The Shintaro Higashi Show - Dojo-kun

Episode Date: August 10, 2021

A Judo dojo, like any other organization, often has a mission statement, or a "dojo-kun". Shintaro's dojo Kokushi Budo Institute is no exception. In this episode, Shintaro and Peter go over the dojo-kun of KBI and how it manifests itself in the day-to-day life of the dojo. Please support us on Patreon if you can: https://www.patreon.com/shintaro_higashi_show. Any amount helps!

hey guys how's it going welcome back to the shintaro higashi show with peter you today we're going to talk a little bit about the dojo kun or the dojo creed right the dojo kun that's the japanese word for dojo creed so let's kind of what is it really what is it well so it's a creed right every martial arts every business has a mission right a mission statement it's like the mission of mcdonald's is to create a delicious burger for everybody yeah something that add value to the shareholders uh for you know every dojo has sort of a dojo creed right and uh at kbi we do too and then we sort of chant it at the end of the class not like in a weird way and it can get weird especially with uh language barriers and things

like that and a lot of beginners come in you know you're closing your eyes you're chanting something you have no idea what it is right yeah what kind of propaganda am i spewing out of my mouth right right right but i think yeah that's if because it's it uh kbis dojo kun is actually in japanese and we're going to go into it in a bit but and i guess it could be misconstrued as something like that. So we want to dissect that and then maybe talk about other dojos, creeds and stuff. Yeah.

Should we talk a little bit more about dojo, creed, period? Yeah, we can do that. We can go into more before we jump into KBI. Yeah. What else is up with dojo-kun? Well, I guess it's like

the marketability of the business with the dojo orum well i guess it's like the the marketability of the business uh with the dojo or the school right i mean i see tons of like little flyers from takundo schools like build what is it indomitable spirit like unshakable confidence yeah they didn't say that right and some places like bully proofing 101 you'll never be bullied again you know build a spine kind of a thing and then you go in there because like oh man my kid might get picked down at school right right right and then that's what they're preaching at the school it's like hey i will stand up for myself this belt means something you know i have a lot of pride because i do this martial art rah rah rah right it pumps up the kids it pumps them up yeah and it's like this message that gets

sort of right indoctrinated right never give up give me your money yeah buy this stripe buy this gi right right i'm kidding i'm kidding you know you do have to you know keep the lights on and stuff right right right right but no there really is like when you're teaching martial arts right are you teaching martial arts are you full-blown running a business and it's not mutually exclusive right it's a spectrum right you can scale and have right a hundred kids in a room and a thousand students and sell everybody geese everybody has to wear the same. Everybody has to have a certain rash guard. And you're looking at the bottom line and there's a CFO in the background.

You can do that. I've seen taekwondo schools like that. The top head guy owns six schools, eight schools, 10 schools, running like a full-blown business. Every now and then it puts on a gi. So it blesses people with his, his or her presence.

Yep. But a lot of this stuff, right? So it's blessed as people with his his or her presence yep but a lot of this stuff right so it's the marketing right and then it's the martial arts school mission slash creed right right it's like what are we about what are we doing here right and it's that so you serve still a dual purpose you're saying a little bit yeah yeah a little bit and then sometimes it really is about like okay you know making it right some schools are very authentic in that way right of like hey look at us like we don't really care about the bottom line even though you know that that's a whole myth in itself you have to care about the bottom line yeah bleeding money every month you can't operate right can't operate you have to care about the bottom line you just right right right so that

that should just go out the way like oh my dojo doesn't care about money like no one pays the rent is overdue like that dojo is not going to be around in six months it's like a red flag in its own way if you red flag is like a sweet spot yeah you don't want to be overly commercial and you don't want to be overly like authentic like you know judo is only 16 a month right how are you keeping the lights on yeah yes that's right there's there's this dojo creed the dojo mission that's what we're really talking about and you know martial arts has its embedded thing right judo has minimum effort maximum efficiency right spoke about this in another podcast right but yes every dojo has a sort of creed right Right. I think it goes further. Like you said,

McDonald's has a mission. Every company. So it's like, because Dojo is a community, you need something everyone kind of subscribes to and then work towards for the betterment.

