caveat emptor (Let the Buyer Beware)

Caveat emptor (/ˈɛmptɔːr/; from caveat, "may he beware", a subjunctive form of cavēre, "to beware" + ēmptor, "buyer") is Latin for "Let the buyer beware". Generally, caveat emptor is the contract law principle that controls the sale of real property after the date of closing, but may also apply to sales of other goods. The phrase caveat emptor and its use as a disclaimer of warranties arise from the fact that buyers typically have less information than the seller about the good or service they are purchasing. This quality of the situation is known as 'information asymmetry'. Defects in the good or service may be hidden from the buyer, and only known to the seller.

I have been and will be sharing old magazine articles from the 60’, 70’s and 80’s with martial artists kata performances.. About a decade ago a friends pointed out to me something you should keep in mind.

When those magazines were published it was well before videotape, dvd and all current internet resources. When you saw them, you had no other convenient reference to check them against.

What was explained to me that some of those presenting those kata, were following an older Okinawan tradition for public performance. That being of intentionally altering a kata performance in public, so one watching that performance could not learn the ‘real’ kata. After all the performance was for enjoyment not for instruction.

On Okinawa after all instructors had no obligation to give the crowd but a performance, not the real kata after all.

What my friend explained was this was done to enable them to identify at tournament who learned the kata from the magazine as opposed to those who received actual instruction.

Of course the technique execution of the presenter is still real, if only inspiration is derived there is value to such articles. But I would suggest if you are driven to attempt the form itself perhaps you might check a half dozen versions on You Tube from that performer’s system to try and make sure the form shown is not an altered version.

So when you see these articles now or in some future, remember Caveat Emptor. Let the Buyer Beware.