Gradings

There are some whose lives within the martial arts seem to be dominated by 'winning'. I don't mean winning a match, as in Kendo, but winning over others. This is a very strange attitude to have and seems to go against the core tenets of training to develop the self. For example, I have heard people say, 'when I get to 4th Dan...' and then go on to explain something they will be able to do at that level. This strikes me as slightly odd. If the point of training is to get better at the art one has chosen, why worry about 'being 4th Dan'. When one's eyes are focused too far down the path, one will miss the subleties of the present moment which are essential for progress. After all, Japanese martial arts have the word 'Do' tagged onto the end of the word. Ken-do, Jo-do, Iai-do, Aiki-do and so on. 'Do' means 'way', which implies that the martial art is assisting us with our lives in general, it is the path itself we should be walking on and studying. If one trains well, then gradings will occur naturally and in time with one's progress and need not to be worried about.

But what does a grading success actually mean? At 'lower' levels, it is about getting the kata [Iaido forms] in the right order and demonstrating the correct etiquette - there is no point worrying about 'ki-ken-tai-ichi' [spirit, sword, mind as one] at 6th kyu. First things first. For Dan levels, it means that on the day, one has demonstrated satisfactorily that they have been 'present' at all the training times to understand the subtleties of timing, distance and show spirit and vigour amongst a myriad of other things as training gets progressively more difficult. These other developments occur naturally as training progresses and one cannot pretend to have them. If one tries to, they are exposed in the dojo as errors. The qualities of fighting spirit and natural confidence are very different to arrogant posturing and pretension. One interesting observation about training in the dojo is that these errors are exposed as a matter of course and that the iaidoka tends to reveal one's own flaws naturally, rather than the teacher dragging them out and making them public. People's personalities and true motivations really shine through in their Iaido.

At higher levels still, one's Iaido should be a demonstration of one's character. By this point, training should be solidly manifesting itself in life outside of the dojo. For me, this is what true training is; a refinement of the character by relentless practice and repetition. If one's mind is located in the next grading 'success' then one surely cannot be living in the present enough to be able to apply the principles learned to what needs to be attended to right now. If one is 'competing' with others to get to a certain grade, to me this seemed flawed thinking. It has been taught to me that when one walks out onto the floor for an examination, one should already be at that level. It is then just a process of demonstrating that to the examining board. It then follows that speaking of 'when I am [X]th Dan', is meaningless because the individual has to change into a person with those particular qualities by hard work. If one does not have those qualities now, one cannot make such a statement.

To me, this seems to go much deeper than just wanting to be [X]th Dan. This seems to be a symptom of a desperate need to attach oneself to a particular label and to feel superior to others. Outside of the dojo, to people who do not understand martial arts, grades mean very little [at least in the West anyway]. People are far more likely to judge one's character and manner. These are the things that should be developed within the dojo and then demonstrated in the 'outside world'. To turn to an employer and say ,'well as a 4th Dan...', this would seem slightly arrogant and inconsequential. And yet, grading chasers seem to attach their personality to the next certificate or competition win as if this somehow gives them a general edge over others.

For me, gradings are about an objective measure of where the martial artist has arrived at by natural, slow progression. People I know who are at the higher levels of training, on the whole, tend to be very gracious and do not laud their grade status over others. They tend to be teachers and enjoy working with new people. They tend to be calm, reacting correctly in situations by 'seeing the bigger picture' rather than putting their own progression first. They tend to 'group-think' rather than 'self-think'. They tend to not be dominated by their emotions and have the ability of critical self-analysis without beating themselves up about things they have no control over. They tend towards a warm and giving character and all these characteristics have arisen naturally as a result of putting one's heart as well as one's mind into dojo life. Surely these are the qualities one should be working towards and trying to emulate, as opposed to training just to collect certificates.

There is a Zen story of a group of students who asked a Zen roshi what the moon was. So the roshi pointed at the moon and said 'There it is'. The students looked at the end of the roshi's pointing finger, mistaking it for the moon. To some, certificates and a misdirected notion of status look very like the end of a finger if viewed with rose tinted spectacles. After all, Iaido is about being natural, rather than being bogged down by thinking errors, unnecessary concerns about the future and one's competitive position in relation to others. I have a very good 7th Dan teacher who tends to point the finger back at myself, revealing my strengths as well as weaknesses and keeps me on the 'path'.

"The hard and strong gives way to the soft and yielding".