Kata Application Evaluation Checklist: Principles

To evaluate a potential kata application, check the items that apply.

1. More than one proper interpretation exists.



2. Every technique should be able to immediately end the fight.



3. Strike to disrupt; disrupt to strike.



4. Nerve strikes are "extra credit".



5. Work with the adrenaline rush, not against it.



6. Techniques must work at full speed and power.



7. Application must work on an "unwilling" partner.



8. Understand why it works.



9. Deception is not real.



10. If you are not there, you cannot get hit.



11. Cross the T to escape.



12. Stances aren't just for kata.



13. Don't forget to breathe.



14. Use both hands.



15. A lock or hold is not a primary fighting technique.
    

Use this checklist to decide if a kata is golden or possibly sub-optimal. A sub-optimal evaluation might indicate that you have not been taught the "real" kata. See also the other two parts of this Checklist; Rules and Other Considerations.

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From The Way of Kata: A Comprehensive Guide for Deciphering Martial Applications by Lawrence A. Kane and Kris Wilder (2005).

Kata Application Evaluation Checklist: Rules

To evaluate a potential kata application, check the items that apply.

1. Do not be deceived by the embusen rule.


2. Advancing techniques simply attack, while retreating techniques imply defense.


3. There is only one enemy at a time.


4. Every movement in kata has martial meaning/significance.


5. A hand returning to chamber usually has something in it.


6. Utilize the shortest distance to your opponent.


7. Control an opponent's head and you control the opponent.


8. There is no "block".


9. Kata demonstrate the proper angles.


10. Touching your own body in kata indicates touching your opponent.


11. Contour the body—strike hard to soft and soft to hard.


12. There is no pause.


Use this checklist to decide if a kata is golden or possibly sub-optimal. A sub-optimal evaluation might indicate that you have not been taught the "real" kata. See also the other two parts of this Checklist; Principles and Other Considerations.

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From The Way of Kata: A Comprehensive Guide for Deciphering Martial Applications by Lawrence A. Kane and Kris Wilder (2005).

Kata Application Evaluation Checklist: Other Considerations

To evaluate a potential kata application, check the items that apply.

1. Consistent with style's strategy.



2. Built on natural physiological reaction.


Use this checklist to decide if a kata is golden or possibly sub-optimal. A sub-optimal evaluation might indicate that you have not been taught the "real" kata. See also the other two parts of this Checklist; Principles and Rules.

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From The Way of Kata: A Comprehensive Guide for Deciphering Martial Applications by Lawrence A. Kane and Kris Wilder (2005).

Permission

From Sensei to Student.

• You have permission to defend yourself.
• You have permission to be rude.
• You have permission to survive, no matter what it takes.
• You have permission to act when the scary man reaches for his belt. You do not need to wait until he draws the weapon or until he points it at your, or until he hurts you. You have permission to beat me, even it I wear a black belt.
• You have permission to become better than the best instructor you ever had.
• You have permission to invent something better than I ever taught you, permission to use it in my class, permission to use it to defeat me, and permission to teach it to your students.
• You have blanket permission to grow and live and survive and fight and run and scream and talk and play and laugh and learn and experiment and sing and dance. You have permission to win, and you have permission to decide what winning is.
• You have permission to act.
• You have permission to be amazing!

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Adapted from Rory Miller's Meditations on Violence: A comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence, 2008.

On Kata - Learn to Move

Excerpt from Rory Miller's Meditations on Violence: A comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence, 2008.

To me, it looks like kata is all about hands, shoulders, and hips working together simultaneously with a drop in center of gravity (COG). This is one of the most potent systems of power generation. This is a potent system regardless of whether the action is interpreted as a strike, a lock, or a throw.

The more possibilities you see in anything, the more options you have. Since the actions can be interpreted effectively in so many ways, kata may be more powerful as a training tool if you see none of those (or all of them) than if you decide it is just one of them. As long as the hips, hands, shoulders, and COG work together, there is no difference anyway. Karateka get in their own way when they try to dig into the "deeper secrets" of their movement. Learn to move. Kata is excellent for that. Then reproduce or experience the dynamics of actual conflict and you will see how much really valid technique there is in the old forms.

"Kata is to be done in an air of distrust."—Shuzaku Shitama, 16th dai-shihan of Sosuishitsu-ryu