"YouTube Dojo"

Every now and then, I get a question from what I call "YouTube Dojo." I talk about a technique, and then I get a question like, "But I saw this in a YouTube video, and that's not..."

I think about this phenomenon as "YouTube Dojo," but in an earlier era, it might as well have been called "VHS Dojo," or "Handbook Dojo." And I have to admit, my initial reaction nowadays as an instructor to comments such as these is generally dismissal. However, if I gave these comments further thought, I'd see that such comments are based in an enthusiasm that I as an instructor should foster.

Moreover, not everyone has the good fortune to have a good dojo in what they want to learn, or even any kind of dojo at all, and so they may only have YouTube Dojo or VHS Dojo or Handbook Dojo. I definitely remember falling back on these "dojos" when I was young myself, precisely because I didn't have any, or know of any, other choice.

However, there are at least two drawbacks attempting to learn from these "dojos" pose. Probably the most important one is feedback.

Let's say you see a technique on YouTube. You practice it. Did you learn it right? Is YouTube going to tell you?

As a minor digression -- bear with me here -- I'm a science journalist for a living, and have written a lot of news articles about artificial intelligence. One of the common problems that AI faces is how a given AI system might yield accurate answers to a problem more than 99 percent of the time, but that doesn't mean it has a good model with which to solve that problem. For instance, when it comes to some image recognition AI systems, change one pixel in an image that is imperceptible to humans, and the AI systems might think a horse is a frog.

This is kind of like the problem that students who only learn from YouTube Dojo face. They see a technique, they try and mimic the technique, but they might not at all have an accurate model of what goes into performing the technique properly. It's like a friend of mine who once tried spaghetti and sauce in a foreign country — the restaurant never tasted real spaghetti and sauce, and so used ketchup instead of making a real sauce. It had the superficial appearance of the real thing, but not the actual substance.

That's why feedback from an instructor is important. You want feedback on how to physically move your body properly; you want feedback on what you should think as you're moving your body; and you want feedback as you iterate to get closer and closer to doing it right. This reminds me of a strategy that some AI researchers are exploring — they want AI systems to experience more physical feedback from the real world to create better models of reality.

Another problem I think learning from YouTube faces is the matter of context. Let's say you see Sensei Isao Machii set a Guinness World Record for the most tameshigiri cuts in three minutes. He set a Guinness World Record, so you try and cut like he did in the video. When you go into a Toyama-ryu dojo and try cutting like he did, the instructor corrects you, but you retort by saying this cutting approach helped set a record when it you saw it on YouTube.

So one aspect of context to consider here (aside from, say, reiho issues of backtalking your instructor) is the fact that speed was paramount. Are you learning sword to cut through mats quickly, or are you learning sword to, say, learn more about sword-fighting? Is a cutting approach applicable to the former applicable to the latter, if the latter is what you purport you want to learn?

Another aspect of context to think about is that Sensei Machii is a highly skilled expert who really knows how to use his body to generate power for a cut. If you are a student who is learning how to cut, there is a high chance that you, say, cannot cut a mat with the short cuts he uses in his record-setting attempt.

And this is not at all to fault Sensei Machii. I don't think he at all would intend a video of him speed-cutting to be used in an instructional manner for a general student. The problem with YouTube Dojo is that it can divorce a technique completely from its context and, since it's largely a one-way street, not correct any misconceptions that might arise.

Anyhow, please do enjoy any videos you do watch on YouTube! I just enjoyed watching a bunch of martial arts videos myself. Just know for yourself to not draw too many conclusions from watching them, and to ask a sensei or sempai if you have any questions.