Here is My Blog

I have created this Karate Kata Blog Site to help share and discuss relevant ideas about Karate Kata. Kata is a vital part of every style of Karate yet in recent times there is a big push and focus on the sports style of Karate.

This is not wrong, it is just the way Karate has evolved, but for me, Kata is the essence of Karate.

The only reason I am sharing my thoughts about different Katas is to help me understand them better and also to hopefully help you to start thinking a little differently about your Kata so that your Kata can improve.

Please feel free to leave any of your own comments or thoughts at the end of each blog and together we can learn and unlock all there is to know about Karate Kata.

Please note, this site is dedicated to Karate Kata and not just any particular style.

Enjoy.

Yours in the Spirit of Karate

Derek

Heian Shodan Slowly






Filippo Gasparro from Yoseikan Karate Bareggio (Italy) performs Heian Shodan Kata SLOW VERSION.

Duration : 0:1:43

1: Ok, what can you see wrong with the way this Kata is performed? The fact that is is being performed slowly is most likely the reason why there is something standing out as obviously wrong, so I am not saying that Filippo can’t perform the Kata correctly, far from it, but rather I thank him for doing it slowly as it gives us a great video to disect.

So what can you see wrong with it? Is it stances, timing, technique ?

Leave your comments below and lets see if you can pick just one obvious flaw – this is a great exercise to help you to start improving your own karate katas.

 

In The Spirit of Karate

Derek

 

2: Great Comments everyone! Some of you emailed me instead of leaving comments which is fine too. Basically there is no right way or wrong way of doing any Kata and some of you kindly pointed that out. Part of the reason I asked ” what is wrong” was to see if anyone picked up on the word wrong. Karate is an ART as is Kata and therefore everyone has their own interpretation of it.

Filippo in the video above may have his own reasons for keeping his hips off square where as Rodka in the comments thinks it is wrong.

If there is a valid argument for and against and both can be proven to have some merit then who is right, well both are, it just means there are different interpreations of the ART of this Kata.

K. Sweeney also commented that the punch was timed incorrectly. Is K right or wrong? What do you think?

 

3: Good work everyone. I had some email responses as a couple of people said they were having problems with the comments section on this page so I am looking into to getting that fixed up. Most of you agreed with K. Sweeney that the timing of the Oi Zuki is slightly off. In my opinion and what I have learnt over the years is that the Oi Zuki should finish in time with your foot landing and your stance locking into place. This creates the maximum impact as your whole body is moving at the same time in the same direction create maximum force at the end of your punch.

However if you have finished moving forward and you have locked in your stance then the only force behind the punch is what is in your arm and shoulders – not a lot.

Now I know Filippo is demonstrating this Kata in slow motion and I understand it can be difficult to perform a Kata exactly as it should be performed when you are moving slowly but good timing should still be able to be achieved – he achieves it with all the the other moves such as his Shuto Uki.

So I thank Filippo for his demonstration and for giving us a slowed down version of this Kata to use as an example of timing and hip movement.

To create maximum power with as little effort as possible your whole body must be working and moving as one up until the point of impact. If one slight piece of the puzzle is missing you are not achieving maximum impact.

So next time you are training, keep timing in your mind. Spend the whole session focusing on your timing and just see if your timing is giving you maximum impact or if something needs to be changed or fine tuned.


19/10/2009 11:13 AM

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Heian Shodan - Advanced Kata

Heian Shodan

Heian Shodan is the first in the series of 5 Heian Katas. Heian literally translates into “Peaceful Mind” and Shodan means “First Level”. It is the first Kata you learn after gaining your first color belt, however, you should not be fooled into thinking that this means it is the easiest – far from it. Although Heian Shodan consists of what is generally considered to be “basic” it takes a lot of training and learning to truly understand it and to do it correctly.

As with all Kata there are many lessons to be learnt from each Kata. Depending on what level you are at will determine your focus. As a beginner learning a “beginners” Kata all you want to do and all your Sensei will want you to do is to memorise the movements. This does not mean just memorizing them in your mind but in your body. Many people never think about this fact yet it is a key factor to developing great basics and foundations to all your karate moves.

