# 25 - A sustainable karate-ka

I spoke with Sensei Scott Langley (7th Dan) about his latest book, A Sustainable Karate-ka: A Small Book About a Long Journey. We discussed motivation, the elements of being a sustainable karate-ka and instructor, how to keep on keeping on, how karate is not a thing but a karate-ka is, and his advice for karate-ka who have just started and those who have trained for many years.

Background to the book:

“From a prematurely early age, I have been concerned with the longevity of my karate journey. Before I was anywhere near my prime. I was already predicting my decline and busied myself with ideas of how to counteract my natural tendencies to be lazy, fat and aging.

Now, as I approach my fiftieth birthday, I am somewhat justified in my anxiety over general decline. Therefore, I have written a short book about the long journey I embarked upon all those years ago. This book is about me, no one else. However, I do hope that the lessons I have learnt as I meandered through life speak to you a little.

This book isn’t about making big gestures or disclosing huge revelations. It doesn’t contain secrets or answers to mysteries and enigmas. It doesn’t even share salacious gossip about well-known karate-ka (I am sorry to say.) What it does contain is how I have approached the difficult question of how do we keep on keeping on? So, I do hope you enjoy how I have tried to become a Sustainable Karate-ka”

About Sensei Scott Langley 7th Dan:

Scott is one of the youngest people ever to win the World Championships and has over 30 years’ experience practicing and teaching karate.

Scott has been practicing martial arts since the age of 5, however, he started his karate career proper in 1986 under the instruction of Howard Milson, a senior member of Kodokai and one of the very few 5th dans in the UK at the time. Scott trained hard with Howard and Kato Sensei and gained shodan in 1992. After travelling to Japan with Kato Sensei in 1993, Scott started university in Staffordshire and trained on a daily basis with him.

During this time, he assisted Kato Sensei teaching around the UK and Europe. Scott also competed regularly, winning, both in kata and kumite, the National Championships five times, European Championships three times, and the 1996 JKA World Championships in Moscow. Building on this success, Scott travelled once more to Japan in 1997 and started to train full time at the JKA (Asai fraction) Hombu dojo.

Under constant pressure from the instruction of Asai, Abe, Yahara, Kagawa, Isaka, Yamaguchi etc, Scott went from strength to strength and in 1998 was asked to enter the instructor’s course. Unfortunately, an injured knee prevented this, so after considerable rehabilitation, Scott, along with Yasuhisa Inada, entered the course in 2000 and became the first instructor’s course class of the newly formed Japan Karate Shotorenmei. Two intensive years later, Scott graduated from the course and became the fifth non-Japanese person ever to do so (JKA/JKS).

Feeling it was time to move on and encouraged by the hombu dojo to develop JKS karate, Scott moved to Ireland. From 2002 until 2013 Scott was the Technical Director of the JKS GB & Ireland and the Chief Instructor of JKS Ireland’s Hombu Dojo. In that time the group grew from 4 clubs to 120 clubs, making it the biggest single style group in the British Isles. His own club also grew from the initial 8 members that showed up first night, to over 500 members and four full time instructors.

Scott is the best selling author of Karate Stupid and Karate Clever which tell much of Scott's karate journey so far.

Scott trains daily at the dojo with the other Sensei and takes the adult classes on Monday and Thursday nights.  He spends most of his weekends travelling around Great Britain and Europe teaching at seminars. However, he likes to surprise the kids every now and then so he might drop in on any class any time.

“Scott Langley is one of the few instructors to have learnt karate in Japan from the source. He teaches the true art of karate. In Europe this is very rare and should be taken advantage of!” Yutaka Koike 5th Dan – All Japan Champion