importance of kata?

[exile]

This is only anecdotal, I was told it years ago but it ties in with the secret pact that Exile was talking about, I have found no basis for it though perhaps other can. I was told that at the end of the last war when Japan was occupied by the Allies many Allied soldiers, Americans in particular became interested in karate. The Japanese instructors made a point of teaching them as little as they could and what they did teach was suitable for, in their eyes, only children. This is why we punch when doing Junzuki with the palm facing down when it should be palm facing to the side, a more lethal punch. It's also why we do kata without knowing why! It seems the Japanese instructors just told the Western students that Japanese students don't question the instructors and all would be revealed at some mysterious future when the student was 'ready' for the magical techniques. Of course with the Western students that time never came but they had gained a fair knowledge and this was what they took back to the States. I'm not so sure about the UK as I believe there were few British troops in Japan at the time.
As I said, I have no basis for proving if this could be true but in light of Exiles post it sounds very feasible.

This is very interesting, Tez, because it ties in with something that Rob Redmond has in one of his essays at his 24FightingChickens Shotokan web site (very heartily recommended, btw!) Redmond isn't professional MA historian, the way Dakin Burdick, Stanley Henning and Harry Cook are, but he's very well informed on Shotokan history and has spent a good deal of time in Japan observing the local MA culture there. What he writes in that essay—can't remember off the top of my head which one it is now, I think it's the one of Funakoshi—is that at the end of the war, karate was one of the prospective targets on the American's list of things to suppress as part of their demilitarization program for Japan. Funakoshi was well aware of this and through his senior students and his own contacts with US military personel, initiated a kind of charm offensive which had the goal of depicting karate as an autere tool for perfecting character in the service of peace—this from a man, as Redmond notes, stated in one of his books (Tote Jutsu) that `War is a method which God gave humans to organize the world'. Now clearly, it wouldn't do any good for this (ultimately successful) effort to save karate from the chopping block to refuse to teach American military personel who wanted to learn karate; that contact with such personel would have been a powerful inducement to allow karate to continue to be taught in Japan. On the other hand, given the the considerable ongoing hostility towards the American occupiers—agents, after all, of a power which had humbled the shame/honor-based `mother country'—it also seems very unlikely that the Japanese would be interested in giving away any more than was absolutely necessary to the Americans, just as the Okinawans were apparently determined to give nothing away to the Japanese. At each stage of the game, the knowledge, technical content and depth of application get progressively more diluted...

Exile I think you will enjoy that book, it's by far my favourite martial arts book. I read it regularly as it takes a long while for me to take in what he writes, especially the equations! Imagine them in kata! He can also show you far better than I Wado Ryu.

I'm looking forward to it very much, Tez—thanks again for the tip!

 

[chinto]

I dont think I buy that they had a secret pact not to teach GI's properly. I do think that some cultural assumptions may have coused some things to be missunderstood, and then again some instructors, especialy in japan proper may have withheld what they thought they could. On Okinawa at least it is my understanding that this was not the case. meany were tought to use at a highter rank the 45 degree fist ( a more effecent and effective placement of the fist rather then the flat 90 degree one.) but the flat fist was tought to Okinawans initialy to get the rotation down at the end of the strike. meany GIs did not really pay a lot of attention to some of the details I think. and well there were cultural assumptions and the fact that most GI's did not speak either japanese or hogan... so some things were lost in translation as well i think. but there are karateka who have been tought properly and brought that back to the US with them. others didnt pay attention to detail or perhaps did not have an attitude that lent its self to the instructor teaching some of the more advanced and effective stuff. I Know some of the same things have been said about some of the TKD people who trained in Korea in the 1960's... I guess I just do not buy conspericy theirys .. about MA or about the JFK assasination.. achoms Razer .. simplest strait forward explinataion will usualy prove true, and extrodanery explinations requier extrodenary proof.

 

[Tez3]

I don't think it was a 'conspiracy' as such more human nature as anything else. Japan, a very proud country, had just been defeated by the Allies in quite a brutal fashion if you think of the atom bombs dropped and was then occupied by, to them, foreign invaders. In that situation I think it's natural not to co-operate fully with the occupiers. I would think it was probably the same with many things not just martial arts which may have been secretive in the first place. I can imagine Geishas would have been the same and I think their function in society was grossly misunderstood.

Sometimes I think we place the martial arts masters of the past on pedastals and we leave human emotions out when trying to fathom out what went on.I suppose it's more glorious to think a move was changed for some lofty reason like a superior killing strike than think it was changed because the master had lumbago or had a row with his wife that morning and was grumpy!!!

