If you watched the 2021 Summer Olympics you may have seen some of the masterful demonstrations of karate. Karate made its Olympic debut this year and I believe it is a significant achievement for the art. It's about time karate was recognized among other sports for its grace, athleticism and power.
I was particularly impressed with the demonstrations of kata, or prearranged forms. The practice of patterned movement resembling fighting sequences is an ancient form training that can be traced back to the early days of Chinese gung fu. Within this practice lies key elements of balance, breath control, muscular power and precision. On the other hand, a lot of "practical" martial arts enthusiasts and fighters look down on kata training, saying it is a waste of time. Why "dance" when you can just fight or hit a punching bag? There is a lot of truth in that opinion and we will go there. But I think there is an equally sound argument for kata practice. It's called neuromuscular training.
Neuromuscular training (NT) has been around for decades and applies to any activity that requires repetitious, precise movement. Sounds pretty simple, but there's a lot science that goes into NT, especially when we talk about sport-specific training. Let's talk golf; I hate it. I hate it because I suck at it. I suck at it because I don't practice. The last time my dad took me golfing, I lost most of his spare golfballs, destroyed a lot of the course and held other players up the whole day. I practiced a few times before we went but I clearly did not put in the reps. If you've ever played golf on a consistent basis, you know how hard it is to hit the ball the same way every time. Guess what type of training pro golfers pay a premium for...NT.
To be fair, when I was relatively new to karate and martial arts, I had the same opinion about kata that many do today. I thought it was a waste of time because it had absolutely nothing to do with how we fought and trained. Just to clarify, in the 70s and 80s kickboxing was king and if you did westernized karate, you did kickboxing. We'd spend about 20 minutes doing drills, about 5-10 minutes practicing kata, then we'd don huge gloves, shin pads, a groin cup and mouthpiece and then we'd, well...kickbox. So, yes, kata training was a waste of time. That is, until I met two very influential teachers who's karate had nothing to do with sport fighting or protective gear. Among other life lessons, these men introduced me to the concept of bunkai, the practical application of kata.
I think it is really hard for the average person who trains maybe twice a week to grasp how kata would be used in an actual fight. To understand and appreciate how the movements and techniques add to the development of fighting skills takes years of practice. Years. That may be a lot to ask for someone who is looking for the fast road to self-defense or the MMA ring. And kata isn't just relegated to karate. Most Asian fighting systems employ some form of kata. For example, every technique in older styles of Japanese jujutsu was scripted (more or less) with a partner. The brutality of these ancient fighting systems called for destruction of the limbs, neck breaks, attacks to eyes and other vital organs. In order to practice these moves at full speed, warriors had to follow a prearranged form - kata - so that they wouldn't kill each other or cause permanent damage. Modern martial arts such as aikido and judo also have kata-based training, but allow for freestyle movement (randori) as well.
Another aspect of kata and forms that irritates some modern martial artists has to do with their rigid structure. I believe some of this came about with Bruce Lee's opinion that being "formless" and "shapeless" was the way to go. Lee was referring to kung fu and karate masters of the day who refused to see things from a different prospective and a lot of people applied that same thought process to kata. But kata is more than just form; it also has to do with culture. Karate styles from Okinawa, for example, incorporate kata that demonstrate many of the aspects of the tiny island nation, including stances, striking, and weapons unique to their culture. Likewise, the kata we see in Japanese karate tends to have deeper stances and accentuates power as well as larger movements. Some could reasonably argue this has to do with winning competitions, but it also speaks to the Japanese culture as well. Either way, if some thing is a part of one's culture and heritage, there will be resistance to changing it or scraping it altogether.
As for me, I revisited kata training with a fresh prospective and studied all of the forms I knew with great intensity. While there are differences in the way I practice kata today, I still derive the same benefits and it has enhanced not only my karate technique but has also had tremendous influence on how I view and study other martial arts, like aikido and jujutsu. Kata is really the handbook of most karate styles or systems. If you want to know the nuts and bolts of your particular brand of karate, tae kwon do or gung fu, study the kata (forms) with vigor. If you're not a fan of kata, that's okay. Practice anyway and someday you too may have a different perspective. Keep training, my friends.
Dave Magliano
Jissenkan Budo
Dojo Cho
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