Brenda Guiled began studying Shorei-Kan karate in January, 1995,
and received her third-degree black belt in June, 2002.

Since 2007, she has been writing a "graduating essay"
with Tomoaki Koyabu sensei (teacher) and shihan (teacher of teachers).
It is now published as Dancing in the Kara of Te.
Click here for a preview and purchasing information.

calligraphy by
Tomoaki Koyabu:
"Winning ...
you know when you are"

	Kara-te (empty/open hand) is a way of life and self-defence art that developed in Okinawa, a sub-tropical island in the Asian Sea. The karate way, which is the Okinawan way, long kept the people and culture of this small, joyful kingdom intact and thriving under two stern masters: the Chinese empire since the late 1390s and the Japanese empire since the early 1600s. Japan took it over entirely in the 1870s. Bushi (gentleman warrior) Seikichi Toguchi, on the left, created Shorei-Kan (House of Politeness and Respect) from Master Chogun Miyagi's modernization of a synthesis of Okinawan, Chinese, and Japanese hand-fighting techniques, which, combined with Okinawan dance, transformed into modern karate movements. Toguchi was the inspiration and role model for the old master in "The Karate Kid" movies, although the tournament and sport aspects of the films are Hollywood additions that undermine kara-te principles.
Brenda painted this watercolour for Koyabu sensei following her first-degree black belt test, to thank him for bringing the art to Canada in 1972 and for his help building a Japanese garden in her yard. The garden had just begun then, as had her studies.

Following are some monoprint abstractions that embody Brenda's karate learnings from white belt starting in 1995 to her first-degree black belt in 1997 - very basic understandings, that is.

Her book, Dancing in the Kara of Te, written with Master Koyabu, offers further insights into the history, dance, and requirements for learning the kara-te way.

White belt In this panel, these white belt images are crude and clunky, as most beginners feel during their first karate classes. They're framed by black - the many black belts who teach us and the black belt that we may hope to achieve.
		Top left: Baby Steps "In my first class, there were several black belts, no brown, green with yellow stripes, white with green stripes, and me in the whitest of white. I'm taking my first tentative, crude basic-walking steps, with no notion of how far I'll go. Top right: Four Ways from Home In beginner katas (patterns of movement), we step in the four ordinal directions from the central starting point. In more advanced katas, westep in 45-degree angles as well - eight ways from home - and even occasionally 22.5 degrees. Bottom left: Inside Outside Worlds Karate is about integrating mind and body with internal and external influences, to resolve inner and outer conflicts. The mountains of Okinawa, where karate originated, are in the distance. The white belt square separates the potential black belt within, while ki energy (red on all of these pieces) surges from underground / undercurrent sources. Bottom right: Learning to Flow White belts are stiff and straight. Green belts flow into brown, which flow into black, who are finally able to integrate the dancing flow of sky and water into their moves, thinking, and philosophy.

Learning to Breathe This panel is about breathing, coordinating breath with movement, so the katas begin to settle and flow. All of the following images are framed in white, because we are to train, always, with the beginner's, or white-belt, heart and because "the end of all our journeyings is to return to the beginning and to know it for the first time" (T.S. Elliot).
Beginning Seyunchin Seyunchin is an ancient kata, at least 500 years old. It's about settling in, yet it also marks the beginning of the roughest part, for many, to black belt. The crudeness of the paint and ghost-like unsettled energy show how I felt as I mimicked its patterns.	Sanchin Sanchin, another ancient kata, focuses on breath and power. In the penultimate set of moves, one grabs the air while breathing in to fill the expanded, centred locus of ki energy. By learning to breathe again like a baby, one's learnings simplify, settle, and progress.	Rhythm Seyunchin This depicts the open moves of Seyunchin, done to music. When breathing, pulse, and intent become clear, the kata starts to settle. This piece is calmner, simpler, purer - closer to how I should feel when doing the entire kata.

Hakutsuru no Mai - White Crane Dance
The story is that Master Chogun Miyagi saw this kata-dance in a dream. He told his student Seikichi Toguchi, who created it with input from his Okinawan dancer wife, Haruko Toguchi, who became Kaicho, or head, of Shorei-Kan karate following her husband's death in 1998. She is now the honorary head.	White Crane fights Snake in the garden, but rather than vanquish him, as often happens in other martial arts forms, White Crane tumbles Snake away and summons the strength and courage to fly away. She finds freedom and grace in her world, leaving Snake, without judgment, to his.	The old master in the "The Karate Kid" movies is fashioned on the character of Seikichi Toguchi, but is named Mr. Miyagi to honour Toguchi's teacher. Near the end of the original movie, Mr. Miyagi does White Crane dance most memorably on a beach, high on a piling, switching from balancing on one foot to the other with a graceful leap.

Black Belt panel "All of these images have a black belt in them, with a thin gold thread through the belt. Karate has become the golden thread that runs in my life and informs all that i do."
Sunrise I grew up in the Rocky Mountains, and they remain key to my being and well-being. When I meditate and when my moves/arts flow, my head, heart, and ki energy are those a child waking to a mountain-perfect day. This also represents sunrise over the Okinawan hills.	White Bird Black belt is not an arrival, but a beginning. There's pride in achieving it, but it's daunting too, because responsibilities increased dramatically. Note that by chance a little bird appeared in the upper left corner. Fitting serendipidies increase as ability and understanding grow.	Sunset This is the sea, where life begins and ends, where flow is constant and ever-changing. The sun - the Okinawan sun/Japanese flag - rises again, and we come full circle to Sunrise.