Which kata best represents your style?

[Zanshin]

For my TKD style, I think Choong Moo.

What is it about Choong Moo that connects it to your style?

Is it the movement, speed etc.?

[kansascityshuffle]

If you had to suggest only one kata to represent your particular style of karate, what would it be? It should idealy showcase the particular style.

Something like Kanku Dai for Shotokan and Sanchin for Goju Ryu.

Hi moriniuk and welcome to the forum.

This is a very interesting question and one that I have had pondered over before.

In a nutshell, I don’t think that is about how certain katas can best represent certain styles, but more to do with how each of the Katas are performed and how this varies from style to style.

A Wado “Wanshu” contains very similar moves to its Shotokan counterpart and the “embusen” is roughly the same, but the way it is performed (fluidity of movement etc.) is different, as is the purpose in some cases.

That said, it is clear that some styles place a higher status of importance on certain katas over others; the core katas of their system as it were.

The “Shitei” (compulsory) kata list as recognised by the WKF is as follows:

Goju Ryu – Seipai and Saifa

Shotokan – Jion and Kunku-Dai

Shito Ryu – Seinchin and Bassai – Dai

Wado Ryu – Seishan and Chinto

To be honest, I don’t know what is behind the reasoning for these choices. From a Wado perspective you could argue that Seishan and Chinto are the two most senior and therefore most important / representative Katas of the style. So does the same logic apply to the other styles? I don’t know.

On the other hand the WKF Shitei list has probably been designed around competition performance and what looks the prettiest.

I can understand why Sanchin would be considered by most Goju practitioners as fundamental and Wado’s Otsuka went on record many times to say that Naihanchi was a very important kata. – Problem is though from a WKF / performance perspective, they ain’t too exiting.

It’s a tricky one, but I am going to stick my neck out and say Chinto as it is light, fast and contains many of the key Wado principles.

I'm not a Wado practitioner but Chinto is one of my favorite and the kata I have the most experience with.

My roots are Shito and Goju and for Goju it's easy, Sanchin but I could also respect Tensho and think the two go "hand in hand". For Shito I can't pick just one kata and I think for Shito this would be specific to one's "ha" or even what Kata their Sensei has emphasized. My sensei had me practice Chinto over and over but I saw him have others focus more so on Kanku/Kosokun Dai or Bassai Dai. He also had me focus a lot on Unsu and Paiku. I also have experience in other Shito dojo and can remember one dojo focusing primarily on the Pinan(they didn't do Heian)and Kosokun Dai(which we all know is basically the entire Pinan/Heian).

In all honesty I have mixed feelings about the WKF but I can't argue the skill level of the top competitors. The WKF and it's sister associations are the "cream of the crop" when it comes to point karate but it's very hard to unify and label a style.

Just look at what has happened to a lot of the Korean styles because of such efforts.

[Zanshin]

In all honesty I have mixed feelings about the WKF but I can't argue the skill level of the top competitors. The WKF and it's sister associations are the "cream of the crop" when it comes to point karate but it's very hard to unify and label a style.

Just look at what has happened to a lot of the Korean styles because of such efforts.

I couldn't agree more. For an elite few the WKF provides a platform to compete on a world level, but it means nothing to me in my karate world.

To be honest, I have always had mixed feelings about Kata in competition anyway, but if it floats your boat then great.

I only mentioned the WKF purely to see whether their "Shitei" system held any frame of reference amoungst Karate-ka of other styles. I am not a staunch advocate TBH.

Good choice with Chinto BTW. Blimmin hard though isn't it?

[unknownstyle]

Tekki for all okinawan styles!!

Okinawan? Wouldn't that make it Naihanchi???

Ah, its semantics, isn't it??

For my TKD style, I think Choong Moo.

exactly only japanese styles use the name Tekki, Naihanchi is the okinawan name and the okinawan kata are much different from the mainland styles

[DWx]

I would pick Tong-Il. Its a powerful form and makes use of both slow and fast motions. But I wouldn't pick it just because of the physical aspect but more because what it represents philosophically. It is the last and 24th tul of the Chang Hon system and in simple terms represents the unification of Korea and peace across the peninsula which was one of Gen. Choi's dreams. Whereas for all the other dan grades (in ITF) you learn 3 tul per rank, Tong-Il is the only one learnt at 6th before you grade to 7th & become a Master so it represents mastery over the style and the whole cycle starting again. It being the 24th pattern also has special significance because Gen. Choi specifically used 24 tul to represent how, compared to eternity, we only have 24hrs to make our mark on the world.

[Zanshin]

Tekki for all okinawan styles!!

Okinawan? Wouldn't that make it Naihanchi???

Ah, its semantics, isn't it??

For my TKD style, I think Choong Moo.

exactly only japanese styles use the name Tekki, Naihanchi is the okinawan name and the okinawan kata are much different from the mainland styles

Not 100% certain but I think it may only be Shotokan that refer to it as Tekki as Funakoshi is credited with changing the names.

Other mainland Japanese styles either don't do the Kata or refer to it as Naihanchi - its original Okinawan / Chinese name.

[Zanshin]

I would pick Tong-Il. ... It being the 24th pattern also has special significance because Gen. Choi specifically used 24 tul to represent how, compared to eternity, we only have 24hrs to make our mark on the world.

I really like that analogy - Nice.

Also 24 is a mathematical factor of 108 - a very important number in Eastern MA.

Could be a coincidence, but I doubt it.

[DWx]

I would pick Tong-Il. ... It being the 24th pattern also has special significance because Gen. Choi specifically used 24 tul to represent how, compared to eternity, we only have 24hrs to make our mark on the world.

I really like that analogy - Nice.

Also 24 is a mathematical factor of 108 - a very important number in Eastern MA.

Could be a coincidence, but I doubt it.

There's also only 24 Hangul letters. And 24 is the smallest number to be divisible by exactly 8 factors (again an important Asian number) but I think that last one is just coincidence.

[kansascityshuffle]

Good choice with Chinto BTW. Blimmin hard though isn't it?

Yes, I have been working on it for around 15 years and find myself still finding things I do wrong with it. The pattern itself isn't so hard, it's the transitions of the stances, for me, anyway.

There are a lot of really neat Kata, but for me, Chinto is what I keep going back to.

I can't help to "roll my eyes" when somebody tells me they're really good at learning Kata and can learn them quick. Sure, anybody can be taught the pattern, how to run through it, but they can't really perform the Kata after only a week of being taught it.

This is what Karate is to me, anyway.

[joesteph]

There's also only 24 Hangul letters. And 24 is the smallest number to be divisible by exactly 8 factors (again an important Asian number) but I think that last one is just coincidence.

I didn't realize that Hangul is a letter system. When you stated that 24 is the smallest number to be divisible by exactly eight factors, DMx, it got me thinking to solve it (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24), and as you stated, eight is an important Asian number.

There was a book called The Celestine Prophecy that was popular back in the '90s. One of its thought-provoking claims was that there are no coincidences.