 From a traditional Okinawan point of view simply practising the form of a Kata is not enough, irrespective of how well the techniques are performed. At this level kata is simply an athletic performance similar to gymnastics or callisthenics. True mastery of kata is reflected not so much in the outer performance of the techniques but rather in the depth of understanding of the meanings of those techniques and the ability to apply them. Part 2 by Harry Cook From a traditional Okinawan point of view simply practising the form of a kata is not enough, irrespective of how well the techniques are performed. At this level kata is simply an athletic performance similar to gymnastics or callisthenics. True mastery of kata is reflected not so much in the outer performance of the techniques but rather in the depth of understanding of the meanings of those techniques and the ability to apply them. Shotokan and T’ai Chi Ch’uan teacher Herman Kauz teaches “To become proficient in whatever martial art he is studying, the student must practice with a partner. In Judo, falling and throwing techniques, which at first are learned without an opponent, must soon be done in a more realistic way. Judo on the ground, or grappling on the mat, cannot be learned without someone to hold or from whom to escape. In the various forms of hard-style boxing, a student’s form might appear attractive and effective when he displays it in individual practice, but if he has not worked with actual opponents, the unexpected physical contact may upset his balance and reduce the power of his technique. In T’ai Chi Ch’uan, merely doing the form does not develop the ability to avoid someone’s attack. We must practice push-hands over some years if we desire proficiency in attack and defence.” [i]
It is significant that the kind of close combat training given to Allied SOE and OSS agents during WW2 was “focused on scenario-based training.” [ii] Practising and exploring the bunkai of a kata can be considered to be a form of “scenario-based training” in which the practitioner develops relevant skills by applying kata techniques in different situations. The more traditional Western approach to education and learning is fundamentally similar to that of traditional oriental martial artists. In a discussion of traditional and modern forms of education Roger Scruton points out that “With the discipline, there is a chance of being creative; without it, there is no chance at all.” [iii] This accurately sums up the role of kata and bunkai in developing a genuinely skilled martial artist from the classical point of view.
In karate the analysis and application of the kata is known as ‘bunkai’, although some styles use other expressions such as kata-kumite. The founder of Shotokan, Gichin Funakoshi explained that ‘the knowledge of just the sequence of a form [kata] in karate is useless’ and ‘sparring is a form used to apply offensive and defensive techniques practised in the kata, under more realistic conditions, in which by prearrangement between participants one applies offensive and the other defensive techniques.’ Funakoshi also taught that ‘sparring does not exist apart from the kata...When one becomes enthusiastic about sparring, there is a tendency for his kata to become bad. Karate...should be practised with kata as the principal method and sparring as a supporting method.’ [iv] Funakoshi’s student Fusajiro Takagi made the same point when he said ‘without practise based on the understanding of the meaning of kata, then kata practice has no value.’ [v]
Chojun Miyagi says in his Karate-Do Gaisetsu [An Outline of Karate-Do] ‘In kumite training the techniques contained in the kaishugata are practised with the true spirit of martial arts in a ‘real fighting’ atmosphere, where one is expected to reach the limits of his ability.’ [vi] Like Funakoshi, Miyagi regarded the kata as primary, and sparring as a way of exploring the meanings of the techniques contained within the kata. The value of kata lies in the fact that they preserve techniques not allowed in the kind of sparring usually seen in competitions. For example Chinte features nukite attacks to the eyes, while in Kururunfa the student can practise stamping kicks to the knees, armlocks and throws. Without knowing and practising the application however, kata can become simply callisthenics drills, similar to gymnastics with little or no application to combat.
