Other uses for kata practice

 

One of the innovations I developed was to use kata practice to strengthen the perception of the student, to actually see in all directions and to hear from all sides.

 

 

I got the idea of an Okinawan Senior Instructors kata practice described long ago in some karate magazine.

 

 

It described how senior karate-ka when practicing in a group would treat it as a challenge to the other group members. When performing the kata one person would suddenly make a change, such as going slower or going faster, done so to see if everyone else was paying attention. Did they catch the change and match it to keep the group together? Then at some later point another would do the same, changing the tempo. Again to see if others were paying attention.

 

 

In group practice this is one way to be sure everyone is not doing the kata automatically, honing their senses during kata practice.

 

 

I also imagine the one making the change if the others did not pick it up, ended up with some bragging rights.

 

 

I thought that was a very good way to use kata practice to keep everyone on their toes. But I altered the concept several ways.

 

 

Among which using the kata as a close order drill for two individuals.

Most of these I did not video or create the best possible performance. But I have enough video to make the point of the practice.

 

The performances I videoed were never intended to be the strongest versions, just ones for future reference. I offer them to show the idea of the performance.

 

Start with the beginning kata I used with my students., that being our Kata Sho.

 

 

This method was not used for beginners, rather for those who knew the kata better. It was also a sort of close order drill when done each partner crossing the other when performed. You really had to hone ones awareness of each other’s performance not to collide when doing this.

I believe this will show you the idea.

 

Basic kata Sho with a partner 

Never filmed I used kata Seiunchin with 5 people performing the form at the same time. The thing was their backs were facing the center of a large imaginary circle and each of them was facing outward, not towards each other.  They would perform Seiunchin as a group, honing their senses to use them to stay in unison with everyone.

 

 

A different version would be Naifanchi kata done in a stack. Again the goal was to keep everyone together. The person at the front of the stack only had sound to control he was staying with everyone else.

Naifanchi kata performed in a stack.

Another kata I never filmed was where I had students perform Wansu kata as a close order performance drill. The would begin facing each other, and in the kata performance would pass each other. Being close they really had to use their senses not to collide when performing the Wansu throw and not have their arms link together but to closely perform the throw and to continue the kata.

 

 

A much more advanced drill was when Mike and Young performed Chinto kata in 1989 in opposite directions from each other. Again they had to hone their vision and hearing to make this work I have a video of their performance.  Chinto - Chinto

The thing is I requested them to do this in 2015, They had not done so since that time. They remained in perfect harmony.

 

 

I never restricted the idea to our Isshinryu kata.

Double Supple Dragon

 

I even had this done with a version of our Bando Hidden Stick

Paired Hidden Stick

 

I really have never seen anyone describe this being done in their system.  Perhaps it is done, but something never talked about.