Shaking Tradition – Starting with Tournaments

For the instructor, there isn’t anything we should not take the time to dissect, turn inside out and question it’s use and value to our training.

Nothing that we do is really tradition of long standing. Many of today’s conventions are really recent invention, while being done for 10 or 20 years have no basis from older tradition training. A really good example might be to consider re-thinking karate competition which mostly dates from the 50’s and 60’s efforts onward.

I do think there is a value for some competitive venue at various stages in a karate-ka’s training, but I don’t see most of what has developed really helps us strengthen karate’s roots, the application of karate technique. [For discussion I’m only focusing on competition as used by the older karate systems of study.] Most competition centers around kata performance, sport kumite performance (mostly the stand up trade punch/kick variety), some various pre-arranged bunkai competition and even substance demolition(breaking) competition.

But as I see it the real long term value of training is to work to trust our technique enough to actually be able to use it, and while all of the competition I mentioned has subsidiary values for total karate usage development, there is also a lot that is lacking.

If one really wants to shake things up you need to break up the paradigm and work out a new one.

Why not create a new division combining kata and random application of kata technique.

Perhaps two competitors performing their kata of choice side by side, and the first 1/3 of the score being judged on their kata performance. The next level would be to actually use a kata technique against a random attack. Each competitor would launch a random attack against the other one, and they would have to counter with an actual kata technique from the kata they just performed. The 2nd 1/3 of the score would be on the strength of their attack, and the final 1/3 of their score would be on the counter technique series (with components on use of actual kata technique, and degree of difficulty of the technique performed).

This would require advanced study of kata and advanced application abilities.

Scoring kata performance in air already has standards for judging that ought to be adequate.
Scoring attack likewise would rest on how effective that attack would be do drop their opponent. Fake attacks to take it easy would require very low scores. Hard driving attacks that will hurt if not countered would score higher. As each has the chance to attack the other, it should be reasonable to keep them within limits, for if you over attack, you will in turn receive the same eventually. There could be deductions for excessive zeal leading to injury (and that would require deductions on both give and receiver ).

Scoring defense is where the skill comes to play. How effective is the application shown? How much degree of difficulty is demonstrated by the technique resource. How effective is their ability to counter a random attack (though there may be a pre-arranged range of possible attacks set in the standard, so somebody removing the chair from under the judge and swinging it at the defender’s head can be ruled out).

No reason to apply each kata technique. The goal is to use technique from the kata to actually counter any attack. The defender may only have one answer that fits everything, or they may have a small number, or a really advanced performer might ask the judges ahead of time to select the technique and not let the attacker know which technique will be used to counter any attack they give.

I’m just giving some suggestions, I’m not trying to answer everything, just to show by re-thinking the issue something new and stronger might be possible. It’s never enough to repeat the past. We must always strive to find the strongest and keep it and work to creating even stronger new traditions.