 

[exile]

I guess I just do not buy conspericy theirys .. about MA or about the JFK assasination.. achoms Razer .. simplest strait forward explinataion will usualy prove true, and extrodanery explinations requier extrodenary proof.

You have to be more specific when you call something a `conspiracy theory'; for that description to constitute a strong claim about something, it has to refer to an elaborate scheme involving many people, whose complex coordinated actions were successfully concealed and never came to light. What's at issue, in the case of both the Okinawans who Master Kubota mentions as party to the secret pact, and the Japanese karateka during the immediate postwar era, was nothing like that, but much closer to what we might call a `gentleman's agreement'. There is nothing in the least `extraordinary' about a `gentleman's agreement'; if you have a few like-minded individuals who all happen to be acting as gatekeepers for membership in some group, or some specialized bodies of knowledge, there is nothing more natural and even expectable than that they will tend to act in tandem to effect a result consistent with their own values and agendas. The Okinawans, for example, deeply resented the racist Japanese attitudes towards them (manifest, for example, in the infamous 1903 `Academic Human Museum' incident in Osaka in which Okinawans were depicted as members of an inferior aboriginal race). The logic is well-explained by Higaki, who notes that

It is easy to imagine the ideological background in which, with respect to the exportation of Okinawan karate to the mainland, the Okinawans were anxious to actively progress toward assimilation into Japan in order to improve their social standing. At the same time, one can imagine that they felt some antipathy towards the Japanese who had dominated them... It is not curious in the least that there would have been a conscious effort toward `not teaching the essence of Okinawan karate to the mainland Japanese'.​

By the same token, Japanese karate instructors had a parallel incentive of keeping their American military clients happy without teaching them the advanced techniques that, after all, they withheld from all but a small number of Japanese students. Given that these attitudes would have been the default, it's hard to justify the description `extraordinary claim' for the idea of both of these `gentleman's agreement' situations.

I don't think it was a 'conspiracy' as such more human nature as anything else.

Yup, I agree. What I would have found bizarre is either the Okinawans or the Japanese going out of their way to reveal the deeper side of their combat arts to the respective dominating group they had to deal with...

 

[chinto]

You have to be more specific when you call something a `conspiracy theory'; for that description to constitute a strong claim about something, it has to refer to an elaborate scheme involving many people, whose complex coordinated actions were successfully concealed and never came to light. What's at issue, in the case of both the Okinawans who Master Kubota mentions as party to the secret pact, and the Japanese karateka during the immediate postwar era, was nothing like that, but much closer to what we might call a `gentleman's agreement'. There is nothing in the least `extraordinary' about a `gentleman's agreement'; if you have a few like-minded individuals who all happen to be acting as gatekeepers for membership in some group, or some specialized bodies of knowledge, there is nothing more natural and even expectable than that they will tend to act in tandem to effect a result consistent with their own values and agendas. The Okinawans, for example, deeply resented the racist Japanese attitudes towards them (manifest, for example, in the infamous 1903 `Academic Human Museum' incident in Osaka in which Okinawans were depicted as members of an inferior aboriginal race). The logic is well-explained by Higaki, who notes that

It is easy to imagine the ideological background in which, with respect to the exportation of Okinawan karate to the mainland, the Okinawans were anxious to actively progress toward assimilation into Japan in order to improve their social standing. At the same time, one can imagine that they felt some antipathy towards the Japanese who had dominated them... It is not curious in the least that there would have been a conscious effort toward `not teaching the essence of Okinawan karate to the mainland Japanese'.​

By the same token, Japanese karate instructors had a parallel incentive of keeping their American military clients happy without teaching them the advanced techniques that, after all, they withheld from all but a small number of Japanese students. Given that these attitudes would have been the default, it's hard to justify the description `extraordinary claim' for the idea of both of these `gentleman's agreement' situations.



Yup, I agree. What I would have found bizarre is either the Okinawans or the Japanese going out of their way to reveal the deeper side of their combat arts to the respective dominating group they had to deal with...

I think like any other student at first they would teach the basics and not any more.. over time they would teach more just as with any one else.
I do not thing the Okinawans have quite the same ethnic prejidecses that the japanese do.. Historicaly the Japanese are some of the most racist people and culture in the world.. the okinawans do not have quite the same history as the Japanese.