And then Dojo Creed acts as that North Star. Yes, that's right. That's a great way to put it yeah you said it right you nailed it so kbi so kbi dojo kun is as for there's four se kinro kenshiki and kaku and yeah so we'll just go but oh really sorry for my pronunciation so we have four dojo creeds four philosophies of the dojo this is outside of judo this is just like the all-encompassing right the school

dojo kun each one say yeah all right that's uh integrity right integrity authenticity being honest that's what it's about right right being genuine. Being genuine. Hey, I'm here. You know, we're going to work out together. I have your best interests at heart. You have my best interests at heart as well. And if we're all thinking that way and if we're all authentic and we're, right, we're all going to make each other better. Right. That's sort of the idea behind it. Uh-huh.

Yeah. Nice. So that's say. Say, yeah. Say. Yeah. And. Integrity. They're all like related you know right right all the things that i just said weren't synonymous i know this but yeah i think the word itself in japanese kind of encompasses all all of those yes that that's

yeah that's right that's that cultural thing right yeah the word can mean multiple things yeah i wish i had a great example for that but i don't say it's a great example i guess you know right all right yeah so so the next one kinro right no kenshiki oh no it is kino man come on man that's right i i know you need say need kinro kin diligence. Just hard work. Straight up hard work. You have to work hard. You can't just come in here and not work hard. Right. So that's the easiest one to understand.

You have to work hard. Right, right. I like work smart better. But no, it's just how it is. And the origins of the Dojo Creed comes from Kukushikan University. The university martial arts system that my father came out of from back in the day so right they have the same creed i think so oh the same four things they don't chant it at the end of the school or anything like that i see you know they have like themes of the month oh okay right

and then like when i was in high school they had a really cool theme and then the sensei would write it in calligraphy and people put it it on shirts or people put it on the wall and be like this is the theme oh it fires you up yeah fires you up and like you kind of live by it and you know the dojo creed is like one of those things too and kinro is hard work i should probably do that you know pick a word pick a creed of the month or something maybe that'll be too like you know it'll help people understand the meaning behind those words just to yeah it's not something that you chant automatically robotically at the end yeah that's true it's like creed of the month pick this one put on a t-shirt you have to buy a t-shirt yeah put it on a rash guard you have to buy the rash guard with a limited edition kinro gig with the patch the patch is 50 dollars

i literally sell no merch at the dojo yeah yeah there's people are asking me for like hey can you do merch i'm like it's just too much time and energy we did we did some t-shirts right like we did some t-shirts in the back the back of the day yeah like every like once a year maybe i'll do like a t-shirt situation and i always end up ordering too many smalls or something and i sit around with i have a ton of extra smalls in my parents attic as your parents give them out to their friends or something yeah they don't even do that anymore all their friends are like all right it's always too small it's always too big so you don't want it i think you have any large but best like no no that's all they're all sold out okay so kimro so that's the hard work you know diligence

um so the third was kenshiki Yep, that's knowledge. Knowledge. Knowledge, wisdom, pursuing knowledge, pursuing wisdom. I love this one, actually. Trying to understand. This is a good one. I really like this one. I'm all about that. Because I don't think a lot of people would expect that from a dojo creed. Yeah.

It's like this, you know, cerebral quality. I really like that, yeah. I guess the smart stuff that i was saying before about kinro like i guess yeah smart it kind of blends and yeah put those two together you get work smart yeah hard really smart you know knowledge and efficiency is probably a part of that thing right right the more wise you are the more efficient you're going to be right exactly yeah that's the that's the that's the idea i guess so kenshiki so you're like let's kind of go into a little bit more like it just it's not just about

uh knowing stuff about judo like like you said it's about practicing in a smart way and i think it goes beyond the dojo right right it's like you should pursue these things outside as well. That's my favorite thing about KBI. Like we have a collection of really, really smart people, right? And just all walks of life. Right, right. I love the type of careers that are represented at the dojo.

I love the type of people that come. It's a very intelligent crowd. Right, right. I mean, of course, like it's geographically based too, right? Like we're on the Upper West Side of Manhattanattan which definitely helps that kind of a thing right you know in new york city just pulls that kind of a crowd generally right the transitory business crowd flying through new york and hey i'm here on business for the next two years can i train they're gone after two years but you know they leave behind something great you know like something that's you know it's going to be everlasting at the dojo right they add to the culture and a lot of a lot of

students coming into like lawyers you know business people you know everything yeah yeah you know you want to be able to apply these principles in your everyday life too and that's you do as a tool to make yourself right and i think one one two on to linger on that point like it i learn a lot from just talking to all these people after judo or practice you know yeah you you're a big fan of that too oh big fan of that yeah yeah it's just like we have a great pod right now of like a great pod of lawyers and a great pod of doctors. Oh, yeah. Oh, dude, maybe you have to have a match, lawyers versus doctors. Yeah.