What I mean by memorising it in your body is – creating muscle memory. I am sure you have heard the saying – “it’s just like riding a bike, you never forget”. This statement is mostly true, but why is it true. Because as a child you rode your bike from as early as probably 2 or 3 years of age and my guess is that you were still riding bikes when you were into your late teens. That means that you had a good 15 years where your body conditioned itself to riding a bike. Think about when you now watch a young child riding a bike, they need to remember where the brakes are, how far to turn the handle bars, which muscles to use to create balance. Yet in your teens you just jump on and go.

Same with driving a car. When you first learn, you have to learn how much clutch to use or let off, how much to press down on the accelerator. You have to look down to find the gears etc. After a few years you can drive your car while you talk on the phone, drink a coffee, listen to the radio and put your makeup on or have a shave on the way to the office. Not recommended but it is a fine example of muscle memory. You don’t even have to think about it, you just jump in and go.

That is what we want to achieve when you are learning and memorising your Katas. As a beginner doing a front stance Zenkutsu Dachi (front stance), you have to look down and think about where your feet are positioned, are your hips turned correctly, is your back leg locked out or bent etc. By training and practicing and training and practicing your Katas you will create muscle memory for all these “basic” stances so that as you move up the grades you won’t have to look down to check your feet you will just feel that they are ok.

This goes for every move of every Kata. I talked about it with Taikyoku Shodan (Kihon Kata) and now here. There are certainly more advanced Katas but Heian Shodan should not be considered a basic Kata.

As you move up the grades towards Purple and Brown Belts your focus is going to change again. You shouldn’t have check your your stances anymore, when you now perform Heian Shodan your focus should shift to things like hip movement, ensuring you are finishing your hip rotation in timing with your stance and your attack/block to create strong and affective attacks/blocks. This is where you start fine tuning the “basic” moves and you now start to realise that these “basic” moves are actually a lot more complex than you first thought.

As a higher Kyu grade you will also start to learn and discover Kata Bunkai, which is the adaptation of Kata to create an actually attack or defense that works. I discuss Bunkai in another of my Karate Blogs, but just to emphasise again that Heian Shodan is by no means a basic Kata just think about how you are currently performing it when you train. Could you affectively defend yourself from an attacker in the street with what you have learnt from Heian Shodan. I don’t mean get into a front stance and step forward with block and punch. I mean adapt that block and punch with speed and power to defend yourself? If not then you have a lot to still learn about Heian Shodan. You need to start studying it in depth.

As a Brown and Black Belt your focus will now change to attempting to perform Heian Shodan so that it looks effortless, yet powerful, fast yet not rushed, graceful and affective. What kind of things would you need to focus on to achieve this? Have you ever watched someone perform Kata and it just looks rushed, it often happens in class when everyone is trying to compete with the person next to them. The fast part of the Kata should be the actual techniques, not the bit between the techniques. Your punches should be EXPLOSIVE – FAST – POWERFUL with fast pull back and stop dead on target in time with your stance. Your hips should rotate in perfect sync with your attack and stop rotating exactly on impact. Now here is the really hard bit, you should be able to let go of all that built up tension and relax for just the split second in between each movement ready to explode into the next one.

So as you can see, Heian Shodan is by no means a “basic” Kata! It has many lessons, some will call them “Secrets” within it and you will start discovering these lessons and secrets as you move up through your Grades. It is a stepping stone to all other Kata, for example you first learn Shuto-uke (knife hand block) in Heian Shodan, you start creating muscle memory for it right here, then by the time you get to say Bassai Dai you shouldn’t have to think about how to perform Shuto-uke.

There is so much more to talk about in Heian Shodan, we could break down each move or start discussing Bunkai but the purpose of this blog post was just to emphasise the importance of Heian Shodan and to hopefully show you that although it may appear to be a basic simple Kata there really is so much more to it than meets the eye.

