Adaptation

[AngelaG]

Once we start to think about black belts and performing kata like a black belt we are encouraged to make kata our own. Therefore we may look at it and adjust our timing according to the way we see it performed. Therefore a white belt may do kihon (taikyoku shodan) at a pace of 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, etc. A 5th kyu may do the more standard 1, 2 ... 1, 2.., but a black belt may have studied the kata and looked at the bunkai and decide to do it (for example) 1 ... 1,2 ... 1 .. 1,2,3. Obviously some kata dictate the pace a bit more by having slow parts and parts which really flow together. For example I find Bassai Dai very intuitive, whereas Kanku Dai I have to concentrate on my own timing a bit more to make sure it doesn't decline into 1, 1, 1, - because of this development my Kanku Dai may therefore look very different from a colleague's Kanku Dai.

Do you believe kata should be adjusted like this, or that there should be a set timing?

In addition if we find something ina kata difficult to do, especially because of medical reasons, we are encouraged to think our way around the problem. So, take a jump in a kata, like Unsu. If one has bad knees one might want to work a way around the jump. In your opinion can this be done without losing the "essence" of the kata. What are your thoughts on this? Have you changed kata to suit yourself or do you have to stick to the set formula?

[random]

The trouble with adaptation by individuals is a watering sown of the original, whatever that was in the first place. Yet I think once one reaches a certain level one should be able to develop a Kata as one interprets it.

It is a bit like singing, which, by the way, I am trained in, there are some great classics which one learns as they are set down. Then, and only then, one is truly allowed to interpret it as ones imagination allows.

I think the same can be said of Kata. One must first learn the classic interpretation, for arguments sake let us say the one people would perform at competition. Then there is the way I think it should be done, which would not be taken too seriously anywhere sic.

Like so many things in an expressive art it is down to interpretation and emphasis, as well as imagination and an insight into the roots of ones creation. If that means taking out a difficult jump because of physical difficulties, then that space should be filled with something equally hard but less physically demanding.

Personally I would rather see the set version followed by the interpretations. This I believe would give a greater insight into how an individual approaches their art, life, everything.

[Shorin Ryu Sensei]

EXCELLENT TOPIC! ;D

As for timing in a kata, we generally call the kata in class so that everybody moves from one technique to the next at the same time. However, when I ask a student to do the kata by themselves, I will either call it as before, or have them go at their own pace. It depends on what I'm looking for. When we're doing it as a class, I want everybody to be at the same place with each call. How they get to that place, speed anyway, is up to them. I expect higher belts to be faster and still retain good technique.

[nkudahc]

one of my teachers has been know to say that doing kata together in class is one of the worst things you can do to your art because it forces you to conform to some elses timing and pace instead of developing your own. but then he also has said "chad...you freaking idoit...if you can't blend with the timing of the rest of your class how in the world do you expect to do it when some hoodlum attacks you out in the world"...or something like that

[random]

As a beginner it is important to conform, to fit in, to share the learning experience. Once we learn the kata, we should forget it, and just DO the kata (I am sure I have talked about this here before).

To be able to express what one has truly leaned, first we must learn. So in a way your instructor is right, and this happened a while back when I was counting through kata for the class, one person did it different, a discussion followed, but for me everybody was right, what the individual did was their interpretations, they are at a high enough grade to do that, it doesn’t make the rest of the class wrong, they were still right, they just hadn’t found that expression yet.

First we must learn the 1 2 3 4 before we can syncopate and double time.

That is what makes karate a beautiful art, the expression found in the kata of the old boys and girls no kata is exactly the same but we know which they are doing.

[random]

As for fitting it into the real world, generally it doesn’t. We need to interpret and more importantly imagine…but don’t get paranoid…oh and practice the bunkai

[Aefibird]

random said:

oh and practice the bunkai

Ooh, I know about that one...

*rubs bruises from last night's Gankaku bunkai session*

[nyorbx]

yes very good point.....you cannot rightfully defend yourself by just doing kata....you must apply bunkai as well.....i just got back from a Master Tadashi Yamashita seminar in which we did 4 straight hours of different applications to pinan shodan....very interesting

[ukshorinryu]

when we work kata as a group by calling, the call simply means go until we need to next move our feet which gives a little flexability on speeding.

outside of the root form/mould of a kata it is and should be TOTALLY personal to you, anyone who tells you otherwise is not allowing the art to adapt to the individual, which in my mind is absolutly key to application, were all different.

[subzero72]

you all make good points when it comes to kata