Perfection of technique in the martial arts

The difference from the old masters who trained centuries ago and compared to the different training of masters of today is significant. Long before we were born, the martial artist of the past practiced his/her defensive/offensive art to absolute perfection which was passed down from generation to generation in complete secrecy. Some time around the end of World War Two in September 1945, some American soldiers remained in the orient for several years. During their time there, many servicemen learned the art of self defense from the local martial art schools. At that time, it took about five years for the soldiers to obtain black belt, but only a few were given this prestigious honor. Now we moved forward in time to the beginning of the 1950s when those who achieved black belt returned home. The art in which they have learned, Judo, Karate etc. was now being retaught to friends and others who had interest in learning this unusual art of defense. This is when the Orient and the West in training began to change, mostly because of our differences of lifestyle. Back then in the United States, achieving the black belt was an honor, while hearsay fake stories and legends were spread about that looked like black belts were some kinds of superman, this due to the lack of knowledge outside the martial arts schools.

As a student learns from the instructor, that student at some point will eventually become an instructor themselves. If that new instructor doesn't teach all that was passed down from his instructor, his students will lack the full knowledge from what was taught from the original first instructor. Thus, each generation of instructors teaches a watered down version of the martial arts and the original concept of inner knowledge and discipline becomes forgotten and lost. Those original black belt requirements, training and testing becomes less involved both time-wise and living the art as to satisfy our American way of life. To be honest, most Americans are impatient and not one for waiting. And this was the opposite in the old Oriental culture. Perfection was the number one rule. Much has been lost of the true martial artists. In order to seek the ways from the original Oriental martial art source, a martial arts student should seek out the few remaining first generation American martial artists who still teach this intriguing and interesting way of life.