How to deal with learning similar kata from two styles

[Samn01]

I have a bit of a dilemma. I'm currently training and grading in a style that practices the Pinan kata. I need all 5 for my next grading plus a couple of others (I'm currently a 2nd kyu) once every two weeks I train at a great club of another style that practice the heinan kata. At my grade they are keen for me to practice all 5 regularly. There are several major differences between them obviously and many small ones between the way the two styles want even the steps that are shared performed.

I feel I get a lot from this second club. I enjoy the way they train and what they cover. They only train together weekly or biweekly however and it's far from home. Am I making trouble for myself? How can I best approach my training? Is it possible to attend both clubs without worrying ill mess up on my next grading by dropping a move etc? Sorry if this post sounds a little pathetic but when one sensei tells me one thing and my other sensei tells me something else I am not quite sure what to do, or that I am good enough to adopt one set of moves at one dojo and another at another dojo? Any advise?

[Harkon72]

Yes, if you have the capacity to handle it, go for it! You are choosing to engage in a challenge that few modern karateka can rise to. Good Luck, I would love to see you perform one style's Bassai Dai or Passai, followed by the same in the other style. If you can do it, then you deserve praise, praise indeed. Good Luck.

[kensei]

I tend to feel a different way than the previous answer.I think that if Rank is your main goal in your main style then you need to chat with the other instructor and let him know that you do the other style and that is your grounding style.

If you get confused with Kata on a test you may not pass and well thats not good if that is your aim.

However, if the training is what you are into then go for it, realizing that the speed of your rank progression may be stunted by the extra load you carry with two styles. Their is a reason that I frown on cross training like this until a student is at least a shodan.

[ShoriKid]

Best of luck. Having trained in first the Pinan series and then the Heian series later on. I've spent more than a decade trying to keep them separate and they sometimes till bleed over. If you are concerned about an up coming and don't want to quit the second club, you are going to have to slack in your training there. Focus in on the Pinans you need to know and work them extra reps. If you don't, you'll never keep them separate. What I've had to do to keep them cleanly apart is divide them up mentally with some movement ques. I have to make myself think of them as completely different kata. And oddly, at the same time keep the similarities in mind while teaching. Best of luck, hopefully you can find a nice balance.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Do the best you can. Like you i train at two schools, and both have differences in kata.

I train in two goju-ryu schools and in the katas there are stance differences which makes it hard to remember which school does which one.

What i did was discussed it with my sensei's and they both told me to do what is most natural and comfortable. Like in Seeiunchin kata we were taught with sanchin dachi in some sections, whilst at my other school we were told neko ashi dachi. Which would change how hard the hand techniques would be.

So they don't care which version i do as long as it is true to me and the school

[Samn01]

Thank you, some really good responses there and food for thought for sure.

[bushido_man96]

If you choose to continue with both schools, then you need to put the extra effort in to practice the forms lots and lots. Practice one version 5 times in a row, and then do the other version, 5 times in a row. Make sure you know which you are doing, and focus on the nuances. Its really that simple, a memorization thing.

[sensei8]

Approch each Kata seperately. By that I mean, treat each Kata appropriately to its sources. If one style has it being done this way, then do it this way. If the other style has it being done that way, then do it that way.

Execute each as that style would have you to do, and nothing less!! It's, imho, the do it the Rome way when in Rome.

[Kusotare]

If you choose to continue with both schools, then you need to put the extra effort in to practice the forms lots and lots. Practice one version 5 times in a row, and then do the other version, 5 times in a row. Make sure you know which you are doing, and focus on the nuances. Its really that simple, a memorization thing.

Why 5 times?

Is that just an arbitrary number or is there some science behind this I don't know about?

K.

[bushido_man96]

If you choose to continue with both schools, then you need to put the extra effort in to practice the forms lots and lots. Practice one version 5 times in a row, and then do the other version, 5 times in a row. Make sure you know which you are doing, and focus on the nuances. Its really that simple, a memorization thing.

Why 5 times?

Is that just an arbitrary number or is there some science behind this I don't know about?

K.

I suppose you can practice each as often as you like. But, if you are like me, and tend to be strapped for time, then I like smaller numbers, like 5, to break up my routines.

No science. I felt that if you perform the kata successfully 5 times in a row, then one could move to doing it the other way, 5 times in a row, to make sure you have them straight.