Kata analogies

[Navarre]

I was posting a response under the Ko Sutemi forum earlier concerning the execution of katas. After thinking on it for a minute I made an analogy of kata execution to driving.

Like driving, a kata is not performed mechanically. One drives best when alert but relaxed.

The mechanics of driving become second nature after a while. We no longer have to think through each step of stopping at a light or making a left-hand turn. Likewise, kata movements need to become instinctive and natural. In both cases, this only comes with practice.

Kata should not be performed at the same speed throughout. Sometimes we should accelerate or decelerate gradually, sometimes come to a screeching halt and sometimes "gun it". It's the same for driving. If we drove at a constant speed all the time, we'd slide off the first sharp curve we tried to take.

Awareness of our speed in driving becomes so instinctive it's barely recognized. When you start driving you constantly look at the speedometer and have trouble figuring out how much gas to give to go the right speed. We spend a lot of time overaccelerating and then having to brake.

After a while you are hardly aware of it. I know pretty much if I am driving at 45 miles per hour or 50 without even glancing at the speedomoter. In fact I can tell the difference within just 1 or 2 mph.

It's the same in kata. You learn how to provide just the right pace for all of your movements. Techniques become smooth and transition with no sudden breaks.

As kata is designed to be a training tool for kumite and then real-world fighting, the analogies all carry through. And, just like with driving, we can spend all the time we want discussing and practicing a single technique or combination. It only takes practical effect once we put it into practice. Only then do we make true progress...and consequently, become aware of what we have learned and where we fall short.

And, just like driving, no matter how much we do practice, we run the risk of taking it for granted because we have never practiced quite enough to avoid mistakes. Let those "mistakes" be the lessons from which we learn.

Anyway, just my thoughts on kata execution. Thanx for reading.

 

[Sapper6]

very nice. great post!

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

agreed wholeheartedly. i recall how tense i was the first year or so i drove. i imagine my kata will become instinctual with time in the same manner driving has.

arigato

 

[DavidCC]

Yeah, and you should see the hidden techniques in my driving! They include grappling and pressure-point attacks : I can take you down with my car, I can knock you out with my car
:apv:


Just playing, it is a very good analogy.

 

[searcher]

Nice post. Very interesting way to look at it.

 

[Andrew Green]

Not sure if I ever posted this here, it's from a few years back... right before I stopped doing kata altogether

The Purpose of Kata

​

Kata are the defining feature of Okinawan karate. Without kata it is no longer karate that you are doing. So the question arises what are kata and what do they accomplish? Kata are probably the most misunderstood training tool used by modern karate-ka. In this article I hope to express my views on what the function of kata is in training and provided support for my views.

​

First I would like to describe something which I feel is in a sense a kata, although we might not think of it as so. It is not a karate kata, or a martial arts kata but it serves much the same purpose. That kata is as follows:

"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

If you didn't recognize it, it is a sentence often used when learning to type, it could also be used in Calligraphy. It is used because it contains all the letters of the alphabet. By practicing this sentence you practice all the positions required to type.

After enough practice hitting the right keys becomes natural and instinctual. One might say that this sentence contains all the required elements of typing condensed into one sentence that is easy to remember and can be practiced quickly.

Kata act in much the same way, they train our bodies to move in certain ways, keeping good "structure", maintaining balance, proper breathing, etc. All the key elements required for the martial arts. There is certainly more required then just posturing and movements though, and this is also true in typing.

We must also learn spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. The typing "kata" only provides us with the proper positions and movements required to be able to efficiently do this. You can hardly write a novel if you have to spend 3 - 5 seconds pausing to look for each letter on the keyboard.

What the typing "kata" does is allow us to effectively and efficiently make use of our theoretical skill by giving our body the ability to move in the proper manner without thought to what it is doing. We are teaching ourselves to instinctively move in a certain way to accomplish a specific task.

This applies to our karate kata as well. We are teaching ourselves to instinctively move in an efficient way, to maintain a strong structure, to breath in a specific manner, programming our automatic responses to best suit our needs in combat.

We also need strategy, knowledge of techniques, physical conditioning, a clear mental state, etc. Just as in typing you need Grammar and writing ability (strategy), spelling and punctuation (techniques) and focus. The kata can only teach us to move correctly, but not when and where to use those movements, that requires other training.

Now some people choose to use kata purely as a performance act. Trying to look good, kick high and yell lots. This is clearly not the point kata where intended for but it is done and is another possible use for the kata. I might work Calligraphy with that sentence, dress it up, make it fancy, put it on display, etc. That doesn't mean that is the intended purpose of the form, just something that can be done with them. However this is different then using the sentence to learn typing, with the goal of writing. Same as it is different from training kata to look good and training them for martial arts.

Now others have come to the realization that kata contain techniques that can be used in combat. They have analysed the movement sequences and derived applications responding to certain types of events. Often they focus on what have been named the "Habitual Acts of Violence", common attacks that occur in real situations involving physical force.

I cannot dispute that kata contain techniques which do work and can be applied against the HAOV. But I would argue that that is quite trivial and not at all the purpose of doing kata.

