Lineage, Ego, and the Myth of Inherited Skill.

 

Posted by ADAM CARTER on NOV 06, 2025

Lineage, Ego, and the Myth of Inherited Skill.

(Approx 1 minute 55 second read)

People love to talk about lineage. Personally, I care more about ability. So, how important is lineage to you?

We all have a martial arts lineage of sorts. Some remain faithful to one, others, perhaps through no fault of their own, have several. There are those who believe who you follow is of the utmost importance, and others who couldn’t care less.

Most of us will be familiar with the concept of “lineage snobbery”.

Mine is pretty fragmented. I’m someone who constantly questions - myself most of all, but my instructors too. If the people I ask questions of seem distant, closed, or just unwilling to help, then I find a way to move on. I’ve never been a fan of, “You can’t ask questions because I’m too important”. Personally, I’ve always preferred to learn from more than one source.

One purpose of lineage is preservation - carrying forward history, responsibility, and memory. It creates a sense of continuity, identity, and inheritance. That has value. But it doesn’t guarantee quality.

A verified lineage doesn’t automatically mean a teacher is a good teacher. Being part of a famous branch doesn’t make someone more skilled. And it certainly doesn’t mean they were taught everything within the art. Teaching ability, in my view, matters far more than pedigree.

Bad karate with a prestigious lineage is still bad karate.

When someone leads a conversation with, “Who did you train under?” or “What lineage do you follow?” before they ask anything about you as a person or practitioner, my internal alarm bells start ringing. And when it turns into, “Mine is better than yours”, it’s no longer a discussion - it’s playground point-scoring. That’s usually where I step out of the conversation.

What matters to me is simple: can I protect myself and the people I care about? Can I help my students do the same? Whether someone trained in Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines - or the local church hall - makes no real difference to the outcome.

Lineage isn’t meaningless. For some, it carries pride, identity, and connection. I respect that.

But it isn’t the determining factor in what makes someone a good teacher, or a capable practitioner.

Of course, some people have both - a strong lineage and genuine ability. That’s great. But ego has a bad habit of creeping in when it isn’t needed. Skill speaks. Experience shows. Humility lasts.

It’s the person that matters - not the label, not the history, not the family tree.

I’m Welsh, but you don’t see me invoking Owain Glyndwr before teaching a front kick.

Someone once said to me that a true indicator of your skill isn’t your rank, or title, or lineage, but whether others say, “You have a good teacher”.

That’s good enough for me.

Written by Adam Carter - Shuri Dojo