What are the opening hours?

Monday 4:30pm - 7pm Wednesday 4:30pm - 7pm Saturday 2:30pm - 4pm

DAIBUDO KODENKAN MATSUNO KENSHUKAI, 3127 N Stone Avenue #115, Tucson, AZ (2026)

10/18/2026

Welcome back.

We now come to the seventh and final level of DKMK’s Seven Levels of Training and Self-Discovery:

Level 7: Responsibility

By this point, the student has built a foundation, developed structure, learned principles, applied techniques, adapted when circumstances changed, and learned to exercise judgment. Now comes the question that gives meaning to everything that came before:

What will you do with what you have learned?

Responsibility begins with understanding that skill carries weight. As martial artists, we learn things that can protect, control, restrain, injure, or stop another person. The more capable we become, the more important it becomes to understand that ability alone does not give us permission to use it carelessly.

At the lower levels, much of our attention is focused on ourselves. We are learning how to stand, how to move, how to fall, how to strike, how to throw, how to escape, how to breathe, and how to perform a technique correctly. But as we progress, the focus begins to change.

We start becoming responsible for our training partners. We learn to control our techniques so that others can train safely. We learn that being a good uke is just as important as being the person performing the technique, and we begin to understand that our attitude affects the people around us.

Eventually, others begin watching us. A newer student may copy the way we stand, the way we bow, the way we practice, the way we respond to correction, and even the way we react when something does not go our way. At that point, whether we realize it or not, we are already teaching. That, too, is part of Responsibility.

Responsibility also means preserving what has been entrusted to us. None of us invented the arts we practice. They came to us through teachers who learned from their teachers, who in turn learned from those who came before them. Every generation receives something, and every generation must decide what it will do with what it has received.

We can treat that inheritance casually, or we can care for it, understand it, question it thoughtfully, deepen our own understanding, and pass it on with integrity. Responsibility does not mean blindly repeating everything exactly as it was taught. It means respecting what we were given enough to understand it before changing it.

It also means knowing the difference between adaptation and carelessness. Once we become instructors, senior students, or simply people others look toward, our actions may shape someone else’s understanding of the art.

There is also a deeper responsibility: the responsibility to control ourselves.

Perhaps one of the greatest changes in a mature martial artist is that the need to prove something begins to disappear. We do not have to demonstrate every skill we possess. We do not have to answer every insult, accept every challenge, or turn every disagreement into a contest.

Sometimes responsibility means walking away, standing between danger and someone who cannot protect themselves, or acting decisively when the situation truly requires it. At other times, it means recognizing that no action is necessary at all.

This is where Judgment and Responsibility meet. Judgment asks, “What should I do?” Responsibility asks, “Am I prepared to accept what follows from that decision?”

That may include physical consequences, legal consequences, the effect on others, and the effect upon ourselves. The higher we progress, the harder it becomes to separate technique from character.

At some point, martial arts can no longer be measured only by how well we throw, strike, escape, block, or control. The more important measure becomes how we conduct ourselves when no instructor is watching and no belt is being tested.

Responsibility is what we do with ability when we are free to choose.

Perhaps that is why this level cannot simply be awarded because someone has memorized enough techniques or trained for a certain number of years. Maturity matters. Character matters. Judgment matters. The ability to accept responsibility for oneself and for others matters.

A student may learn techniques quickly, but responsibility usually takes longer. It develops through experience, mistakes, correction, patience, service, and time. Eventually, the student begins to understand that advancement is not only about what comes next for them. It also becomes about what they can give back.

They help another student with a stance, encourage someone who is struggling, protect a beginner during practice, or take time to explain something that once confused them. In doing so, they begin helping another person build the same kind of foundation they once needed for themselves.

And something interesting happens.

The Seven Levels begin to come full circle.

The student who once needed a Foundation may someday become part of someone else’s Foundation. That may be one of the deepest expressions of Responsibility.

But before we finish this series, I would like to ask you to look at these Seven Levels one more time, not simply as a martial artist, but as a person.

You may never have stepped into a dojo. You may never have worn a gi, learned a kata, practiced a throw, or earned a belt. But you have still traveled a path, perhaps more than one.

Think about your own life. What became your Foundation? What gave your life Structure? What Principles did experience teach you? Where did you learn to Apply what you knew? When life changed unexpectedly, how did you Adapt? What experiences taught you Judgment? And what Responsibilities now belong to you because of everything you have learned?

Your Seven Levels may not look anything like ours. They may have been shaped by family, work, faith, hardship, education, service, loss, love, failure, success, or simply the long process of becoming who you are.