One might compare it to recognizing that there are words in the typing kata. Previously you had just been typing the pattern, but not know how to read, how to form sentences or what exactly you where doing. You might think of typing it in a different language, and later realising that there where words contained in that. You then search out how these words might be used in common situations. What I'll call the "Habitual Acts of Conversation", common verbal situations which occur and the appropriate responses.

Now this should come off as rather silly, the individual words are clearly not the purpose in the sentence. The purpose is learning the skill of typing. Learning to hit the right keys at the right time in the right order without having to think about it and being able to focus on what you write, not how you write it.

Karate kata are the same, yes there are words there and yes it is important to be able to recognise what those words are. But it shouldn't be the focus to figure out what the words are and how they are used. If you understand the concepts and tactics of the martial arts you should simply see the techniques used in the kata as clearly as you see the words in the sentence.

That's not to say there is no value to trying to work out kata, this is certainly a good starting point if you don't understand the language. You can start be trying to understand the words you have been using, but the focus should be on learning the language, not just a few words that have been chosen to represent the movements applicable to the martial arts.

So if you have been using various English sentences to learn how to type, and you decide you'd like to start learning English, one starting point would be to start learning how the words you've already been using can be used. But if that is the whole focus, and rather then learning the language you just focus on trying to uncover all the possible uses of the word "fox" you will never really understand English.

It is also often claimed that kata are a mnemonic device used to remember specific techniques. Again I argue that this is silly. It is the same as claiming that the sentence is to remember the words contained within it. If you understand the martial arts / language this has no value.

So what kata are is a series of movements (letters) organized into techniques (words) and further organized into a pattern (sentence) which can be remembered and practiced to develop the movements / postures relevant to the martial arts.

 

[arnisador]

The analogy has some merit--it goes to some extent to the zanshin one hopes to achieve in a really good instance of doing the kata. But when you drive, you're not practicing, you're performing. It isn't a rehearsal or preparation for some other, related event. When you do a kata, you're practicing--not performing (in an actual fight). A better analogy might be pilots training on a flight simulator?

 

[Navarre]

Andrew's post was interesting, though extensive. I never want to hear Gemini crack on me again for lengthy posts. Half way through I had to stop and take a nap. lol

Arnisador, I don't disagree with you. My analogy was made because it came to me while driving. Everyone I know over the age of 18 (except my 83 yr old grandma) can drive. Therefore, I thought it would be much easier to relate to than pilot training.

And, I suppose if you completely subscribe to the idea in Andrew's post (which I don't) then the act of the kata is the event in and of itself, not merely practice for a similar but more realistic one. In that case, my driving analogy applies.

Either way, I wasn't claiming this to be the great mother of all analogies. It was simply one that occurred to me today.

 

[Andrew Green]

Andrew's post was interesting, though extensive. I never want to hear Gemini crack on me again for lengthy posts. Half way through I had to stop and take a nap. lol

That's nothing, I've done stuff 5x that length

 

[Navarre]

You have a lot to say. Maybe you should write a book. lol

I enjoyed reading your post though even though it took a while. The third day of reading was the worst.

 

[mantis]

i suppose kata and forms are made to make it easier to the fighter to develop a second-nature reaction. unfortunately people, not Navarre for sure, tend to misunderstand the purpose of katas and they start focusing on the kata to make it become the second nature instead of using the kata to help them make their arts principles the second nature. in a real fight the kata will not be there, but the principles will. principles like turning the fist, staying low, grabbing and plucking etc. depending on the art!
some people think perfecting the kata is the goal. but katas are only tools to develop the second nature built on the art's principles.
good post, good topic.

 

[Navarre]

Thank you, Mantis, for the compliments on both my understanding of katas and for posting the topic. Much appreciated.

I'd like to think that, no matter how annoyingly ubiquitous I've made myself in only a week, I occasionally say something relevent.

 

[Andrew Green]

I'd like to think that, no matter how annoyingly ubiquitous I've made myself in only a week, I occasionally say something relevent.

What's that saying about a broken clock being right twice a day...



sorry, couldn't resist

 

[Navarre]

I see what you mean, Andrew. And, in that spirit:

"Only cheese can fix that!"

I have no idea what that might mean but, sooner or later, it will actually be the solution to someone's problem. ... You heard it here first.

Good lord, I even derail my own topics! I need to stop.

 

[splazzatch]

Navarre, I like your analogy and I would like to add that when a person gets a new or different car they have to re-examine and re-learn how that car works just like learning a new kata it's easy to learn but you still have to learn it..

 

[Navarre]

That's true, Splazzatch. I try to make analogies often to my students.

The insight we have after so many years in The Art is often hard to convey in words to beginners. So, analogies to things they do understand helps create the proper perspective to set them on the right path.

 

[splazzatch]

Analogies often make things much clearer for people who learn differently. My Sensei will often use analogies to help make things clearer and I have found that when I learn something and I practice it if I compare it to something in my own life it will just click and I can do it better....one kind of silly example is when you have to poop really badly but you can't yet and your tighten up those butt muscles to hold it all in...that's the same squeezing you need to keep a good front stance and horse stance... yeah it's cheesy but it works for me.

 

[Navarre]

Hmmm. I always just tried to imagine myself sitting on a stool...not making stool.

 

[splazzatch]

Heh...whatever works for you to get that technique