The doctors are a lot older. Actually, yeah. Yeah, maybe that'll be fun, huh? That's an Upper West Side thing to do in a way. Doctor could break the lawyers and then fix them but then the lawyers will sue them for their medical costs so it all evens out exactly so so yeah then it's uh like you said you know this dojo kun goes beyond uh just a judo and then the dojo so that's uh kenshiki you know continuous learning you know yep and whatnot so the what's the final one kihaku which is uh spirit kihaku right kaku spirit

you're coming into practice oh man like uh like that's not that's not right right that's like it's not spirit it's what is that it's negative attitude get the hell out of here you know we don't have that stuff right right right because you know people come to the dojo to feel like that energy like oh shoot like everyone's working hard i need to work hard like you need everyone's making each other better right and it really is the dojo culture thing it's like a motivation yeah be around people yeah be around people who are going to be working hard and i want to be inspired, right? That's why I go to the dojo most of the time, you know?

And then you get one or two annoying, cancerous people in the room that just have this negative energy. Like, we don't want that, you know? And so that's why Kehaku is so important, having that spirit, that positive attitude, right? I'm going to learn, I'm going to problem solve, I'm going to look for solutions, I'm going to make myself better. Like, that's what it's all about, you know?

And independently, they're like okay yeah right oh you gotta be uh you know integrity you know right i think it's smart and you know work hard and have spirit but all those things together right that puts like a whole well-rounded person you know all things it's yeah it's not just like separate they're not separate things they all have to work together. And then you have to have all these qualities to balance things out. Yeah, man. If you live by those values, if you live your life by that sort of creed, then you're a different person. Right, right. So that's what we want.

We want those people. We want people to strive for that. And if you're around a lot of people who are like that you're going to be like that you know they say it's like uh if you go to sleep with bats you wake up upside down never heard of that but that's a good saying yeah and martin rooney used to say it all the time oh i see i see strength and conditioning coach so you so so say kenro kenshiki and kyaku you know so you you how do you approach those things in life you know the you any uh any struggles when you're trying to follow and then any things you do to overcome those maybe you know man it's like all these things have been embedded in

me for so long right like i kind of just live by and i want to like you know as sensei you like oh i live by these principles every day you know i remind myself every time i say the dojo create it's not really it's like it's almost part of the class like all right line up okay dojo kuni say nikinro sankashiki yonkaku right boom right done bow all right see you later guys like what are you doing this weekend you know right but it's like it really is sometimes i'll think about it right but i mean you know once you sort of develop your personality and you have this sort of way about you right the way you live your life like it just kind of it just kind of grows on itself i think and uh you know i am i try to be subconsciously you're yeah it's

it's part of you they're part of it yeah i think so you know i mean you know some people might say i'm lazy it's a spectrum right some people who are hard workers right right i mean some people don't take paternity leave yeah there's very hard workers yeah very hard workers yeah i think i took like a week from the dojo off or something right right right i cut back on some classes you know yeah daytime you're right uh not going to the kids classes and all this stuff i did that but i mean i didn't full-blown take and some people just don't take paternity leave right that's like hard work i guess you know some people read all day and night you know i read a little bit you're like reading books yeah i do like readings i just read a script script of a like a play horror movie horror movie yeah for it's for

funsies or you're trying to no my buddy's a filmmaker oh he's a filmmaker and he wrote him and his he already has two feature films under his belt he's amazing oh wow nice yeah and then so i like he's like oh yeah we're making this movie I'd like to read the script. Oh, nice. And I read the script. Yeah, it was good. It was good? Dude, at first it was so hard to get through it because it's like, I don't understand the jargon. Like, close in, close out.

