In a county far, far, away…..well that’s what Lincolnshire felt like to me in the 1970’s. As a young boy I was somewhat wayward and itching for some adventure, a bit like young Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. I was often full on, I wanted something to be going on all the time and my temper was a bit uncontrollable. I now realise I was a little autistic and ADHD. My mother started to seek out activities that she felt would suppress my out-bursts. This led to me doing martial arts. With all the current hype (and in some cases hate) for Star Wars I thought I would analyse my martial arts journey alongside some of the Star Wars stories. This was because I noted a while ago some similarities with the two journeys.
My journey in all things martial started in 1972 with a tentative toe in the waters of Judo and then Kung Fu, which is approximately when George Lucas first penned an outline for what was to become Star Wars a New Hope. This was released in 1977 and I saw it in 1978, 1978 being the year I started Karate. Apparently, Lucas was inspired by Kurosawa films for some of his tale which is somewhat evident in some of the ideas for lightsabres and the philosophy of the Jedi Knights. This attracted me to the franchise, as I was learning and reading around the subject of these things I had an interest in.
What I find similar in my journey is that in A New Hope, Luke is Gung Ho and wanting to become a warrior, to develop his fighting and be a rebel. This is very similar to myself as a martial artist. I was more interested in being able to fight rather than some of the deeper meaning and philosophy behind it all, I liked some of the rebellious nature of martial artists I met and trained with and a while later working as a doorman, the confidence I felt due to my training and the thought I could handle myself. This echoes some of Luke’s early overconfidence in his abilities, both as a jedi and a pilot. In the late 70’s and early 80’s there was still some mysticism around the arts that I would argue the internet has debunked now, but that was also somewhat attractive at that time. As my time in martial arts developed I started to realise there was more in them than at first I sought. This is akin to Lukes development of his understanding of the force with Yoda, he realises that there is more but is impatient and does not completely develop his abilities. This was my 20’s, I still trained it was mostly to just improve my martial arts but I still was not completely focussed, other life experiences cluttered my thoughts, night clubs and fun stuff. I also moved around quite a lot and this did impact the training I got, though I worked with some wonderful instructors I did not get focussed training enough. Luke was the same after Yoda went into the force he was still needing to develop his abilities.
Then I started to realise what I really wanted, or what, I had grown to want, maybe, this was helped by a very good sensei for me. A little like Luke in Return of the Jedi I focussed my training on achieving my black belt, yes it took me that long just over 20 years, I did not rush as I was not bothered to. But then realisation that it was a longer journey had hit me, I wanted the black belt but I also wanted beyond that, to keep forging myself into a better article. This was Luke’s final realisation, that he was there to help develop new Jedi which we see in the later films with Rey. Like him starting his temple school, I developed a club, an organisation and then a full-time centre I felt I was able to help develop new students and then instructors. I did also for a decade run Martial arts programmes at a university, Luke did try and teach.
A bit like Star Wars universe my understanding and realisation of the depth of the martial arts universe also grew overtime. In the films and now diverse range of new TV series it has continued to grow. At first it was concentrated in a few areas mainly karate, after a while I understood the depth and diversity within it. I have enjoyed my time in martial arts very much and continue to do so, part of that is the range of opportunities it offers and the never-ending learning that is available. I feel that martial arts has permeated my life, it has helped make me a better more rounded individual. It has definitely helped me through certain mental health issues and the autism and ADHD. Like the force in the Star Wars franchise paraphrasing Yoda, my allies are martial arts and powerful allies they are.
Dr Charles Spring 2025
Ronin Budo 
Leave a comment