A foreign group sends missionaries to the US and the rest of the world. Over the years, there are disagreements about orthodoxy, about polity, about the role of democracy in the organization, versus being dictated to from overseas, of egos and revisionist history and cultural relativism and factionalism. Next thing you know — schism, as some people declare independence, other people declare the value of tradition, and everyone takes up positions of righteousness.
No, remarkably, I’m not talking about the whole Episcopal / Anglican thing here, but the division between the Japan Karate Association / World Federation versus the Philadelphia-HQed International Shotokan Karate Federation, as the ISKF declared itself independent in July from the JKA, though some of the lead senseis (and their regions) in the ISKF are remaining with the JKA. The JKA has created a JKA/WF-Americas group, and both they and the ISKF are cordially inviting folks to take sides.
It’s actually kind of morbidly interesting to watch, as both groups are remaining very Japanese-restrained about the whole thing, though you can read a lot of hard feelings between the lines. I don’t know the story from the JKA side of things — the master sensei in the ISKF region I belong to is sticking with the ISKF, as is my local sensei, and, honestly, I follow the local guy (whom I deeply respect) on this — but from the ISKF side (per the summer edition of the “ISKF Spotlight”), it seemed to boil down to:
- The JKA mother ship wanting more administrative control over the “World Federation” (out of apparent concern that the US-based ISKF was trying to take control over it).
- The JKA wanting to charge significant membership fees to all members, internationally.
- The JKA trying to pack the Board of Directors by adding in various folks from Japan HQ onto it, at the expense of other regions.
Nothing I can specifically find from the JKA side of things (though some of it seems to tie into organizational decisions made at last year’s JKA board meeting and this year’s, too), though the folks who decided to stay with them spoke of tradition as one of the key reasons to stick with it.
For what it’s worth, it appears, for all the calm dedication and flowery philosophy, that politics within the realm of Shotokan karate can be just as nasty and fractious as any other organization (including, sadly, religious ones) — enhanced, in some cases, by ego-conflicts over variations in style and teaching, as well as the normal one about who’s the boss of whom (and exacerbated by the “cult of personality” that develops around so many of the “teachers”). Despite espousing lofty goals, too many of the participants are far too human. Disappointing.
(For those with an interest in such things, there’s plenty of unrestrained drama and speculation here and here and here. Maybe it’s just the forum format, but it reminds me unpleasantly of all the old CoH Supergroup online politics.)
All that having been said, it’s not keeping me from karate class twice a week. Because, ultimately, I’m not into it as some sort of great philosophical truth, or because I’m looking for a guru to follow or a banner to march under. I’m doing it because it’s good for me, and I enjoy it. ‘Nuff said.