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Post by daveb on Jan 8, 2013 11:08:53 GMT
Following on from a previous discussion, I wanted to ask what each of you feels is the point of kata application? What are you trying to achieve when you search for them? How do you use them if at all? How much importance do they have in your karate? I've stated elsewhere that I came to many of the same conclusions as Iain Abernethy independent of most of his work (actually his early stuff just put me off altogether). But these days he is one of a very very small number of big names in karate who I identify with ideologically. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QyoWdG1C5o&feature=youtube_gdata_playerBut for a few differences this above is my feeling on kata and the point of application. To be able to freely (NOT x does this so I do that) and adaptively apply the techniques (punches, kicks, locks, traps, throws etc), the tactics (e.g. using kamae to draw in the opponent with a certain fighting method) and strategies (the overall game plan that takes you from the moment you are aware you are in a fight to standing over your defeated adversaries e.g. Open the opponents centre line and strike his vital points until he collapses) of each kata or group of kata. That this aim should shape the bulk of my training which will be derived from the kata I am studying by way of kihon exercises, semi free and free kumite drills and anything else that can build combat skill. What do you believe?
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Post by jimlukelkc on Jan 8, 2013 11:52:19 GMT
Kata practice has become an aristic pursuit rather than an aide memoire for a set of combative priciples. I am not immune to this and have often practiced kata for pure enjoyment/feeling and there is nothing wrong with this as such. However if you are more of a pragmatist and interested in combative principles, your practice of kata must be geared towards discovering those principles and applying them. If as some people assert, we can never know what those principles are and are just making it up as we go along, then we have choices. We continue to practice kata as an art form; we continue making it upas we go along ( if it works for you etc. ) or we make concerted effort to pressure test kata and select the most common sense and applicable explanations. This has to be viewed in context. If you are focused on karate as a sport, then there is no need to research bunkai. If you are simply curious then it is of a lesser importance but if you believe that the originators of kata were competent fighters who would not practice something for the sake of it, then kata application should figure large in your training.
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Post by daveb on Jan 12, 2013 9:59:33 GMT
No one wants to share where they feel kata application fits into karate training?
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Post by nathanso on Jan 12, 2013 22:29:12 GMT
I think where kata applications "fit" depends on an individual's goals and interests. If one trains solely for physical exercise (not an efficient use of time, IMO; I use my other exercise time as my prime means for aerobic/physical conditioning), then applications may not be necessary and may even be a detriment. If your interest in karate is in competitions, then applications are presumably irrelevant. If your interest is in self-defense, then it seems to me that realistic applications of kata would be part of your training. I do not think that any of these three approaches are invalid, they are just means to specific goals. A person's interest in applications can obviously change over time with their goals and interests.
I think that a person's view of the role of kata applications may also be determined, or at least heavily influenced, by what a student was exposed to in their early years of training when their views of what karate is supposed to be about were being molded. The JKA karate that I was taught in the late 60's had essentially zero kata applications. Kihon/kumite and kata were almost like two different, albeit equally important, curricular tracts. In contrast, those of you who were on KTJW may remember Jussi from Finland who trained in an Okinawan style. He first taught kihon, then used the techniques in first preset and then free two-person drills, and only then taught the kata as a memory aid. In his system, kihon, kumite, and kata were truely integrated.
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Post by kensei on Jan 13, 2013 2:47:54 GMT
No one wants to share where they feel kata application fits into karate training? Once Bitten...twice shy!
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Post by th0mas on Jan 14, 2013 9:59:58 GMT
No one wants to share where they feel kata application fits into karate training? You will have to give me a mo on this... work, man-flu and life getting in the way...
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