Aoinagi Karate |
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Gyodan Curriculum
written by Sensei Raymond Castilonia Sensei Raymond Castilonia responded awhile ago to a request by his Dan ranked students for some guidance in their training beyond the Shodan level. The following is the result of his hard work and dedication to the martial arts and to his students. I would not do justice in trying to describe what is here. He himself has done that for us. Please read on, the... AOINAGI KARATE GYODAN COURSE CURRICULUMIntroductionCharles Williarm Eliot became the president of a small New England college in 1869 some 236 years after the college's founding.Mr. Eliot immediately instituted freedom of choice into the curriculum by offering electives for students to choose from.Deviation from the standard curriculum of mathematics, reading and writing was a revolution.By the time Mr. Eliot retired in 1909, Harvard College had become a national institution. I do not think that Aoinagi Karate will become the Harvard of martial arts but I do believe that students choosing the direction of their own destinies is vitally important.The importance is great enough that this program has been developed.The wise student, who now has opportunity to choose the direction in much of his martial arts destiny, will use this program wisely, avoiding the pitfalls which may occasionally appear. Four Key ConsiderationsThe basis of evaluation for martial arts ranks at Aoinagi Karate revolves around four key considerations;
Attitude is the single most important consideration in evaluating a martial artist.It is also the most difficult to evaluate.The sensei at Aoinagi Karate train to develop the ability to recognize and to differentiate attitudes in their students.Although martial attitude cannot be explained here suffice it to say that it is assessed by the sensei at all stages of martial arts training.He looks for such things as the student's belief in himself, his desire to grow, his willingness to try (fail and try again), his resistance to lessons, his willingness to help, how he faces defeat or failure, how he faces success or winning, how he treats others, how he accepts criticism, and a host of other things.Attitude is important.It is the prime consideration in examining a student for a high rank at Aoinagi Karate. Duration is more complex than just how long a student has been in martial arts or how long it has been since his last examination.Duration is tied to intensity and frequency of training and does not stand alone.Thus a student who has trained regularly and intensely for three years may pass a shodan examination whereas a student who has trained infrequently and complacently for five years may fail.The sensei evaluates the duration of training more on the complex interplay of duration/intensity/frequency than on any one of these alone. Training at the dojo in regular classes is of prime importance.Students learn a host of different martial lessons at regular classes including the necessary diversity of being a martial artist, the core curriculum materials, the discipline of undergoing rigorous training, etc.No one qualifies for a dan examination without significant involvement in duration/intensity/frequency of the regularly scheduled martial arts classes of his sensei. Maturity is the third key consideration.Responsible positions in society require maturity in those people holding the positions.Although chronological age is no guarantee of maturity it is a relatively good indicator and has several established precedents, ie, driver's license, age for voting and even the fact that the President of the United States must be at least 45 years old in order to hold office.When a person is given responsibility he must have a comparable amount of maturity.In the same way, a martial artist having responsibility to represent martial arts in his community, needs to have maturity to exercise that responsibility.Minimum age requirements have been established and are discussed later in this book. Ability is the fourth consideration.In the context of this key consideration ability involves both performance and understanding.Some people become great fighters but do not understand what they are doing when performing a kata.Others have great understanding of the complexities of karate kata but do not have the ability to perform the kata well, or to fight well.In either case something is missing.Ideally, a student develops both ability to perform and understanding of the value of that performance.Realistically, most students do one better than the other. The two aspects of ability (ability to perform and understanding) have additional dimensions.One can have a broad ability to perform many kata and kumite events, or an intense ability to perform only a few.Similarly, one can have a broad understanding of many kata and kumite events, or an intense understanding in only a few.Thus, the two dimensions of ability are depth and breadth. If you want to understand the purposes of the curriculum of Aoinagi Karate (and hence the rest of this book) you want to grasp that ability, when used in the context of martial arts, refers to depth and breadth of both ability to perform and understanding.Martial arts ability is not one dimensional, but two. The curriculum of Aoinagi Karate aims at developing the student's ability and giving the student's sensei the tools to assess the student's ability, the fourth key consideration of martial arts evaluation. The sensei watches his students and assesses the four key considerations of attitude, duration, maturity and ability.Attitude and maturity are assessed on every encounter even during conversations, or when the student is assisting at the dojo.Duration/intensity/frequency of training is noted at regular scheduled dojo trainings.Finally, the student's progress in ability is assessed.When the sensei believes that all four key considerations are sufficient to warrant a more thorough evaluation of the student's abilities he directs the student to test. The Curriculum DivisionsThe curriculum for shodan through godan in Aoinagi Karate is divided into three components;
