HOW MANY FORMS?

 By Phillip Starr

Almost all Eastern martial disciplines teach a given number of forms (kata). Even judo originally taught a number of standardized kata. The number of forms that each discipline teach varies from one system to another... Wing Chun features only three while Shotokan includes 21! You might ask, “Just how many are necessary and how many do I need to learn?” It depends...

Most martial arts require that you learn or perform (with higher and higher degrees of polish) certain forms before you can be promoted and/or move on to practicing more advanced aspects of the art. It's important to bear in mind that the forms contain all relevant information about a given discipline; they are books of a sort but first it's essential that we learn how to READ (for more information on this subject, see my book “HIDDEN HANDS”, available on Amazon.com).

Some forms are intended to develop specific skills and are not necessarily combative. Most forms, however, are definitely intended for self-defense.

It's also worth considering that a given (combative) form is a complete fighting system in and of itself. To perform a certain form skillfully is something that cannot be achieved in a few weeks, months, or just a couple of years. To fully understand and master it will likely require a lifetime.

Most percussive martial arts (such as karate, kung-fu, and taekwondo) utilize no more than a couple dozen forms at most. I remember my teacher's words about learning various forms, each having its own rhythm(s), and spirit. I had said something about the fact that I had a lot of difficulty in school with math and I could see no viable reason for learning such things as algebra or trigonometry. My father had told me that they were actually intended to teach me to THINK in different ways. My kung-fu teacher concurred.

“Exactly!”, he said. “Each form teaches you to think in a different way. There is much more to them than just fighting.”

That said, I have heard of teachers who teach a rather unreasonably large number of forms. I had a student who had trained in a praying mantis system for many years and he knew something like 80 forms! Many of them were nearly identical to each other. What was incredible was that he could actually remember all of them! I told him that such a number of forms was much too much. His teacher was, I felt, continuously teaching new forms in order to retain as many students as possible.

When you practice your forms, don't just “lob” your way through them; strive to polish them with an eye towards perfection. FEEL them and “listen” to what they have to teach you. There's so much more to them than what you see on the surface.