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.