Hi All, Newbie here. Hope everyone is doing well. Looking forward to debating various subjects. I have however some views to bring to the party: Learning a Kata is useless and nothig other than dancing, unless you know what it means Kumite competiton/point fighting is not fighting, and is useless for learning how to defend yourself anywhere other than on those matts I believe Heian Kata's were Itosu's effort to creating one group of Kata for Karate, instead of 90 odd different kata's with 60% duplication in techniques I think Heian Katas are themselves a distinct fighting style with 1/2/3 containing high impact strikes, grappling, close range strikes, throws & takedowns, ground fighting, chokes & strangles, arm locks, leg & ankle locks, neck wrenches, finger locks, wrist locks, and 4/5 containing the 'what if that doesnt work' techniques I think 90% of classes don't focus on the real confrontation distance of nose to nose, and applications of Hikkite etc that are obvious at that distance, and within realistic parameters of a fight I think Guard posture with hands up is sporting only, street wise your hands must being doing one of two things: 1. pulling your opponents hands/arms out of the way (Hikkite) to allow a strike, or pulling someone's strike area to your strike, ie grab head and elbow. Hands are always active. Chambered hand should always have something in it (ie a opponents limbs) otherwise what's the point? There are no stances in Karate. The body shifts we know as stances are there to train weight transfer. They are what happens at the end of a technique, not at the start ! Sparring in long front stance is stupid. Discus :woo:
Hello and welcome. Yes / No. If you want to use the Kata to get better at self defence: Yes. If you want to use the Kata to train in Karate while recovering from an injury: No. If you want to learn Karate to get fitter/more flexible/stronger: No. Yes/No. I don't rate it as highly as I rate dynamic and alive bunkai training against HAOV, however it works spirit, reaction time, speed and fitness and those are useful in a fight. No. If he wanted to do that he would have stopped teaching other Kata. They were most likely the techniques he liked the most, so like many of his predecessors, he strung them together into a Kata. I'll largely agree with that since that is how the Heian Flow System is set up. It's not the only way to use them though. That would be my experience of the majority of Karate training. Yes/No. I use fences when talking to people and they are essentially 'invisible' hands high guard postures. Apart from that I agree with your sentiments. I'd generally agree with that. I have been known to cause an argument here by saying "there is no kamae in karate".
I'm an internet warrior what can I say? I've spent too long on american karate forums where creative kata to music is the aspiration. Which results in me arguing with someone and then getting banned. I thought I'd just lay down opinions and see what the reaction is. Seems like we have some realists here I'm feeling at home already
Don't dig up old threads - it's not good form, however you'll find plenty of fun reading here: http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/search.php?searchid=1485701&pp=25
You'll enjoy this too I think. Its called The Kata Debate 2010. http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93301&highlight=kata+debate
Don't get me wrong though, a lot of what you said is true, i was just in a bit of a mood last night...
Welcome to map. allot of things you've said are absurd to me, allot are rather clever, which leads me to wonder are you really a noob? i mean what rank are you?are you findings based purely on Shotokan or have you looked into other styles too?
Thanks ! No worries so was I obviously ! If I told you I was a 9th dan grand master in a number of arts would that make you believe me more? Should it? Brain dumps usually do seem a bit strange, I should have ordered my thoughts before letting them stream un censored onto the page That's what I get for sitting in bed with laptop ! Thanks
You can tell he's not new to MA, by the way he writes and the fact he's said he is a Shotokan Shodan. and he joined in nov 2010 so he been here a few months. A forum noob still but not a ma noob.
Actually ... I registered after being banned from http://www.karateforums.com/ after the mods started editing my posts and deleting them after I disagreed with some of the hippy freestyle kata to music that a triple back flip and 7 spinning kicks in a row did nothing to improve their chances in a real fight. I then buggered off for a few months and decided to have a poke about the other night.
Hi 'Paul A', I agree with what you say apart from the bits that I disagree with My main comment would be that we all tend to define what is and what is not important / useful / real in line with our own experiences and we (all) sometimes forget that what works (or doesn't work) for us may be totally different for someone else. A simple example, I don't teach high kicks for self defence use, I teach them for exercise / stretching only.... Does that mean that NOBODY has ever used a high kick in a 'street self defence situation' - HECK NO... So I tend to be a little bit "Wishy Washy Charlie Brown" and there are relatively few topics that I will take a completely fixed stance on. Anyway ... WELCOME TO MAP
Is the freestyle dancing to music kata a more common thing in the US? I've never seen it here (Australia) or in the UK but I've seen it in some online US videos. It seems there is this whole world of 'sports karate' over there which is a bit non-traditional and exists alongside the more traditional stuff. I just got back from a (lowly green belt) grading this afternoon and I'm completely buggered. They shagged us out with kihon & press-ups and then expected us to do our kata with good form No music or spangled gis in sight - just a lot of sweating punctuated with pointed comments from the senseis about dropping hikates, insufficient kiai etc etc. Welcome to MAP.
