Bo Kata

[ShotokanKid]

Does anyone know a site that one could learn bo kata from? Thanks in advance.

[Sauzin]

The short answer is no.

The slightly longer answer is (in my opinion)it is impossible to correctly learn a bo kata, or really any kata, from a web site. Compare moves, brush up on a kata already taught, learn more about a kata you already know, now those things are possible but in my opinion any kata that you would learn from a web site wouldn't be beneficial enough to your art to be worth the time.

Now if there was a web site on how to paint a Picasso, that would be something.

[whippet]

Hi There,

I agree with Sauzin, you need to be taught a kata first and then use other resources to keep up to speed with it.

If you are looking for Shuji No Kon Sho, you can find demo videos of it at http://www.rkhsk.se/engstart.php

It is the Swedish website of the RyuKyu Kobujutsu Association Sweden.

[ShotokanKid]

Well, I learned Fukuno (spelling?) but have forgotten it and would like a review.

[Sauzin]

I can't say I've heard of that kata. Is it Shotokan based? If so there are some very high ranking Shotokan guys around here. AnonymousOne (6th dan), ajayfieldhouse (6th dan), G95champ (2nd dan), Tobias_Reece (2nd dan) just to name a few. Oh yea and then there's a guy by the name of SaiFightsMS who I believe also knows a bit of Shotokan that happens to be the forum administrator .

Try PM'ing one of these guys, perhaps they could help. If it isn't Shotokan, let me know which style it originates from and maybe I can find something.

[ShotokanKid]

I have no idea what base it is. And anyway, karate means empty hand.

[Sauzin]

I'm sorry but I need to make a correction here. I believe shorin-ryuu said it best when he posted the following:

This is a fairly common question.

The term karate in use today comes from "kara" (empty) and "te" (hand). This was actually only officially adopted in 1936 in order to provide a more appealing name and simply just to adopt a common name for it in the first place. Before then, it could have been called karate (kara actually referring to China) although the first mention of "karate" in a published text was in the early 1900s, I believe. A much more common way of pronouncing it was toude/toute/toudi ("tou" being the same character as "kara") depending on whether you were speaking Okinawan or Japanese. Further still, it could have just been referred to as ti (te). Usually, the more Chinese influenced styles were referred to as toudi, although this wasn't necessarily a strict rule, either. Plus Chinese influence came in many waves, so much of that is even subjective.

ANYWAY.

In the proverbial "old days", many masters trained both in empty hand and weapons training. The reason for this is simple. Most of the people who actually did the main bulk of martial arts were part of the warrior nobility. It really wasn't until relatively recently, with the abolishment of the nobility class in the late 1800s and the introduction of karate into the school system in the early 1900s that Okinawan "karate" has been "open to the public", so to speak. But back on topic, these people did weaponry because they were nobility, royal bodyguards, merchants/merchant guards, constables or other law enforcement, etc.

I and others have mentioned how relatively new the concept of "styles" in general is on Okinawa, although it is very much a hard reality in the present day. In those old days, masters shared students or traveled to other places and trained/shared knowledge and all that. The weapons development was much the same way. You had family traditions as well as some village traditions. Obviously weapons like the bo had many practitioners among nobility and commoners alike. Weapons like the sword or the sai were far less common amongst regular folk.

Nowadays, there are schools dedicated solely to empty hand, solely to weaponry, or schools that include both, either incorporating their own weaponry systems or borrowing from established weaponry schools. The efforts of such weapons greats like Taira preserved and formalized many weapons kata all around Okinawa. Other schools like Yamani focus on the bo.

Regardless, the point is that "empty hand" is a new name and really has no bearing on what true "traditional" "karate" is. The use of weapons was always and still is fairly common.

In either way, "kara" was never meant to refer to what you have in your hands. It is either Chinese or the "empty state" that it refers to.

From the little that I have read and been told I thought Funikoshi did practice some weaponry and understood the importance of weapons in karate. Assuming you learned this kata in a Shotokan school all you would need to do is ask any of the previous people I mentioned if they knew of it and they could likely point you in the right direction. Just about everything having anything to do with Shotokan is highly published on the web and there are bound to be resources.

[SaiFightsMS]

Does anyone know a site that one could learn bo kata from? Thanks in advance.

It is really better to learn from an instructor. I have seen some kobudo katas described that leave a lot to be desired. There is nothing that beats a bit of hands on demonstration and in person critique of technique.

[whippet]

Agreed, one to one is the only way to learn anything, but you can still use video to back it up.

I train with Sensei Julian Mead in RyuKyu Kobujutsu, but being the busy man he is, it's not on a regular weekly basis. When I do get the opportunity, at courses etc, I make sure I video tape important parts of the content such as kihons, combinations and kata.

That way I can refer back to my instructors demonstration for help and then when I train with him I can ask him to review what I have learnt and offer feedback for improvement.

[kitsune_no_tama]

i have been out of the dojo for about a month and a half, and i have been studying kata on the internet. a few weeks ago my brother and i performed a high level kata (hangetsu) in front of a 5th dan instructor. while if you know your basic technique extremely well, you may be able to learn a kata with alot of dedication. if you do choose to learn kata from a website, you should do it with another person that also knows their basic rather well and can catch you during mistakes.while i cant say that you can perfect a kata online, it sure as hell is beneficial when you cant be in your dojo learning it from your instructor. if you know your going to have to learn it in the dojo, learn it earlier so you cant understand it better when your sensei goes over it with you.