Wide stances and ending your forms on the same spot

[Earl Weiss]

really people practise long jump at the ma class, ? suppose ithe useful if your late for the ferry

Just to be clear the jumping for height and distance competitions I referred to also required kicking and breaking a target.

 

[Earl Weiss]

try Google, , why would it be news worthy when 8t happens every other week .

All I got was a bunch of stuff like this involving a player formerly of the home tam now playing for the visitors. Watch: Eden Hazard joins in with Everton fans booing Ross Barkley - Planet Football

 

[punisher73]

Ok, back to the original topic. The Japanese have a concept called "embusen". It kind of loosely translates to "line of path of travel" as it applies to kata. The Japaense were very much into aesthetics and modified the kata to start and end on the same point to achieve that. Originally, the kata did not do this and was not emphasized as much in earlier Okinawan karate. The one traditional kata that breaks this rule and could not be altered is Naihanchi do to its lateral movement. An extreme example of trying to achieve this is the Shotokan kata Chinte, there are 3 hops added to the end of the kata so it ends on the same spot that it started on. There are MANY explanations for the purpose(s) of these hops, but they were not there originally and were added in for performance.

If you are talking about funcionality, then "embusen" as the path of travel is importnant. Think of driving down the highway, your lane is your "embusen" and straying outside of that line/path of travel can be deadly. Same with the kata, those lines and angles are there for a reason to give you the best entry and angle with your attacker to perform your technique while keeping you safe. Focus on those lines in your study.

If you style emphasizes it for performance, then understand how to adapt your stances and movement to achieve this. If your style does not emphasize this, then don't worry about your kata starting and stopping on the same spot.