That is why, when this series is complete, I would invite you to go back through these Seven Levels once again. Read them again. Listen to them again. But this time, do not look only for the martial artist.

Look for yourself.

See whether there is a Foundation somewhere in your own story. See where Structure began to form. Look for the Principles you discovered, the moments when you had to Apply what you knew, the times when you were forced to Adapt, the experiences that gave you Judgment, and the Responsibilities that now come with everything life has taught you.

Perhaps you will discover that these Seven Levels were never only about martial arts. Perhaps they were also about growth: becoming more aware, more capable, more disciplined, more thoughtful, and eventually more responsible for what we do with the person we have become.

This brings our Seven Levels of Training and Self-Discovery to an end. But perhaps the path itself does not end here.

Perhaps the next step is simply to look back, see your own journey more clearly, and ask what you will do with everything it has taught you.

That is Responsibility.

10/12/2026

Welcome back.
So far, we have explored the first four of DKMK’s Seven Levels of Training and Self-Discovery:

Level 1: Foundation
Level 2: Structure
Level 3: Principle
Level 4: Application

Now we move to Level 5: Adaptation.

Application teaches us how to put a technique into action. Adaptation asks what happens when the situation changes.
In training, techniques are often introduced under controlled conditions. The partner stands in a certain position, attacks in a predictable way, and gives us enough cooperation to learn the movement correctly. This is necessary in the beginning, but real movement is rarely that neat.

People move differently. They resist, they pull away and change direction. A grip may be higher or lower than expected. A person may be taller, shorter, stronger, faster, or simply positioned in a way that makes the original technique difficult to complete.
Adaptation is the ability to recognize that change and adjust without losing the underlying principle.

This is an important distinction. Adaptation does not mean abandoning proper technique or making something up at random. It means understanding a technique well enough to modify its expression while preserving what makes it work.
In jujitsu, a student may begin a throw but discover that the partner shifts weight or steps away. Instead of forcing the original technique, the student may change the angle, adjust the footwork, move into another throw, or transition into a control.
In karate, a student may begin with one response but find that the distance has changed or the opponent’s movement has taken away the original opening. The student must then adjust position, timing, angle, or choice of technique.

This is where the earlier levels become especially important.
Without Foundation, there are not enough reliable skills to draw from and without Structure, movement becomes disorganized.
So too, without Principle, the student does not understand what must be preserved when the technique changes and without Application, the student has not yet learned how to use the technique against movement and resistance.

Adaptation brings all of these together.

At this level, the student begins to understand that martial arts is not a fixed collection of answers. It is a developing ability to solve changing problems.

That does not mean every response must be complicated. In many cases, good adaptation is simple. A small step may restore distance. A slight turn may improve angle. A change in grip may recover control and a failed technique may become the setup for another.

The important point is that the student is no longer trying to force the situation to fit the technique. The technique is being adjusted to fit the situation.

This also teaches an important lesson about failure. When a technique does not work exactly as planned, the student does not need to freeze, panic, or start over. The failed attempt itself provides information. Something changed.

The balance moved.
The distance closed.
The angle disappeared.
The partner reacted.

Adaptation means recognizing that information and continuing intelligently. This is also one of the reasons students need experience with different training partners. If we always practice with the same person in the same way, we can begin to mistake familiarity for skill. Different partners teach us that the same technique may require changes in timing, position, pressure, and movement.

At Level 5, the student begins to become less dependent on exact choreography. Technique is still important, but it is no longer treated as a rigid sequence that must unfold perfectly from beginning to end. Instead, the student begins to work with what is actually happening.

That is the heart of Adaptation.

Foundation gave us the tools. Structure organized them. Principle taught us why they work. Application taught us how to use them. Adaptation teaches us how to keep using them when conditions change.

But there is another step beyond simply being able to adjust. A student may have several possible responses available and may be capable of performing all of them.

The next question becomes: Which response should be used, and when?

That brings us to Level 6: Judgment.

10/06/2026

Three years ago today, on October 5, 2023, we lost our teacher, Shihan Barry Holck.

There are some people whose influence does not end when they leave us. It continues in the things they taught, in the standards they expected, in the lessons we repeat to another generation, and in the way we conduct ourselves when no one is watching.

Shihan Barry gave us much more than techniques, kata, throws, locks, and strikes. He gave us a place to learn, a lineage to respect, and a responsibility to carry forward what had been entrusted to him.

Three years later, DKMK is still here.

The mats are still being used. Students are still bowing in. Children are learning their first techniques. Older students are beginning to help those coming behind them. New ranks are being earned, new instructors are developing, and the school continues to grow.

