I know I'm improving

[Ant]

Well I humbly take back my statement, I truly sucked last night when performing all kata's

 

I am fairly lucky in that I got to study different arts when I was younger, Ju Jitsu, Judo, Karate and boxing from the age of 9 to 16

 

Getting back into Karate at 29 was not as hard as it was for the guys just starting out at my age.

 

I stilled sucked

[June1]

Awwww. I'm sorry to hear that. But don't get discouraged. You can do nothing but learn from this experience. Just work hard, follow our advice here , and your next grading will go much better! Good luck!

[Ant]

I don't get discouraged

 

Just another off day, they are getting fewer as I progress though.

[1st KYU]

we had a little contest at my club for a year to see who could do the most kata...it was not supposed to be just one kata, but thats what i decided to do. i did saifa 1000 times just on my spair time.

 

i still consider myself a novice at the kata.

[pers]

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

 

Shotokan uses less techniques and may look less sophisticated but no way it is easy and it emphesises on perfection of the technique which takes a lot of effort .Interpretation of its katas depends on the quality of the organisation and instruction of the individual club .Learning the movements and the sequence of the kata may look simple but mastering it takes a lot of dedication and effort.

[BJJShotoshe]

takes me 1 1/2 hrs.to learn hein kata

[strangepair03]

I know in my style Isshin Ryu we don't have beginner katas...our first kata is seisan, I think it is called hangetsu in Shotokan, it was rought to learn...took about 2 months to get down the movements. I would say I have a good grip of the kata, confortable with the moves and bunkai but still challenges me just as much as our "advanced" kata.

 

While everyone is here, where does hangetsu rank in Shotokan, I heard it was an upper level kata?

 

Thanks

[Gloi]

In our Shotokan association we do hangetsu as a first dan kata.

 

I did Seisan on a course with some Goju people last summer though. After hearing that they were basically the same kata I was surprised just how different they were. Some of the sequences were the same but I found it quite difficult to learn the kata in the short time we had , even though I know Hangetsu. You could tell the two kata came from the same origin , but even so there were a lot of differences.

[aefibird]

I agree with Gloi.

 

I've done the Shotokan version of Hangetsu and the Goju version of Seisan and I found them to be very different from each other - not that that is a bad thing. It's always good IMO to look at other styles and see how they do certain tecniques, kata etc. Learning from other styles can be very helpful and it can improve your technique and skills.

[pers]

Hangetsu is not really a beginners kata ,there are movements and concepts that one need to have had good basic understanding of karate to apreciate this kata. This kata with sochin is one of my favourites . It allowes my mind to experience the correct brething and focusing the energy in a exadurated way to condition itself. Needs to be practiced a lot to gain competency ,but will do wonders for your kime and generally conditions the karateka to omprove their technique and it is a beautiful kata.