What Makes A Founder Of A Martial Art Style?
Is being called Soke (founder)” which is a questionable interpretation. “The requirements for that title? First who decides what the requirements for such a position? At present the chaos in Martial Arts because of that title is enormous. Apparently all has to do is to take a few kata’s (forms) and techniques, from other styles, add a little here or take out a little there or just make up a bunch of moves and then get a name for his new style and Wham he is a Soke self appointed. Next comes the joining an organization that has the name of Soke style heads, and founders on the certificate and Congratulations your now a bonafide certified, Internationally recognized legitimate wanna-be.
But really what does it take to be a Soke (founder)? Some might say it takes a very special individual who has a unique way of thinking. Others would consider many years of actual personal experience. Tried and proven techniques would be nice. Twenty years studying at least three different styles. Like Judo, one style of karate, because more than one can cause technical difficulties. Kobudo Jitsu (weapons). These three styles can compliment each other. Were as three styles of Karate could cause problems. Tae-kwon-do teaches techniques that Shotokan might find incorrect, Goju-Ryu might trust in a more balanced soft and Hard, were as the other two prefer just hard style. It really takes a lifetime to master one style let alone three or four.
I see many Bio’s of certain Superman martial Art so called Soke’s or Grandiose Grandmasters. They go like this.
- 10th degree in Hobo-Ryu
- 9th degree in Somekinda-ryu
- 9th degree in WishIcould-ryu
- 8th degree in Ubetcha-Ryu
- 7th degree in Sawhat –Do
Any body with the since of at least a Hocky-Put knows that is pure foolishness on the part of the want to be posting such non-since Biography. However lets get back to what makes a real Founder of a style. For no one is truly qualified to just decide to create a self-defense style. It is their right to do so however would you like it if anyone wanted to become a medical Doctor, and claimed to be so without going to medical School? I don’t think so. How much difference is that from a non-experienced or partly experienced martial arts instructor who teaches
People who trust their lives in his hands that he or she might not make a mistake and kill them accidentally? So what does qualify a person to be a founder? A Big ego, one box of pride, two sacks of I’m to bored to wait and learn from my instructor. Or it could be that many who just can’t cut it, have to start their own stuff so they can be a big shot.
Oh! And what’s with all this “fear no man ever again” and “Learn our Ultimate self-defense system” or “Devastating Fighting secrets” What’s with all the hype? We teach or taught the Police, FBI, and Green Beret’s
CIA, and every important firkin organization in Existence. Cheesh! Then there are the TRADUTIONALIST. Gee, many of them are like a bunch of Religious freaks that claim if you’re not a member of THEIR particular denomination you aren’t nothing. Now isn’t that a crock? Tradutionalist have their place, however it just urks me when THEY think that only THEY are real Martial Artist. I write all this to prove a point. You see I am a Founder of an American “Cajun” style of martial art.
I can assure everyone that we have competed in many State, Regional, National, and World Championships. We won some and lost some, but we won more than we lost. I’m not saying that our style is the best style, however Keichu-Do has defeated many traditionalist in Kata, Sparring, Weapons, Grappling, and just about every division available we entered. The fact that I never studied Karate or earned rank in Karate, yet managed to create a style of Karate, using only kata’s from my own creation should give some indication of creditability. Also if Keichu students can defeat in open combat other students from many other styles doesn’t that say something for the practicality of our style?
Do I fill the requirements to be a founder? Like I asked earlier what are the requirements of an individual to be a founder? Grand Master (Soke) Founder of Wado-Ryu Hironori Ohtsuka of Japan was kind enough to answer my letter through an interrupter when I wrote him, asking for reorganization by the All Japan Karate Federation (I think the name was)? He was the president of the top Organization at that time. This greatest of all in his era wrote me back with this advice. ”Mr. Marx I applaud your endeavors in martial arts, I wish you success, however you don’t need me or any of the organizations I head. If your still around 25 years from now and you have at least two 5thDans in your style then you will be accepted by the martial art peoples.” That may not be the exact wording as sometimes something is lost in the interruption. He was absolute correct, it turned out just like he said it would. Twenty-Five years later there were 33 black belts in my style, and three were 5th dan or above.
However not the entire Nation approved. There are still many hard nose, stiff-necked blow hard’s out there who refuse to give credit were credit is due. My Bio is really quite simple. I am not an ultimate Universal World Champion. Lets see: I started training the night I was born. That was on August 10th 1936. My dad who had been ranked third in the World as a professional boxer, had me in his lap bragging to everyone in the room, “ look at my son’s jab, how about his right cross and look at that upper cut. HA! My Uncles told me this story later in life. I had my first fight that I really remember at age 9, against three other kids. Results. I Won! Naturally! (Bragedy, brag). After discovering that I was rather proficient with my fist, my fear of bigger kids picking on me was reduced dramatically.
