Some thoughts about kata. The first time I ever saw a group of people performing kata, it was at the old Pearl City dojo (used to be located on 3rd St). I can vividly remember that there were about 8-10 green belts performing Heians Sandan and Yondan. I was amazed at their precision… not to mention their memory, being able to do these exotic, powerful looking moves in unison. I remember thinking that I’d like to be able to perform these kata too, and how little these looked like what my mom had pointed out to me when I was a little child.

My mom, being proud of her Okinawan heritage, used to tell me that the Uchinanchu had developed a martial art of their own, just like judo and aikido had been created by the Naichi or Japanese. One night, we were at a party where some of the old Okinawan men had drunk a lot of beer/sake and had begun doing some “dancing” with their open hands twisting and turning in the air in time with the music. Looked kind of silly to me, but my mom insisted that they were doing martial arts movements. Some fifty years later, most of it spent in the martial arts, I still think that they were old relatives and friends were just doing their version of “feel good grooving to the music”. As it turns out, however, Mom was right about the Okinawans having developed a martial art, that, even as she spoke, was starting to spread across the world.

It’s so fascinating to watch other karate styles, kempo, taekwondo, and kung fu systems, and to be able to recognize sequences, or event entire katas and sets that distinctly resemble, and have an obvious relationship to what we practice in Shotokan. Katas are truly a window into what has been transmitted from teacher to pupil, over hundreds of years. In the same way that oral traditions and histories can preserve important aspects of culture for many generations, katas are a sort of language of movement that passes down valuable information to each of us.

The mainstream Shotokan dojo will usually contain between 26-30 katas within its training syllabus. There were possibly to 50-75 katas within the various Okinawan styles, back over a hundred years ago. The founder, Funakoshi Gichin, decided that 15 katas were sufficient for Shotokan, if diligently studied and mastered by the practioner. These katas included: Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan, Heian Yondan, Heian Godan, Tekki Shodan, Bassa-Dai, Jion, Kanku-Dai, Hangetsu, Empi, and Tekki-Nidan. The “growing” of the Shotokan kata list to its present 26 katas occurred when various of the founder’s senior students learned certain Okinawan katas and imported these into Shotokan. This is one of the reasons that the katas that one learns after Empi begin to take on a different flavor from the earlier katas… these are closer to the original Okinawan flavor, less Shotokanized. By that, I mean that many of the open hand strikes/blocks/throws/holds have been preserved within these kata instead of having been made broader, more linear, long-stanced and close fisted.

The general theory is that the Heian katas (formerly Pinan) were developed for school children, around a hundred years ago. The Heians are a kata grouping, as are the Tekki (formerly Naihanchi) katas, while the Bassai, Kanku and Goju katas have a Dai and Sho (greater and lesser) version. There’s no telling how old any particular kata is, but some have been practiced for hundreds of years. No doubt, as you learn the various katas, you will find some more appealing to you than others. It’s not about how many katas you learn, but rather, how well you learn the katas you do practice.

I believe that people learn kata in several different ways, concurrently: sequence, posture, application, timing/rhythm, and expression of the kata. I’ll go into more detail another time, but even the most basic of these… learning the sequence of a kata, exists on different levels. You first spend time trying to remember the sequence with your mind… kind of like learning where the keys are on the keyboard, or figuring out where to place your fingers to create chords on the guitar. As you practice and practice, the sequence moves from mere mental memory into body memory. Once the sequence is embedded in your body, you can execute without thought, and can execute the entire sequence of Heian Shodan, for example, within about 5 seconds (though not in exact form, haha) similar to being able to type 100 words/min on the keyboard, or playing the guitar and singing, without thought. The time and effort spent in practicing kata starts to become worthwhile when you get to this point… for many of us, we can instantly recall and execute the kata even years after the last time we practiced it. For kata or any of the techniques we practice in karate-do… as the execution becomes instinctive, it frees us up to enjoy and utilize the true value of the exercise, whether it be expressing our thoughts through writing, singing your favorite song, or responding with speed/power/focus in a stressful situation.