Enjoy discovering this Kata and next time you go to training start focusing on some of the different aspects of each Kata. Question each Kata. Study each Kata through practice and continuous repetition.


In The Spirit of Karate

Derek
www.karatekata.net

05/10/2009 11:23 AM

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Bunkai

Karate Kata Bunkai
 

Question -   

  • Why does a soccer player learn to dribble the ball around cones in practice?

Answer  –    

  • Not so he can enter a dribbling around a cone competition. But to dribble around an opponent and hopeuflly score a goal.


 

Question - 

  • Why do we learn Kata?


Answer -      

  • Not so we can look good at competition or get a new belt but to learn how to fight. Yes Kata is teaching us how to fight!

 

     
In Shotokan Karate and any other style of Karate there are mainly two streams of thought floating around regarding Kata Bunkai – I would like to share my thoughts on it with you here and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Firstly for those who are new to Karate lets start with an explanation of what Bunkai means. Bunkai literally translates to “analysis” or “disassembly”. So when it is used in relation to Kata it means basically breaking the Kata down into smaller chunks. When it is broken down into smaller chunks, say 2 moves at a time, the idea then is to work out how you could apply those 2 moves to create either a defense/attack or attack/defense technique.

The 2 main trains of thought regarding Bunkai are that they are an essential part of Karate training or that they are a waste of time and effort as Katas were not meant to be applied to real fighting scenarios and were only meant for practice.

My belief is that they are an essential part of training but are rarely taught in Dojos as they don’t tend to be a part of the grading curriculum nor are they popular in competition Karate.

When Karate was an underground Art centuries ago on Okinawa island Katas were used as a way of teaching the basics however as they could not practice free flowing kumite techniques they used Bunkai as a way of applying what they had learnt to real fighting scenarios. Bunkai was the “Secret” weapon of Karateka. The Karateka of the day knew that if they mastered Bunkai they would then be able to defend themselves in the street if they were attacked.

Fast forward to the present day and what do most Dojo and Karateka focus on now, I would say the biggest emphasis is on Competition Karate and on grading. The “Secret” weapon of karate has been forgotten and therefore one of the crucial pillars in the foundations of Karate is being left out.

Imagine a building if you forgot to install a pillar under one corner, it wouldn’t be very strong

I believe it is essential to practice, understand, discover and apply Bunkai in your training. In so doing you open your mind up to the literally hundreds of possibilities that the seemingly basic techniques can be used for. You build confidence in your ability to apply them and to defend yourself.

You build massive strength in your stances and in your techniques by actually applying the techniques with speed, power and precision in a manner that ensures they actually work. What is the point in doing a Kata that just looks good – well there is no point other than looking good.

Every Kata has so much more meaning to it than just doing the movements. As I mentioned in my blog on Taikyoku Shodan (Kihon Kata), there are “Secrets” within each Kata, secrets that aren’t really secrets, you just have to open your mind up to what the Kata is teaching you. In the case of the Bunkai, each Kata is teaching you a number of very powerful fighting techniques, you just have to practice them.

For those who say they prefer Kumite to Kata, I say practice Kata with Bunkai in mind. When you can take down or score on an opponent from a Kata stance just think about how fast and affective you will be when you come to use a similar move in your Kumite. The unfortunate thing is that most people solely focus on Kumite as that is the exciting stuff, I mean they come along to a Dojo to learn to fight instead of this boring Kata stuff, uhm if only more emphasis was put on Bunkai the Kumite fighters would be so much better.

So don’t just go along to class next week and run through the movements because your Sensei said to. Don’t just look in the mirror and think you Kata looks good. While you are doing your Kata have the mindset of actually applying the moves. Ask yourself how affective they would actually be. If you aren’t learning and practicing Kata with this kind of mindset then you are only cheating yourself.

Put in some extra effort, if you aren’t practicing Bunkai in class then grab a partner after class and just take 10 or 15 minutes to start breaking down a Kata and seeing how you can apply the moves. If you do this after every class or even just once a week you will see a vast difference to your Kata and your over all Karate. Who knows if you get really good at it you may even be able to defend yourself some day if someone does actually attack you in the street.

