Ee-yo-ca-be-he, yo-ka-be-be. What? Ee-yo-ca-be-he, yo-ka-be-be. Don’t bother looking it up in the dictionary. You won’t find it there. This phrase—Ee-yo-ca-be-he, yo-ka-be-be—is a fundamental concept taught at the Karate Institute of America. It represents one of the most critical aspects of fighting, not just in the Kiado-Ryu Martial Arts system, but in actual combat. It is not a new concept. It’s been around forever. Yet, it is still often ignored in self-defense encounters, actual battle and competitive sports.

As all of humanity knows, the Gold medal is synonymous with being the best, the apex of one’s athletic performance in competition. To those who win gold, they are often lionized, idolized, and frequently offered lavish commercial contracts worth millions of dollars. Such souls become media darlings as heroes, heroines and role models to others. This, of course, is a good thing. We all need heroes and heroines, individuals who strive to become the top of their craft because their accomplishments can inspire us to do the same.

The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics are now history. As we all know, the Gold medal is awarded for 1st place, the Silver medal for 2nd place and the Bronze medal for 3rd place in each of the contested events across all disciplines. Together, these three medals create a trifecta of manifested excellence and a seemingly ubiquitous celebratory declaration from those athletes who earned a medal. Over and over again, from one competitor to another, from one discipline to another, from one gender to another, the most common phrase heard time and time again in post event interviews was, I worked so hard for this!

The Tokyo Olympics of 2021 (branded as the 2020 Summer Olympics) have been exciting to watch—so many different sports, so many countries represented, so much talent, heart, soul, effort, emotion, victory, jubilation and, sadly, defeat and disappointment. Such is the reality of competition. With its 33 sports, 339 medal events and 50 disciplines, the Games of the XXXII Olympiad bring together competitors from all over the world, athletes whose primary desire is to win a Gold medal—the symbol of unequivocal, irrefutable, indisputable dominance in a specific discipline.

History Prenote During the 1980s and early 1990s, the Karate Institute of America was extremely involved in tournament competition on a local, state, regional and national level. Its competitors were highly successful in all areas of martial arts competition, winning hundreds of championships, which included four national championships. Yet, karate competition never made it into the big time. Why? The reason for such failure, as history has proven, is explained by Kiado-Ryu Grand Master Richard Andrew King in the following article: What’s Wrong With Tournament Karate, submitted to, accepted, and published by Black Belt Magazine in July of 1990.

CONGRATULATIONS, SMASHER! 27 May 2021 was another hallmark day for the Ligtvoet family as younger brother Aidan, aka “Smasher,” received his Blue Belt. It was no easy journey for Aidan, and it took time, but true to life principles of dedication and perseverance this terrific, respectful, loving and intelligent young man attained the next higher level of Kiado-Ryu achievement. Pictured with Smasher are his mother Atousa; father Ed, and his big brother Tristan, who is currently a third dan KIA Black Belt and close to receiving his 4th Dan in December of 2021!