I am pretty much at the breaking point now with the number of katas I know (13). I used to know 9 and be able to practice all of them together a reasonable number of times each. Now that I have added 4, it is getting harder to train them all on a regular basis. So I am wondering what you do. How many do you know? How many do you practice together? How many do you practice regularly? Etc
I'm up to 18 in TKD now. I did learn a couple of Enshin kata but the karate club I'm at is no longer part of Enshin so I haven't done those for a couple of months. Shame, I quite liked them. As for the TKD patterns, I suppose I remember them because I'm teaching them all the time. There's no getting round the fact that it's harder though. Plus I ain't getting any younger. Mitch
The pinans + Kushanku, Naihanchi, Seishan and Chinto - is all I have to learn, so only nine thankfuly. Been at it best part of 30 years now, so I am obviously a very slow learner Gary
The 5 pinans, Kushanku, Naifhanchi (know these well enough to teach and practice them on a regular basis), Seishan, Jitte, Niseishi (still in the learning process but can remember them all the way through). A bit like Gary, really only officially require a few more- Bassai, Chinto and possibly Jion. It's 'cos you is deep Gary, not wide!
I used to do all the Shotokan Kata less Gojushiho Sho, Gojushiho Dai, Bassai Sho, Jiin and Wankan. I think that makes 24 including some of the external Karate forms I learned. These days I focus on segments of the Heians from time to time and occasionally Tekki Shodan, but mainly my Kata are my own. It wouldn't take me long to bring most of the ones I'm less certain of up to par. I've been thinking of going to a Shotokan class recently for a bit more of a gymnastic workout.
know: counting cross-style variants and not counting those i can't remember at the moment or have only half-learned wonky versions, a bit over 45, i think. EDIT: from what i remember knowing (i sometimes forget that i know certain forms ), the current count of karate kata is 41, plus the ones i don't know well or in specific variants (suparinpei, uechi sanchin, matsumura bassai) and ones i forgot (****o-ryu sochin, ****o-ryu wanshu). 13 shotokan kata Spoiler 5 heian; tekki shodan; bassai dai; kanku dai; enpi; jion; jitte; chinte; sochin both gekisai from goju-ryu a crapton of ****o-ryu kata Spoiler 3 line-specific basic forms, 2 of which are basically fukyugata 1 and 2; 5 heian/pinan; niseishi; rohai; matsumura rohai; sanchin; tensho; jion; jitte; bassai dai; bassai sho; saifa; seienchin; seipai; kururunfa; naihanchi shodan; naihanchi nidan; pachu; paiku; unshu... and i think that's it used to know ****o-ryu sochin, but i forgot it, and i can sort of imitate suparinpei (know the kata, don't know any style-specific variant) and the sequence for uechi sanchin. outside karate, i know lien bu quan and dun da quan from bei shaolin, and a version of the yang taijiquan long form. practice together: usually the goju ones. i'm very sporadic with my kata training, so rarely tend to do more than one or two in a row. practice regularly(ish): sanchin, dun da quan, seipai, pinan yondan, parts of the tai chi long form.
How many do you know? Without any prep, probably 12. How many do you practice together? Less than 1 normally. How many do you practice regularly? Assuming regularly means every month rather than every week... 1
I'm up over 40. You practice them until you can do them in your sleep or your not ready to test for the next rank. Its really as simple as that. I do mine from white belt through fourth dan, then fourth dan down through white belt.
The kata I know and currently practice are the pinan series, yantsu, tsuki no kata, gekisai dai and sho, naihanchi (though the kyokushin naihanchi is more like shotokan's tekki), sanchin, tensho, and occasionally saifa. My practice focuses on the pinans, sanchin and tensho. I like the pinan's as a set.
I know the 11 goju kata (our school has one combined gekisai, rather than the usual 2), naihanchi shodan, hakkusho, happoren, plus a bo kata (shushi-no-kon) and the aikido 13-count jo kata; so 16 in total. I can also still wing my way through pinan shodan and nidan, and could pull the other three out of my posterior if I really needed to - but I don't train these anymore. If by practise together you mean in one session, I'll usually do about 3 kata in a training session: start with sanchin 3 times, end with tensho 3 times, then do one or two other kata in between, depending on which day of the week it is. Once a week I'll do all the kata twice in one training session (today's my day of the week for doing that - it takes about 50 minutes for the empty-hand kata). I practise all of them regularly, if by regularly you mean at least once a week. But I'll only do two of them regularly within that week.
How many do i know ****o ryu shihozuki 1,2,3 juni kata 1,2,3 Pinan 1,2,3,4,5 Annanku seianchin sanchin Kosukun Dai (ones i know vaguely: Bassai dai, seipai learned empi once and unsu, suparimpei is my work in progress) Koryu Uchinadi Shiho uke waza 1,2,3,4 haishu waza kaishu waza keri waza 22 being modest how many do i train together: 3 how many regularly 1 suparimpei as i'm trying to learn it.
I can pretty much do all but my most recent two in my sleep. We do the Fukyugata katas almost every class and the Pinans quite often as wel. On my own I have practiced the Fukyugata and Pinan katas on and off for over 20 years now. Heck, I probably haven't even rode a bicycle as much. l am considering just practicing the Naihanchis on up on my own from now on. Perhaps starting with Pinan Sandan, as this is where their frequency of practice starts to decline and the higher you go the less often you get to practice it.
