Kata: the Fundamental Element of Martial Arts

[Blue]

Great article.

[G95champ]

Fragbot

 

Glad you enjoyed the article LOL.

 

I read your replyes and honestly I have forgot some of what you said so Im just going to hit a few here.

 

1. I don't think I ever said kata can replace heavy bag work, sparring, or focus pad type training. I said kata can be a good subistute for those methods. This makes it very useful because we don't always have a heavy bag or a sparring partner or some mits. All you need to do kata is yourself. You really dont need much room if you work shitting all your stances you can do kata in about a 2ft square.

 

2. To me Martial Arts includes a few differant aspects. Of course you must be a skilled fighter but its much more its exercise, social skills aka confidence training, moral development, etc... NOT everyone in fact very few people actually get into MA and stay in MA to be a fighter. Those of us who will do it the rest of lives do it for other reasons. IMO there is a huge differance in a guy who trains for 10 years and competes than a person who trains their entire life. The one who trains their entire life is a Martial Artist the one who competes is a fighter. Thats just my take....

 

3. The last point I can think of right now without rereading. No one will ever train like they did 100 years ago. WHY? because of the modren world. SD is much simpler today its called guns, and mace. So hard core training by the masses is not needed. Add to that people today dont have time. I know you worked in the fields and stuff back then but you had time to train today we must go to a dojo and train a few hrs a week. People have work, school, church, family, social events, etc that people 100 years ago did not have to contend with. One other point the world today is safer. Yeah i know that will take some heat but honestly it is. You may be mugged or something but you pretty much know who is good and who is not. You travel in a car and you are basically safe. 100 years ago you traveld by walking or on horse thus you are much more likely to be attacked. Think about it. Hard core training died with techknology of the 20th century.

[jeffrogers]

I have mixed feelings for Kata. Kata is okay. But alot of instructers teach kata for tournments. Which is just basically Kata acting. Nice yells here and there. Tighting your arm and making the fist shake. Basically looking pretty for the judges.

 

 

 

Wasn't you get an idea of the bunkai it don't mattter you learn new locks new chockes. new strikes new what ever you can place it in your kata. Some instructers teach the bunkai that it has to look exactly like the Kata is done which is not true. Kata is just a refrence, you can practice your rooting in kata, you can practice diffrent forms of breathing and cordinationg that with your movement. You can energy training. You can practice several bunkai or applcations to movement in the form. for example simple outward block can be arm break, wrist break, pressure point moves. ankle break, depends on what you want it to be. Weather the hands are open or cloes. Same move ment as the block. More you open your mind the more * y ou can put into one kata. You don't need a bunch of kata. All you need is one simple kata. take a peace of the form and make what ever movement you can think of. Instructers can give you a few ideas on bunkai and you can end up thinking of some more * on your own to put in the kata. Thats what makes kata alive. All it is is a refrence. Is kata important depends on how the invidual practioner feels about it. It has its benefits but depends. For a boxer he has shadow boxing. For Wreslers and BJJ and grapplers they have solo ground drills they practice for Karate and Tradional martiali arts guys they have there Kata.

 

Kata is good but depends on what you want out of it. There are diffrent practioners out there. Some are Martail artist and enjoy the art and they want to stick with it because they like all the benfits in that art. Like the mild excercise, discipline, confidence (my opinion alot of times false but that can be saved for a diffrent discussion time) history of the art, comadrie between other students, the enjoyed ment of the teachniques and just over all fun of that particular style and beauty they see in it. Others are Martial scienteist they like to break down what they are learning for applcation and realistically. They like thinking aspects in it and the application. Which is alot of good stuff in Kata for that if they are exposed to it by some source.

 

Then there is the martial athelete.

 

Kata is great but to be good at self defense weather against an untrained oppenent or against some one who has some training and is a street thug. Well... there are other ways to get quick at fighting and self defense. Kata is good but it has its place.

 

in conclusion is kata important. Depends on the invidual, you don't need it at all to be good at self defense and to be a fighter. But it is good as a tool to remembering techniques and it is good as far as an art form like dance or what ever you do. As long as you enjoy what you do more power to you.

[jeffrogers]

I have mixed feelings for Kata. Kata is okay. But alot of instructers teach kata for tournments. Which is just basically Kata acting. Nice yells here and there. Tighting your arm and making the fist shake. Basically looking pretty for the judges.

