Technique of the Week (July 11th, 2010)

Sensei Lyle Kleusch
San-Dan, Shihan, Ueshiro Okinawan Karate Club, Hong Kong
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Corresponding Union

Students and teachers share a very special relationship based on trust and reciprocation.

Students trust their teachers to educate them properly and teachers trust their students to study well and use their knowledge properly. A good teacher gives time, effort and knowledge to the student. A good student gives respect, effort and time to the teacher. So it has been since the dawn of education.

Psychologists call this ‘corresponding union’: a functional system of equal give and take between people. Confucius knew about this long ago and taught that filial piety, the deep respect given to one’s parents, was just as important to give to one’s teachers. It helped create a functional system between students and teachers. In reality good teachers are like surrogate parents. They nurture, teach and challenge their students to grow, just as good parents do with their children.

It is the same in our style of Shorin Ryu Karate. As teachers we have been given an awesome responsibility to give our time, our maximum effort and the best of our knowledge to our students, in order to challenge, teach and nurture them. As students we must show the upmost respect for our teachers by giving our best effort to train, study with and follow our Sensei.

A good example is when Grand Master Ansei Ueshiro requested of Hanshi Robert Scaglione to accompany him on a cross country trip across the USA. Without hesitation, Hanshi Scaglione replied “Arigato Sensei!” put his other duties to the side and went.

My Sensei, Kyoshi Kaplan, asked me to design and oversee the construction of a dojo. I replied, Arigato Sensei!” and went to work.

Our teachers sometimes ask of us a great deal, but what we get in return is priceless. Our teachers do not ask for the impossible, only the exceedingly difficult. Our students do not perform the impossible, only the extremely difficult.

We are so fortunate that our leaders teach and train this way. This is how we exceed expectations. Follow your Sensei. Challenge your students. It is the Shorin Ryu way.

Arigato Hanshi, Kyoshi, Sensei, Senpai and Deshi,

Sensei Lyle Kleusch
San-Dan, Shihan, Ueshiro Okinawan Karate Club, Hong Kong