9th Day of Rest

Weight: 101.4kg
(almost there....)


On the 9th Day of Rest my body brings to me:

Karate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics!

Finally... I thought I will never see the light of day. Karate in the Olympics in my lifetime.  However, with the advent of the possibility of the big O dream.. also come the desire to control, the power to choose who goes. Politics is inevitable in everything. I hate politics in karate.

Here is a prime example of how karate how degenerated into petty quarrels and squabbles. And that is so similar to our local karate scene.

WKF (World Karate Federation) vs UWK (United World Karate)

SKF (Singapore Karate Federation vs KUS (Karate Union of Singapore)

My loyalties are very clear from day one I started karate. I know honour, compassion, perseverance and loyalty.  We honour our parents just as we honour our teachers. However as years passed, I saw the lines turn from black and white to shades of grey..  and now, I have no idea where boundaries are drawn anymore.

I refused to believe that we are an outcast in karate in Singapore just because we have different ideals of what karate means. I was opposed to the idea that a separate organisation has to be formed to reinforce our own believes in those ideals. I think we all have the same passion for karate. All the same love. Some believe in the self-defence aspect, some believe in the character building, some just love the exercise... others became obsessed.

If we practise what we believe, you will come to realise that one day, all these bickering and political plays will came to naught because we will cease to exist. What do we leave behind for our kohai? 

I know what I will be leaving behind. When I pass on, I have strict instructions for my daughters to preserve my karate black belt. 

My kuro obi. Not just any black belt, not the expensive silk kind..  but the humble black cotton hand-sewn named one that was handed to me by my teacher. It has the name of my karate style on one side, and my chinese name on the other. It looks old and tired now..  just like I am. It is badly frayed from years countless tying and untying.. sometimes we use it.. no we used it a LOT for resistance training and for knowing of our dogi when we fold them up. You can even see it was a lot of white cloth showing under the black black so much so, if you do not look carefully, you might mistaken it for a greyish dirty white belt.

I hold it my hand, it feels light. Yet it feels heavy at the same time. It has been washed many many many times.. yet it looks worn and used and dirty, but it is not dirty, and despite its look, the belt feels strangely energised.  You can tell it has stories if it has a mouth, yet as I hold it, it feels me with confidence.  It has been my constant companion in my humble study of the art of karate-do. It does not just denote my level of study or what competence level I am at... it is simply there to hold my dogi in place.

We often missed out on the most important lesson..  it makes us egotistical yet it is the same item which is the most humble.. the kuro obi.

Black belt means I am good at a martial art. Usually that is how it goes. But that same belt is nothing but an item that holds your dogi in place. So does an orange belt, so does a white belt. So does that mean you are no longer good at karate if your black belt is in the wash and you have to wear a white belt for that day?

I digress...

When I die, I leave behind my legacy, that I once was a humble student of an art called karate and it taught me no matter what you do while you lived... in the end, we all get defeated and die. So it is how we live.. how we wore our belt.. with pride... with humility.

It was never my place to comment on the politics that are in play.. and I am not going to start. But, what are we leaving behind for our next karate generation?

4pm: I made a trip to Evolve and tried to continue training Muay Thai..  but it turns out my leg had other ideas...  sigh.  So back I limped... and looks like another few days of non martial arts....  siiigghhh...

~CJ