Caveat: I do not know Mr. Trahan or any of the other sources I use to write but I do respect what they do, what they say and what they teach. It has provided me many, many changes that years ago just didn’t exist.
Caveat: This post is mine and mine alone. I the author of this post 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. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)
I don’t know this man but I am informed he was a really good guy. When I heard he had passed I found his blog site to read what he had to say and the blog site is called, “WeaselCraft,” It is an applied self defense silat and stuff place. I find his thoughts informative, interesting and relevant to me and my martial art.
Today, I read an article he wrote on what we in karate call kata but his term from the silat community is “Jurus.” I changed the term he used to kata below to make it clear from a karate kata standpoint simply because what he wrote makes perfect sense as to the purpose of jurus or kata. Please take a moment to review his quotes below then visit “weaselcraft” to read his stuff, in my view it is really, really good.
From my personal view this set of quotes and his blog post address the constant flame war that exists about the usefulness of kata and can also apply to the other flame wars about the usefulness of karate, in self-defense but especially in the UFC and MMA competitive communities. It is clear to me that an assumption is made that kata and karate techniques are meant to be directly applicable to fighting and self-defense but that is simply not true.
In my earlier days I always thought and tried hard to make the technique as it is practiced in basics and kata “work” when fighting or sparring, etc. It never truly did work as practiced. Those were the days before someone hit me in the head and told me what Mr. Trahan says below, it is more about principles and making them work and karate with its kata provide us the tools to get there. Caveat: the how one practices and trains is just as important because without the complete training package you won’t get there.
Jurus/Kata are Valid Because:
“You have to have a way to get your body used to moving in certain ways, and remaining in balance, and be able to control your center, and generate power. They also allow you to feel where you may be screwing up a technique or movement.”
“No MA teacher worth his salt expects the movements to be used in the same context, or order that they are found in the kata, it is a training tool, especially when paired with the practice of lower body meta-movements.”
“Use kata’s to teach alignment of your body, the full range of effective motion you are capable of using in a given movement, and logical movement chains. Logical movement chains are no more than the concept of what movements will logically follow the previous one.”
“Provide a way for you to practice the movement by yourself, when you have no training partners.”
“Being able to perform random kata combinations of different kata, on verbal command, It teaches you to respond to different challenges and commands. Instead of just concentrating on performing juru 1, I now have to perform it, and listen for the command to switch to the second half of juru 3. This also avoids becoming locked into by rote performance of the kata. kata also become the basis where we derive all the movements for drills, bunkai (application), and where the fighting technique comes from.”
“Not only do kata teach the techniques, but they teach the timing, distance, structure, and base required to use them effectively.”
“When you have limited time to teach and train, due to life, you don't waste time on needless formality, and strict adherence to perfect, carbon copy form. You teach the form, and let the student make it his/her own.”
“They also teach deception, decoying, weapons usage, and a lot more, but that is something better experienced than read about.”
“Kata teach you how to move, and be flexible. And the rest is up to you.”
I have made a lot of discoveries about myself and my practice because of people like Mr. Trahan, Marc MacYoung, Rory Miller, Lawrence A. Kane and numerous others through their efforts in books, blogs, and video’s (I have NOT met or trained with any of these fine martial gentlemen). It would be worth the effort and expense to get their stuff and study it with a goal of implementation into your teaching, training and application of martial arts be it for competitions or self-defense.
Bibliography:
Trahan, Terry. “Jurus, as I Understand Them.” Weaselcraft Blog Sunday, February 19, 2006.
Mr. Trahan’s bio at the Kapatiran Suntukan Martial Arts website (Biography)
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