Karate Del
 
P.S. As always I invite you feel free to contact me with your thoughts or feedback regarding this or any of my Karate Kata Blogs. I am neither a master nor an expert I am merely a student of Karate and I always will be but I enjoy sharing my ideas, learning from others and hearing your views.


21/09/2009 11:29 AM

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Why is Kata Important

Shotokan Karate Kata – Why is Kata so Important?


A Brief History of Kata so you understand where and why it originated:

Shotokan Karate is today probably the most popular style of Karate in the world. Its origins stem from Okinawa Island off the Coast of Japan. Many styles of Karate originated on this island after an influx of Chinese migrants came to the island during the 14th Century. These Chinese martial arts mixed with the indigenous fighting arts combined over many hundreds of years to create what we now call Karate.

For many hundreds of years and right up to the late 1800’s weaponry and martial arts were banned in Japan and they had to be taught under the darkness of night in secret dojos. 
To ensure they were not caught learning how to fight the karateka/students were only taught kata – by doing so if anyone found them they could pass the movements off as a folk dance and therefore escape punishment.

Also by teaching all the necessary fighting moves in an easy to remember dance/[pattern formation it made it easier for the students to remember it and also to practice it and to pass it on to others over the years. Karate Kata is what kept karate alive.

In the early 1900’s Gichin Funakoshi brought Karate to mainland Japan was instrumental in making it popular among everyday Japanese through demonstrations and open door dojos.

The modern style of Shotokan Karate was named after Master Funakoshi since Funakoshi used a nickname/pen name of Shoto for his writings and calligraphy poetry. When he opened is his first full time dojo the students called it Shotokan meaning Shoto’s club.

As part of the modernisaton of Karate, Funakoshi had to create a formal teaching method which meant moving away from the old format of learning everything by kata and then developing the bunkai. Instead people started learning basic movements and sparring before they had mastered all their katas. 

As Shotokan Karate became more popular and people started thinking of it as a sport more people wanted to start competing and therefore kumite/sparring became the prevalent focus and kata became more of a means by which you could measure your progress come grading time. Kata has become popular nowadays in competition too, but the focus is on how well the kata has been executed and the look of the kata rather than the true meaning of the kata – the bunkai. 

Most Karateka nowadays have no idea when they run through the movements of their Karate Kata that they are actually learning very powerful and useful fighting techniques, they think of it more as basics.

So essentially over the years as great as it is to see Shotokan Karate become so popular and see so many people enjoying it – the method of teaching by kata basics has been lost, we have lost the true meaning the Shotokan Karate Kata.

I am not saying this is a bad thing – I am passionate about Karate and about Kata and I truly believe that Karate had to evolve the way it did to encourage participation and to grow the sport. I think the way it is being taught today is exactly the way it was meant to evolve otherwise it would not be as popular as it is. We need to have progress checks such as gradings so participants can feel like they are achieving otherwise they would get bored and leave. We also need to allow people who enjoy kata rather than kumite to still be able to compete.

Teaching by Kata only would not work in this day and age – however if you want to truly master Karate then you MUST master your Kata.

Think about world champions in any sport be it basketball, soccer, golf etc. Do you think the best athletes in these sports only practice the most advanced moves – no way. Basketball players spend hours every week just practicing getting the ball in the hoop, by mastering this they know that when they go out there to play and the pressure is on that they don’t have to think about whether or not they can get the ball in the hoop.

Tiger Woods, he doesn’t just practice down at the driving range to see how far he can hit the ball, he spends hours in the bunker practicing sand shots and on the green practicing his putting.

So why is Kata so Important?

Believe it or not, Kata actually teaches us how to fight! Some of you may be in shock right now, just joking. I know most Karateka understand that Kata is a way of remembering the basics so they can move on to more advanced fighting techniques as they progress. However I believe that Kata is much more than just a way of remembering the “basics”. It is actually the total foundation of learning how to fight – Kata is the foundation of everything in Karate!

