Day 174 of writing every day.
With the seeming rise of mixed martial arts in popularity, more people seem to have gained interest in learning some form of martial art when they see it could help them get stronger and faster, as well as prepare them for a violent situation many seem to believe they will encounter at some future point in life. Even famous rich people such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg have gone public about their passion for MMA despite the stereotypical image of tech people being lanky or chunky, and unathletic at all.
道場 (Dojo) is a Japanese term for a place for learning a do or ‘path.’ The term had been adapted into the vocabulary of many languages and Merriam Webster says its first known use in English was in 1942. Traditionally, the thinking is that it takes many years of training and demonstration of skills recognized by the master to be given the certification and permission to teach the art. But a path is not just about having a skill set of physical techniques, but looks for the development of a trained and focused state of mind that some people with a certain level of awareness are able to perceive while others seem completely ignorant or oblivious of it.
Some talented top athletes seem to reach similar levels of consciousness and awareness that practitioners of a path spend their whole lives trying to attain, and I think the difference can be innate and external factors. There are enough examples of self-taught geniuses in a number of fields, and conversely examples of mediocre students of highly talented people.
When looking at how you would operate a dojo from a business perspective, it’s easy to see how difficult it is to open and sustain a dojo, if staying honest to tradition.
To achieve a rank of a quality instructor, it probably takes more years of training in a given art that it takes to get a college degree, and a college degree actually matters in the eyes of many institutions much more than a rank or you attained in an art, which might get treated the equivalent of your test score on some kind of recognized skills proficiency test.
Real estate isn’t cheap in the populated parts of Japan and oftentimes it’s going to be a contest about finding a shared space first and also claiming the days of the week and hours where it’s most likely that people would actually be able to come. You won’t expect any young people to show up to a dojo that had class in the middle of the day on a weekday, for example.
Before you get any students, you’re going to need to come up with some funds to pay rent and buy equipment i.e. if you need to supply your own mats. Getting students isn’t easy either, especially if you’re not trying to be a “McDojo” that’s selling belts and ranks, but even that tactic won’t work forever when there’s competition for students from gyms and other places of learning.
I’m sure there’s a draw for people in certain cases that want to unplug and do something physical with other people, but people in Japan seem to have too little time and money for pastimes. Plus why trade the comfort of cat and dog videos that you can watch for free to take your mind off things, or just drink away your problems temporarily?
Anyways, in many cases, sustaining a dojo is not possible without at least ten students and someone to help out with instructions. If you get sick or anything, then someone will need to fill in for you until you can return. But ten students would just be getting the rent paid unless you’re charging a serious amount of money and everyone’s rich. You’ll need triple the amount of students to earn enough to get by without working a job while living quite frugally.
It’s not financially rewarding to be doing martial arts full-time and sometimes students don’t really have the capacity to discern whether a dojo is good or lacking. But people still do to preserve some traditions and make sure things that can only be transmitted through continued practice live on.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 