Some of the students training today never had the opportunity to meet Shihan Barry. Yet they are still being touched by his teaching because his influence lives in the people he taught, and in the people they now teach.

Perhaps that is one of the greatest legacies a teacher can leave behind.

A martial arts school is not truly carried forward by a building, a name, or even a curriculum. It survives when one generation accepts the responsibility of passing something worthwhile to the next.

We miss you, Shihan.

But what you began is still here.

And we are still walking the path.

10/05/2026

There is an old story about the Fisher King, a wounded king who searched for the Holy Grail as though it were something to be found, possessed, and made part of who he believed himself to be. Yet the Grail seemed always beyond his reach. In the end, it had not truly disappeared. What the king had failed to understand was that his real thirst had more meaning than the image of himself he had been trying to fulfill. Once that deeper thirst was recognized, the Grail could be seen for what it had been all along.

There may be a lesson there for martial arts.

A black belt can easily become our Grail if we are not careful. We may begin training believing it is something to attain, something that proves what we have accomplished.

But the belt is only the cup.

The journey is what fills it.

The real value is found in what happens along the way: discipline, patience, technical growth, humility, judgment, responsibility, and eventually the willingness to help those who are still walking behind us.

By the time a student is truly ready to wear a black belt, the important question should no longer be, “Did I reach the goal?”

It should be, “What have I become, and what am I now responsible for?”

10/03/2026

And Welcome back.

So far, we have explored the first three of DKMK’s Seven Levels of Training and Self-Discovery:

Level 1: Foundation
Level 2: Structure
Level 3: Principle

Now we move to Level 4: Application.

Let’s recap…

Foundation teaches us the basic skills. Structure teaches us how those skills are organized, and Principle teaches us why they work.

Application asks the next important question: Can we make them work when something is actually happening?

This is where training begins to move beyond simply performing a technique correctly. A student may understand how a technique is supposed to look and may even understand the balance, timing, leverage, distance, or body mechanics that make it work. But understanding something and applying it are not exactly the same thing.

Application begins when the student must use those skills with another person who is moving, reacting, resisting, or creating a problem that has to be solved. In jujitsu, this might mean applying an escape when the grip is stronger than expected, recognizing the proper moment to disturb balance before attempting a throw, or adjusting position because the partner is taller, shorter, heavier, faster, or standing differently than during normal practice.

In karate, Application may mean recognizing when a block, strike, movement, or angle actually fits the situation. A technique practiced repeatedly in the air or against a cooperative partner must eventually be understood in relation to distance, timing, movement, and another person’s actions.

This does not mean that students suddenly begin fighting one another. Application should be introduced gradually and safely. At first, the situation may still be highly controlled. The instructor may change the starting position, the partner may add light resistance, the attack may come from a slightly different angle, or the student may have to choose between two techniques rather than being told exactly which one to perform.

Each of these changes requires the student to do more than remember. The student must observe what is happening, recognize the problem, decide what fits, and then act.

This is an important transition in training. At the earlier levels, the question is often, “Can I perform the technique?”

At Application, the question begins to become, “Can I recognize when and how to use it?”

This is why realistic partner training is so important. A partner provides information that the air cannot. Weight, pressure, movement, balance, distance, timing, and reaction all become part of the lesson. The student begins to discover that a technique does not exist by itself. It exists within a relationship between two people.

Application also teaches another important lesson: not every technique works in every situation. Sometimes the distance is wrong. Sometimes the angle is wrong. Sometimes the student reacts too early or too late. Sometimes another technique would have been a better choice.
That is not necessarily failure. It is information.

Application allows the student to test what has been learned and discover what still needs improvement. It also helps explain why we practice the basics repeatedly. Under pressure, there is usually less time to think about every individual movement. The stronger the Foundation, the more reliable the Structure, and the better the understanding of Principle, the more naturally the technique can begin to appear when it is needed.

But Application is still controlled training. Students are learning to use their skills while maintaining safety, awareness, and responsibility toward their training partners. Power without control is not progress, and speed without judgment is not mastery.

At Level 4, martial arts begins to change from something the student can demonstrate into something the student can use.

Foundation gave us the tools. Structure organized them. Principle taught us why they work. Application teaches us how to put them into action.

But real situations rarely happen exactly the way we practiced them. People move differently. Resistance changes. Distance changes. Timing changes. Plans fail.

So the next question becomes: What happens when the technique does not go exactly as expected?

That brings us to Level 5: Adaptation.

09/27/2026

Welcome back.

We have already looked at the first two of DKMK’s Seven Levels of Training and Self-Discovery:

Level 1: Foundation
Level 2: Structure

Now we move to: Level 3: Principle

Foundation teaches us the basic skills. Structure teaches us how those skills are organized and connected.

