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MARTIAL ARTS FORUM:
Below is a response received by email about "The Importance of Kata" article written by Tucker Axum. The below listed response has not been changed or altered. Your comment, whether you agree or disagree, is encouraged to stimulate a higher level of martial arts discussion. You may remain anonymous if you desire. Email your comment.
The Email Received: I read your article on 'The Importance of Kata in Martial
Arts and its Benefits' and this is a question i've been debating myself.
I have also been reading the 'Tao of Jeet Kune Do' by Bruce Lee and i believe
that you misquoted him several times in your article. While you tried to
strengthen your argument with quoting Bruce Lee I feel you missed valuable
points that actually state that he didn't believe in them. Here is what you
wrote to strengthen your argument. The maintenance of proper fighting distance
has a decisive effect on the outcome of the fightacquire the habit. Katas teach
the student how to create distance through the use of footwork.' Do you use
these stances in sparring? While Bruce Lee described forms (katas) as 'organized
despair'. Also he wrote 'Instead of going immediately to the heart of things,
flowerly forms and artifical techniques are ritualistically practised to
simulate actual combat. Thus, instead of ''being'' in combat these practitioners
are ''doing'' something ''about'' combat.' A point i tend to agree with. My Response: Thank you for reading my article on the importance and benefits of kata training, and for responding. I appreciate your thoughts, and it pleases me to know that you are studying Tae Kwon Do. I have read your email and will attempt to clarify my philosophy on kata training. I believe that if you want to improve your golf game, you practice golf. If you want to improve at running, you run. If you want to improve at sparring, you spar. I am a big fan of realistic sparring. I think it is the closet training you get to actual combat. However, I think kata training is also important. I am not familiar with Tae Kwon Do katas; I speak for LOTUS’ katas, which are very dynamic and exhausting when done properly. LOTUS katas not only improve a student’s stamina, but they also teach the student all the various strikes, blocks, and how to move. You said Bruce Lee is not a fan of “katas.” You are right. Bruce Lee was not a fan of traditional “katas.” But Bruce Lee was a huge fan of knowing and being able to strike, block, and move correctly and powerfully. He once said knowing 100 techniques is not going to help you if you don’t have the ability to do them. Practicing katas is one way out of many to learn how to improve in the martial arts. Your suggestion about practicing padwork and shadow boxing are also great methods of improving your overall martial arts. You asked me if I use the stances from katas in my sparring. The answer is I sometimes use the “stances” in sparring, but always use some part (moving, blocking, striking) of the kata in sparring. There are many ways to fight: ground fighting, long drawn out sparring sessions, and then fights where I end it in one move. I don’t use ALL my kata movements in each fight. I use what works for me at that moment. Sometimes that is a block, sometimes that is a kick, sometimes that is a punch, etc. I learned how to do all those mentioned things correctly by first learning katas. Kata training is a safe way to advance to the more dynamic sparring with less chances of injury. A good example of kata training is a kitchen full of recipes. If I am to make one type of dish, I’ll use certain ingredients. If I am to make a different kind of dish, I’ll use different types of ingredients. The important thing is for me to maintain a wide variety of ingredients (martial arts movements, techniques, strikes) if I am going to be a great chef (martial artist). You said that you have yet to see anyone use solid stances/blocks/strikes that are in karate. Are you referring to experts in the martial arts too? I can’t imagine training for 10 plus years with the realization that I don’t plan on using my training in a real fight. I see the movements of a kata in sparring, not always just like it is done in the kata though. I think it is important to remember that the kata is a guideline, not the rule. I encourage you to keep training physically and academically and to continue to question certain aspects. When you understand WHY you do something, it usually makes you better at it. Good luck in your training. (response by Tucker Axum) Response by Tim Hollembaek Karate has always had an emphasis on dealing with attacks from grappling range and this is where many “traditional” kata came from. Kata are frequently individual techniques strung together and used as a means for students to practice all the techniques of a system without having to have another person to train with. They are training aids and not an end in themselves. They are certainly not a blueprint for how to handle every self-defense situation. They are not “fighting dances” simulating a sparring match at kicking range. In Lotus Self-Defense, while we practice the kata contained in our style, many of which are derived from Kajukenbo we also perform all of the various self defense techniques we have learned as a solo exercise. This produces a “kata” that changes with each belt. This “kata” is made up of the techniques required for each upcoming test. These techniques “hidden” in the “kata” would be called bunkai in Japanese. If, as time went by, these “kata” were taught by themselves without the individual techniques being taught, as well, we would end up with a somewhat meaningless dance. We would learn it and practice it for our next test without knowing what its original use was for. This is what I term a “training aid gone wild”. This is the situation many martial artists find themselves in today. There are various reasons why bunkai have come up missing in karate kata. 1. An investigation into the roots of karate will lead the curious to Japan and then all the way back to China. As the teachings were transmitted from teacher to student and then spread throughout the world it is only natural that things got lost. There are many possible reasons for this. Many sifu were reluctant to teach their best techniques to anyone but their most trusted and long-time students. Consequently, some otherwise high ranking students would go off and start teaching without having learned the “secrets” of their style. 2. In Okinawa, kata were changed upon karate’s entry into the public school curriculum as physical education, (It just wouldn’t do to have school kids going around poking each other’s eyes out, now would it?) As a consequence, when karate was taken to Japan, the Japanese ended up learning many “grade school” kata as opposed to the original forms. These forms are still being taught today. 3. In Japan an emphasis became placed on sparring, perhaps because sparring is much more “fun” than doing boring old kata, particularly, if you don’t learn the techniques “hidden” in them. 4. After World War 2, many American G.I.s learned karate in Japan and the Japanese were understandably reluctant to pass along all of the best moves of their style to conquering soldiers. This was a further dilution of the already diluted kata. Also, since Japan is known for being one of the most chauvinistic nations in the world, some styles even forbade teaching gaijin. 5. Finally, not the least of reasons for lost bunkai, deletions and inadvertent changes came about simply due to poor memory on the part of the teacher. God knows it has happened to me! Other times, it came about from simple preferences of the instructor or the fact that certain techniques fit his body type better than others. Many martial art styles that derive from Kenpo circumvented the loss of bunkai by being technique oriented in nature, although kata may be found even in these styles. Lotus Self-Defense is one of these styles, as is Kajukenbo. So, is training in kata useful? I believe kata to be quite useful, provided we focus on the original information to be found in kata. The true meanings are, of course, the close quarter combat techniques that are waiting there for us to rediscover. Happy hunting!
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