Loyalty

Well, I am not by any means the first person to consider issues of loyalty.  Even though the concept has different iterations and nuances from culture to culture, and over millenia, everyone seems to know what it means for them.  Since many millions of words have been written on this subject at large, I feel opinion is all I can personally contribute; and at that, only in one context (today, at least): loyalty in the dojo.

This is a very sticky issue.  I got kicked out of my old place over issues of loyalty - my sometime sempai (he had started befoire me, but had absented himself for 10 years or more before returning) insisted my loyalty to him should have trumped my loyalty to my teacher, the headmaster of the style, in Japan  Such loyalty meaning that I should have continued to cover for his shortcomings as I always had since his return, and then some, allowing him to teach a style he was not authorized to teach, and contributing my expertise (I was the one actually authorized to teach) in his name.  Certain dojo traditions (modeled on Japanese traditions, or at least what we interpret them to be) held up his argument, but other ideas and traditions upheld my position as well.  On my side, I did not feel like contributing to what would have amounted to a breach of personal ethics, perhaps even elevating to fraud in assisting someone without expertise to declare himself the premier Western practitioner of the style.  My teacher, Mr, Otani, as traditional an issei as ever there was, I think would have bought the moral argument over the dojo loyalty argument.  On the other hand, he would have won no matter what position he took, since it was his dojo.  In many, many ways his death was the setup for all that followed, the repercussions from which are still reverberating three years down the road.

Skip to the present day: I have my own group, my own students, and I have, at least for the time being, left aside the offending style, since the old sempai is not content to have me out of the dojo - he is angling to have me quit the ryuha in whatever way he can bring it about.  I have decided on the path of least resistance - stop pushing for whatever rights I might have, keep to my roots in my original style (which I have been continuing to teach all along), and...wait.  My senior students are well aware of, and tired of, the political intrigues, the disses and the totally predictable mediocrity of the other group (the headmaster of the style, in Japan, stands aloof).  They are all perfectly happy to pursue a curriculum that is more peaceful, and, for my part, I have plenty to do - weeks and months pass without my even thinking about the situation "over there."

All of them, except one.  While acknowledging the crappiness of the situation with a depth of understanding that surprised me, one student still advocates for pursuing the other style.  Several weeks ago I overheard him telling someone that he considers the headmaster in Japan to be his teacher, even though he has met the guy maybe 1/2 dozen times.  I arranged for this student to attend practice at the honbu in Japan, and I have trained him for three years. 

Who your teacher is can be a complicated business.  For example, the current headmaster has taught me officially only since he became headmaster - my real teacher in the style was the previous headmaster, with whom I trained for over ten years.  To his credit, the current head has acknowledged as much.  My original teacher was Otani Sensei, and even though I have trained with other (and better known, in some cases) teachers since, I continue to claim him, even though, at this point, almost no one remembers who he was, if they ever even heard of him.  My student's first teacher is a karate teacher, a man I have met and respect. If anyone should get the honor of being this guy's teacher over me, it should be him. 

When I asked the (my?) student about what I had overheard, he said I misunderstood (I did not hear the whole conversation).  Okay, but what he said next was discomforting: that while he "didn't mind" learning other things, he wanted to continue to practice the "forbidden" style over any other, and saw his role in the dojo as helping me to promote it.  I pointed out that such a path was impossible at this time, that promoting the style was the equivalent of continuing to bind myself to a situation that I found toxic for both my students and myself, but he simply repeated what he had said already.  Every opportunity he gets he flaunts his (limited) understanding of the style, in front of new students, in front of me, even though I have made it very clear that I would prefer not to have it practiced in my dojo.

So, what to do with this guy?  I cannot give him what he wants, and his continued stubbornness is making trouble for me, though possibly not as much as I think it is.  (On the other hand, I have consistently downplayed such situations, and have been screwed by them.)  I am considering the possibility of giving permission for him to go to my old place - they have tossed out the style Otani Sensei taught and wholly devote themselves to the new one.  Even though their practice is not so skilful, I think he would get a warm reception (especially since the old sempai would probably consider it a personal victory over me to have him).  He would be kept informed of the doings of the honbu - information deliberately kept from us  (more complications - the headmaster prefers to communicate with the larger, more established group, who then keeps the info to itself, unless it can make money off of it).  If the student affiliates with my old sempai, he will have a more direct line to "his" teacher than I am currently willing or able to provide. 

And I will have a more peaceful atmosphere; at least, that is my hope.