Principle begins to answer a deeper question: Why does the technique work?

At this stage, the student begins to understand that a martial arts technique is more than a series of movements that must be memorized. Behind every effective technique are principles.
These include things such as balance, posture, distance, timing, angle, leverage, alignment, momentum, pressure, relaxation, and control.

A student may be able to perform the outward movements of a technique correctly and still not fully understand what makes that technique effective. That is the difference between copying a movement and understanding its principle.

Consider a basic throw in jujitsu.

At first, the student may concentrate on where to place the feet, how to position the hips, where to hold the partner, and how to complete the throw safely. Those details are necessary and are part of Foundation and Structure.

But eventually the student must begin to recognize something more. The throw does not work simply because the student remembers all of the steps. It works because balance has been disturbed. Position has been established and bodies have been aligned in a particular relationship.

Leverage and movement are being used so that strength alone is no longer the deciding factor.

Karate develops the same kind of understanding.

A punch is not effective merely because the fist travels forward.
The student begins to understand how the stance supports the movement, how the body aligns behind the technique, how distance affects effectiveness, how timing changes the result, and how unnecessary tension can actually reduce speed and power.

Principle is where the student begins to see what is happening underneath the technique. This changes training. Instead of asking only:

“Am I doing the movement correctly?”
The student begins asking:
“Why am I standing here?”
“Why am I moving in this direction?”
“Where is my partner’s balance?”
“What makes this position stronger than another?”
“Why did the technique work that time, but not the last time?”

These questions are important. They show that the student is beginning to move beyond imitation and toward understanding.
Principles also help explain why techniques may look different but still operate according to the same underlying idea.

A throw, joint lock, escape, block, or strike may appear completely different on the surface, yet several of them may depend upon the same principle of balance, angle, timing, leverage, or positioning.

Once the student begins recognizing those connections, martial arts training becomes much larger than memorizing a collection of separate techniques.

The student begins to see relationships. This is one reason instructors may correct something that appears very small. Such as a slight change in foot position, a different angle of the hips. Including a relaxed shoulder, a shift in distance and a change in timing.

The correction may seem minor, but it may reveal the principle that makes the entire technique work.

At Level 3, the goal is not to abandon the basics. It is to understand them more deeply.

Foundation gave us something to build upon. Structure showed us how the pieces fit together and principle begins to reveal why those pieces work together in the first place.

And once the student begins to understand why a technique works, the next question naturally becomes:

Can I actually use it?
That brings us to Level 4: Application.

09/24/2026

Welcome back.
We now move to the second of DKMK’s Seven Levels of Training and Self-Discovery:

Level 2: Structure

Once a foundation has been established, the next step is learning how to organize those basic skills into something that works together.

This is Structure.

A student may know how to stand, step, block, strike, fall, escape, or throw, but knowing the individual pieces is not yet the same as knowing how to connect them.

Structure is where those pieces begin to take shape.
In Karate, this means learning how stance, posture, hip movement, foot position, breathing, balance, and technique work together.

A punch is not simply the movement of the arm, a block is not simply the movement of the hand and a kick is not simply the movement of the leg.

The entire body must support the technique.
The feet establish the base and The legs create stability and movement.

The hips help generate and direct power. The torso maintains alignment and the arms and hands complete the action.
When these parts work together, the technique becomes stronger, more stable, and more efficient.

The same is true in Jujitsu.

A throw does not work simply because the student remembers where to place the hands.

The feet must be positioned correctly, The body must be aligned and balance must be controlled.

The hips, legs, arms, and center must work together.

An escape from a grab also depends upon more than remembering a sequence of movements.

The student begins to understand where the body must be positioned, where the opening exists, and how each movement supports the next.

This is one reason we practice techniques repeatedly.
At first, a student may think about every individual movement.

Where do my feet go?
Where do I place my hands?
Which direction do I turn?
When do I step?

But through repetition, those separate movements begin to become one coordinated action.

Structure also teaches us that small details matter.

A foot placed only a few inches differently can change a technique. A knee that is too straight can affect balance. Poor posture can weaken a throw and a stance that is too wide or too narrow can restrict movement.

An arm that moves independently from the rest of the body may have very little power behind it.

When the structure is correct, however, the student often begins to notice something important.

The technique feels different.
It may feel smoother.
It may require less effort.
Balance feels more secure.

Movement begins to feel connected rather than mechanical.
This is an important stage of training because the student is beginning to move beyond simply copying what the instructor demonstrates.

They are beginning to understand how the parts of the technique fit together.

Foundation gives us the pieces.

