Athleticism over Practicality

[Shui Tora]

Tekki Shodan hasn't changed that much...

In fact, my Sensei believes that technique performs over athleticism... Why? Well; if you get caught in a situtation, doing the techniques will favour than being able to have a long lasting stamina...

If you understand how the techniques work (and the application of the kata) then you should be able to perfom that kata quickly, and efficiently...

Katas only change because of how the styles of Karate evolve... But also not a lot of people use Katas for self-defence... katas were formed primarily for training, and since then, as the years have gone, people have adapted them to be suited for show, stamina and competitions...

[patusai]

fancy techniques get you into trouble. Nice high kicks get caught and pretty flowing techniques get countered and then you get drilled. Basics the cornerstone of MA. Good solid basics every time all the time IMO

[alsey]

for me kata is all about practicing real combat techniques. any athletic benefits or anything else is a (good) side effect.

[bushido_man96]

fancy techniques get you into trouble. Nice high kicks get caught and pretty flowing techniques get countered and then you get drilled. Basics the cornerstone of MA. Good solid basics every time all the time IMO

I agree with this quote here, and I am a TKD guy. I don't think I would ever try a head kick in self-defense.

However, I do believe athleticism is a good attribute to have. Being athletic will help out immensely if you ever have to defend yourself. It will help to recover after the adrenaline dump, and your muscles won't get quite so tired as well. Technique may beat atleticism, but if you catch up with an athlete who has good technique, then just plain technique gets beat.

[AnonymousOne]

Karate and in particular Kata, has been in a constant state of evolution right up until the mid to late 1950's with Funakoshi.

I train in a very traditional off shoot of Shotokan and our Kata are slightly different to the 1950's Shotokan of Funakoshi. Little changes but important changes.

I am all for change. In fact I am totally open to it. If we are not learning, experimenting and growing we are just going backwards.

We have more knowledge, & more analytical tools available to us today. Through the sciences, medicine, computer technology and so on; we are in a far better position to make changes that are for our benefit.

It is a well known fact that every Karate Master of old adapted and changed what he was taught. This is a good thing.

Over the last 40 odd years my training has changed significantly. I have learnt, adapted and grown. I apply principles that sports fitness science has developed through research. This knowledge has compounded by technique to quantum leaps. I owe much to this research.

I do not believe the Masters of the past are as good as people today (that will upset some). Athletes are bigger, stronger, faster, more co-ordinated, and more skillful than ever. This is a scientific fact and not a pipe dream.

I am grateful for what the old Masters have handed down but I don’t allow myself to put them up on a pedestal of infallibility as some do.

Tradition is very subjective. For example if you do Shotokan you might doggedly stick to their Kata verbatim. But are you really practicing traditional Karate? No you are not!

You are practising 1950’s tradition. You are not practicing what Itosu taught, nor Azato or even what Funakoshi taught when he arrived in Japan in 1921.

Certainly you are not practising the Karate of Matsumura nor Sagugawa before him in the 1700’s.

We have to face the fact that Karate evolved and personally I think it’s a very arrogant stance to assume we have reached a state of perfection and thus shut off learning, adapting and growing. The problem is that if you introduce new kata or modified Kata, the Karate “old boys club” label you as arrogant for bucking the system and claiming you have come up with a better way.

But if you have slit eyes, go up into the mountains for some alleged spirit enlightenment and come back down and win a few contests you might become acceptable because of your changes. I said “might”.

Karate doggedly holds onto tradition (subjective). In many ways that’s a good thing. To ensure students train right is of the utmost importance. However we also have to realise we have more anatomical knowledge today and we need to use that knowledge to develop and grow.

I see nothing wrong with a student wishing to practise traditional things as that forms part of the motivation to train. However I also feel that we ought not hold back the pioneers who would propel us into new heights of capability.

Certainly I practise things in my dojo at my home that I would never dare practise at our schools dojo because it would not be acceptable. That’s ok by me. I love all the guys there and my teacher and I just accept that, that is the status quo. However I will not allow that to limit me. Eventually one day, perhaps in many years I will release what I have developed.

[cathal]

That's a good post AnonymousOne, but do you think that the changes being made are to favouring athleticism purely for show?

[AnonymousOne]

That's a good post AnonymousOne, but do you think that the changes being made are to favouring athleticism purely for show?

In our school yes and no

[Yasutsune Makoto]

That's a good post AnonymousOne, but do you think that the changes being made are to favouring athleticism purely for show?

I think the only time it's purely for show is in the XMA arena. In other styles they have many reasons for the extra athleticism, such as trying to develop good health first, technical proficiency second.

[bushido_man96]

That's a good post AnonymousOne, but do you think that the changes being made are to favouring athleticism purely for show?

I think the only time it's purely for show is in the XMA arena. In other styles they have many reasons for the extra athleticism, such as trying to develop good health first, technical proficiency second.

It isn't just in the XMA arena, it is just more noticable there. If I was to teach the self defense applications of my form, some things like kick height, stance length, and so on would be different than if I was teaching my form for a tournament performance. Self-defense = practicality. Tournament performance, i.e., kicking high, showing flexibility = athleticism.

[AnonymousOne]

Have a read of these:

http://www.tokitsu.com/en/presentation/articles.html

Scroll down to the articles on Karate Kata

Some interesting observations