 

[seasoned]

I don't think it was a 'conspiracy' as such more human nature as anything else. Japan, a very proud country, had just been defeated by the Allies in quite a brutal fashion if you think of the atom bombs dropped and was then occupied by, to them, foreign invaders. In that situation I think it's natural not to co-operate fully with the occupiers. I would think it was probably the same with many things not just martial arts which may have been secretive in the first place. I can imagine Geishas would have been the same and I think their function in society was grossly misunderstood.

Sometimes I think we place the martial arts masters of the past on pedastals and we leave human emotions out when trying to fathom out what went on.I suppose it's more glorious to think a move was changed for some lofty reason like a superior killing strike than think it was changed because the master had lumbago or had a row with his wife that morning and was grumpy!!!

I would agree, maybe not a "conspiracy", but maybe a willingness with some Okinawans to hold back. Karate is considered a national treasure in Okinawa. Why would they just give it away? I will concede that there were some Americans that did earn the respect of some Okinawans and were given a glimps. " I like the lumbago thing"

 

[Ray B]

I have often wondered about the differences in Itosu no Passai and
Matsumura no Passai. I mean, there are 2 Passai within 2 generations.
Why? Then it hit me last night while talking to a Judoka. Seems he has
something called frozen shoulder. He cannot move his left arm much higher
than his head. Matsumura's Passai begins with Jodan age uke where
Itosu's starts with Chudan soto uke. Could it be that Itosu may have had
a shoulder injury at one point? Okinawan Te-gumi (Kumi-te) was known to
be alot like Jujutsu and left many practitioners with injuries. Itosu no
doubt, would have practiced this and may have injured himself.

Just my thoughts...

Today I practice the Karate that my teacher and his teacher learned.
I know it is the same because I have compared it to the Seito groups.
I will not change it because I am preserving history. I teach the kata
as is, but the ohyo must fit the person, so that can change from
person to person. Primary ohyo, (block, puch) is kept to keep the shape
of the kata, but Secondary ohyo varies because you cannot use the move
for a small man against a big man.

This does not mean kata cannot be changed. For those who are only
concerned with effectiveness, they should change it or even abandon it.
We have media that can document all of the moves they need. Kata is like
vebal history. At a time where writing was a skill of the rich and
drawing was not a luxury for many who had to work, kata was the
easiest way of documenting it.

Do we still need kata? I liken it to technology.
In the old days, we used to listen to LP's.
Today , CD's are the way to go. Still, there are some hardliners who
insist that the old LP's have a quality to them that is not replicated
on the CD's. CD's do not have the complete sound. They are like
a dashed line. From a distance it looks whole but as you get closer
you can see the spaces. Same with CD's. The complete sound is not
recorded. Instead what you hear is partial and your mind strings it
together. Same with Kata. Sure, you can document all of your moves on
DVD and review them in you leisure, if that's what you want. Kata creates
a bond between you and your teacher and to the past for that matter. It
will continue to give to you as applications are discovered. You may learn
a few apps from just one move. This you cannot get from DVD's of just
applications. Not better, just different.

Peace.

 

[exile]

Excellent post, Ray, with many valuable insights.

Matsumura's Passai begins with Jodan age uke where Itosu's starts with Chudan soto uke. Could it be that Itosu may have had a shoulder injury at one point? Okinawan Te-gumi (Kumi-te) was known to be alot like Jujutsu and left many practitioners with injuries. Itosu no
doubt, would have practiced this and may have injured himself.

This is one big side of the coin: a lot of people practice kata as though it were a magic incantation, where a slight mistake in the text of the charm (or even the intonation: remember Ron's trouble with `Wingardium Leviosa' in the first Harry Potter novel, where he got the stress wrong on `leviosa' and nothing happened?) Whereas we have a good deal of reason to believe that the kata were changed from master to master depending on factors such as height, build, or even the dimensions of the training hall. If we think of the kata as living records of combat technique, as they were clearly intended to be, then it wouldn't be surprising that a karateka with short legs and very long arms might well teach slightly different moves from one with the opposite skeletal situation.

Take Bill Wallace, for example. He only kicks from one side, because one of his legs isn't any good as an attacking weapon, due to an old injury, I believe. Suppose he were to create a kata. Would anyone be surprised if it sacrificed the typical pattern of symmetry in many kata to display only kicks to the one side, the side he's (super)strong in? Thinking of kata this way is an important step in demystifying them, so that their use as instructional tools is emphasized and the almost fetishistic link between them and some legendary heroic past is put in in its proper place (the trashbin, IMO).

