isshinryuronin
Senior Master
The journey is more important than the destination. No, I'm not talking about your life's journey thru the exploration of TMA. The subject is your technique's journey.
You have a book on kata. There are a series of 58 sequential photos showing the performer in various positions. You see the performer in a punch position, then a high block position, then an extended spear hand, then in the next photo he is facing the opposite direction in a low block position, and so on. You spend hours looking at these photos practicing each move till you can faithfully reproduce and memorize each and every position of hands and feet. You've learned the kata! But don't be too happy. All you've done is learn how to look when in a certain static position: left or right stance, posture, arm angle, etc. Your kata is practically useless.
Let's zero in on the photo showing a clenched fist (vertical) at the end of an outstretched arm. Even without a caption identifying the technique as a punch you've probably surmised as much. I mean, you've got eyes, right? Yes, you do have eyes. No, it doesn't necessarily mean you're right. By just looking at the photo, isn't it possible that a spinning backfist has just been executed? Extrapolate this throughout the whole kata - you really don't know what the heck is going on. It's like reading or hearing a story, full of tragedy, only to find out it's really a comedy - you just didn't get the jokes!
Sure, some interim photos would be a big help, a video better still. But even then, we may miss the joke (and misunderstand the kata). MAIN POINT: It's not the static end position (destination) of a technique that tells the story. It's the kinetic motion (journey) of how it gets there. This is where most all the work is done. What the technique is doing while in motion gives it meaning, not what it looks like after completion. In other words, application. On a technique's journey from guard to ending position it can do many things: Hit one target before hitting another, sweep an area, redirect an attack or guard, even block or punch. It may accomplish all these while on its way.
This is one of the challenges in figuring out the bunkai of kata. There are multiple possibilities and interpretations. Additionally, some jokes' humor is dry and hard to see or are dependent on understanding a cultural reference or slang. "I don't get it," is a phrase we hear in regard to both jokes and kata.
You have a book on kata. There are a series of 58 sequential photos showing the performer in various positions. You see the performer in a punch position, then a high block position, then an extended spear hand, then in the next photo he is facing the opposite direction in a low block position, and so on. You spend hours looking at these photos practicing each move till you can faithfully reproduce and memorize each and every position of hands and feet. You've learned the kata! But don't be too happy. All you've done is learn how to look when in a certain static position: left or right stance, posture, arm angle, etc. Your kata is practically useless.
Let's zero in on the photo showing a clenched fist (vertical) at the end of an outstretched arm. Even without a caption identifying the technique as a punch you've probably surmised as much. I mean, you've got eyes, right? Yes, you do have eyes. No, it doesn't necessarily mean you're right. By just looking at the photo, isn't it possible that a spinning backfist has just been executed? Extrapolate this throughout the whole kata - you really don't know what the heck is going on. It's like reading or hearing a story, full of tragedy, only to find out it's really a comedy - you just didn't get the jokes!
Sure, some interim photos would be a big help, a video better still. But even then, we may miss the joke (and misunderstand the kata). MAIN POINT: It's not the static end position (destination) of a technique that tells the story. It's the kinetic motion (journey) of how it gets there. This is where most all the work is done. What the technique is doing while in motion gives it meaning, not what it looks like after completion. In other words, application. On a technique's journey from guard to ending position it can do many things: Hit one target before hitting another, sweep an area, redirect an attack or guard, even block or punch. It may accomplish all these while on its way.
This is one of the challenges in figuring out the bunkai of kata. There are multiple possibilities and interpretations. Additionally, some jokes' humor is dry and hard to see or are dependent on understanding a cultural reference or slang. "I don't get it," is a phrase we hear in regard to both jokes and kata.