Superstition And Ritual In The Martial Arts

The martial arts is a sport of the individual. Although it's students congregate and are taught in the dojo, to succeed in karate requires an individual effort. No one is going to make a person practice the extra hours away from the classroom needed to go up in belt levels. Any success in a tournament will come to fruition only because of the person's hard work and training. Therefo

"Psyching the opponent out" was also crucial to success according to Dorian. He would never speak to others and always wore black safety pads and a certain black gi (the uniform most students of karate wear). Dorian stated "that since there is not much black in nature, the opponent subconsciously thinks you are not natural or you are above the natural." he beileved that this would make his appearance more fearful. He would also pull his long hair out of the holes of his head gear in order to look more frightening and wear copius amounts of tribal jewelry right up intil he had to fight. Conversely Dorian would never watch an opponent that he knew he was about to fight because he feared that he would be "psyched out" himself, especially if the opponent won the match.

er but is probably a throwback from the days of a caste system in ancient Japan. This is illustrated when the students line up to begin and end class. The highest ranking individual always lines up to the far right of the instructor with the second highest just a little bit behind and so on down the line. So that the formation resembles something like the blades of a fan but not as severe. When the student is standing in line and looks to the right or left out of the corners of his or her eyes he or she will only see the next highest ranking person on their right and all those below them on their left. This is functional because it causes the person to concentrate only on the next level of advancement yet allows them to see all that they have accomplished. According to Dorian this helps a person subconciously, so that they will not be overwhelmed at the amount of effort it would take to be at the front of the line.

Because Kojasho is a sport of the individual, The dojo itself has very little in the way of superstition and ritual. What taboos that are taught in the classroom have a functional use or are the remnants of traditions dating back to the ancient orient. For example a student is never allowed to let his belt touch the floor. This does not apply when the students are sparring and are knocked down. This taboo is an age old tradition and it is beileved that if you let the belt touch the floor you will bring shame upon yourself and your sensei (teacher) and his sensei. It is also considered rude to cross your arms in class since this is considered a gesture of passing judgement on your classmates. Such a gesture is an even bigger insult if you cross your arms in front of a person of higher rank than yourself and in Dorian's words "It just m

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