Rather than thinking of Kata as just a Kata I strongly believe more emphasis should be put on dissecting each Kata to truly understand the Bunkai of each Kata. (Bunkai is the practical application of Kata into a fighting form). Only when you can perform a Bunkai from any part of a Kata in such a way that it would actually be affective say in a street attack, only then are you truly starting to understand what the Kata is about.

You see modern day Karate is a lot more focused on the sports side of The Art rather than the actual Art of defending yourself, therefore most people focus on Kumite and disregard the Kata as just a way of passing gradings. But just Imagine if you could perform a Bunkai from any part of Kata with speed, accuracy and power and then you adapted these techniques and applied them to your Kumite – your Kumite would improve immensely. 

As you can probably tell, I am passionate about my Karate and about Kata. I have created and dedicated this site to share my thoughts and ideas about Kata more so than just Karate as there are millions of Karate websites around already. Therefore all my blogs will be about Kata.

I am by no means a master nor an expert of Karate but I am passionate about it and I enjoy sharing my thoughts and hearing your thoughts and ideas so please feel free to email me with any comments you have.

This site will grow with lots more content, Karate Videos and Bunkai ideas so bookmark it and drop back often.

Please check out some of my other blogs about the different Katas and Bunkai either below or on the right of this page under Categories.

In The Spirit of Karate

Derek

P.S. Don’t forget to leave your comments on my blogs – that way we can all   explore and improve our Kata together


14/09/2009 11:34 AM

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Kihon Kata - Taikyoku Shodan

Taikyoku Shodan (Kihon Kata)

Before you read on please attempt this simple fun exercise, it will take about 15 seconds of your time but it is worth it. Grab a pen and scrap piece of paper and quickly jot down the first 5 things to come to mind when I ask – What lessons are being taught within Taikyoku Shodan? We will discuss this later.

Taikyoku which depending on where you research it is meant to mean Essential/Heavenly or First Cause (Course) or Basic Ultimate was apparently created by Yoshitaka Funakoshi but was actually named by his father Gichin Funakoshi, the Grand Master of Shotokan Karate. The reason for the confusion in the name is the translation from ancient Kanji(Japanese writing characters). But as you can tell from any of the translations given to it, they all stress the importance of the Kata, i.e. “Heavenly” – “First” – “Ultimate”. Yet in modern day Karate the importance of the Kata is often missed.

It is taught as the first Kata to students, not just in Shotokan Karate but in almost all styles of Japanese Karate and even some Korean styles of Martial Arts.

Taikyoku Shodan consists of 20 actual movements, 1 blocking technique, Gedan Barai, Barai meaning block and Gedan meaning lower. It has 1 punching technique, Chudan oi zuki, oi zuki meaning forward or lunge and Chudan meaning stomach or mid region so a lunge punch to the stomach.

It only uses 1 stance throughout the Kata which is Zenkutsu dachi, dachi meaning stance and zenkutsu meaning front or forward. This broken down again means that most of the weight is distributed to the front bent leg while the back leg is extended and straight.

The reason Taikyoku Shodan’s importance is often overlooked is because in modern day karate it is classed as a very basic Kata, one for beginners. As students move up the ladder through their katas they often feel as if they have mastered Taikyoku Shodan simply because they can execute it with speed and they don’t have to think about which move comes next as from the outside it looks like a very simple Kata. It is and it isn’t. It is widely thought to be one of the most difficult Katas to master, for behind the apparent simplicity of its movements lie the building blocks of Karate.

I write these Karate Kata blogs to try and get you to think outside the square and to get you started on your path to truly mastering Karate Kata. I am not a master of Kata by any means and I most definitely do not have all the answers but one thing I do have is a desire and hunger to find out what I can about Karate Kata and to unlock the “secrets” within them. So if you enjoy your Karate and you enjoy your Kata then join me on this discovery of Kata.

