Materials (DVD/Book) to learn a Kata alone ?

[Ti]

I use youtube vids and books since I have no dojo

[isshinryu5toforever]

Do you have any formal training? If not, you might be screwing yourself up without even knowing it.

[BDPulver]

it kinda reminds me of the movie forbidden kingdom with jackie chan and jet li. in it the kid goes to jackie if he is gonnna learn these special name techniques when jackie goes to him why do you need to learn if you already know so much.

In that, yes watching a video and learning a technique from someone is actually two different things.

We are only here to help though and can give you our wisdom. Growing up I tried TKD but didnt like it. I started buying black belt mags and thought that since i took some classes i could do the moves in the mag.

Also, when they had a program on TV (mind you this is back late 70s early 80s) there was this thing called black belt theatre. at the end of every movie (I think they showed 2 flicks) there was a training session. I figured I was learning MA adequately from this till i got my butt handed to me.

It was this time in 84 when my mom asked me if I want to take real classes and thats how i got into isshinryu ever since. I was 14 at this time.

Now fast forward, my hanshi has said if we said something being aired or in print and have the experience we can pretty much figure out how its done now since as a black belt we have the knowlegde of hip placement, body move, punch/hand orientation etc...

This is where a beginner or one that has not taken a class will only hurt themselves or find out the hard way that they been doing it wrong all along.

Also, I practice our basic pihan regularly. it might be boring but it takes all of our basics buts them together to form a basic kata we teach our beginners. Until you realize how the moves are, placement of your hip and hands, is your head bobbing too much, stuff like that is being ironed out we will keep you at that lvl for a while till you are ready to learn the first kata.

I will apoligize in advance if i seem to be coming off a bit harsh but Ive been there and know the hardship and headaches one gets without proper knowlegde.

[bushido_man96]

I agree that this is true. Once you have accumulated some knowledge and experience, it is much easier to do the "monkey see, monkey do" thing. You have basic concepts of movement down, and can transfer them to other movements. Otherwise, as mentioned, you could be hurting yourself.

[brickshooter]

Dear members,

I'm an hyperactive man: everyday if I don't do round 20 minutes of sport, then I cannot focus on doing my job as a programmer.

Recently, I've found out that practicing a Kata every morning greatly helps to release my too-much energy, which helps me to focus very well at work. The Kata also helps to stream blood to my head, which is also helpful to my job (which require a great deal of brain health).

So, the question is: do you know any

- Method

- Books or DVD

so that I could learn some more Kata, to practice each morning?

Many thanks to you

NC

I recommend the Best Karate series by Nakayama if you're interested in Shotokan. Nice BIG pictures. JKA/JKS Karate you tube videos are good too. Personally I use the Kanazawa book on kata. But the photos are very very small. And unless you've been formally trained, you can't really tell what is going on from the small picture.

An instructor giving constructive criticism is best. But sometimes we don't have one available.

BTW, there are many schools of Karate. Shotokan just happenned to be one of them. So other schools of Karate will do their katas differently. There is no right or wrong way. Just a preference.

Good luck.

[RW]

Not to be the devil's advocate here but, as long as he has correct form on his stances and moves (something which I don't believe he can achieve from watching a video or reading a book), does it matter if he knows the meaning of moves?

Yes, according to bunkai, that chudan soto uke is actually some sort of choke hold that breaks necks (just an example). But even the blackbelts training under a 7th degree blackbelt sensei, who keep bunkai in mind when doing it are not truly "doing" it, they're imagining it. That doesn't mean they could do that choke/neck break. That downward motion that the karateka does with his palm looking up in the tensho kata might mean something else, BUT, he is not truly doing it. Also, school B says that chudan move here is a choke, school A may say it is actually a different hold and school C says it's actually a block. That Tensho move I mentioned could have different meanings/bunkais in different schools. And for a Mcdojo, the moves are just moves.

The bottom line is that practicing a kata keeping the bunkai in mind is not quite the same as rehearsing a given move (probably 100's of times) with a semi-resisting opponent, so in the end of the day doing a kata from a video is not *that* bad (I still don't think the topic creator would learn adequate technique from it).

Just my 2 cents

[MasterPain]

With no instructor I would nor recommend kata at all. For the purposes you expressed, I should think shadowboxing would be more beneficial. I don't have a problem with kata, and it would be useful to fit your purpose, however I feel that a good hands-on instructor is needed to make kata make any sense. Check out Bas Rutten's videos on striking on the Youtube. You could make a good workout from them, and he teaches great martial arts concepts. You can see tradition AND practicality in his movements. If I had to learn from videos and train alone, Bas is da man.

[still kicking]

I sure do like the Unsu performance by the first place winner. The way he is able to incorporate lightening fast speed with such intense focus and presence is really be-a-u-tiful. I do think that one needs a teacher to give feedback and correction, in order to be able to do kata well.

[JohnASE]

If the OP wants to learn kata from a video, I'm not sure I see the harm. He should realize he's not really learning the kata let alone whichever art it comes from. He's just learning one small part. Sure, if he intends to go on and learn from an instructor, he might be learning bad habits now that he'd have to unlearn, but if this is what motivates him, why not?

There are many sources of good video. I haven't watched too much of the stuff available for free online, but commercial instructional DVDs can have great picture and sound, often shoot the kata from multiple angles, can be run in slow motion, and usually include bunkai and other valuable info.

For someone who's been training in a dojo and has decent basics, video can be a great tool to help learn a kata. I've seen it happen. I was running an instructional kata video at a tournament, and a couple kids were watching while waiting for their division to be called. I think they were green belts, maybe 10 or 11 years old. They said they'd never seen the kata before. In a short time, they had quickly learned a good chunk of it, and it didn't look half bad.

Of course, as everyone said, there's more to a kata than learning the sequence, and having someone to correct you would be better, but some people don't have access to instruction. I know of a guy who instructs via video, meaning that you learn via prerecorded video, then you record your self. He views your video and suggests corrections if necessary. It's far from ideal, but many of his students are in rural areas, far from any dojo, and it's the best they can get.

[Lupin1]

I just learned the basics of Isshinryu Chinto in two days from an awesome video series. It's incredibly expensive ($50 for a video with two or three kata on it) but it has front view and side view and then both in slow motion and then a step by step explaination and then the bunkai. I've got four years of training in Isshinryu, so I'm different from someone who's never had that, but I think my Chinto looks pretty decent for only having done it for a week and the kids who teach in the video are so incredibly sharp I've found my movements getting harder and sharper just from watching them.

If you're interested-- http://chnproduction.com/Isshin_Ryu_DVD_Series.html