Shikukai Wado Ryu Karate in Essex.

Substack Project.

Posted on 08/22/2022

I have been thinking about this for a very long time, looking for a platform that works as an extension to all the effort put into this blog, and after much research it seemed that the best fit was Substack.

What is Substack?

Substack refers to itself as a subscription ‘newsletter’ but really, it’s a blogging platform which has a built-in email function that allows subscribers to opt for the cost-free content or the paid content (the latter is for chunkier items that are only available behind a paywall).

Some very big celebrity artists, writers and political thinkers are using the Substack platform; to name a few; Salman Rushdie, Garrison Keillor, Patti Smith, Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine), Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), Dominic Cummings, etc.

Why?

This started a long time ago when I was researching and writing articles for the earlier incarnation of my website. I would spend months researching and writing articles like ‘The Naihanchi Enigma’ and ‘Wado and Jujutsu’, publish them on the site and later find that they’d been ripped off without permission or acknowledgement. I initially staged a fight back, but realised that everything on the Internet is up for grabs, it was futile. But the worst of it was that it put me off ever venturing into longer meatier writing projects again. However, I just couldn’t resist writing and I really relished the research and the contacts I had made along the way [1].

I have so much stuff in my back pocket.

As an example; years ago, I penned longer studies on themes like ‘Martial Arts and Meditation’, also a personal angle on what I’d observed in the development of Wado in the UK over the last 40 years (which was big enough to warrant a book on its own). During lockdown I typed many thousands of words on recollections of my own training experiences (snippets of which I have published on here as a taster). In addition, the ‘Naihanchi’ piece is in serious need of an update, as my understanding of both Naihanchi and Seishan has changed considerably. Similar with the ‘Wado and Jujutsu’ piece, which is way out of date, despite my recent efforts – my thoughts have changed yet again!

What’s the Plan?

First of all, I am concentrating on the free subscription material – shorter pieces not dissimilar in length and content from the posts on this platform. I will not be duplicating the posts on here – it would be so easy to just link the two together but the Substack posts will be more technical and theoretical in nature. My thinking is that by running the two separately this will expand the audience. It might be that the two blog platforms will take on different identities through themes etc.

I am hopeful for this new venture, but equally, if it doesn’t work out at least it was worth a go.

Link to the Substack site: https://budojourneyman.substack.com/

Tim Shaw

[1] I had useful information from such renowned martial artists and researchers like Meik Skoss, William Bodiford, Toby Threadgill and others, all of whom put me straight and extended my understanding.

I am grateful to Steve Thain for the suggestion of the name for the Substack project. I agonised over that for a very long time but ‘Journeyman’ chimed with me, as it relates to the ideas found in the medieval guild system. A Journeyman is a middle rank artisan, no longer an apprentice and some considerable way from being a master craftsman.