The core curriculum is an array of fundamental requirements for each rank.It includes materials which the student will be tested over such as resolutions, kata, weapon kata, kumite, and written/oral examinations.These materials are called core curriculum because they are the central considerations for determining the ability of the students who are testing for shodan through godan at Aoinagi Karate. Yudansha (black belts) and those testing for black belt get to choose their own electives from a wide variety of choices, including such diverse subjects as reading books, physical fitness, advanced kata performance, giving demonstrations, helping at the dojo, and learning judo.The student chooses areas of martial arts which most interest him and works on his chosen electives.In addition, after completing an elective a student who has lost interest in his old elective may just move on to other electives which are more interesting to him.Even while injured with a broken arm a student can choose electives through which he will be able to progress towards the next rank. Options points are available for many different activities done in martial arts.One can read books, watch videos, do kata, perform demonstrations, get exercise such as running, weightlifting or stretching, help with the dojo, assist a class, and even do Tai-chi.All of these give the student option points.While striving to complete an elective a student gains option points.If he doesn't complete the elective he still has gained points which will help him towards his next rank. The Core CurriculumThe core curriculum is the minimum standard for assessment of a student's ability. It includes
Some parts of the curriculum, such as gasshuku and tournament attendance, only require the student to attend events to fulfill core curriculum requirements.Other parts of the curriculum emphasize the depth and breadth of martial arts understanding, ie, resolutions, judging and the written/oral examination.Still others assess the student's ability to perform martial techniques (falling, kata, Aoinagi, weapon kata, kumite, and even physical fitness).The core curriculum constitutes a bare minimum in the key consideration of martial arts ability. Not all requirements in the core curriculum are required at each dan rank.For example, those testing for shodan do not need judging or the kata Aoinagi, and those testing for ranks above shodan do not need tournament attendance. The Sensei Special Core RequirementThe Sensei Special Core Requirement allows the sensei to determine the direction of his students training and to assess his student's progress in various abilities.The sensei may, under this requirement, add requirements such as he deems necessary to uphold the standard of his school.Sometimes a student selects electives and option points which are too limiting for a martial artist of the rank he seeks.Through the Sensei Special Core Requirement the sensei safeguards against weaknesses in student selected electives and option points.The sensei, through this core requirement, retains the right and responsibility to broaden or deepen a student's ability for the rank sought by the student.Good students recognize that the sensei has the best in mind as he selects these additional requirements. The sensei may establish a Sensei Special Core Requirment prior to an examination.He may announce that students planning on attending the next examination must complete an elective in Waza or read a certain book, or attend a specific seminar.In addition, he may announce that at the next examination Tai-chi will be part of the examination.These two cases allow the student to know, a priori, what is to be expected of him at the next examination as part of the Sensei Special Core Requirement. On the other hand the sensei may not announce prior to the examination what will be included in this core requirement.Take, for example, when a sensei requires an impromptu evaluation of flexibility during the examination.Poor performance at flexibility may suggest to the sensei that the students need to work on this area.He may require that one or more of them gain 10^ in flexibility before receiving their next rank.In another example the sensei may, without prior announcement, test the students on jyu-kumite at the examination.If he finds that the students are weak in jyu-kumite (especially if he has been emphasizing jyu-kumite for months at the poorly-attended regular classes of the dojo) he may fail students or require that they improve their jyu-kumite (and dojo attendance) before the next examination. There are other permutations of how the sensei uses the Sensei Special Core Requirement to direct and evaluate students' progress, but all of them are based on the underlying principle that the sensei desires to develop a balance in the student's ability. The object of the Sensei Special Core Requirement is to place evaluation and direction of the student's progress in the hands of the student's sensei.Good students accept this core requirement with understanding of the principle underlying it, and good sensei use it constructively for the best of the student, his dojo and Aoinagi Karate in general. Beyond the essential core portion of the curriculum, including the Sensei Special Core Curriculum, lies the large array for a student's personal selection, ie, the electives and option points. The Elective CurriculumThe elective curriculum at Aoinagi Karate gives the student an opportunity to select a pathway in martial arts which is most interesting.The core curriculum tests the students ability in important martial arts areas but it is the elective curriculum which gives freedom for the student to choose his own path. At the current time there are 28 different electives from which students get to choose.Forshodan a student needs three electives.These may be performance oriented such as advanced kata, jyu-kumite, and judo or these may be more oriented towards understanding such as gasshuku, an artistic project and reading martial arts books.The student gets to choose the direction of his elective training program. On the other hand, the student's sensei has the right (and responsibility) to direct students in their choices of electives and even, when indicated, to assign electives.the sensei does this to direct a student towards areas which need improvement, or to realize