[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by Koir

The Japanese concept of challenge and reward seems very intriguing. I can see the wisdom in facing adversity in such a way, even though it is in many ways very different from what I grew up believing.

I sometimes feel that some Japanese people seem to like Puritan in some ways.
I myself didn’t smile or laugh in the karate school.
Smiling was not proper there.

I can see most of the person's frustration stems from a way of thinking that is somewhat difficult for a new Karate student to accept. As he said, beginners fighting beginners is more enjoyable due to a higher chance of winning matches. In this way, the beginner feels encouraged to continue as he can see results right away.

I forgot to write this: the English teacher was from England. He was not Japanese.
Japanese students hadn’t thought the system was frustrating them.
We don’t mind when we don’t see results right away in karate. We just accept it.
In other areas, I want to see results right away of course, and when I can choose, I prefer an enjoyable way. (While, some Japanese people love endurance and patience in all areas.)

Though depending on the personality of the beginner, they may not want to advance further. They may have a set of moves that has proven to work, or a mindset that has no reason to change since it succeeds so often. So they stay that way and never truly live up to their potential.

The system says, “Beat the better students! You can’t be beaten by your junior fellows!”
Actually, they really want to advance further.
They try hard, and try to be a champion no matter how long it takes.
I used to try to beat the better students. Unfortunately, they didn’t have women’s tournaments then.

Competing against advanced Karate students can be much more complicated. The chance of losing increases significantly as a beginner's limited skill set meets an advanced student's large set of moves and multiple mindsets based on experience. Losing matches this way certainly gets rid of the type of beginner student talked about earlier, but it can also convince the more motivated students to stop competing.

It was only natural that I competed against advanced students.
One day, when I was a beginner, I broke an advanced student’s lib, and she didn’t come to the school after that. The school’s name was Kyokushin.
Now, I’m sure that the karate students are too independent, and believe he can be a champion.

This kind of student may have the potential to improve greatly beyond status as a beginner, but the competition environment of a more experienced student doesn't allow for much growth. The beginner student may have been simply unlucky in a match, or have a set of moves that could not increase the chance of victory against the advanced student's move set. Whatever the cause, this promising beginner (again, depending on mindset) will see no use in continuing his/her studies and stop practicing karate.

When they lose, I’m sure, they say to themselves, “I will practice harder, and win next year!”

I could go on (if I haven't done so too much already), but that's some of my thoughts on the subject.

As for the revisions, not much had to be done. Some phrase changes to increase clarity of reading, and references to those studying karate as "students" based on previous discussions in this thread.

Koir, thanks for the revisions and your thoughts.
いつも、ありがとう！