Open Tournament

[David Miller]

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having an amazing day. I wanted to ask a question regarding open tournament. Now, i am a blue belt (6th kyu) and i want to join an open tournament. Now since i am a donut when it comes to karate, i do a lot of research and learn new things which i dont need to know. So since its an open tournament, i wanted to do some black belt katas. The katas that i want to do are Gojushiho sho, bassai sho and kanku dai. Now am i allowed to do those katas since im a blue belt? And its an open tournament aswell. Quick reply would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Wado Heretic]

It would depend on the rules of the tournament; open tournaments do not usually have many restrictions on kata, but I would say you should contact someone involved with organising the tournament you are interested in entering.

[Lupin1]

In some styles those kata might not be black belt kata. In Isshinryu, our version of Kanku Dai-- Kansanku-- is usually done at brown belt. I think you'll be fine if you can perform the black belt kata to the same standards you can your lower kata. Remember in a traditional martial arts competition you're not being judged on how flashy the kata is, you're being judged on your execution. You'll get fewer points for doing a sloppy black belt kata than you will for doing a clean orange belt kata.

[JR 137]

As Lupin1 stated, different organizations do kata at different ranks. You're judged by the execution of the kata that's performed, not which one you're doing per se. A more difficult kata will potentially score higher, but potentially doesn't mean will.

I competed in a few open tournaments a while back. My organization at the time did certain kata at higher ranks than most others. My current organization's kata list at ranks is virtually identical. We do Gekisai Dai at 4th kyu, whereas most Goju schools do that kata at 8th kyu or so (I think). We do Saiha/Saifa at 1st kyu and Seiunchin at 1st dan, whereas most that do those do them a few ranks earlier. The relevance to your question is at one tournament I did Pinan 1 and scored higher than a person doing Gekisai Dai; at another tournament I did Saiha and scored significantly higher than a person doing Seiunchin. Both kata I did were significantly lower difficulty than my opponent's kata, yet I scored higher due to doing them better.

With that being said, what does your teacher have to say about it? While a lot of us here have a lot of experience in karate and the martial arts, at the end of the day we're just a bunch of people online that you don't know and don't know you. Your teacher sees you perform and knows what you are and aren't capable of. His/her opinion is the one that matters most. And he/she is the one who'll teach you the kata you'll perform.

If you're thinking about learning them through video, don't! Let your teacher teach you what he/she thinks is appropriate. He/she is the expert you've chosen to teach you and pay for, not some people online or someone putting a video online. The person in the video could be a legend in karate, but that doesn't mean they're truly teaching you anything.

[sensei8]

Let me tender some caution your way, David Miller.

Stay within your rank!!

Why do you want to do that particular Kata??

Had you learned said Kata before??

Were you once a certain rank that allowed you to learn/perform said Kata??

If you've not ever learned said Kata properly, and you've taught yourself said Kata, then, can you execute said Kata properly across the board??

As a judge, and I watched you, a blue belt, execute said Kata, I'd score you as low as I could because that said Kata is above your rank. No matter how well you thought you did. That's the caution I want to tender to you.

Would you consider to execute Unsu as a blue belt??

In an open tournament, you're allowed to do any Kata you desire. There's no forced compulsory requirements involved in open tournaments. UNLESS, as others here have said, the rules of the tournament direct it to be so.

For every tournament you attend, get a copy of the rules and regulations for that open tournament, and read them carefully. If not, then don't attend that tournament!!

[David Miller]

Oh so i can do any Kata i want but i have to execute it correctly otherwise i wont get high points since im doing a black belt kata. My tournament was the next day after i created the topic and it went the way i was not expecting it to be. So basically i was blue belt and my opponent was red belt so he did the kata first. He did Jion and i ended up doing Gojushiho Sho. In my opinion i think i did the kata good but i knew i wasn't gonna win. I ended up winning 3-2 and i got really happy and in some way shocked. There were only 2 people in my division including myself so there was no second round. I dont know if this was luck or my opponent did something wrong that i won but i was seriously in shock.

By the way, can we do other style kata in an open tournament?

[Nidan Melbourne]

Depending on the tournament yes you can perform any kata you want.

At WKF Tournaments, you can do any kata as long as it is on the approved list.

[David Miller]

Because in my open tournament, there was this budokan student who did suparinpei and the kata was not in his style.