Two Years of Karate (2022-2024)

Paul Mitchell, 6th Dan, Shotokan Karate

Today it is two years since I rolled up to the dojo at Wells Blue School, and asked the Sensei, Paul Mitchell (6th Dan), whether I could observe. He brusquely pointed to the left hand end of the line, where the lowest grades and newbies stood, and said, "Join in there."

I graded as orange belt (9th kyu) on Tuesday November 22nd 2022. Three months later, on February 14th 2023 I was promoted to red belt, (8th kyu) and I gained yellow belt (7th kyu) on May 20th.

But through most of my training I had developed pins and needles in my left foot, with pain in my buttock which made sitting difficult. That's nerve damage: sciatica. I concluded that shotokan karate training, with its high kicks and aggressive turns, was just wreaking havoc with my 72 year old body. On Tuesday June 13th 2023 I had the difficult conversation with Paul, telling him I had to withdraw from further classes.

That was not the end.

I had a private lesson with Paul a few months later, when I was beginning to feel a little better. "Is it possible to do karate in a manner similar to T'ai Chi, where you focus on balance, stretching, memory and poise rather than speed and power?"

Paul, who is a teacher of T'ai Chi as well as karate, emphasised that indeed it was, while straightening me out on Heian Sandan.

I no longer attend classes, but my regular weekly gym sessions include kihon, sanbon kumite and the first four Heian katas, done in the way Sensei Mitchell proposed. It's good for me (I also do T'ai Chi and the sword form in these sessions) and keeps up the tradition.

I find shotokan karate endlessly fascinating: its relationship to real street-fighting skills ("How many of these black belts have ever been in a real fight," one of the blue belts once said to me scornfully, "apart from Paul Mitchell?"), as well as its purpose and philosophy in the early twenty-first century in the developed world.