To a traditionalist an important part of kata training meant practising the techniques with a partner in order to appreciate the subtleties of the kata, and to learn important aspects of fighting such as ma-ai [correct fighting distance] and zanshin [awareness]. The modern practice seen in karate, Taekwondo etc. of simply performing the movements in thin air is, from a classical point of view, incomplete: it is only the first stage of learning the techniques and is an aspect of kihon or basics. Concentrating only on this part of kata is potentially dangerous to the integrity of the system, as the trend is always towards the visual aspects and away from the practical. Before the foundation of the Tokugawa shogunate at the beginning of the seventeenth century the reality of the traditional kata was preserved by actual fighting. Any drift towards unrealistic methods was checked by the knowledge gained in combat. However without the spur of war there was a tendency towards introversion on the part of some systems, and as Karl Friday points out a ‘methodology centred on imitation and rote memorisation could readily degenerate into stagnation and empty formalism.’ [vii]
Actually all arts have the potential for concentrating on the outer shell instead of the living spirit, a weakness that the Chinese Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu observes in his tale about Duke Huan, the 7th century BC ruler of the state of Ch’i. ‘Duke Huan was one day reading in his hall, when a wheelwright who was working below, flung down his hammer and chisel, and mounting the steps said, ‘What words may your Highness be studying?’ ‘I am studying the words of the Sages’, replied the Duke. ‘Are the sages alive?’ asked the wheelwright. ‘No’, answered the Duke; ‘they are dead.’ ‘Then the words your Highness is studying’, rejoined the wheelwright, ‘are only the lees and dregs of the ancients.’ ‘What do you mean, sir!’ cried the Duke, ‘by interfering with what I read? Explain yourself, or you shall die.’ ‘Let me take an illustration, said the wheelwright. ‘From my own trade. In making a wheel, if you work too fast, the spokes won’t fit in. You must go neither too slowly nor too fast. There must be co-ordination of mind and hand. Words cannot explain what it is, but there is some mysterious art herein. I cannot teach it to my son; nor can he learn it from me. Consequently, though seventy years of age, I am still making wheels in my own age. If the ancients, together with what they could not impart, are dead and gone, then what your Highness is studying must be the dregs.’ [viii]
Okinawan masters of karate were aware of the need to avoid the “empty formalism” referred to by Karl Friday. The great master of Shorin Ryu Choshin Chibana pointed out that “Karate, as it is transmitted, changes every few years. This is a common phenomenon. It happens because a teacher must continue to learn and adds his personality to the teachings. There is an old Okinawan martial arts saying that states that karate is much like a pond. In order for the pond to live, it must have infusions. It must have streams that feed the pond and replenish it. If this is not done then the pond becomes stagnant and dies. If the martial arts teacher does not receive infusion of new ideas/methods, then he, too, dies. He stagnates and, through boredom, dies of unnatural causes.”
Training in kata should always be approached with what the Zen master Shunryu Suzuki [ix] calls the ‘beginners mind’; clear and open to new possibilities. People with rigid minds may find it impossible to train in this way; if their ‘mental set’ demands clear unambiguous solutions to problems, then they will feel uneasy when faced with an open-ended situation, where a range of possible answers exist, all ‘correct’ according to context. One important aspect of Zen training to make the student question all his assumptions about the reality of the situations he encounters. Edward de Bono, the author of a number of works on ‘lateral thinking’ explains it this way in Po: Beyond Yes and No ‘If you look at a situation only from within your established way of looking at it, no amount of will power is going to take you to a new way of looking at it. You draw the boundary and work within that boundary, and your answer will also lie within that boundary.’ [x]
One of the aims of kata training in the traditional sense is that it leads the trainee to break the boundaries imposed by a superficial understanding of the application of the techniques. The Okinawan Goju Ryu master Morio Higaonna says ‘To think that the kata of karate is the practice of one person battling against an imaginary opponent is a complete misunderstanding of kata practise. If one comprehends the kata in this way then the way to practise the kata will also be misunderstood. It is because of the belief that kata is only for individual practice that the kata have suffered changes over the years...None of the movements of the kata is restricted to only one application - in a real fight the variations of each application are unlimited. Thus, if you practise the kata enough, in real combat the techniques from the kata will surface naturally in a practical way. It is because of this that within karate the kata are the most important aspects of training.’ [xi]
Higaonna sensei’s comments are echoed by the founder of Wado Ryu karate-do Hironori Ohtsuka who says ‘The martial arts have numerous varieties of kata. Predecessors, over long periods of time, created kata through experience, changes and imagination. It is obvious that these kata must be trained and practised sufficiently, but one must not be ‘stuck’ in them. One must withdraw from the kata to produce forms with no limits or else it becomes useless. It is important to alter the form of the trained kata without hesitation to produce countless other forms by training. Essentially it is a habit - created over long periods of training. Because it is a habit it comes to life with no hesitation - by the subconscious mind...when using the kata of martial arts, one must use it in accordance to the meaning and objective it has, or else it becomes useless...Martial arts progresses from kata to kumite, kumite to combat and so on. Kata is a fundamental aspect of martial arts and hence is unyieldingly important. It can never just be ‘form’. It is essential to train for the ‘living’ form.’ [xii]
