Targeting, Timing and Power Generation in Kata

Caveat: This post is mine and mine alone. I the author of this blog assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this post.

Kata, when practiced solo, are “Static Drills with Repetitive Actions.” The original Okinawan Ti kata were created by experienced combatants who through experience achieved a level of ability that they felt a need to transmit them via kata. There are, as always, benefits and obstacles in this type of training. Regardless of what some might say about kata practice, kata are tools and are good ones but they also have certain limitations that are the flaws in the kata drills.

First, solo kata don not require any safety changes so they tend to allow for power generation and learning proper body mechanics or rather the implementation of principles, i.e., physiokinetics such as structure, posture and proper breathing, etc. What is often not taught, simply because generations of instructors without actual combat or violence experience either forget or change or lose the original bunkai tend to not teach this part, the part where one identifies the flaws in the kata. 

When performing kata you are missing the ability to target, to target on a moving, breathing and bent on doing you extreme damage adversary who has not rules and does not care for anyone’s safety but his or her own. Even when doing two man kata drills, this one has other flaws in addition to solo kata flaws, often the drills try to adhere to the positioning and movement of that kata, i.e. the movement of the adversary is more stationary leaving out the moving adversary so that you have to deal with a constantly changing situation and moment. 

Solo kata practice is also missing both the feeling of impact both from the adversary and to the adversary while both are moving in a unpredictable pattern, i.e., what Mr. Miller called “the absence of chaos.” Even the two person kata practice/drills are predictable as to the movement of an adversary because it is taught that the adversary must move around to allow the practitioner to remain within the kata movement and enbusen (the line movement of that kata). 

Another flaw often missed in solo or two person kata practice is distancing, i.e., real life attacks are fast, furious and very, very close. The attacker is often going to attack so that you are surprised, hit with fear, hit with the adrenal flood, stuck in the OO bounce and receiving great damage and pain while the kata two person practice assumes incorrectly that one must assume a polite dueling distance. Great for sport competitions but not so good for self-defense in violent conflicts. 

Finally, but not all inclusive, is imaginings. Without adherence to the original, combative, teachings of those early experienced fighters and with the changes that inexperienced instructors tend to incorporate are based solely on what they perceive from no experience in violence and a lot of exposure to movies and television perceptions of violence and conflicts. In other words what they imagine violence and combat and fighting are like vs. realty based experience in actual fighting and self-defense. 

What this amounts to is what Rory Miller provides, “Teach the flaws along side the beneficial applications in drills (in kata’s too).” I would add that use of kata being a product of nature as in having a yin side and a yang side, i.e., a beneficial and non-beneficial. In other words benefits with known flaws. As Rory Mille states somewhat that the flaw in martial arts is knowing and teaching to reality AND the “Flaws. (my words, not Mr. Miller’s)”

Now, add in that there are flaws in cooperative drills as well. I wanted to convey my thoughts here in regard to the use of kata/drils but there is a lot more I feel necessary to all martial artists who want or profess to teach self-defense. Here again, to get the fuller picture on drills and thier use, etc., I can only recommend you read Rory Miller’s book, Meditations on Violence. 

Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:

Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
Goleman, Daniel. "Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition [Kindle Edition]." Bantam. January 11, 2012.
Miller, Rory. "ConCom: Conflict Communications A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication." Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2014. 
Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012
Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.
Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995
Morris, Desmond. “Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior.” Harry N. Abrams. April 1979.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997.
Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000 and more … see blog bibliography.

My Blog Bibliography

Cornered Cat (Scratching Post): http://www.corneredcat.com/scratching-post/
Kodokan Boston: http://kodokanboston.org
Mario McKenna (Kowakan): http://www.kowakan.com
Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com





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