ZA N S H I N (12/27/13)
By Dick Morgan
Red Belt
I witnessed
martial arts history last night. My
teacher, Mr. James R. Garrison, was presented with a solid red belt hand
lettered by the Kodokan in Tokyo Japan, and carried in person by Master
Mike Martyn, the North American representative of the International Martial
Arts Federation, also headquartered in Tokyo.
A red belt
represents tenth degree black belt.
Since tenth degree is the highest rank possible, it cannot be awarded,
because no one is senior to that rank.
It must be voted on by the senior ranks of a martial system, or of
several systems. Only with a unanimous
vote of several senior martial artists—the ninth and tenth degree grandmasters
from the oldest and most established martial systems—can the red belt be bestowed.
The
International Martial Arts Federation represents more of these venerable
martial art systems, and more of the most honored grandmasters than any other
martial arts organization in the world.
It was a privilege to just be present during the short and modest
ceremony of the presentation. Mr. Martyn
described how he had had to send the belt back to the Kodokan for a correction
in the embroidery of Mr. Garrison’s name on the end of the belt. The Japanese
language does not translate the letter “R” very well, and a native Japanese
speaker would have read the name as “Garson.”
Mr. Martyn and the officials at the Kodokan settled on a compromise, so
that the belt now reads, “Geddison,” which is as close as The Japanese language
can come to Garrison.
It is proper
in the martial arts that the higher the rank, the less pomp and circumstance is
involved in its presentation. The red
belt was presented, accepted, and tied on in a ceremony that lasted maybe five
minutes.
Mr. Garrison
has practiced the martial arts for almost sixty years. In addition to the physical practice, he has
studied the history and philosophy of the martial arts to an extent that very
few achieve. His extensive library has
many first editions of martial arts classics, and many of them are signed by
the masters who wrote them. He is truly
an exceptional teacher.
I am honored
to be a student at Pacific Rim Martial Arts Academy, studying under the intense
and often scary instruction of Grandmaster James R. Garrison, one of the best
martial arts teachers in the world. If
you are skeptical of that last statement, drop in, dress down, and get on the
mat with us. We are serious Hapkidoists and Judoka, and we will welcome you with
open hands.
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