How many katas?

Discussion in 'Karate' started by nekoashi, Nov 11, 2011.

  1. nekoashi

    nekoashi Valued Member

    It is our second kata, but remains a favorite. Subtle differences between Gojo and Matsubayashi:

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtcRO7zceIg"]Gekisai dai ichi Kata - YouTube[/ame]

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q79Yo7mSyZo"]Matsubayashi Ryu - Fukyugata Ni - YouTube[/ame]
     
  2. Plimft

    Plimft Valued Member

    Back In my wado days I knew the pinans, naihanshi, kushanku and bassai dai. Of course, I learned them when I was very young and although I could possibly muddle through the pinans I doubt I could do the others. I've recently started training in Kyokushin and I'm starting from scratch, just starting the pinans again and it's taking some effort since they hardly resemble what I learned all those years ago!

    Just a shame we don't do bassai in the BKK, I loved that kata! I used to work up a right sweat doing it!
     
  3. armanox

    armanox Kick this Ginger...

    I've picked up quite a few....
    Shorin Ryu: 8 Kihon, 5 Pinan, 3 Naihaichi, 2 Passai, 2 Kusanku, 2 Fukyu, Chinto, Seisan, Tensho, and still learning Gojushiho
    Kobudo: Gyosho no kun, Maezato no nunchaku, Ichi no Sai, ****a Shikahaku no Sai
    ZNKR Iaido: Mae, Ushiro, Ukenagashi, and Tsuka-ate

    So if I can add this morning, that makes 33 that I can do (plus 1 in the learning)

    As far as practicing together (I assume this means how many do you do at a time), I normally do the Pinan, Passai, Chinto, and Seisan toghether at home or Naihaichi, Fukyu, Chinto and Seisan. In class (Shorin Ryu), we usually do the whole set (the Shorin Ryu set).

    Practice regularly? I haven't been able to do the Iaido kata since I injured my knee a year ago (the four are done on your knees). Also, I stopped doing Kusanku regularly for the same reason, and haven't been to class too often since then either (being injured isn't fun). I do the sai more often then nunchaku or bo as well, but haven't been doing them like I used to do either.
     
  4. Pkhamidar2com

    Pkhamidar2com Panda Member

    hmm i dont really like katas, i just find them... well i just cant seem to apply them to sparring well. It doesnt feel the same.

    But i still do them. Just for the sake of doing it. Because i was told to do it, it might work, i might just be ignorant so i do it just incase. But only in lessons.

    I currently only know 3. So not alot. It will probably get harder as i go along but i dont really care. As long as i get better at sparring i dont care haha.
     
  5. Katas were not designed for sparring, except some Ashihara & Enshin ones. :)


    Osu!
     
  6. Pkhamidar2com

    Pkhamidar2com Panda Member

    Wait, then why learn them?
     
  7. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    NOT AGAIN!

    search the karate forum for a thread called "why kata?", started by yuen, if memory serves.

    in fact, i suggest that someone sticky that thread.
     
  8. Pkhamidar2com

    Pkhamidar2com Panda Member

    Lol i only been here for a few weeks if not a month... so iw ould know. but thanks for the hint :)

    will read.

    edit:

    well just read some of the links

    i still dont really find them useful. I would rather use the time i do Katas, to just shadow box because its more productive. But yeah im forced to do em anyways once a week.
     
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2011
  9. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    no worries, it's just a sensitive subject that gets brought up ALL the time ¬_¬

    we've basically been answering that question on average once per year since i joined, i think
     
  10. Simon

    Simon Administrator Admin Supporter MAP 2017 Koyo Award

  11. Mike Flanagan

    Mike Flanagan Valued Member

    Those that I practice regularly:

    3 modern kata (although admittedly one of those is essentially all 5 Pinan condensed into one) and 9 classical kata:
    Naihanchi I & II
    Seisan
    Passai Sho & Dai
    Rohai
    Chinto
    Useishi
    Kusanku

    How often I practice them varies according to whatever my current schedule is, but typically I go through the whole set 3 times a week. Naihanchi I probably do most days just as and when I can sneak it in.

