goju kata questions (relatively new to system)

Discussion in 'Karate' started by furinkazan, Apr 1, 2015.

  1. furinkazan

    furinkazan Valued Member

    Hello everyone,

    I'm currently starting som Goju Ryu training again locally. I tried out a little while ago, but moved away for university. To save a long story, it worked out cheaper to live at home and commute the distance now lectures are on one day only for the next 18 months, so I've decided to return to karate.

    I've got some basic questions out of curiosity.

    1. I have a background in various chinese arts (which I still practice) including Hung Ga, which is known for it's long forms. I hear Karate has much shorter forms, is this true? (baring in mind I've only seen Gekisai dai ichi about twice so far)

    2. Are there any archives of the forms I could look at as reference to practice on my own? I don't quite have the first one down just yet, so having something as reference for it step by step I can use would be helpful to my practice outside of the dojo.

    Thank you for your time
     
  2. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    yup, and youtube, respectively, but bear in mind that they'll vary between lineages a little.
     
  3. furinkazan

    furinkazan Valued Member

    I'm usually a little dubious of youtube for forms, but would this be useful?

    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FHGEjSazUc"]Yoshio Kuba 9th-dan Performs Goju ryu Kata - YouTube[/ame]
     
  4. Travess

    Travess The Welsh MAPper Supporter

    As Fish has already pointed out, a big concern here would be the variation / nuances that exist from organisation to organisation, and even club to club. I am a strong believe in the adage that practice makes permanent (not perfect) and any out of hours training spent on an incorrect version of the Kata, would only serve to make life more difficult for yourself.

    My suggestion would be to speak to your instructor, inform him / her of your concerns / wishes, and see if you may be afforded the opportunity to film one of the seniors performing the Kata, prior to the start of a session.

    Regards

    Travess
     
  5. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    I've not trained in Goju ryu for too long either, but as far as I know and from what I've seen, the first three kata: Gekisai Dai Ichi & Ni and Saifa are rather short, the others are considerably longer (not counting Sanchin and Tensho - the breathing katas). The longest is probably Suparinpei - the most advanced one.

    Here's a video of Morio Higaonna sensei - the supreme master of IOGKF - performing it:
    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtzRc3dZgo0"]Higaonna Sensei - Suparinpei - YouTube[/ame]
     
  6. huoxingyang

    huoxingyang Valued Member

    If there's one thing that I find to be a nuisance, it's students who insist on learning stuff from videos. Pay attention in class and just practice what you know and remember. There's no rush. Try going to more than one class a week if that's an option.

    I commonly find people who use videos "for reference" (read: to learn/as a substitute for actually learning in class) to pick up choreography but miss all the nuance, and then stubbornly stick to "their version" because it's what they saw someone do in a video, and it must be right because it's on a video (end mini rant) :p
     
  7. furinkazan

    furinkazan Valued Member


    Perhaps my desire to learn has gotten the better of me (a bad habit of mine, eagerness). I apologize. I sometimes find visual references can be good for me, but like you said, it would never replace a class (not that I would intend for that).

    As far as timetable goes, it's only this class I can make that doesn't conflict with coursework, lectures or my job. In a sense, there's benefit in that though (in a sense). It being a smaller group than the mixed (which has quite a lot of kids) is good for me currently due to my Agoraphobia, but I'm hoping to build up my classes over time.
     

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