Jack of all Trades

[miffersy]

Hi All,
With respect to Kata do you think your Instructor should be able to perform every Kata in your art, hence the Jack of all trades, Or is it better that they know 4 or 5 Black Belt Kata in depth, so that you can be taught properly, i.e. including Bunkai and or Oyo.
Whats your take on this.

[random]

I would say both…they need to be able to know all the kata to be able to teach them, but it would be good if they could then ‘specialise’ in a few to deepen the study. If you have a few black belts they could have a few each then everyone would benefit over time.

[AngelaG]

I think that an instructor should look towards knowing how to perform every kata, otherwise they would only ever be able to pass on down what suits them, which might not be the same for their student/s. However, with a high grade kata it is then down to the student to look into it deeper, not to be spoon fed everything. So I guess an instructor can choose which kata they personally want to explore as well. Obviously, if karate is studied as a life-long endeavour there will hopefully be a lot of time to study the kata.