Right, because it's all like centered and then weird format. And then it's like the character's names were kind of similar. And this guy's name was Stacy. So I thought it was a woman. But, like, I didn't understand right like it's like wait a minute stacy sounds like you know this other character i was like confusing it and it's just like there's not a lot of like you know the house was brown and the leaves were shaken and it doesn't really paint a picture for you it's just like oh this person said this to

that that person said that to that and then like the ints and the ext i thought ext was like exit but it was like it meant exterior oh but a hard time like getting into the flow in the beginning like first 10 pages i'm like man this is like i shouldn't have said that i was gonna read this thing because i was like i might not be able to get through it like it was very difficult for me and then it's just like oh i got it and i was like don't read these things googled some terms i'm like oh all right and then i was just like got the characters in my head sorted out and then i was just reading the lines and i was like oh it's like these people are having a conversation dude that you know we digressed a little bit but i think that was a perfect embodiment of the dojo because let me hear me out say you are being honest and intake uh you know show some integrity authenticity by offering your help to your dear friend and admitting right now

that i could barely read right to being being honest that you're not familiar with scripts you know and then first time i wrote a script you didn't give up kinro you worked hard you i kind of yeah yeah and then kenshiki you and i gave up like four times like i uh this is like well you kept that i was gonna read it for like last month so you're you kept your promise and then you you work through itroll. And then you learn how to read Kenshiki. And then you had the spirit the whole time to see it through, Kyaku. Yeah. I got lucky, man.

I got lucky. I just had a pocket of time when Yumi fell asleep in my arm. And I couldn't really move. I was tired of reading Reddit and scrolling Instagram. So I was like, you know what? Let me just read the script. Yeah, because if I would have moved, she would have woke up. And the controller for the TV was too far away.

It's like you're stuck and you can't move. Yeah, so I was like, you know what? And the script was right within reach. I was like, all right, let me read this thing. I was like, I-N-T-E-X- n t john said to no no don't read that part that's fun but yeah i mean that that shows you know yeah so that's the dojo creed yeah i i um personally when i was there yeah like i think it kind of became this mechanical thing at the end of the practice to chant and then like oh and then let's go out for dinner grab some beer

wishing tar or whatever but i wish i i think it just i just kind of got all this like you said you've created this uh uh a community that's guided by these principles that i just kind of learned to like it's it's like i'm like imbued in these yeah qualities so it you know they don't you don't even have to try to consciously look for them it's all there and i think that's nice too yeah to have that and then you know so it has that japanese touch right because? Because people do come into my dojo, the marketability situation, and a lot of times, like, we want to learn authentic Japanese martial arts. That's, like, the number one reason why people call us. You know, it's like, are you Japanese?

Is the question that I get on the phone. Every time I get that phone call, I'm a little bit like, man, that's a little bit racist that you're basing whether or not you're going to come, whether I'm Japanese or not yeah i am japanese but i was born here yeah yeah right so anyway like it does give a little bit of that touch of the japanese yeah right it does have origins in a training lineage that my father came yeah right the kukushikan university system right all this stuff and then we chanted at the end of the class but we don't overly emphasize it in a weird way right right right it's not like i know i remember there's

like a little piece of paper on the board that explains all this yeah yeah and then sometimes people ask like right hey what is the thing that i'm chanting at the end of the class mean right right and then depending on if i have time or not sometimes i'll be like it means these things sometimes i'll go a little bit more in depth sometimes i'll just point at the wall and be like hey it's up there on the wall if you want to take a look at it you know depending on how much time i have right right right but like a lot of people just come in there and chant the thing and like they don't have no clue what it is yeah hope they listen to this episode and then kind of maybe they wrote a lot of people are listening to this episode now good good

yeah yeah like hey we listened to your thing because i think it's like gives you the opportunity to yeah going to in depth about a lot of these topics that people ask people might have questions about yeah yep so those yeah so those that's the kbis dojo-kun. And you mentioned that you've heard of other dojos' creeds. So maybe kind of go through some other examples. Yeah. I heard one really cool one. I took a trial taekwondo class at my friend's school. My friend owns a taekwondo school.

