Spreading martial arts is something that we are well familiar with. Today, gymnastic halls, schools, and academies teaching oriental disciplines can be found in almost every city in the world. If we look at the history of these schools, we will notice that they are much more than just a sport or a personal protection system. The teachers and founders of martial arts schools originally proposed education and character formation through these skills.
What does character formation mean?
Character formation does not mean changing a person’s character, but rather improving it. As stoic philosophers very well say, character is like a sculpture: everyone has their own and cannot replace it with someone else’s. What can be done is to clean it, polish it, refine it until it becomes beautiful. In our current concept of education, we are taught mathematics, natural sciences, literature, computer science… This way, we acquire some intellectual knowledge that gives us external, mostly superficial cultural shine. We do not learn to cultivate character, we do not learn about concentration.
Attention, strategy, or how to deal with fear and everyday problems. Therefore, we are psychologically much weaker than we often believe. We often see that someone with academic education is just as disoriented when faced with life problems as someone who can barely read and write.
Teachers and founders of martial arts schools such as Gichin Funakoshi, Jigoro Kano, Morihei Ueshiba, So Doshin, and others, sought to shape the whole person through martial arts, creating a path of self-control and awareness.
Let us consider some examples of how character can be formed by practicing martial arts. When a student starts martial arts school, they know almost nothing about what is expected of them, but through discipline gradually develop a set of movements and techniques. Training instills humility in character (which is not demeaning or underestimating oneself) and the ability to work, and teaches us that self-discipline is a great and powerful tool.
Another classic example of shaping character is practicing martial arts.
characters are found in situations that occur in combat. For example, if a fighter is indecisive in battle, they lose. On the other hand, if they are reckless or impulsive, they will end up getting punched in the face by their opponent. In every fight, there is a right moment suitable for action, so the fighter needs to be focused in order to seize it.
How many times in life have we lost because we haven’t developed self-discipline? How many times has the “train” of an event escaped us due to indecisiveness? How many opportunities have we missed because we weren’t ready when they presented themselves? That’s why martial arts are something that can enrich our lives.
Originally, combat skills were taught for battles on the battlefield, however, during long periods of peace, masters and founders of schools developed a kind of combat that has educational and cognitive characteristics. In doing so, they insisted on virtues such as courtesy, correctness, impeccability, and trained students to confront situations in which they They are exposed to pressure, teaching them to develop that rare quality we call calmness. Calmness is one of the most valuable treasures that martial arts can offer us.
Why did the great masters continue to pursue their own improvement after thirty, forty, or fifty years of practice? Didn’t they know how to defend themselves after so many years? Perhaps they were working on developing calmness and that’s why they continued to practice. Therefore, Master Gichin Funakoshi says: Victory or defeat of its participants is not important on the path of karate, only the formation of their character is. This process is called budo by Japanese masters, or the martial arts as the path of transcendent knowledge.
Today, such an approach to this path is forgotten. Martial arts have become polarized into sports and self-defense aspects, and they have almost no transcendent characteristics. This polarization has caused increased popularity but also a loss of depth. That is why many international teachers today are increasingly interested in the process.