the student's hidden talents.Students assigned electives by their sensei want to be grateful for the direction. Students are encouraged to gain as many electives as possible.Gaining more electives than what is required for his rank indicates that the student's breadth in martial arts ability isgreater than with fewer electives.Increased breadth in ability strengthens the ability key consideration (as discussed above) and may influence the sensei at the time of the examination. Electives become more difficult as ranks increase.The reason for the increased difficulty is that more depth of ability is required in higher ranks.Students testing for early dan ranks can also pass the electives at a higher rank, that is, a student testing for shodan (requiring electives at 7.0 proficiency) may actually pass the elective at the sandan level (7.2 level) .By doing so the student demonstrates more depth in his elective than when he passes the elective at the lower proficiency. In order to pass shodan a student needs three electives and 10 option points outside of his electives (option points are to be discussed later).If this student gets the three electives and 10 option points he may test for shodan when his sensei directs him to (when the sensei decides that all key considerations are met).If his scores on the core curriculum requirements at the time of the examination are borderline for the rank, say he has several 6.9 in advanced kata, he may fail.Another student who has the same scores in all core curriculum requirements including the same scores on the same kata but who has seven electives with two of those electives in the 7.1 level will almost certainly pass.Electives are helpful!The more and the higher, the better. Sensei may test students over their electives at anytime, including during the core curriculum examinations.This usually takes the form of a demonstration of technique or a discussion of materials covered.Such examination is for the purpose of encouraging students to keep their abilities current. When a student passes a rank, such as shodan, he starts over again with zero completed electives.He may immediately gain electives for nidan by completing the requirments of 7.1 in any elective curriculum course.He does not get credit for electives at the 7.0 level although he may complete them for option points. Option PointsMany activities gain option points at Aoinagi Karate.Twenty-eight different courses in the elective curriculum have option points.In addition, there are three options which give option points but no electives;
Say that you decide to gain an elective in Advanced Physical Fitness for your shodan.The shodan elective requires that you obtain 45^ from the listed activities under Advanced Physical Fitness.You look up the requirements and begin to accrue points.You do a 10 mile run in 1 hour and 35 minutes giving you 10^.You take a weight lifting class at the local gym for three monthsgiving you another 10^.Then you decide you don't like the time you are spending away from kata training so you just take your 20^ (ten from the run and ten from the weight lifting class).You don't lose points.These are option points and you can record them for your next belt examination. Earning option points demonstrates your involvement in martial arts.Because option points can be earned in more than 30 different courses, high option point counts usually reflect breadth of experience in various martial arts fields.As in the example discussed under electives a borderline core curriculum examination is benefited by high option points.The reason relates to the fourth key consideration in evaluating students; ability.High option point counts indicate a a great deal of breadth in martial arts ability.The breadth indicated may be sufficient to overcome minor weaknesses in the ability required in the core curriculum.The sensei may accept the option points as proof that the student has gained sufficient breadth in ability to warrant the next belt rank even in full view of minor deficiencies in the core curriculum requirements. Beyond PointsWhen I first started compiling this curriculum I was discouraged by a fear that points and electives would come to mean more to the student than the martial arts underlying them.Then I looked at my dojo again.It had no direction.Students came to class but had little or no idea where they were going in martial arts.They were wandering aimlessly.But more than this, many had lost the spirit to continue at all and ceased training. I continued to write protocols for electives and ways of earning option points.I knew that the points and electives were not martial arts.I knew that some student's might get caught up in the system of earning points and electives and lose sight of the greater value of martial arts.But I also knew that a system which empowered the student to choose their direction from among many paths and gave them directions on how to travel the path was a vast improvement over the aimlessness which had come to permeate the then current dojo. So I continued. I believe now that there is more in this book than electives and option points.There is direction.I advise students to strive for the electives; I advise them to earn as many option points as they can.In spite of the electives, if not because of them, the student who sweats and strives, who struggles and gets frustrated, who keeps on going even if only for the points will gain far more than he expected when he began. There is more beyond points. The Curriculum by RankShodan (7.0)Sensei's prior approval of the four key considerations All 7.0 core curriculum requirements
Sensei Special Electives/Options
Nidan (7.1)Sensei's prior approval of the four key considerations All 7.1 core curriculum requirements
Sensei Special electives/options
Sandan (7.2)Sensei's prior approval of the four key considerations All 7.2 core curriculum requirements
Sensei Special electives/options Yodan (7.3)Sensei's prior approval of the four key considerations All 7.3 core curriculum requirements Sensei Special electives/options Godan (7.4)Sensei's prior approval of the four key considerations All 7.4 core curriculum requirements Sensei Special electives/options |
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