Many modern systems of sport combat almost totally ignore kata, while others merely pay lip service to the classical ideal, producing kata of great visual appeal but of little combat value. This is most clearly seen when the practitioners of these kata try to explain the application of the techniques they use - either the explanations are fatuous in the extreme, depending on totally unreal attacks or defences, or the kata have to be changed out of all recognition to make them combat effective. Some ‘traditionalists’ attempt to avoid the question by saying that actually applications are not important! In effect they are tacitly accepting that the kata they practise have been so distorted that they no longer have a combat role. They continue to teach and train in kata out of some vague sense of tradition, but they really do not know what they are doing in a combat sense. Because of this some martial artists refuse to have anything to do with kata, believing as a friend of mine once said, that they actually teach you bad habits which could get you hurt in a fight. Joe Lewis, the well-known American karate-ka and kick boxer expressed this view in Liverpool in 1978, while Bruce Lee once compared trying to learn how to fight by doing kata as attempting to wrap up water in a brown paper parcel. For people with these views kata are no more than antiques, interesting historically, but totally out of touch with modern combat realities.
The founder of Judo Jigoro Kano wrote ‘Kata, which literally means ‘form’, is a formal system of prearranged exercises, including hitting, cutting, kicking, stabbing, slashing etc. according to rules under which each combatant knows before hand exactly what his opponent is going to do. The training in hitting, kicking, stabbing and slashing is given in Kata but not in Randori, because if they were used in Randori injuries might frequently occur, but when taught in Kata no such injury is likely to result because all the attacks and methods of defence are prearranged.’ [xiii]
Although Kano was a forward looking educator he clearly regarded Judo as something more than simply a competitive sport, and so the dangerous self defence aspects of the art needed to be taught through kata. Also the essential principles of Judo need to be absorbed through kata training. Kano wrote ‘If we compare the relationship between Randori and the Kata to the study of a sentence then the Kata may be likened to grammar and Randori to composition...if one practises only composition and does not understand grammar, then mistakes can easily arise in the sentence...Similarly in the practice of Judo, it is best that the Kata and Randori should be done along parallel lines.’ [xiv] When Jigoro Kano and one of his most senior students Kyuzo Mifune noticed ‘deficiencies in katame’ [grappling] in the students of the Kodokan, they turned to kata training as a corrective measure. Kano wrote in his diary in April 1920 that he and Mifune ‘agreed to intensify all kata study and make kata instruction a regular teaching function at Kodokan, on a twice-a-week basis. All students will specially take part in the practice of katame-uchi awase [Katame no kata].’
However Judo evolved away from its martial traditions and became a modern Japanese system of sport wrestling, in which the traditional role of kata was effectively abandoned. Neil Adams, a top class competitive Judo player, had little experience of Judo kata, his only training was “one intensive weekend of kata in my whole Judo career - and that was early in 1981 in preparation for my 4th Dan.” Adams explained that “Competition has, without doubt, been more important to me than either grades or kata and while my main attention has been on the international contest mat, the former have been of less importance. But by the beginning of 1985, I felt I should finalise my fifth Dan...so once again I looked at the katas. I think it is important to keep the katas as part of the grading requirements [which is the only thing that will make most Judo-ka do them] because it is part of Judo’s tradition. I don’t think I learned anything by doing them, not at least from a technical point of view, and so long as it doesn’t interfere with competition I don’t think it does anyone any harm to learn them.” [xv]
Like the majority of modern Judo-ka many karate-ka have totally rejected kata and bunkai training in favour of sparring methods. This may be because drilling kata movements without reference to the application or function of the techniques is ultimately a sterile and very boring way of training. Realising the lack of relevance of such training to combat, either real or sporting, many karate practitioners eventually gave up on kata as a useful training method and concentrated on various kinds of sparring, which has the virtue of producing clear cut winners and losers. A leading competitive karate-ka Vic. Charles explains his approach to karate training ‘People say that I did not do my kata. But I have always maintained that I do not like kata. I always did so it’s not a new thing. This conflicted with people’s belief in the martial arts approach: you must do your kata...I was not willing to go to the club every day and stand in a corner and do basics and think this will make me sharp for competition. You have to change your approach as you change yourself.
