I believe Gm. Al and myself are on the same page, Jesse also. I was always told that as long as the movement in the form has a legitimate or practical meaning (application) that you understand and it's not put in there just for show, it's valid.
Hand Sword (Mike), no, I didn't see him being argumentive or 'stirring the pot' as we say at all. He brought up a good point for discussion that I totally agree with.
Stickarts makes a good point in that some use this 'secret stuff' for commerical means, as a marketing ploy. I totally agree with that also.
We must remember, the Hawaiian derived Kenpo/Kempo arts were all technique based, not form based like traditional Japanese/Okinawan/Chinese arts. Mitose passed on one form that everyone can agree on and that was Naihanchi. Although we have seen video that Prof. Bishop has contributed, we now know that Prof. Chow practiced forms BUT, obviously, very limited as compared to his emphasis on the basics, hardcore training and of course, his system was also technique based with the the 12 lines or master key movements. Same with Ed Parker, started as technique based and added the forms later. He, however, created his forms to go hand and hand with his techniques.
Prof. Thomas Young (Mitose's first black belt) only had Naihanchi and then went to Edward 'Bobby' Lowe (formerly of Mitose's Kosho ryu and later went to Oyama's Kyukoshinkai) with permission of Mitose to add the 5 pinan series to Kosho ryu.
Kajukenbo created their forms also with I believe only one based on the Naihanchi.
John Leoning and Sonny Gascon added their own personal perspectives to the mix along with the drilling of strong basics and hardcore training methods.
George Pesare followed this type of training method and took four of these forms from the the Gascon school and created his own additions and also borrowed a few, the most popular being, Taikyoku Shodan (also known as #1 pinan in SKK & NCK), Statue of the Crane and Bassai. After Mr. Pesare created the 5th form, he did began putting his system's techniques into the kata, first example was #6, which was essentially the early KGS combinations interwoven along with some of SGM. Pesare's personal contributions.
Nick Cerio, took what George Pesare taught him and added and/or created more forms to the system that he taught to Fred Villari and Mr. Villari, in turn, added his from what Mr. Cerio taught him. Nick Cerio then went into an overhaul of his original teachings and by 1974 put his name to it, Nick Cerio's Kenpo. Note: Just a correction here, if I may, SKK & NCK's #1 pinan is not a Mas Oyama created form (neither are #3, 4 and 5 which Cerio also adopted-there's your relationship to Kyukoshinkai). These came from Oyama's study of Shotokan (he also studied Goju ryu, Chinese Kenpo - southern kung fu style, not the karate kenpo and Kodekan Judo). Mr. Cerio did created SKK's #2 pinan from a study of the Taikyoku shodan, nidan and sandan with some innovations he learned for his Chow/Chun connection. The Taikyyoku series was not created by Gichen Funakoshi but by his son, Gigo, as 'the student's first look at Shotokan'.
As Gm. Cunningham stated, it is important to understand the movements of your kata, it's tactical application. You must have thorough understanding of it's intention and practicality from a self defense aspect. Back when I started ('73), we hated froms, they were something to do for rank, we thought the self defense techniques and heavy sparring were the balls, the total means to the end. Later on, I began to truly understand the value of kata. Is it an 'end all' like some traditonalists say, no, I don't believe that but it is a serious part of training, another piece of the puzzle to your training.
In closing, our primary goal is to teach self defense, not 'fighting' although fighting can be a by product of self defense if one chooses to go down that road. Some may ask, isn't fighting and self defesne the same thing? No, fighting is just that fighting, the goal is to successfully defeat your opponent such as in boxing, kickboxing or mixed martial arts as in UFC. So, those in MMA may not see a need for forms training at all, that's fine but also remember this, a boxer shadow boxes, doesn't he? Self defense is, as the Japanese say in the term Goshinjutsu, 'protection of the self or body'. You use whatever means neccessary to protect your butt and escape with 'minimal' and hopefully NO injury but I'm being a realist here. You have to expect to get hit, hense, the reason for contact in your training. - Joe
But, the uses for the cake can range from the obvious (dessert), or less than obvious (making the cake the main course, when in a pinch, etc. etc.).
