WholeHeartedNews.com

Contributed by: cejames

To practice kata is to walk in the footsteps of the greatest karate experts that ever lived.

Kata is the heart and soul of karate. It is the formal exercise of karate and is defined as a set of prearranged movements for attacking and defending against an imaginary opponent. It is the primary training method of karate.

Kata techniques were developed over time by masters of combat. They took those techniques that worked in combat or actual fighting and developed kata. Kata serve as the source of fighting techniques which have been tested in combat and should not be changed or modified in any way.

One important aspect of kata training is bunkai which are the practical applications of techniques that are contained within. Visualization of the bunkai against imaginary opponents as practice is the most important aspect of kata training.

Another aspect of kata practice is the method of breathing while performing the kata. The student must learn the proper way to regulate their breathing and to synchronize it with the repetition of the movement so they can maximize their power at the exact moment needed.

Kata practice over long years provide a plethora of techniques that go beyond the basic bunkai taught at the beginning. Kata also strengthen bone and muscle, develop fast reflexes and movement, and increase the ability to respond quickly to self-defense situations.

Kata integrates the body, mind, and spirit resulting in confidence and humility. In kata the hara is the focus of power or their center from which all power and technique begins.

Each kata has its own characteristics. One characteristic is that all kata begin and end with a defensive technique.

Even tho all kata have more than one application or bunkai and were not intended to be used exactly as performed they are designed to suggest possible applications to a given self-defense situation thus the use of visualization when performing being of such great importance. This is why kata techniques, after learning the basic bunkai and practicing kata for a very long time, are open to interpretation by the practitioner.

Kata are those memory tools used to associate a technique with a kata technique. Memory tools used today to help students and others to develop a greater memory. When you associate one thing to another that is done repetitively over time then the mind is able to pull that technique from memory when confronted with a specific attack and this occurs with out thought so it becomes instantaneous in its execution.

This is why orthodox kata (traditional ancient kata) must be practiced exactly as they were intended.

Goju Quote from Yamaguchi Sensei: “It is not the number of kata you know, but the substance of the kata you have acquired.”

Bibliography:
Okinawan Island of Karate by George Alexander
Classical Kata of Okinawa by Patrick McCarthy
Isshinryu Karate Information, Promotion, and Training Manual by Roy Loveday