OPINION: Kata is Karate, Part II

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

Why do we karate-ka compare kata forms? How many postings, video’s and seminars have you experienced and viewed that try to compare kata of one style to your style and for what purpose? Mostly, experts tell us, it is to show similarities and differences between styles and practices or so we can speculate and assume, right? 

One karate luminary likes to demonstrate differences such as seisan kata of Isshinryu as compared to Shorinji-ryu for instance. Yet, when said and done no one discusses in any great detail why they did it except as assumed in the last paragraph as a way to observe and see differences yet similarities. 

Where I diverge is styles and differences and similarities don’t really matter except in some as yet to be understood way because in karate the applications or methodologies applied in a violent situation are the only thing that matter, the principles involved that make any technique work is what matters and those don’t require comparison because regardless of the style of kata differences/similarities principles don’t change like human skeletal structure, alignment, balance and so on. This goes for other principles such as there are only a few ways the body works like ball joints vs. hinged joints, they move specific ways and how you make use of that drives the methods applied regardless of specific techniques taught and applied, etc. 

Kata are merely recordings used to stimulate or trigger experienced knowledge so that a person of inexperience can readily see and apply certain methods of a principled nature as a foundation so when they are exposed to violence and aggressions for the first time their concepts are available upon triggering so they have something, from kata created by combat, if you will, experienced sensei, senpai, etc., right? This is how military teach recruits and why experienced NCO’s are paired up with “boots” in the hopes they survive their first five or six encounters to build their own new experience oriented concepts thus making them the leaders of boots to men, right? 

So, except for, as you already probably know, such comparisons are fun and interesting; they provide teaching material that can be tested for economic ranking needs and the fill in time that would often be filled with more boring repetitive practices and trainings and they trigger in folks that drive and need for instant gratifying wants leaving what they NEED out. 


Again, I bring up a subject that is often rejected due to dissonance driven adherence to beliefs because it will become apparent to many when they actually encounter a fully qualified teaching that will be there for self-protective objectives rather than succumb to compliance influence principles that SELL one stop shopping dojo that provides all your needs in one place for this amount to achieve black belt in this short fast period of time…

Bibliography (Click the link)

No comments:

Post a Comment