PRACTICING KATA, PRACTICING WITH KATA

 by Phillip Starr

When you perform a given form, are you practicing it or practicing WITH it? There's a bit of a difference and you should determined which way it will be before you set about the routine. The form should look pretty much the same, regardless of which way you are using it...but it's not necessarily the same animal at all.

To practice WITH kata is to practice with what you have learned from the form. This can include various applications, weight shifting, footwork, adjustments in posture, how and when to release power, and so on. While some movements in the form seem to be identical, they are not necessarily so. Although they may appear to be the same, they have differences; slight weight shifts, slight differences in the timing of power release, small differences in the timing of technique (that is, at what point, during a particular movement, do you execute the technique relative to a step, weight shift, etc.)...

And then there's rhythm. Each kata has its own rhythms (they often change throughout the form). Without correct rhythm(s), you're just doing a complecated form of jumping jacks, The rhythm, when done correctly, will change the way(s) in which you spply various movements in the kata; your kata will come to life and it posseses a soul of sorts.

Most people just slug their way through kata in a nice, even, 4-beat rhythm. Although we must learn kata at first through a 4-beat rhythm, such kata have no life, no soul. Bear in the mind that a 4-beat rhythm is largely a Western creation; Eastern music varies and uses a 2,4, or even an 8-beat rhythm. One need only listen to traditional Japanese music to understand this.

Practicing WITH kata is a different sort of animal than practicing kata. To practice WITH kata is to practice what you have learned from the form; various applications (which can be practiced in self-defense situations), weight shifting, footwork, adjustments in posture, how and when to release power, and so on.

This is how to work on and with your forms and how you can continue to learn for a lifetime.