What exactly is kata?

[BKJ1216]

Well I've been hearing this term being tosed around for a littl ebit now without really knowing what it meant. Can someone please explain to me what it is. Is it like the moves or techniques?

[Beer-monster]

Kata is a preset routine of techniques performed in an alomst ritualistic style of stances and footwork. They originated as a means of passing down fighting techniques and methods for self defense, but in recent times many meaning and applications (bunkai) have been lost or replaced by bullsh*t. They are also hyped to look pretty for tournaments. Personally I find such things sacrelige .

 

In karate kata are like a zip file for your computer. They were a means of condensing a vast array data about fighting methods and strategies that had been used by their authors in actual fights. They also exist as an easy means of passing down those methods to students so the art can be perpetuated. Some katas have been lost through secrecy.

 

Careful analysis of the principles and applications of kata when using common sense reveals the devestating completeness of karate as they include details of vital point strikes, throws, joint locks and grappling both on and of the floor. However the strikes are emphasised mostly. Unfortunately few people (especially the McDojos out there, have win zip).

 

kata can be found in some form in most traditional martial arts, in Kung Fu they are often called sets or forms and in Korean arts known as Pumse.

 

Hope that helps

[Iron Fist 05]

If you look up kata in a text book, in short, it is "a formal exercise" Which it is, but there is much more behind it than just an exercise.

 

One of the most important parts of katas is tension. Which is very useful. Katas are basically techniques in a sort of graceful like form. They do contain punches, kicks, and blocks. So If you tense up your muscles while you practice your kata, you actully build muscle strength, primarily in the muscle areas that are used to punch, kick, etc. To me, THAT'S FRIGGIN AWESOME!

 

But my personal favorite thing about katas are that they just look so cool! I've only seen a couple performed, and they might look really simple to some people, but they do take a while to learn. Katas are one of my favorite things to do when i'm training.

[G95champ]

You will soon see. LOL

[AndrewGreen]

Kata is to karate as "The quick Brown..." is to learning to type.

[G95champ]

Ok that lost me I guess I need to find out what the Quck Brown is. LOL

 

Stupid SAT questions LOL

 

Lets say Kata is to Karate as the Dribbling is to Basketball.

[AndrewGreen]

“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

 

It is a sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet and is used to learn keyboarding skills.

 

I wrote this a while back and it explains what I mean a little more:

 

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=85

 

(Hope the moderators don't mind me linking to a competitor )

[Killer Miller]

I have to laugh a little when I see definitions of Kata - although interesting too.

 

Katas are awesome, if you use/practise kata as the true "art" they are. As a technical definition, a kata is a dance with a series of techniques/movements against "immaginary" opponent(s)/attacker(s). When martial arts were outlawed, the only way the art could be passed on were through katas. These were not a series of meaningless movements. They were to be practised/performed with the vision and intensity as if you were actually being attacked - a story to tell so to speak. You expell your battle, or story of a battle, to your audience as to they can share your experience. Training or performing kata with the same speed, intensity, and vision of an actual battle, there theoretically would not be any difference between kata or battle!

 

This is fuel for thought for those of you that just do a bunch of fluid movements without any discription or visulation of why you are moving in the first place... Try to visualize and say to yourself, "how would this movement/technique apply if I was really attacked or in battle???" Usually doing this during your kata, you will see the value or uselessness of your kata.

 

- Killer -

[gheinisch]

Katas are the essence of Karate, without them Karate would be the mere learning of various fighting and self-defense techniques, expressing nothing and allowing for no aesthetic development. Katas are the distilled concentrated wisdom, understanding, and experience of hundreds of great karate peak awareness. When one begins to understand them one glimpses a new world of untold internal riches. The primary meaning of the kata is for the performer himself. If he is unable to immerse himself in the kata and so release his emotions, or life force, a master will say of the performer that he is still "in the dance", that is, unable to emote or express his feelings at will. This poignant karate saying has an even more profound when the sensei refers to a student "coming out of the dance". This is the highest compliment one can recieve. The eventual perfection of the katas lead not only to mastery of the basic forms and techniques, but also to physical and spiritual sensitivity and to complete control of all parts of the body.

 

A good Karateka first develops his katas to perfection and later perfects his Jul-Kumite (sparring) ability.

 

The above is a small portion from my Hon-Shin-Do handbook. I believe katas train your body to act without thinking which is important in a real conflict senario. It only takes a split second of hesitation and you'll be picking yourself up off the ground (if your lucky). One must act without thinking.

 

That's my opinion.

 

Greg

[Joe-jitsu]

G-ish. What is Hon-Shin-Do? And in your book who wrote those words?