brown belt and Nijushiho

[cici118]

Hi guys, I'm 17 years old and I practise Shotokan for almost 5 years now. I'm a brown belt waiting to do the shodan exam but I don't know when because my Sensei never speaks about it(he is always very busy and I'm the first student he got so he doesn't have experience in taking students to shodan exams).Forever brown belt!!!! At this moment I know all the Heian kata + Bassai dai + Kanku dai + Jion + Enpi + Tekki shodan and since I don't have more katas to learn that are asked for shodan my Sensei told me today that he is going to teach me Nijushiho. Well, my mentality can be placed in the traditional karate philosophy(not my sensei's) so I have lots of respect for katas like Sochin and Nijushiho, I remember that I saw it the first time in the movie Kuro obi with Naka Sensei. I'm very afraid of this. What do you say? Do you think it's a rush decision?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance.

[DaveB]

A kata is just a kata. One is not really more or less advanced than any other. If your worried about not being ready or something, just don't worry about it.

That being said, it's my personal feeling that a focus on skill development is a better use of time than just piling on more kata. You have a large amount of kata under your belt. I would try and get practice using them, doing two person drills at faster speeds with heavier contact in closer range and against more natural attacks.

If you do this already that's great. There is always a deeper level to go to but if your really happy that you can use every part of all your kata to defend yourself then another kata is a natural progression.

If you don't think you can do that, maybe do some research into bunkai and bring the drills to your sensei. See if he'll go that way with you instead. Assuming you are interested of course. My preference doesn't have to be yours.

Good luck whatever you decide.

[Lupin1]

I second everything Dave said. Even just a handful of kata are more than enough for a lifetime of study (not that I'm focused enough to stick to that... but in theory...).

If it makes you feel any better, I'm a brown belt and I just finished learning Nijushiho.

[Kanku65]

I too am waiting to take my Shodan test in Shotokan. Sensei very often takes me through black belt katas, but he always makes it clear to me that I'm not yet in anyway expected to remember these katas. He just believes that its of the best idea to become overly familiar with the movements that will be expected of me in the future. A certain type of preparation. Focus on your current katas. Go through black belt katas, but do not let them interupt what you must currently know for your Shodan test. I went through Nijushiho 4 times with Sensei about a year and a half ago. Since then, he has not made any mention of the kata in regards to me knowing it.

On a side note, I enjoyed the film Kuro Obi.

[Nidan Melbourne]

I too am waiting to take my Shodan test in Shotokan. Sensei very often takes me through black belt katas, but he always makes it clear to me that I'm not yet in anyway expected to remember these katas. He just believes that its of the best idea to become overly familiar with the movements that will be expected of me in the future. A certain type of preparation. Focus on your current katas. Go through black belt katas, but do not let them interupt what you must currently know for your Shodan test. I went through Nijushiho 4 times with Sensei about a year and a half ago. Since then, he has not made any mention of the kata in regards to me knowing it.

On a side note, I enjoyed the film Kuro Obi.

I agree that there is no real expectation for you to remember kata above the belt grade that your going for.

Whenever we grade at my dojo we are only required to be able to perform up to our belt level (and do it well) + know the pattern of the kata in the next belt level/dan grade but not know the finer details of it.

For instance for me I have to be able to do Seisan (it is a 2nd dan kata at my school) and be able to know the pattern of Seipai (3rd Dan Kata).

in our advanced class we have been taught the remainder of the kata in our style. So we can work on them at our own pace, but the only other reason we do it is so for the few of us that train in this class that also compete can get those kata stronger