I know I'm improving

[Ant]

After my grading and getting marked very highly. I went to the dojo to learn Heian Sandan, I managed to learn the kata to a standard almost as good as my Heian Nidan straight away.

 

It took me months to Learn Shodan and Nidan so I am pleased with my progress to say the least.

 

How long does it take you to learn new Kata's (simple ones like the Heians)?

[italian_guy]

one or two hours to learn the movement and have the kata in your mind... then you start practice until your technique is sufficiently good the equilibrium and the timing is ok and this may take a month or so for a simple kata....

[informer]

depends on the style too. Shotokan is very simple to learn where Goju Ryu is a very deep/profound art.

[AngelaG]

one or two hours to learn the movement and have the kata in your mind... then you start practice until your technique is sufficiently good the equilibrium and the timing is ok and this may take a month or so for a simple kata....

 

I think it takes a lot longer than that to truly "know" a kata - even a simple one. This means knowing it inside out, flowing from one movement to the next, understanding the changes in timing and rhythm... and why it is practiced like that, knowing we each movement does what it does - (i.e. why does gedan barai go to the ear and not the elbow etc.), knowing good bunkai for every move in that kata, keeping within stance, keeping the hips square or twisted depending on the move, maintaining balance...... well you get my point. As far as I am concerned the list goes on and on. IMO a black belt should still keep practicing the very first kata they were ever taught - if not there would never be any difference between a yellow belt doing their kata and a black belt doing the same kata.

[italian_guy]

I think it takes a lot longer than that to truly "know" a kata - even a simple one.

Ok the more you practice the more you learn even from a simple kata like our taikioku jodan and the road to perfection is infinte.... however to get a "reasonable" performance with all the moves with a decent flow (no hesitation), the kiai at the right place, a good enough timing and balance. It took me one months, of course it was not a perfect performance, probably the lenght and the width of the steps was not 100% constant, the position of the center of gravity of my body had some bouncing, the rotation of the hips was not yet perfect... ok it is not easy to describe with words the perfection of a kata... but after one month I was starting to have a feeling that something was turning on...

 

About bunkai and full understanding of the movement that is somehow another issue... I think that is mostly related with the quality of the teaching even more than the execution of the kata itself.

[June1]

depends on the style too. Shotokan is very simple to learn where Goju Ryu is a very deep/profound art.

 

Hang on... I hope you're not trying to say that Shotokan is easy.

[Shane]

I would say it could take anywhere from 2/3 weeks to 3 months to get the kata looking good, but you have to remember to truley know it you have to know the meaning behind each movement. This is where you need to break the kata down and train its applications seperate and in different situations. Once you know the meaning behind each movement and are able to apply them in various situations and it looks good (technique, timing, speed etc.) then you can say that you truley know that kata.

 

Thats how we were always trained when doing kata, that there is much more to it that just looking good. If you only do it to look good then its kind of not even worth doing, unless your just looking for the expercise you get form doing them.

[Osu No Seichin]

1000 times a beginner......10000 times a master......do the kata 3 times a day for a year, you have done it 1000 times, now you are a beginner, do it 3 times a day for ten years, now you will start to understand the kata . What you have learned in a month or so is the movements of the kata, it takes many years to really and truely know the kata. Do that with each kata you learn and you will start to realize why karate is a lifetime of learning.

[karatekid1975]

After my grading and getting marked very highly. I went to the dojo to learn Heian Sandan, I managed to learn the kata to a standard almost as good as my Heian Nidan straight away.

 

It took me months to Learn Shodan and Nidan so I am pleased with my progress to say the least.

 

How long does it take you to learn new Kata's (simple ones like the Heians)?

 

I was in the same situation. I learned Pyung ahn (same as Heians, almost) cho dan fairly quickly. Pyung ahn e dan took me forever to learn. Then I learned sam dan fairly quick (I thought).

 

Now it takes me one hour to learn a form. But it takes me awhile to tweek the techniques.

[June1]

Osu No Seichin!

 

I totally agree with what you said. Doing a kata 3 times a day for a year is a great idea. Just think about how amazing it'll be at the end of that year. I think I may try that starting January 1. Thanks for the idea!

 

As for learning a kata, it depends on the person. Sure, you can learn the movements in a few hours, but it will take months to begin to perfect it. As with everything, practice makes perfect.