What makes a martial artist a good martial artist?

Good question. My view is this.... I think that the old masters might have been able to produce a student that became a master. This is because training was more often, longer, and more in-depth that 99% of what is available today.

Today that is not likely. I feel to become a master requires that you receive a very high level of training, and develop things to that level. I know that like you I have learned much by teaching students.

There are some things that you may know but not easy to explain. Teaching others requires that you be able to demonstrate and explain. Often this has forced me to think about things that I took for granted before.

In teaching students since 1973, I have found that the students that develop the highest level of understanding, technique, fighting, ....etc., are the ones that began teaching at some point. But I must bring up something else.... A master is not someone that has reached a certain rank. That misunderstanding has been around for a long time.

By the old standards the Japanese required that a student be at least 4th degree black belt, have many years of teaching experience, and have developed an exceptional understanding, and ability to teach. Then if the organization head or style head wants to, they can issue the student a Shihan title. Most organizations require the minimum rank for this to be 5th dan, but a few will issue it at 4th dan.

NO one is a master without it being issued in writing from the organization. No one under 4th dan is ever a master. The Japanese and Okinawans do not give everyone a title because they reach a certain rank.

In the U.S.A. many schools automatically start calling someone Sensei, Shihan, ...etc. because that person reached a certain rank. That is totally wrong by traditional standards. The Korean styles borrowed the rank system that the Japanese were using.

But they have strayed even further from the old standards. I often hear4 someone comment that their friend is a4th dan now, so he is a master.... Wrong! EDIT: I'm with Jim R on a statement he made.

Styles of martial arts did not come suddenly into existence being created by one person. Fighting techniques evolved, were added to, and refined for centuries. Eventually someone created a set curriculum, and gave it a name.

After a few generations people just came to accept them as legitimate styles. All of what we call styles today are built on the studies and experience of many people before a style came about. ....

I am far from a master, but I have quite a bit of experience. I learned so much about what I had already learned when I began to teach. Every student has questions that make you think, and as time goes on you realize things you were already taught.

Sometimes you see it in a new light, and sometimes you can spot variations, or even direct applications you had not considered, all from interacting with students. They make you (or should) find answers to stuff you can not answer off hand, and you must give full concentration. This all helps with your personal development.

It may be possible to to become a "master" without students, but I think you need both a teacher, and students to truly master any martial art, or even to master yourself. I think you will find teaching frustrating, demanding, informative, enlightening, fun, and productive. I wish you well, good luck teaching.

J edit: I think another misconception that is at work here is to assume that these things we call "styles" are each the invention of one person. That is simply not the case. Each and every one of them developed over lifetimes, and were contributed to by many, to finally become what they are now.

Or someone "borrowed" some from here and some from there and created a conglomeration of techniques. Usually this is a washout too, but sometimes someone (Funakoshi Sensei for one) blends things and gets it right. No proper and complete style is ever the invention of just one man/woman.

Period.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.