To my discredit though the truth be known I was a coward of sorts. I feared allowing anyone finding out that I was afraid to fight. Big fellows hit so darn hard. Guys my size didn’t bother me much, it was the Jocks that gave me the most trouble. In junior high I joined the boxing team, attempting to be an athlete that the football, basketball, track team and the wrestlers would accept as one of them and stop giving me a hard time. I’m not accusing ALL Jocks of being bullies, heck no, there were times when I was fighting some humongous football player Or being slam-dunked by a really tall basketball player that another jock would intervened and stop the fight. To my great relief and satisfaction, I had already gotten my punches in and damage done to my unlucky opponent. You see I had to have some kind of strategy, some form of fight plan. I daydreamed a lot about fighting, all kinds of opponents. That so my defense was to strike first, fast, hard, and multiple times. I wasn’t tough, like a lot of the fellows I fought against. I wasn’t even strong, at 126 pounds soaking wet, I didn’t have an awful lot going for me as a street fighter. In my case it wasn’t physical power I needed, it was mental and spiritual self-defense. So as an only child I had a lot of free time to play war games by myself. I imagined thousands of fistfights and what I would do if this or that happened. Over the years I practiced these synerioes whenever I was actually confronted and could not avoid a fight. OH! I confess to being faster on the draw then any of my opponents. I wasn’t a bully but I started a lot of fights.
Most of the time some kid or later as an adult someone would get in my face and threaten to kick my behind. I usually asked them if they really intended to beat me up and they would usually say your blankety, blank right. Wrong answer! That’s when I would start the fight by hitting them as hard, fast and many times as possible. As a boxer my education in fisticuffs grew I wasn’t a great boxer, probably not even a good one but I won a lot of matches by out smarting the other fellow. One match I had in Eunice Louisiana, against some of the best boxers in the State, our team lost the first three fights by knockouts in less than a minute. As soon as the bell rung the other fellows ran across the ring and started pounding on our boxers. I witnessed that and knew the fellow I was to fight had taken second in State the year before and this was to be just my second fight period.
Being a founder has to start some were. I suppose My experience and education was already at a high level of self-preservation, because my mind knew I was about to get my head clocked if I didn’t come up with some kind of defense, and my fist were not going to be enough. I told a friend of mine to walk around the ring like he was going to the restroom. I knew since no one from Eunice knew me that they would ask my friend for some background on who I was. I had my friend tell them that I was a transfer from Texas, and that I had been boxing 7 years and that I was a golden Glove Champion 5 years in a row. Ha! When he told the story my opponent swallowed it and I had to chase him for almost two rounds. I will not give the details but I won by TKO in the second round.
Being a founder of self defense, isn’t just how good you can fight, but how good you can think. Thinking is a key word here in one’s becoming a founder, a Soke if you will. While anybody has a right to create his or her own style of martial art, It would appear that the more intelligence used in the creation of a style the better the creation. In my case while I may appear somewhat different or weird to the average individuals I can understand their dilemma because that is what it is, THEIR Problem. Yes it affects me as a founder. The knowledge that so many of my peers think of me as being a crackpot is very painful. My being the first to do such a thing kind of makes me the Martin Luther Of the Catholic Church The Founder of the Lutheran Protestant Faith.
Why do I think so differently from the average individual? Well while I was attending higher education at Louisiana in Pineville Louisiana There was a ruckus about my being elected sophomore class president. At the age of 37 I believe there were those who considered me to old to hold that position. I had dropped out of school at Mc Neese State University in Lake Charles back about 13 years earlier, my major was Female anatomy, and since I neglected my other studies for a Medical Technologist degree I left before they threw me out. I could have stayed and probably earned my degree in Student Stupidity. Anyway checking back all those years my required B average dropped to C+ and I was disqualified for the post. Someone made a crack that I was to old and to stupid to be on the Student Body Association and that really ticked me off.
I left the meeting and walked straight to the Sociology Dept and requested an IQ test. I was given a Stanford Bene` Standard Intelligence test. To my surprise and the astonishment of the Professor who administered the test I scored a whopping 185 IQ. That score placed me in the one present of the Nation Intellectually. No wonder I’m weird. I’m a freak thinker. But I feel so stupid most of the time. Frustrated, misunderstood and thought poorly of by to many jerks. Poor me? No way. Nobody understands me! Well that might be relatively true. HA! However the reason I included that information is to assure my readers, that I’m surely qualified at least intellectually to be a founder. How many of the other founders (Soke) had that much going for them in their hayloft?
I’m not bragging, I’m just making another point. With around 13 years boxing experience by 1960, and a supposed record of 133 fights, 7 losses, 3 draws and 85 knock outs to my credit. By then I was 24 years young, the intelligence was there I just didn’t know it at the time. So with all this was I acceptable to be a founder? Ok! Lets add the experience of at seventeen being in boot camp and learning combat Judo and Jiu-Jitsu. That’s just enough martial arts to make a boot think he’s tough and then get his butt kicked in a bar room fight. There are a few individuals in the World who without prior training, or very little at most can pick up on a certain thing, be it a game, math, Many individuals can play music without studying or being taught. It’s called playing by ear. I in my case simply observed how Karate tournaments were conducted, what and how techniques were administrated, and then I made my own improved version.
Improved you say. Yes, and my students actually proved this fact by defeating other students from different school’s and styles, again and again. Yes we lost some to students who were superior in technique presented, however all to many times the only way to beat us was to cheat us. Even today we are forced to be segregated from the oriental styles and put into the American free style, which is in some cases just the flash and trash group. Keichu has been taught here in America since 1960 publicly. 45 years? If that isn’t an American Tradition What is? Isshin-Ryu is only about 5 years older than Keichu-Ryu. So what is the Traditionalist telling America? If it isn’t Oriental, it isn’t traditional? That’s a crock! So what about the fellows who created their own Karate styles by using several kata’s from different other styles. Because they were from TRADITIONAL styles THEY are accepted as Traditional? That’s another crock. WAKE UP AMERICA!