Today I practice the Karate that my teacher and his teacher learned.
I know it is the same because I have compared it to the Seito groups.
I will not change it because I am preserving history. I teach the kata
as is, but the ohyo must fit the person, so that can change from
person to person. Primary ohyo, (block, puch) is kept to keep the shape
of the kata, but Secondary ohyo varies because you cannot use the move
for a small man against a big man.

Right on all counts, I believe.

This does not mean kata cannot be changed. For those who are only concerned with effectiveness, they should change it or even abandon it. We have media that can document all of the moves they need. Kata is like vebal history. At a time where writing was a skill of the rich and drawing was not a luxury for many who had to work, kata was the
easiest way of documenting it.

Do we still need kata? I liken it to technology.
In the old days, we used to listen to LP's.
Today , CD's are the way to go. Still, there are some hardliners who
insist that the old LP's have a quality to them that is not replicated
on the CD's. CD's do not have the complete sound. They are like
a dashed line. From a distance it looks whole but as you get closer
you can see the spaces. Same with CD's. The complete sound is not
recorded. Instead what you hear is partial and your mind strings it
together. Same with Kata. Sure, you can document all of your moves on
DVD and review them in you leisure, if that's what you want. Kata creates
a bond between you and your teacher and to the past for that matter. It
will continue to give to you as applications are discovered. You may learn
a few apps from just one move. This you cannot get from DVD's of just
applications. Not better, just different.

Yes, there's an emotional side to kata, and there's nothing wrong with that. My own interest in seeing kata preserved is a little different though. My feeling is, there is an enormous depth in the kata that have stood the test of time, that they haven't yielded all their riches to the combat-oriented MAist yet! They'll reward deep, long, patient study, and jettisoning them in favor of extended linked kihon drills (as people have suggested at one point or another on MT) is a mistake, I think, simply because if you dump them, you'll miss applications that you might othewise have learned from them if you still had them around in their original form. Just because one generation thinks it's extracted all the combat wisdom locke up in the kata doesn't mean they really have. Much better to preserve the original for periodic re-examination... who know what gems of self-defense wisdom a later, more sophisticated generation of MAist, pondering these same kata, may turn up?

 

[cstanley]

Kata is not to be thought of as a linear development, with the traditional kata being stepping stones to more "modern" times and techniques. They are more like koans, with concepts and lessons to teach that are self-contained. I do not believe they should be tampered with. Like exile said, keep the originals and play with (by) yourself if you think you are Itosu or Mabuni or somebody with really rare insight (not).

Remember, there were no left-handed samurai. You learned to use the sword right handed. If you were left-handed, too bad...you still learned to use it right handed. Likewise, kata does not change to suit the individual, otherwise, you get more of the nonsense we see all the time from wannabee "soke's." Structure, history, and discipline are a ***** aren't they?

 

[FieldDiscipline]

Well said Cstanley.

 

[exile]

Well said Cstanley.

Indeed!

 

[kidswarrior]

I remember in the TKD form Palgwe 4 a spear hand/180 degree turn/hammer fist combo which made no sense to me at the time. GM Beghtol was visiting on that day, so I asked. He demonstrates that bar, getting to the spear hand part, and says, "Grab my wrist as if you're going to try a throw or wrist lock." I do that. Then his spear hand shifts to a counter-grab of my own wrist, he does the twist, and I am arched painfully backward as he does the spin still locked onto my own wrist and next thing I know I'm looking at his descending hammer fist. Hey...it was a jujutsu-like move, and worked perfectly. All I needed was the right vector for that grip. I love that move now. It was only in the form, not anywhere else. GM Beghtol has an explanation for every move in every form. Nor does he insist that you accept his. Every student is free to make up their own explanation. That is how forms come alive in the mind of every student. Without these mental scenarios the forms are just a stupid shadow dance. Maybe that's the problem?

This is what transformed my view from one of just tolerating forms, to seeing them as central to my art and practice.

 

[kidswarrior]

I was introduced to Iain Abernethy's teachings early on and am going to one of his seminars hopefully next month.

I hate you, Tez. :lol:

 

[kidswarrior]

This is one big side of the coin: a lot of people practice kata as though it were a magic incantation, where a slight mistake in the text of the charm (or even the intonation: remember Ron's trouble with `Wingardium Leviosa' in the first Harry Potter novel, where he got the stress wrong on `leviosa' and nothing happened?) Whereas we have a good deal of reason to believe that the kata were changed from master to master depending on factors such as height, build, or even the dimensions of the training hall. If we think of the kata as living records of combat technique, as they were clearly intended to be, then it wouldn't be surprising that a karateka with short legs and very long arms might well teach slightly different moves from one with the opposite skeletal situation.

