Kata question(Bunkai related)

[Samurai Shotokan]

I have a question about kata Why do the movements have to be perfect?even though in the application your not going into a perfect kiba datchi stace for whatever self defense reason. So why is doing a perfect kata important?

[Sauzin]

Great question! Let me offer a couple of reasons.

First of all in a lot of bunkai everything does have to be just so. If you changed all the movments or made them sloppy then you'd loose the bunkai that relied on these precisions. Best to keep the presision and figure out the bunkai latter.

Second reason is that kata teaches movement not specific applications. A lot of times you will have a precise movement that doesn't perfectly fit one application or the other. But if you change it so that it does perfectly fit the one application then you loose the similarity that makes the other application work. This is what I call middle ground. These are techniques that with a little modification in one way or another can be about 100 different things. But if they took the precise form of just one of those applications you'd likely loose most of the other 99. What you have to understand is that kata trains the body to perform movements that depending on what the opponent is doing and where he is, will have a wide array of different applications. To work against such a large array of situations, certain things have to be certain ways. Otherwise they will only work in very specific situations. That's not what you want when you get in a fight.

Lastly a lot of the details make a big difference in how well things work. While what stance you are in or the angle might change with the bunkai, the timing, grounding, and structure will remain the same. The devil is in the details. As you learn more you will learn what details to modify to adapt to situations. Keep the kata pure 'till you get there.

[mary_jane]

Good answer.

[Uechi Kid]

In our training we have the typical block, punch, kick bunkai. We also have tuite applications. When we practice the tuite, if our stance is bad or our elbows out of place or shoulders up instead of down, we have trouble making the tuite applications work. When we have all of that right the tuite applications work with devastating results.

So practicing the proper position in kata and bunkai helps build the muscle memory so that in a real situation we perform well and hopefully we don’t get hurt.

[ps1]

Funakoshi wrote:

"Deep stances are for the beginner, natural postures are for the advanced."

One day we'll all get to practice natural postures I suppose. Until then, practice perfectly because only perfect practice makes perfect.

[Samurai Shotokan]

Thanks for the answers guys i was always confused why you need to be as perfect as you can in kata.Sauzin but what about varaiants between karate styles does that change the applications?

[Uechi Kid]

Samurai Shotokan

One day we'll all get to practice natural postures I suppose. Until then, practice perfectly because only perfect practice makes perfect.

I had forgotten that quote. Thanks.

[Sauzin]

Thanks for the answers guys i was always confused why you need to be as perfect as you can in kata.Sauzin but what about varaiants between karate styles does that change the applications?

In a lot of ways it sure does. Sometimes it will change certain aspects of the application causing you to use slightly different principles to get a similar effect. Other times it will offer new possibilities but may move from the ones originally intended.

You see once someone has done kata for 30 or 40 years they start to understand these various aspects. And sometimes minor things change based off of the preferences of these masters. After you go through 2 or 3 generations of masters sometimes styles begin to evolve differently. The important thing is that the people who make these minor changes to the kata know everything there is to know about what they are changing. The real tragedy is when someone who doesn't understand what they are doing decides to change it. Then things get messed up for them and the people they teach. People who understand kata know how to spot this kind of degradation and it really is a tragedy when this gets propagated and taught as the real thing. This commonly happens in Mcdojo's and with "masters" who claim to have 4 or 5 different black belts in different styles but never really stuck around long enough to learn even one correctly.

The truth is that no two people do a kata exactly the same. That is why it is so important to learn kata well before you teach. That way you know how it is supposed to be and can keep the kata as close to the original as possible until you truly understand it.

[Uechi Kid]

The truth is that no two people do a kata exactly the same. That is why it is so important to learn kata well before you teach. That way you know how it is supposed to be and can keep the kata as close to the original as possible until you truly understand it.

Amen to that

[G95champ]

Same reason in 2nd grade you learn to make your letters perfect even though you dont use perfect handwritting now.

You train low, you train techinque so when the time comes to use it you react. By working things perfect you are less likely to mess up in real life because you set the bar higher in training.

It also has a lot to do with self discipline and respect for you style and teachers.