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By Edward Boot 2 O. Dan from shotokan
A friend recently shared this video (see below the youtube link) of a facebook
page known as "dumbass martial arts" which contains, what could be
said, an enthusiastic kata performance by a young black female belt in some
Kind of karate competition. First of all, I mean that no way I'm intentionally
pulling this person, karate style or his instructors. But I've seen a great
reaction against this kata from some anonymous people on Facebook...
"it's a very famous kata called" I need to make a dumpster but I
can't
" 😳 what a damn disgrace to karate! 😡
Whoever told this woman to do stupid things like this is okay, she needs her
belt removed "
" what was that?! Kata or was it giving birth?
... Additionally I want to make it clear that, I don't like this kata
performance of this young girl either If I was judging this kata, I would have
failed all the kata without help for the very badly executed hook hit in about
15 seconds. And that movement alone, I believe, speaks for itself in relation
to the performance of the rest of the kata.
But this made me think; my judgment, like others towards this woman and her
kata, poses some great questions; who are you to judge someone else's karate or
kata, especially for a karate style that never trained in all of her Life? What
do you qualify to judge someone kata you don't know? Is it a really " bad "
Kata ", or don't you just get the kata or the karate style it comes from?
This theme refers mainly to belts black that, in one moment or another, will be
put in position to judge a kata in a tournament they do not know, or will be
asked what is your opinion on that kata, again not knowing something about it
Not even the style that comes from.
Judge and criticize a kata you don't know
I've had this discussion with some belts black many years ago. How do you judge
or criticize a kata you don't know, or a karate style you don't know? In the
past, in my old dojo, I often had to look and criticize the students who
practiced seipai, a kata gōjū-Ryu that I know absolutely nothing.
When you criticize a kata / karate you don't know, what I summed up (in
addition to another belt black I used to train with) is that it's not so
impossible to criticize someone else's kata from a different style of karate
that you don't know It matters what karate style you come from, I think these
are the three most common things that go from one style to another of martial
arts, and in no particular order, and this is what I seek when I judge someone
else's karate not Be:
1. The essential
2. Attitude
3. Execution
To briefly review the list. No matter what karate style you come from, most
likely you can say at belt level black if anyone has good "basic
concepts" (Kihon) or not. Whether you're watching someone of Japanese
origin, Okinawan, Korean or other kind doing martial arts, you can know if
someone throws a crooked blow, with a folded doll or a folded arm (like the
hook hit I mentioned previously on this one Article). Video). Another example
is a quick shot; no matter the taste of karate you do, a quick kick is a very
basic concept that changes style in style; the leg extends and retract completely
with a perfect mechanical movement or the person drops the foot To the ground
like a sack of potatoes? The point is, no matter what style of karate you do,
it's easy to know if someone doesn't have good basic concepts according to all
these criteria that I will add and more We also have to remember that, most of
karate, comes from the same well. There are drastic variations between karate
styles, but many of the basic and basic elements of karate don't change too
much.
There's a thin line between Hollywood and Okinawa.
The next theme is the attitude; the person wants to be there? You can see it in
a person's face, especially in a competition, if they want to be there or not
(like a child who hates karate being forced to do it for a non-negotiable father).
This is something I use to judge a good kata in general. Attitude is not only
intensity, although they go hand in hand. Now the woman in the video has a good
attitude, and obviously takes very seriously the competition and training. So
it's not that bad in that look. However... a person can also have too much
attitude? There's a thin line between Hollywood and Okinawa. The performance of
this kata, in my eyes, is a little exaggerated. Excessive facial gestures, the
constant kiai, make the kata look silly. The unfortunate part is that there are
karate competitions that are based on theatricality. If it looks good on the
big screen, that's all that matters, and traditional karate is too boring for
them.
The last point on my list is execution. Now this is a little hard to explain.
But when I see a kata, I'm looking for some magic in it. You can tell when
someone is really good at karate. And when they execute movements, they have
that fierce speed, concentration and agility that accompany an intense training.
The woman in this video; she is too tense. She is so tense and focused on the
theatricality that makes her execution of the movements careless. The quick
combinations of blocking, the blows, everything lacks that clear and clear
execution because she is simply too tense.
Where things become confusing.
This previous list I like to follow in general, but it's not the end of all
media to criticize other karate practitioners. One of the areas where it is
difficult to judge a martial arts performance is when you see someone perform
something like a kung fu routine. I don't know absolutely anything about kung
fu; kung fu isn't even "karate", indeed it's a word that doesn't
necessarily describe martial arts. Who am I to judge or criticize someone who
practice kung fu or any Chinese martial art? This is where I think we have to
draw the line; the "modernized" Martial arts that originate in, let's
say Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, Korea and even the Americas, I think they can also
be criticized in general. But to ask someone to see some chinese origin, this
is where I think you can't even compare both.