A good reality check, exile.

]Take Bill Wallace, for example. He only kicks from one side, because one of his legs isn't any good as an attacking weapon, due to an old injury, I believe. Suppose he were to create a kata. Would anyone be surprised if it sacrificed the typical pattern of symmetry in many kata to display only kicks to the one side, the side he's (super)strong in? Thinking of kata this way is an important step in demystifying them, so that their use as instructional tools is emphasized and the almost fetishistic link between them and some legendary heroic past is put in in its proper place (the trashbin, IMO).

Now a Bill Wallace kata, hmmm.... that creates some interesting scenarios.

 

[Victor Smith]

Hi Ray,

It would seem that the most consistent Okinawan Karate constants are 1: Instructors tell their students never to change the kata and 2: all of the kata continually keep changing.

In 1977 a book was published with 15 different versions of Patsai (including Funakoshi's Shotokan version), and it is by no means incomplete.

Still there is a common core that remains, the embusen or pattern. While the technique sequences flow from instructor to instructor, the shape of the form on the floor remains essentially unchanged.

I believe a lot of this happened before karate became a system of study, and things were directed to what was necessary to develop the student's karate. There was no time binding mechanism (books, movies) in place and all anyone had to rely on was their own practice and memory.

Change might be because of physical differences, becuase of different applictation potential being explored, because of memory loss,and other reasons. Yet another factor was incomplete training of foreign students who didn't spend decades working on the kata under their instructor, so as they continue training other changes occur, such as different power generation in techniques, etc.

Lots to explore, but without kata it isn't karate.

 

[Ray B]

Lots to explore, but without kata it isn't karate.

I am with you Victor. You won't find an argument here.

Just to clarify, my statements were directed towards those who have
no interest in what you and I would term as Karate. These are the
nay sayers. Really, to do battle, you do not need kata. Look at the
Special Forces of just about any nation. I don't have any experience
here but, I am pretty sure they don't do kata. I believe the Navy Seals
are a pretty dangerous lot. They have modern media to document
thier syllabus. For those of us who are in it for other reasons, Karate
and Kata fit the bill.

I am old. I don't fight anymore. I stay in it because I fell in love with the
tradition. I have a panic button on my home and business alarm. The
police will show up with in minutes. I know, I have accidently hit it,
TWICE. I keep my pistol near my bed and a Kukkari knife next to my pillow.
I don't engage in activities that expose me to physical threats.
My karate is for my amusement and the off chance that something might
happen.

Just my opinion...

 

[Victor Smith]

Ray,

Perhaps its just a matter of perception. The recent show Human Weapon on the history channel showed MA practices of the Phillipean military with their wepons, of the Israel self defense forces and the USMC.

They all practice short sequences over and over, and for all intents and purposes those are kata. It's just their missions, in today's world, don't primarily focus on hand to hand combat.

Kata (Okinawan) while a movement warehouse (that can be mined for application potential and application relization) are not primarily a tool for expresss fighting, rather follow the Chinese priciple of segegments of movement to increase one's energy potential.

Then the kata application studies are to learn how to merge the energy developed with the applications.

Any kata sequence can be seen in multiple ways. Nobody has to pursue even a fraction of those potentials for effective useage, but a lifetime is not enough to get into the full potential of kata. It's much more than just what you 'need', rather it provides continuing challenges to keep your training fresh.

Yes the 'jonny come latelies' trying to make their current reputation start to discount kata, but there is no question practice makes any movement more effecient. it's just how you want to scope things.

IMO what you see today is really very old, arts have been dissing other arts practices for eternity. In the 70's it was boxing dissing karate, then wrestling, etc. Absolutely nothing new and it gets booring seeing it time and time again.

I'm with you, I'm stretching out age wise too.

But I just keep a book by my bed, if anyone breaking in is incompetent enough to let me get my hands on it, I can do enough with it to make things interesting. Sure I have other things around the house but I'm not going to mention them, something to be said for secrecy after all.

 

[Ray B]

Victor,
I didn't know about the sequences in Special Forces and yes,
I agree with you, they are a form of kata. I think the key here is
that they also pair it with live training (yakusoku kumite), just
as karate was ment to do.

I have only cracked the seal on my kata. I have a lifetime
of learning ahead of me. This does not mean I do not know
how to read bunkai or do ohyo. I may be bad at it, but I
feel comfortable with what I know.