So what are the “secrets” within Taikyoku Shodan. Well it is the foundation of Karate and everything else within Karate stems from it. If you have not mastered this “basic” Kata you will never master Karate.

This is the exercise I asked you to complete at the start so let’s see how you went and see if you have found any different messages to the ones we discuss here.

Teachings:

Discipline

To have the discipline to stand ready to make your move and to listen to your sensei. Not just kids but adults these days find it hard to be disciplined yet within a Dojo discipline shows respect, respect for your Sensei and also respect for Master Funakoshi and your fellow Karateka who have come to train.

But there is another discipline here, disciplining yourself, to push your stances lower, to correct your stance even when your Sensei isn’t looking. This is a discipline many of us don’t have; that is remaining disciplined and pushing yourself instead of slacking off when the teacher or boss isn’t looking.

But the question is who are you cheating, the boss or the teacher or yourself. Well the teacher will still be the teacher, the boss will still be the boss and if they weren’t looking then they don’t know that you were being undisciplined so nothing changes for them. You are only cheating yourself. Wow a life lesson from a very basic Kata. If that was the only lesson you learnt from this Kata and you applied it to everything you do in life then can you imagine how your life would change. To have the discipline to push yourself to be the very best you can be.

“Think of everyday life as karate training” Gichin Funakoshi 1918

“Think of karate as training for everyday life” – Derek 2009

 
Focus

The ability to perform a move within a Kata while focusing on exactly what that move is meant to do and focus on delivering it with full speed, power and accuracy. Just take the first move of Gedan Barai. Most people simply do it with speed, maybe with a little power but with very little or worse no focus on what it is actually doing. If you can focus on a real kick coming at you from the side (this is only one possible application/bunkai).

Would the Gedan Barai that you perform every time you perform Taikyoku Shodan actually be able to block such a kick, I would hazard a guess just from watching others in any of the Dojo I have trained in that most likely 70% of people would not be able to block a real attack with that first move, not to mention the other moves in the Kata.

Next time you perform this Kata, while you are in Yoi stance, take a second to Focus on a real attack coming at you with full speed and power and then block it. Embrace how it feels to perform even just that first move with that much focus. Now break down the Kata move by move and see can you place that amount of focus on each one. With that intense focus you will soon learn to perform these moves the way they were meant to be performed, as an attack and a defense, a secret weapon.

Then imagine you are walking down the street and someone randomly attacks you, how quick and affective do you think your actions would be. Only when you Focus on the meaning and actual application of the Kata can you truly learn and master the Kata
 
Other teachings within Taikyoku Shodan are things like precision of technique, muscle memory, coordination, strength and stamina, confidence Etc.

You get the picture. These are the building blocks of Karate yet they are often missed. They aren’t really a “secret”, they are always there for you to see but they will remain a secret if you don’t look for them or if they aren’t revealed to you.

What “secrets” did you list in that little exercise at the start?

Remember no one is right and no one has all the answers but just by digging deeper and questioning the Kata and your Sensei’s teachings and anyone else’s teachings you are on your way to truly understanding and mastering Karate and Kata.

I hope I have opened your eyes just a little to help you realise just how important Taikyoku Shodan truly is and why it should never be considered as just a basic Kata for beginners.

There is so much more to learn even about this Kata that we could be here for days but for now, open your eyes and your mind and start questioning the inner teachings of Taikyoku Shodan , especially if you are a higher grade belt maybe you should think about revisiting this and other Katas and look a little deeper inside them.

If you are a beginner, if you question and breakdown each and every Kata that you learn along the way you will have a phenomenal amount of knowledge by the time you reach black belt.

As always I recommend you start your very own Karate Library – this is a great way to practice your Karate at home. As this site grows I will add more and more to our library but the very first Karate DVD I can recommend is Heian Kata 1-5.

In The Spirit of Karate

Derek

P.S. feel free to contact me with your thoughts or feedback regarding this or any of my Karate Kata Blogs. I am neither a master nor an expert but I enjoy sharing my ideas, learning from others and hearing your views.


14/09/2009 11:31 AM

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