    I think when you're learning a kata, you should be doing it daily at least for the first few months.

    Mike
     
  12. Blade96

    Blade96 shotokan karateka

    I'm the baby :) i know the fewest katas hehehe.

    heian shodan heian nidan and heian sandan and starting to study heian yondan

    I don't practice them regularly maybe once a week i will do them

    i dont have much incentive to practice outside class.
     
  13. nekoashi

    nekoashi Valued Member

    Why? I love to work kata outside of the dojo. I will break out katas on the beach in the summer time or in the woods on a hike. Of course, I also will break out a kata in the living room.
     
  14. melbgoju

    melbgoju Valued Member

    I too am intrigued. What is the lack of incentive due to (or, conversely, what incentives do you have for what you do practise outside of class)?

    BTW, I'm not having a go. I find it genuinely interesting why people focus on what they do in their training. Me for instance, I focus on kata a lot in solo practise because the system I train in has a major emphasis on paired application of the kata, so solo training in the kata is my way of practicing these techniques without a partner. I want to be better able to do these techniques etc..., so that is my incentive to do the kata frequently and well.
     
  15. nekoashi

    nekoashi Valued Member

    I am just curious too. I love the fact that kata makes martial arts training completely portable.
     
  16. melbgoju

    melbgoju Valued Member

    Yep, it was one of the reasons I went back to karate after some years and other martial arts away. Kata provides me with a scaffold to hang my training on. I really struggled trying to practice aikido alone in any meaningful way.
     
  17. Ives

    Ives Mokuteki o motte hajimeru

    I know about 10:
    3 Kihongata, Ten-i, Chi-i, Jin-i, Naifanchi, Wankan, Wangshu and Koshokun Sho. Next to these kata also (kihon-)gyogi, which are like small kata on their own.

    I practice all of the above. The latter two I started learning quite recently so I'm not proficient in them.

    Which leaves the 8 to practice rather regularly. Not during every dojotraining though.

    This leaves 4 kata to be introduced to: Koshokun Dai, Passai Sho, Passai Dai and Sansai.
     
  18. Llamageddon

    Llamageddon MAP's weird cousin Supporter

    I know 18 Katas at the moment.

    I practice them all regularly as I need them all for my second Dan (with the exception of Bassai Sho, which is an elective kata at this stage, but I practice it anyway)

    I should add that I seem to be quite lucky in that once I've got a kata down, I never seem to forget it in its entirety. I will obviously forget bits, but it doesn't take long to get them back if I make an effort.
     
  19. Wastelander

    Wastelander Valued Member

    Empty hand kata? I know 22, currently, and am learning another although I also learned two Nekobudo kata from Kajukenbo, a Gekisai variant and Goju-Ryu Tensho at one point and have forgotten them.

    Wansu, Anaku, Naihanchi Sho, Sanchin, Empi Sho and Seiunchin from Shuri-Ryu. Fukyu no Kata, Kihon 1-3, Naihanchi 1-3, Pinan 1-5, Passai Sho, Passai Dai, Chinto, Kusanku Sho and I'm in the process of learning Kusanku Dai.

    In class I usually practice 5 to 8 kata (usually all three Naihanchi plus another two or three or all five Pinan plus another two or three). On my own I typically try to run through all of them.

    I have class twice a week and help teach in a couple classes a week, and I probably run through all my kata on my own once every week (not including the random times where I just run through a kata while I'm bored).
     
  20. OSu,


    3 x Taikyoku + 3 in ura
    3 Sokugi Taikyoku + 3 in ura
    5 Pinan (I knew the ura form for 1 & 2, but I don't practice them)
    Yantsu
    Tsuki No
    Gekkisai Dai
    Gekkisai Sho
    Saiha
    Sanchin
    Tensho

    That's 24; I practice them all.

    I am learning Seienchin & Seipai

    I would like to learn the tekki katas, but few kyokushin dojos practice them; kanku dai, sushiho, Garyu.

    I learned the IOGKF GoJuRyu Gekkisai Dai, but I must have forgotten it now.


    OSu!
     

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