Purpose of Kata: It doesn’t have to be a dirty word
By budo-warrior ~ February 22nd, 2009. Filed under: Martial Methodology.
Peter Boylan has a lot of good discussion on his blog concerning the importance of Kata. I recommend reading blog for it contains a great deal of wisdom on kata. Peter is a friend of mine and a practice of several koryu budo systems and has devoted himself to a very detailed study of many things that I simply lack the attention span and patience to study.
I spent a weekend with Peter last year and was very impressed with his application and understanding of martial arts and the application of classical systems. I saw many parallels to the things that are important in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu such as posture, space, and timing.
Anyway, having spent many of my earlier years learning kata (which I hated!), and then moving to aikido where I thought that there was no kata at all since we are so dynamic in practice, then to BJJ, which again, is another art which would appear to be all randori and no kata, it seemed to me to be a waste of time.
In the last year though as I started to mature in my rank as a purple belt in BJJ and a new student to Judo, I kinda hit a wall in my training where I really ceased to grow and get better.
Fortunately, I have spent much time with some very good instructors this past year from several different practices. Mike Sigman, Toby Threadgill, Rigan Machado, Johnny Ramirez, Kazeka Muniz, and Minoro Aukuzawa. Now that is a diverse and eclectic group of individuals! Some are non-traditionalist, some are koryu, and a few of these guys are top BJJers.
One thing that was common among all of them was slowing things down and learning the basics very, very good. Some called what they do exercises, some drills, and some kata. However, there were common things among all of them.
Conditioning, proprioception, muscle memory, and posture are probably the most common things that were stressed. No of them said anything about speed, doing things faster, or harder. Most of it was about proper body dynamics, kinesiology, and being at the right place and the right time with the right response.
In all the methodologies we learned, it involved a cooperative practice or Kata.
I think why kata takes such a bad rap sometimes is that either instructors or students don’t understand the assimilation process and how to transition it to the next level of usability. Sometimes it is not so direct. I have been doing alot of reading on the Alexander Technique and how it works with our brain and body. Interesting stuff, which in my opinion, offers some good insights on how our brains work. It certainly explains why we would do kata and how kata works to “re-wire” our brain/body connection.
That however, is another post since this is such a complicated topic!
Kata shouldn’t be a dirty word unless the person using it as such simply doesn’t understand it. Most folks associate ‘kata’ with the solo performance of rote movements practiced in many systems; evenso, most of those folks still don’t understand the point (probably haven’t been taught it or missed that class, maybe).
I’ve gone round and round with folks who claim they don’t ‘do’ kata (oddly enough this include both aikido and BJJ types), but the BLUF is always that they have never actually learned kata in a proper framework — but they still DO kata, even though they tend to call it something else.
Kata is the shape of a thing, it is the format for learning a thing, it isn’t rote drills. It is a springboard and a living reference work, and it teaches — if taught and practiced properly — much about space and timing and physical interaction.
If taught or practiced badly, however, it’s a poor dance interrupted by waving of hands and feeble shouts …
Problem is, IMNSHO, most folks in the West (and sadly, even in the East these days), never learned kata properly, that is, a living exercise, rooted in form and function, fitted into a construct of shu-ha-ri, and as one part a developmental progression …
And besides, when you get old and broken, you can still do kata, and benefit from it, and use it to teach, even if you can’t get all feisty and hard-corps on the mat.
But that’s my opinion and I’ve got lots of ‘em. YMMV, of course.
If anyone wants to learn more about the Alexander Technique, check out their site at http://alexandertechnique.com - it’s a great source of useful information.
Thanks Sue! I have done alot of reading on it lately and find it to explain alot (in western words) about why we do the things we do in martial arts. I have found the AT methods to help me a great deal in my training!
What I am finding out is that we don’t really understand how our brains work. Kata is a method that helps us learn in ways most of us really don’t understand. Our own perceptions about what right is and should be get in the way. Kata helps us get out of our own way!
Here I am coming in from a different tangent about a different “alexander” technique. Kata, as Peter and I had a discussion about a year ago, can be matched up to a modern term of “pattern language” developed by the architect Christopher Alexander. (I’ll leave the looking that topic up to the reader). From his work on patterns and pattern languages he has started to devise other rules and thoughts about how they “fit”. His recent work is on genrative pattern. Flexible rulesets that utilize pattern languages to for creation of homes, towns, villages, stores, cities, closets, parks, etc. that are of scope, scale, and tempo for humans.
I’m of firm belief that Alexander’s work applies to the physical arts as well. The main gist being that foundational creation comes from patterns. Anti-patterns are articifial and suck energy & resources to be maintained. Pattern based systems live and evolve. And I believe kata/pattern based arts that that have that internal integrity are examples of what I’m trying to say. Alternativley, some newer “arts” pop up that claim to have kata but the whole lacks teh foudnatioanl principles to be work without lots of duct tape and baling wire. (i.e when you start hearing the convoluted stories of a particular move’s meaning)
It’s just something I’ve thought about. And these discussions of kata and budo keep sucking me back in to typing with you folks. Hope it makes sense.
Hi, great conversation that you and Peter are having here. I really enjoyed reading back through his archives as he has developed the topic there. I updated my post from a few weeks ago with links back into this conversation:
http://www.mokurendojo.com/2009/01/heads-up-drills-are-kata.html
Keep up the good work! Can’t wait to read more.