When people did not see me in the dojo they thought I was not training. What they did not see was that I was running in the morning, suppling in the afternoon, and sparring in the evenings. And the proof was that there was nothing wrong with my techniques when competing at a high level, or the results of my contests.’ [xvi] If kata is to be of value to a modern martial artist it is necessary to identify the needs of the trainee, and the intent of the training method he or she is following. Clearly methods designed to inculcate practical self defence skills may be irrelevant in sport combat and vice-versa. If we look at Judo where the aim of training is to score points against another Judo-ka in a tournament, then training in kata is probably not of much use. On the other hand if the aim is to develop defences against a variety of attacks, including punches, kicks, and close range weapons such as knives and bottles, then a careful study of the kata is probably very valuable. The same situation can be found in karate; those who only train for sport karate where the opponent will only be using a limited range of karate techniques according to a set of arbitrary rules will find little value in kata training, while those who train to learn self defence methods will discover many useful techniques within the kata.
[i] Herman Kauz, The Martial Spirit (Woodstock, New York, The Overlook Press, 1977), 73.
[ii] Col. Rex Applegate & Maj. Chuck Nelson, The Close-Combat Files of Colonel Rex Applegate (Boulder, Colorado, Paladin Press, 1998), 185.
[iii] Roger Scruton, “What Mozart had and Tracey hasn’t” Sunday Times News Review , May 20, 2001, p6.
[iv] Karate-Do Kyohan Gichin Funakoshi trans. Tsutomu Ohshima Kodansha International Ltd. Tokyo 1973 pp 39, 211
[v] Karate-Do Nippon magazine Vol. 2 Sept. 1987 p 12
[vi] The History of Karate Morio Higaonna Dragon Books California 1996 p 88
[vii] Legacies of the Sword Karl F. Friday University of Hawai’i Press 1997 p 117. Kurt Singer in his excellent Mirror, Sword & Jewel Japan Library 1997 points out the importance of maintaining the vital heart of any art when he warns that “Form everywhere easily degenerates into mere formalism, courage into brawling, loyalty into servility, calmness into insensitivity.” p 160
[viii] Chuang Tzu trans. Herbert A. Giles Mandala Books Unwin Paperbacks, London 1980 p 140
[ix] Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind Shunryu Suzuki Weatherhill 1983. Suzuki explains “The goal of practise is always to keep our beginner’s mind.....In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” p 21.
[x] Po: Beyond Yes and No Edward de Bono Penguin Books 1976 p 100
[xi] Traditional Karatedo Okinawa Goju Ryu Vol. 3 Morio Higaonna Minato Research and Publishing Co., Ltd. 1989 p 9
[xii] Wado Ryu Karate Hironori Ohtsuka trans. Shingo Ishida Masters Publication Canada 1997 pp 19-21
[xiii] Judo [Jujutsu] Prof. Jigoro Kano Maruzen Co. Ltd. Tokyo 1937 p 24
[xiv] Kodokan Judo Hirokichi Aida trans E.J. Harrison W. Foulsham & Co. Ltd p 231
[xv] A Life in Judo Neil Adams Willow books London 1986 pp 107-108
[xvi] Sport Karate Vic. Charles Paul H. Crompton Ltd. London 1983 p 66
|
|
|
(0 vote)