 

 

 

Wasn't you get an idea of the bunkai it don't mattter you learn new locks new chockes. new strikes new what ever you can place it in your kata. Some instructers teach the bunkai that it has to look exactly like the Kata is done which is not true. Kata is just a refrence, you can practice your rooting in kata, you can practice diffrent forms of breathing and cordinationg that with your movement. You can energy training. You can practice several bunkai or applcations to movement in the form. for example simple outward block can be arm break, wrist break, pressure point moves. ankle break, depends on what you want it to be. Weather the hands are open or cloes. Same move ment as the block. More you open your mind the more * y ou can put into one kata. You don't need a bunch of kata. All you need is one simple kata. take a peace of the form and make what ever movement you can think of. Instructers can give you a few ideas on bunkai and you can end up thinking of some more * on your own to put in the kata. Thats what makes kata alive. All it is is a refrence. Is kata important depends on how the invidual practioner feels about it. It has its benefits but depends. For a boxer he has shadow boxing. For Wreslers and BJJ and grapplers they have solo ground drills they practice for Karate and Tradional martiali arts guys they have there Kata.

 

Kata is good but depends on what you want out of it. There are diffrent practioners out there. Some are Martail artist and enjoy the art and they want to stick with it because they like all the benfits in that art. Like the mild excercise, discipline, confidence (my opinion alot of times false but that can be saved for a diffrent discussion time) history of the art, comadrie between other students, the enjoyed ment of the teachniques and just over all fun of that particular style and beauty they see in it. Others are Martial scienteist they like to break down what they are learning for applcation and realistically. They like thinking aspects in it and the application. Which is alot of good stuff in Kata for that if they are exposed to it by some source.

 

Then there is the martial athelete.

 

Kata is great but to be good at self defense weather against an untrained oppenent or against some one who has some training and is a street thug. Well... there are other ways to get quick at fighting and self defense. Kata is good but it has its place.

 

in conclusion is kata important. Depends on the invidual, you don't need it at all to be good at self defense and to be a fighter. But it is good as a tool to remembering techniques and it is good as far as an art form like dance or what ever you do. As long as you enjoy what you do more power to you.

[wado_lee]

get your kata right and your fighting looks after itself one should be done hand in hand with the other ive been training years and still find things in the first kata i ever did difficult to understand and probly never will

[wado_lee]

oh and by the way the i enjoyed the article thanx

[karateguy24]

so much good stuff in Kata.

 

I really like the wushu forms at least for the beauty of it.

[Red Triangle student]

I think that kata really has the beauty and style of shotokan kata contained within it. The basics of every move are contained within them. They help the body the mind and the spirit develop.

[returning_wave]

I am a kata convert, and as we all know there's nothing worse than lilstening to someone who's been reformed. My early dislike of kata was due more to my first instructors weakness in teaching. He didn't know the kata bunkai or oyo so he made up very simple bunkai that would make himself look good. Unfortunately he's not alone in his deception. The only fault I can find with your article is that it doesn't give kata enough credit. Kata is the living history of the martial arts as it evolved from China to Okinawa, Japan and Korea. I do happen to disagree that you need to be a combat expert to break down kata. I do believe that you have to have an extremely firm grasp on the basic movements, the ability to visualize an opponent for proper focus and enough knowledge through proper study to have insight into what the the kata could mean (oyo). That's the beauty of kata. It can be everything, nothing or something in between. Kata is what makes karate yours. No two people do a kata the exact same way and that's as it was meant to be. I do believe that I'm rambling ..... Sorry.

 

Amen to all of that. same experience, same realisation.

[Thruhiker]

If you have see the movie "The Last Samurai you maybe familiar with the term "mind no mind". What this means is that you are paying attention to what is going on around you but you are not thinking of a way to attack or defend against a certain move. Instead you are watching and your body is reacting to the attack.

 

As for offensive measures you are waiting for an opening and then striking w/o thinking. It's all reflexive. Yes your body has to be trained with the moves but your mind needs to stay out of the thinking business.

 

The same goes for katas. You have practiced your katas for so long that you should be able to do them in your sleep. Take your kata to the next level and perform each kata w/o thinking of the next move. Your body knows the path it must take to complete the kata correctly. Relax and let your body to the walking and allow your mind to soar with the eagles. How many times have you gotten stuck on a kata because another one came to mind and you blended a couple or three forms into one? That was because your mind was engaged when it should have been soaring.

 

Visualization is a tremendous tool when performing katas. Visualizing an opponent will make your katas enjoyable and will assist with answering your scenario training questions. For example, if you can visualize what the attacker is doing that would require you to perform a low block or a high block in your kata, you will understand the purpose of the kata.

 

Another item to consider is to keep your body smooth through the kata. Keep your head and shoulders from bobbing up and down like a bobber on a rough lake. Think smooth and perform all techniques forcefully and accurately. As Karateka said you should have a good sweat when you are done with your katas.

 

 

 

A side note: I would suggest reading a book called Living the Martial Way by Forrest E Morgan for some other advise about katas.