Another point on this topic; even with similar territories, sometimes it is
better to have a competition where judges are of a single style of karate. Even
with my previous list, there is still a small level of injustice; returning to
my original example with seipai, I don't know that kata; if i tell someone that
their blow is twisted, well, maybe there's a move in that kata where you Doll
is leaning 30 degrees. For this kind of scenario, it would be better to have
only people of that martial arts style judging their competitors. A great
debate is whether karate will ever reach the Olympics. If karate comes to the
Olympics, will we ever be really the " best kata practitioners in the
world "?"? or would it be better to subdivide the " best kata
" by different styles? As long as there is competition, these questions
will arise and, in any case, I only see that it will become a greater problem
in the future
Who cares if it's not good?
My final comments on the subject; we must remember that karate is a journey for
the practitioner and only for the practitioner alone. If this woman enjoys
karate, she loves to do kata and compete, who are we to tell her we don't like
her kata? I'll say again; I don't like the performance that the woman put in
the original video published previously; I think the performance is
exaggerated, too theatrical, the basic is of poor quality and I even wonder
where this kata came from and who taught it. But at the end of the day, if this
person loves karate and is happy to do what he's doing, then who are we to say
something? Me, karate practitioners and trolls on Facebook include?
Finally, I would like to extend an open invitation to the woman in the video or
her instructor in this video to leave a comment or write me about this kata.
You're welcome to challenge me and tell me why this kata performance is good.
Personally, I would like to know more about this kata, style and its origin.
Because, for me, this kata doesn't look quite good. In fact, it looks like a
traditional kata that was very modified and changed to adapt to the
teatralización of tournaments. Maybe it's even a kata invented for an open
division...
Very strange Karate Kata
Victor
-
Back
when I began karate, when I went to tournaments all sorts of schools were
there. The judges judged.
After
black belt, I became very aware I was given the chance to judge many styles I
did not know or understand. And as I understood it if you were assigned to
judge, no criteria existed about what you knew.
Before
I go further, I recognize it is a big world and others can choose to study
whatever they wish. I am not against anyone doing anything.
I was
not very satisfied about that, so as I had chance to study with many others, I
received glances in to many systems. I knew absolutely nothing about the
Chinese arts, among my studies was Tai Chi. After a while I asked my instructor
if I could study some Chinese forms so I could have some idea about what was
happening. The next 5 years he put me through a brief study of 5 different
style forms. I did not become an expert, but I did gain some idea what was
being done.
From
those studies in so many different arts I came to realize when you see
something at a tournament that tells you very little about what the system
actually trains.
Looking
back at those times, I recognize many of the traditional systems were never
traditional. That does not mean the people doing them were not skilled, just
that they really were not karate.
After
I began my study in Chinese forms I was a judge of a Brown Belt forms division.
One of the performers was a stylist of a Chinese system. Of course I was not a
system I studied, but I understood in part of what was going on. All of the
other judges were also not Chinese stylists. They gave that young man the
highest scores. I did not. He was about average in his execution, but at the
same time I could see many flaws. The strange thing it many of the karate brown
belts did far better jobs with their forms and did not receive the scores for
it. Later I worked out what occurred. Because they did not know anything about
the Chinese systems, they must have assumed the Chinese stylist was better
because he was doing Chinese Arts. At least that was my assumption.
Around
that time there were instructors incorporating gymnastics into their student’s
presentations. That was around when the newer ‘karate’ began to come into
existence.
Moving
to New England, in that area I saw more and more of that. Then when asked to
judge I was confused what standard to use with them. Very gymnastic and custom
designed karate. Often quite ridiculous competing against tradidional karate
became more and more prevalent.
Then
one day after 15 years of work on my Tai Chi, my instructor in private setting,
tore my performance apart with hundreds of corrections, rapid fire one after
another. I felt about 1 inch tall. But then he explained where the errors came
from and gave me a methodology allowing me to cure all of them He also
explained his instructor also made him wait 15 years before explaining this to
him.
As
soon as I went home, I wondered if this would work with karate. Immediately discovering yes it did work.
Nothing exotic, just a way to do what you were taught more correctly.
The
interesting thing is that it now worked judging anybody with any system. I
could now see the flaws in that gymnastic karate. How their performance was
almost always unbalanced. Their power and focus were on the stunts but they
lost in on blocks or ending strikes ( to just name 2 instances ) where they had
almost no power when they did them. Those movements became just to keep with
the flow, preparing for their next stunt.
That
was also the time I lost interest in competition. Among the reasons many times
those instructors who taught that were also the judges. I had no interest in
their ability to judge my students.
The
issue is very complex times 10. When you allow all sorts of styles, Traditional
karate, neo traditional karate, space age karate, Chinese stylists and
innumerable styles to compete with judges not knowing those styles. You end up
with very uneven judging.
The
answer might be only like styles compete, As I said complex X 10.
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