I sit in the office of Sakura dojo ,that has been run by the family of Karate experts for over 30 years in Canada , the same dojo where I started learning my first kicks and the first place that fed my obsession with the martial arts . Staring down at the pictures of some of students files , those who made it to the upcoming Karate tournament in Vancouver .

I have finished the advanced children's class splendidly and am taking my 10 minutes break before the last session of Thursday night that should be wrapped up at eight.

As I used to do after every session, I sit typing out some thoughts in my block note, about some points to teach the next session, by including various kicking techniques and, as well to write down the negative and positive points I walked out with of today's class. Those kids always make me feel I have achieved something , since my goal today is mainly to get the students to feel the impact of their strikes and blocks in safe way. Students rarely disturb me after class. And tonight is not exceptional .

Ten minutes passed and I can see most of the students are coming out the dressing room, already changed into their uniforms, plain white Gi with the dojo's name as a logo printed on the left side of it, while the rest begin doing warm-up stretching around the floor, running and other necessary movements in order to avoid getting hurt during the actual lesson. You even can hear few groans.

'Alright kids'

I clap gathering them

'Line up in order of your belts. Anyone who takes more than five seconds is doing fifty pushups as punishment, starting NOW!'

I say as everybody scramble to get in position, only to spare themselves from the punishment.

Staring at the students in front of me, I see there are few new faces, in another word, means I have to pay extra attention to the white belts, beginning with teach them the basic stance , some simple taka and some basic blocks. But before, I have to clear some rules of the dojo and the shotokan as well

' Belt whites! '

I call their attention

'There are few rules you must follow by heart : slaking is not tolerated here, if joining this class only to impress somebody by getting black belts easily then this place isn't for you. One important rule of martial arts : Never use karate to humiliate, bullying or fight with no fair, obvious reason'

I say while everyone goes silent

'In the end of this session I will distribute the Niju Kun to you, so you can learn from . Now let's get started! '

Teaching the beginners is always a pleasure to me, not because I like to show off my skills, but perhaps it's the only good thing I love to do without any pride or ego. I love teaching people what I have learned and still learning, maybe the dojo is the only place that makes me focus on the art and not bragging about what I can do. Teaching the others is actually teaching you to look at your own techniques, to make sure you're doing it correct .

Some instructors in their debut find it a little difficult to teach the beginners who never trained any kind of martial arts before. I as well, was nervous in my first ever class. First time always sucks, the rest is history.

Our Hanshi John has just come from Tokyo after checking on his master, he is on death's bed at his 96 of years , as I heard. There is also another rumour that he went to meet up with few experts in the Japanese dojo to seal a corporation deal with them for instructing here , as you see the black belts here love to gossip . Otherwise, he has gone to Japan to convince his investor in financing a chain of Karate Dojo's here in Canada. Our Dojo has grown and there is a huge demand on having more Dojos in different parts of the town, the only truth I know that our Hanshi just is not a fan to talk about his projects with anyone.

'Now make a fist!'

I demand,

In the first half of the session we have already covered the four basic blocks such as Zenkutsu dachi and Oi-tsuki , teaching people how to step forward in karate is kind of difficult especially when they have to bend their knees while moving forward.

In Oi-tsuki for example , I teach the movement of the knee and the importance of ending the technique with the punch and step synchroniously, so all the muscles work together at same time to provide much power to the fist. Besides, teaching the line of travel of the arm during punching while keeping the shoulder down is that what it needs a constant attention, since everyone find it difficult to keep their shoulders down.

And now I am focusing on making the fist properly before moving to the rest of the position. As you see, making a fist in martial arts is one important thing you must learn, if it made correctly, your fist will be one of your most dangerous weapons in karate, if not, then you will end up with a broken thumb or broken wrist.

'Careful '

I say examining three white belts

' you should not insert your thumb under your four fingers , you are going to hurt it whenever you throw a punch and you may break it if the punch is hard'

I see terror in their widened eyes

'But no worries , you still newbie in Karate , you won't start real punching until you're more practised '

I unintentionally wink to them

Scanning everyone fist, I can see everyone holds out a fist with their thumbs pressing hard against the outside of their index, they are doing exactly what I told them

'Good'

I say approvingly

'Now both fists up, you have to tuck your elbows up against both sides  of your body'

Demonstrating in my stance, I show them how my two arms are two straight lines on either sides of my body

'Now punch!'

XxXx

I barely get in trouble while instructing. But if there's something to know about me, then there is this one thing, if I hate something -which I hate almost everything - I hate and loathe when I get interrupted by some ignoring piece of crap who definitely has no manners to show respect to the place where we practice karate.

I won't deny, one of the Niju Kun precepts; which are the twenty guiding principles of karate that help us to conduct ourselves in this sport says , 'in karate, never attack first', it's obvious since martial arts stand as self defence and how we protect ourselves and not by striking with no reason.

So while we are busy with punching, there is that guy , a brunet around 6'ft and board shoulder , with darken skin color of his and the shape of his eyes generally marks him as Latino ethnic , decides to introduce himself in no gentle way. He walks in and heads right for a girl has been taking her class in like just two weeks. The situation takes a twisted plot and culminates in a question-answer session with the cops and witnesses about my belief of the non violent principles of the martial arts ethics. But let's see it from my perspective; a strange man walking into nothing but my CLASS, and puts his hand violently on a student, a girl nontheless , place us in a physical conflict. The students don't know that and the guy himself doesn't know it either. But as an instructor, I am fully aware that I'm responsible of the students in my class, which I have to protect them if any incident happens.

Any escalation can be prevented by of set of the people in the dojo standing with me to back him down with the force of numbers. But they don't dare to make a stand. The moment I release his grip on my student who goes by name Jessica, I know one of the consequences maybe him lying on the floor unconscious while we wait for the police. Some of the black belts do not like my answers but they admit there is plenty of opportunity for them to pursue other options. Their inaction settles somehow the issue of my being the best hire in our master's eyes.