HIS Karate-Do

The last aspect I’d like to talk about in kata is… expression. This is kind of a hard one for me to describe; after all, knowing the kata sequence without having to think…possessing excellent form, movement, speed, and power… knowing and being able to execute the underlying bunkai… and performing the kata with a mature timing and rhythm derived from countless repetition… what more is there? To me, it’s the more important part… showing the heart of the kata. Not merely replicating what you’ve seen your sempais and various senseis do, that would merely be imitation. What is the difference between a perfect photograph, taken of a sunny day by the river, versus a painting by Monet? We know that the paintings of the masters are treasured… not for their ability to replicate what they’ve seen, but their ability to place their own perspective onto the canvas. Even the sidewalk artist at Disneyland doesn’t merely do a quick sketch of you and your family… he will, more often than not, do a quick caricature of you, complete with Mickey Mouse cap. When I was a kid, I enjoyed watching comedians imitating James Cagney, Jimmy Stewart, Ed Sullivan, President Kennedy, etc. [...]

Ok, now to talk about kata and aspect number four (actually I’m home working on Turbo Tax today and sneaking a break away from the numbers and paperwork)….timing/rhythm. You know the sequence, have pretty good form, and have at least a rudimentary vision of what the moves and key combinations within a particular kata mean to you. Now we can do a brief examination of timing and rhythm (at least from my viewpoint), as these apply to kata. Like the other aspects, T/R exists on several different levels and, unless you’re part of some competition three-person kata team, is a little different for each person. Of course, there is the basic timing we’re taught when we learn the kata. No kata, not even Heian Shodan, consists of exactly the same cadence from move to move….the most obvious segment being the three stepping age-ukes, and later in the kata, the three stepping oi-zukes. So, in our first Shotokan kata, we’re introduced to a timing change, a speed-up between the second and third techniques in both the stepping blocks and the stepping punches. As we learn other katas, there are many other speed-ups, slow-downs, and outright pauses throughout each one. Without an [...]

Ok, I apologize for getting sidetracked on my last note by thoughts on bowling, of all topics, haha. Back to discussing the five aspects of kata (as seen through my eyes). So far we’ve covered sequence and posture. I’d like to speak to applications contained within, variously referred to as: bunkai, yakusoku, oyo, etc. One can perform and actually do very well in training and even in kata competition if one has truly outstanding posture (including power and speed) and knows the sequence by heart. However, without the ability to envision or understand any kind of meaning to the movements, one’s kata becomes what some would call “martial dancing”. I don’t use the term dance, to demean the activity, since professional dancers, those preserving cultural dance, etc; express much meaning in the movements they execute. I’m referring to doing movement purely as exercise, or for aesthetics, without any depth to what one is trying to portray to execute. The example I often cite is someone using a heavy pick to break ground in one’s yard or at work. Many of us have had to do some picking in the yard at some time…it can be hard, sweaty work, and requires [...]