Do you teach everything?

[Spartacus Maximus]

In the history of teaching martial arts it isn’t unheard of for an instructor to change their material. Sometimes by adding something or removing another. Even in the most traditional lineages there are those who, for whatever reason, do not teach everything their own teacher taught them. It could be a certain technique or an entire kata/form. 

For anyone teaching, is there anything you learned from your instructor(s) that you do not or will not teach? What would motivate you to make such a decision?

[bushido_man96]

This is interesting.  I can't think of anything that I wouldn't teach;  maybe use some different approaches, but can't think of not teaching it.  But I definitely don't think I get to teach everything that I want.

On the other hand, there are some things in our curriculum that I would rather not teach, like our black belt three-step sparring.  I honestly don't think it offers anything constructive to the curriculum and is just curriculum for curriculum's sake.

[Furinkazan]

There are quite a few schools out that there that have over a dozen fukyugatas and another dozen taikyoku katas on top of that (I'm exaggerating here, but you get the point) before you finally get the Pinan or Heian series.  Thankfully, my school isn't one of them, but if that wasn't the case, I'd consider it "fluff" that needed to go.

[Wastelander]

Yes and no. My late Sensei had to teach the full curriculum of the organization we were in, but he wanted to trim it down. Since I left the organization, I trimmed it down the way he and I discussed. This does technically mean that I don't teach everything that he taught me, at least not entirely, but most of the material was redundant, or simply not as effective as what was kept. For example, I made the Pinan kata my youth curriculum, and I don't teach them to adults, at all, but I do teach them at seminars, and most of the techniques in them can be found in kata that I kept for adults. I also got rid of Passai Sho and Kusanku Sho, but again, most of that material is also found in other kata. I dropped the formalized yakusoku kumite drills, because they were a waste of time.

[Furinkazan]

3 hours ago, Wastelander said:

For example, I made the Pinan kata my youth curriculum, and I don't teach them to adults, at all, but I do teach them at seminars, and most of the techniques in them can be found in kata that I kept for adults. I also got rid of Passai Sho and Kusanku Sho, but again, most of that material is also found in other kata.

I think that might be a bit controversial.  I think all kata that predate karate moving to mainland Japan should be safe from elimination.  All katas developed after that, especially the ones meant to be taught before the Pinan and Heian series (or Naihanchi and Tekki, if your school teaches those before Pinan and Heian) should be fair game.  Even the more advanced ones, such as Ananku and Gorin should be fair game.

3 hours ago, Wastelander said:

I dropped the formalized yakusoku kumite drills, because they were a waste of time.

I agree with this 100%.  I think yakosoku kumite is useful, but I don't believe it should be testable.

[sensei8]

On 11/15/2025 at 11:20 AM, Spartacus Maximus said:

For anyone teaching, is there anything you learned from your instructor(s) that you do not or will not teach? What would motivate you to make such a decision?

No!! I hand down to my students what I was taught without any reservations. 

Due to the cross-training that I’ve done for quite some time, I’ve added things to my curriculum that I found effective. For example, in Shindokan, we do not kick above the waist; our kicks are primarily used for set ups. Therefore, I’ve added kicks above the waist due to my TKD days from my youth and so on.

That’s my choice!!

[Wastelander]

20 hours ago, Furinkazan said:

I think that might be a bit controversial.  I think all kata that predate karate moving to mainland Japan should be safe from elimination.  All katas developed after that, especially the ones meant to be taught before the Pinan and Heian series (or Naihanchi and Tekki, if your school teaches those before Pinan and Heian) should be fair game.  Even the more advanced ones, such as Ananku and Gorin should be fair game.

I agree with this 100%.  I think yakosoku kumite is useful, but I don't believe it should be testable.

Oh, it's definitely controversial. Some people get REALLY mad about it. My view, though, is similar to Yabu Kentsu, who said "if you have time to practice Pinan, practice Kusanku, instead," although there is also material from Passai and Chinto in the Pinan series. Basically, the Pinan kata were developed by Itosu for his school PE karate program, and while they do have valid and effective applications, almost all of those applications can be found in the older kata. Additionally, I've found that teaching the Pinan series and then teaching Kusanku, Passai, and Chinto actually makes it MORE difficult for students to learn the older kata, not less, as is often claimed. It takes a long time for them to be able to stop mixing up the kata, because there are such similar sequences.

I don't have any issue with the concept of yakusoku kumite, but the way that most yakusoku kumite is designed is just bad. The distance is too large, the techniques are applied impractically, the attacks are unrealistic, etc.