And it was awesome. It's really fun. It's more for kids, you know. And it's not like a full-blown you know combat school right right right but i kind of wanted to see how he does things i'm trying to keep an open mind i was like hey let me take a class of yours and then i came and i took a bunch of i took a taco no class with a bunch of little kids and you know he said it was a mixed class but it's mostly kids yeah but then at the end of the class he did the whole thing like i'm taekwondo like i'll never

give up my mind is this and my spirit is that and blah blah blah and then like high fives running around like jumping up and down and like it was like this thing and as i was doing i felt a little dumb doing it but like i was like you know what let me just like really buy into it and do it right because you're there to learn yeah yeah and after like the third or fourth time i was like yeah yeah like i was getting into it high five stuff good right and then like you leave feeling like all right you know and it wasn't like chanting korean words or something like this it was like it was straight up in english like i'm uh takon doka or whatever the term for that is and it's like i will never give up i will use my

energy for good i will stick up for bullies i will not tolerate bullying or something like this and you know the first two like i didn't really get it and they had it all like plaster on the wall so you kind of read it oh okay okay okay which is like kind of i thought it was a nice touch i see like parents walk in they look at it and they're like oh oh yeah i like that yeah my kid won't get bullied if i sign up for this thing oh how much is the lifetime membership again you know but no it was good you know and i've been to a judo school uh jimmy pedro's judo school has the creed it's like for the kids like i will use my judo oh man damn what was it i will use my judo for spirit and minimum affection i can't remember it was another one of those right i see you know it was like uh for good and so they chant that at

the end of the class too yeah they were chanting it at the end and it was great i see i see oh i will use my judo develop my mind and body with mutual respect and minimum fit i can't remember what it was but it was very good it was very good it's perfect for kids right you know you're chanting it and the beauty of that kind of stuff it's in english and then on your drive home from judo you know dad and mom hey johnny like what did you think think about the creed like what does that mean to you you know like let's talk about that that's a great education opportunity yeah it's like you're chanting this thing and then it's like all right johnny do you know what uh efficiency and you know what you know what that means and like oh yeah yeah whatever you know oh and then you explain it and you have a conversation about it and then oh that's what

it's about nice it's a good as opposed to that kvi it's like you're chanting for japanese words no one knows what it means well now they do if they listen to this episode yeah the kids don't know what it means i mean part of the promotion situation right we used to do like full-blown promotion exams and all that stuff which we've kind of gone away from is like you know the first question is like what's the dojo creed uh what does say mean what does kinro mean what does kiyaki can be yeah you know and uh we used to do that the whole right remember that right yeah yeah the whole thing and we kind of got away from it a little bit yeah a formal formal promotion system you know because now you just kind of gauge amongst the peers right now we don't have a kids program really right okay

still the beginning of the pandemic right right and adults don't need to be going home and study it up yeah yeah i mean it's like a lot of people work all day and then they're coming it's like all right you got to memorize this book i'm gonna test you yeah it's like how many classes you had like show me your attendance card like i don't do any of that stuff right right because i don't i don't believe in it for me right yeah and you know partially it's good to have that gamified thing of like oh if i come to this many classes if i learn this here's a syllabus i check off the boxes people learn great that way but i don't learn great that way i never did right so you know i could develop my my, my methods. You know, you're supposed to have all the different things to differentiate for each and every learning style.

Right. I know that. And partially it's because if I did this, that's a lot more work for me too. I have to take attendance at every class and do this and fill out the thing and print. It's like I don't want to do it either. Again, you're living by the creed and working smartly. Living by the creed, yeah. Yeah, working in a smart way. Or lazily.

But it's like, I always think to myself, like, okay, the amount of time I'm, like, putting in, because it takes away from me actually teaching when I'm doing this stuff, right? Because that's what people are actually for. It's like, how much do I want the people who are coming in for two hours after work to be dedicating their time to reading a syllabus and checking off the little boxes and do this and do that and understand this and taking the... It's like, no, they come from work.

They had a long day. Well, let's break a sweat. Let's work out. Right? That's right. Yeah. Let's make each other better. We'll chant this four thing. It's like propaganda and go home. That's right yeah let's make each other better we'll chant this four thing it's like

propaganda and like go home that's right yeah so i think uh you know it's you know like you said like some people might find it weird and whatnot but it's not you know every organization successful organization has these creeds or you know some people sometimes people use different words like mission statement or whatever but yeah yeah every every organization has it and then we i think demystified them a little bit in this uh episode kind of going through each japanese word um so any uh parting words for this episode yeah dojo kuni t nikin ro san kinchiki on kyaku that's right live bible yep chant them before you go to bed yep that's right cool all right all right guys well thanks for listening and uh stay tuned for the next episode