachers he quotes were innovators in their own time. Funakoshi changed kata names, adapted methods for schools, and simplified or reorganized parts of the art to fit his context. Even Itosu reorganized older forms to create the Pinan series for students – he didn’t cling blindly to the past, he adjusted it for a purpose. These men didn’t sit back and say, “I can’t change this because someone older than me did it this way.”

If we look at history honestly, we see that the old masters themselves explained the pulling hand was for grabbing or controlling something – not pulling empty air to create magic power.

A core part of karate’s spirit is respect – but blind respect that forbids questioning won’t stand up in reality. The old masters questioned what came before them too.

Karate that can’t be questioned stops being a martial art and becomes a museum piece. If we can’t test a technique and be honest about what works when it counts – then what exactly are we practicing for?

Respecting the past means understanding the why, not parroting the what. You can bow to a photo of an old master – but the better tribute is to ask yourself if your karate holds up where it counts: in reality, under stress, when you can’t afford to be wrong.

Someone once asked me if I take these comments too personally – “Do you have a thin skin?” they said. No. If I were thin-skinned, I’d stay silent and let half-baked ideas pass without question.

I write articles like this because some comments genuinely need a reply – not for the sake of the person arguing, but for the people quietly reading along who might be wondering the same thing.

I don’t know these people well enough to be offended – but I do care enough about karate to challenge lazy thinking when I see it. If we don’t keep asking questions, if we don’t pressure-test what we’re taught, we risk turning a living art into a fossil. That’s not what the old masters did – and it’s not what I’ll do either.

Written by Adam Carter – Shuri Dojo

Photo Credit: With thanks to New Toronto Academy of Martial Arts.