I am currently researching kata and its relation to training. I used to hold the belief that training kata grew in popularity in karate over time, especially after it was open to the public. This belief was mainly due to the development of the Pinan/Heian and Taikyoku kata and their introduction as basic kata (to the public) to aid in learning the intermediate level kata. After more research, I am now of the belief that the opposite is actually true for the most part. It appears more believable that kata was originally the main focus of traditional Okinawan karate or te, and that the practice of kata actually was pushed more to the background as time progressed and karate spread. Opposing this, more sports aspects began to replace the kata practice, the strongest indication is the Japanese desire to turn karate into a sport very much like judo. The result was that less time was spent on training kata and bunkai transformed into isolated technique training and drills became more of a mainstream. Kumite was redirected to a low contact (sport) version which came to reflect application of drilled material rather than bunkai. So my question is: what is the defining aspect of the style(s) you currently train? How much do you focus on kata, bunkai, kumite, drilling, self-defense (as an isolated study), etc. What makes your style "yours" rather than simply another style with a different name? What is the essense of what you train?
We focus first on drills and sparring and lots of endurance training, although kata/bunkai is practised every other class. I myself hate katas, practise them only during test seasons Self sefense training is not taken as a big emphasis as much as competetions though. |Cain|
In my style , we have a lot of emphasis on kata, with probably a third of our time spent on it. In grading, each kata learnt up to that point is performed, rather than a selection. Also, bunkai techniques from each must be demonstrated. We also have a strong emphasis on self defense, and do a variety of grab and choke escapes as well as groundwork. The conditioning and sparring apects are not covered to any great extent. We do regular cardio sessions, and periodic stretching sessions(extra to the standard warmup). Sparring is normally carried out against an instructor, in full protective gear and involves the whole range of our technique, often ending up in groundwork and going to submission. To sum it up, our style is quite traditional with short stances and more emphasis on technique than physical strength.
(Uechi Kara-te) We practce a fair ammount of each subject. Kata is very big in our style though. We tend to focuse on our best attributes too. If you are big and strong you develop that or if you are short and tiny you develop speed and what not (fighting/defence uses). Otherwise you try to develop everything in Bunkai Kata and Kumite.
Sasori Te Jutsu is in the traditions of Shorin Ryu and Shuri Te. The katas used are the mostly the same although some kata come from the Tomari Te lineage. We spend Better than 3/4 of our time studying kata and their bunkai as well as the self defense applications of the kata techniques. The other 1/4 is spent studying the kyusho jitsu and tuite techniques of the kata and applying them in different scenarios from self defense to partner training drills to free style contact sparring at advanced ranks. IT is very similar to Seiyu Taika Oyata's style of Ryu Te Kempo but it is not affiliated with them.
Actually, I don't think you could actually separate kata out of any of our activities as kata is the basis for all other training.
SASORI_TE - Again I do not need to type , just add this to your signature " KEMPOCOS SAYS ME TOO. " . I see we hang around some of the same boards. I could cut and paste your answer and it would fit exept for the style name.
Noodle, you might want to check out a back issue of "The Journal of Asian Martial Arts" (VOLUME 11 ~ NUMBER 4 ~ 2002), there's a great article that gets into the evolution of Kata called: "The lost secrets of Okinawan Goju-ryu: What the kata shows." I think it would be right up your alley. - Matt
So my question is: what is the defining aspect of the style(s) you currently train? How much do you focus on kata, bunkai, kumite, drilling, self-defense (as an isolated study), etc. What makes your style "yours" rather than simply another style with a different name? What is the essense of what you train? Style is defined by kata. The style becomes a style by virtue of the fighting principles found in the kata. Styles that claim to have no kata are styles that have evolved away from their origins or they have been developed with out attention to the kata. I think this poster is correct in the observation that the practice of kata was at the on set of Karate, but has diminished in favour of kumite in a lot of schools. I think this is because of certain schools willingness to bow to market pressure. If the paying student does not want to practice the "boring" katas then the teacher with bills to pay needs to make the style more apealing to keep students from leaving. Schools that are not motivated by the dollar as in the past can afford to stick closer to the "art" of the style, and if students choose not to particpate that's their choice. To further answer your question, in my dojo we try to spend equal time on all aspects of our martial art. Kata, sparring, self-defense, budo, fitness, meditation. I personaly try to work kata every day as well as fitness and meditation. In class or with a partner we work on fighting skills including sparing and self-defense. I think a well balanced approach to the study of any martial art is the way to go. All sparring is no good just like only studying kata is no good.
Thanks for the article reference! As far as modern organizations that have little or limited kata training I try not to be too critical of them. Many schools simply train sparring. As long as that is what they present themselves as, or as long as they are straightforward to prospective students, then I can respect them. They are simply answering a market need. On the other hand I would hesitate to consider them a "traditional" karate organization (whatever that means). Those types of organizations should simply acknowledge that they have moved away from karate but are still using the name because perhaps much of what they do is based on its kata. I try to keep some openmindedness because, face it, people have to feed their families. As long as they present themselves in an honorable manner then I can respect what they do, even though I may not to follow their training patterns. I would agree with the last post as long as we modify the statement to be "(KARATE) style is defined by kata". Sparring styles (it is still valid to call them a style, just not a karate style), are defined by other things. So much of my question is aimed especially at those organizations that have de-emphasized or eliminated kata. My question for them is what has replaced kata as being the definition of your style? Again I do agree that traditional (kata focused) karate is defined by its kata. For those organizations I would be interested in what kata do they consider the key kata of the group they train? I have been finding quite a bit of similarity between styles in what modern karateka consider their key kata.
So my question is: what is the defining aspect of the style(s) you currently train? How much do you focus on kata, bunkai, kumite, drilling, self-defense (as an isolated study), etc. What makes your style "yours" rather than simply another style with a different name? What is the essense of what you train? Since I study USA GOJU the focus is on the development of the soft and the hard elements that surround us. Each kata and each movement within each kata ultimatley will possess each of the elements. That is the quest and the reason to practice over and over again .There is always something to perfect and to explore. We study the impact of the elements of nature in our movement and the inherent hard and soft break down which excists within each of those particular elements. Water, Wind, Earth and Fire. Furthermore, essential to USA GOJU is the teaching that it is an internal system which we are learning. The study of tenshoa and sanchin to name only 2 katas that exemplify this aspect. The essense of what I train is realism. We participate in competition for fun , but it is emphasized that tournements are not real (in the life and death sense of things) but only a means to practice. As I mentioned in my earlier post the focus of our style is balance between all aspects of the martial arts. I'm sure that many styles live by a credo. Here is our Karate virtues.. 1 - We are proud to be in Karate 2 - We shall always practice and study 3 - We shall be quick to seize opportunity 4 - We shall always practice patience 5 - We shall keep the fighting spirit 6 - We shall block soft and hit hard 7 - We shall believe nothing is impossible 8 - We shall always discard the bad 9 - We shall always keep the good 10 - We shall be loyal to ourselves, karate and our country