Here's to getting to the bottom of that bottle and eating the worm of knowlege.
May it be a good long run...:cheers:

 

[cstanley]

The "short sequences" of military self defense/combat sets are not kata in the traditional understanding of karate kata. Maybe they are kata-ettes. The purpose is not really the same, and the long history of the traditional kata with their associated oral tradition, varying streams of bunkai, and commonality across the traditional ryu give them a "canonicity" and depth that goes far beyond those little fighting ditties you see.

There is a uniqueness to the traditional kata that is a treasure for those with eyes to see. The historical period, culture, and people that created them cannot be reproduced. Neuro-scientists tell us that certain cultural and racial traditions and creations may actually be based upon a difference in neuronal structure and brain "wiring." If that is true, the traditional kata were born out of the very cellular structure of the originators. That is why most of what you see after Mabuni and Myagi just doesn't look the same...it doesn't have the ring of authenticity, especially the stuff Western wannabee's come up with. Some things are just unique. Rather than try to bend them to our modern Western understanding or attempt to make up something better, why not just practice the damned things for what they are.

 

[exile]

...why not just practice the damned things for what they are.

I think this is in a way the soundest advice, though I have to make my own agenda clear, because it's not one most people will share, I suspect. But to me, one of the great appeals of kata is precisely the fact that they do not yield their secrets readily, that you have to work to understand the combat strategies and tactics they encode—that's what bunkai is for!—and that your reward is not a single, take-it-or-leave-it answer, but a whole palette of possible applications. Take (yet again) the Pinan kata. Yes, they've been done to death—but at the same time, I get the sense that we're just starting to recover some of the very deep thinking that went into them. I have, sitting on my desk, four separate `volumes' containing bunkai for the Pinan set: three books and one DVD. The books are by Keiji Tomiyama (Pinan Kata Karate), Ashley Croft (Shotokan Karate: Unravelling the Kata), Gennoke Higaki (Hidden Karate: the True Bunkai for the Heian Katas and Naihanchi), and then there's Iain Abernethy's DVD Bunkai Jutsu: Practical Kata Applications, Volume1). All four volumes present interesting and often persuasive accounts of the optimal oyo for the Pinan/Heians... and they're all different, at times very markedly so. I'm not a relativist in this domain; I don't think any given bunkai result is as good as any other; but there's at least a year's worth of serious research to be done in comparing just these four proposed bunkai sets and testing them out experimentally, under seriously realistic conditions (which is the only way we're going to get any useful assessment of how they stack up against each other, IMO). And there are many very experienced karateka and Tang Soo Doists on MT who probably have still different stories on how the Pinan/Heian/Pyung Ahns are best interpreted for realistic combat use.

To me, this proliferation of different possibilities, and the challenge of evaluating them against each other, is one of the great things about kata, and at the same time is a sign of something that I think is both characteristic of them and a source of frustration to many MAists (at least some of whom, I suspect, are the ones who write public hate mail to them, with OPs that begin `Why does anyone bother with kata? They're totally useless!!!!', etc.) The fact is, kata have depth. They keep their own counsel, so to speak, and you have to go to them, learn them and think hard about just what it is you're doing when you perform them, if you want to derive any benefit from them. They reward sustained study, and unlike an engineering textbook which has the answers to selected problems in the back, you aren't guaranteed anything that you don't test out for yourself. This is why you have the `fourth stage' of Abernethy's bunkai jutsu method, widely adopted in the British Combat Association: the `all-in' close-quarter combat use of the methods encoded in the kata against non-complaint attackers simulating, to the best of their ability, violent street thugs. You have to take responsibility for the real-time evaluation of the possibilities that the kata lay out for you.

I happen to like formal systems where there's a systematic relationship been structure and interpretation: the way complex macromolecular chains like RNA get translated into protein assemblies that build up into tissue, or the way natural language syntactic structures systematically map into truth conditions expressible in one or another version of higher-order logic (corresponding to the fact that a given natural language sentence has a particular range of meanings, and only those). These systems too hide their interpretation, and you have to crack their code to find the solution. That's why I mentioned my agenda earlier. I think kata are the same kind of entity: complex formal objects that are related to a set of interpretations by certain rules (in the case of kata, usually included under the rubric kaisai no genri) that you have to discover for yourself, if you weren't given the `skeleton key' by the original masters. And some of the results of this interpretation process are probably more combat-effective than others, and it's up to you to work out which those are. Kata are not easy—that's a lot of what I think is so great about them....