Structure teaches us how those pieces connect.

But even good structure does not yet explain why a technique works.
That comes next.
Level 3:
Principle.

09/20/2026

Welcome back.

Let’s begin with the first of DKMK’s Seven Levels of Training and Self-Discovery:

Level 1: Foundation

Every martial art begins with a foundation.

Before a student can move quickly, apply a technique, adapt to resistance, or make good decisions under pressure, there must first be something solid underneath it all.

In DKMK, Foundation means learning the basic skills that everything else will depend upon.

That includes things such as stance, posture, balance, movement, breathing, coordination, falling safely, basic strikes, blocks, kicks, escapes, throws, and the ability to follow instruction and practice with control.

Another part of that foundation is ki’ai.

Kiai is often thought of simply as the shout used during a technique, but it is more than just making noise. It helps bring together breathing, focus, intention, timing, and committed movement.

At the beginning level, the student is learning how to coordinate the voice and breath with the physical action rather than treating them as separate things.

These skills may appear simple, especially after a student has been training for a while. But simple does not mean unimportant.

A weak foundation eventually shows itself.

A throw may fail because the feet were poorly positioned. A strike may lack effectiveness because the body was not properly aligned.

A student may understand an advanced technique but still struggle to perform it because balance, movement, breathing, or posture has not yet become reliable.

This is why experienced martial artists continue practicing the basics.

Foundation is not something we leave behind when we receive a new belt. It is something we continue returning to and refining throughout our training.

There is also another side to Foundation.

A student is beginning to develop habits.

How do I stand when instruction begins?

Do I listen carefully?

Do I practice with purpose?

Do I become frustrated when something is difficult, or do I continue working at it?

Those habits become part of the foundation as well.

In that sense, Foundation is not only about learning how to move. It is also about learning how to learn.

As training continues, the basic movements gradually become more familiar. The student no longer has to think about every small detail in the same way.

A stronger foundation then allows the next level...Structure...to begin developing more clearly.

For now, consider these two questions:

What part of your own foundation has improved the most since you first began training?

What part of your foundation still needs work?

In the next installment, we will look at Structure...how the pieces of what we have learned begin to fit together.

09/17/2026

Over the next several posts, we will be introducing DKMK’s Seven Levels of Training and Self-Discovery.

Each part will be available in two formats: a written version for those who prefer to read, and an audio version for those who would rather listen. You are welcome to use either one...or follow along with both at the same time.

Each post will also include an image that reflects the theme of that particular level.

At DKMK, we try to present martial arts training in a way that does more than teach a student how to perform a technique.

A technique can be copied. A movement can be memorized. A kata can be repeated.

But real understanding develops gradually.

Over time, the student begins to understand not only what to do, but how it is put together, why it works, how it changes, when it should be used, and what responsibility comes with knowing it.

We describe that process through seven levels:

Foundation → Structure → Principle → Application → Adaptation → Judgment → Responsibility

Each level builds on the one before it.

Foundation gives us the basic skills we need to begin.

Structure teaches us how those skills are organized and connected.

Principle helps us understand why a technique works.

Application teaches us how to put that knowledge into practice.

Adaptation teaches us to adjust when the situation changes.

Judgment teaches us to decide what is appropriate, necessary, or sometimes unnecessary.

Responsibility reminds us that knowledge and skill carry obligations...to our training partners, our students, our school, and the people around us.

At first, these may seem like separate stages. With continued training, however, they begin to overlap.

Eventually, the ideal is that they no longer function as seven separate thoughts. They begin to operate together as one integrated whole.

The experienced practitioner does not stop in the middle of a technique to think separately about stance, balance, distance, principle, timing, judgment, and responsibility. Training gradually brings these things together.

This is sometimes related to the Japanese martial concept of mushin, or “no-mind.” Mushin does not mean that the mind is absent or that a person acts unconsciously. It refers to a state in which the practitioner is fully present and able to respond without unnecessary thought interfering with the moment.

That kind of integration cannot be rushed.

It develops through repetition, correction, experience, mistakes, reflection, and time.

This series will look at each of the seven levels individually...not only as a way of understanding martial arts training, but also as a way of understanding our own development.

Because one of the deeper questions behind training is this:

How does something we first learn externally eventually become part of who we are?

That is where the journey begins.

In the next few days, we will begin with the first level: Foundation...what it means, why it matters, and how everything that follows depends upon it.

DAIBUDO KODENKAN MATSUNO KENSHUKAI

10/18/2026

10/12/2026

10/06/2026

10/05/2026

10/03/2026

09/27/2026

09/24/2026

09/20/2026

09/17/2026

Address

Opening Hours

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request