what do you think of katas?

Question

is kata boring for martial arts?

Answer 1

they are crutial to the training of the arts and need to be rehersed well over and over it takes years to practice the stances

Answer 2

On the surface, yes kata are boring. A good martial artist has to look beyond the ceaseless repetition of movement to see the benefits.

For the body, it is a good workout. I can get more wiped out in a 60 second kata than just about any other exercise I can do alone. It is a helpful tool in taking your kihon (basics) from just a block, kick, or punch and putting them together in combinations that are useful.

For the mind, it is an exercise in memorization and focus. The attempt to perfect something, even the simplest kata, through practice has a zen-like benefit that is hard to explain, but easy to experience.

As for bunkai, don't just stick to the moves themselves, but use the gross motor movements to develop your own situations. A punch may become a palm heel strike, a shove, or a grab. A front kick may become a leap. A block may become a strike. I find it a fun and beneficial exercise to explore kata in this way.

Answer 3

It can be and has become much so especially since most schools and instructors don't know how to relate "bunkai" in their katas to their students. If that term is not familiar with you in Japanese/Okinawan karate it means either demonstrating the techniques of a kata against actual adversaries or taking the techniques and practically applying them. Kata in many schools has just become a weak form of exercise used to help justify the testing and promotion of a person or student. The Japanese/Okinawan styles have a term "living your kata" that they sometimes use or express. An example of this is watch a person do a kata and then watch another person who actually lives that same kata do it. The speed, power, balance, breathing and technique with which you see them do the same kata will be very evident.

Kata done at its highest levels is challenging and a very good workout and can also help teach a person some different aspects to things like balance, movement, speed and power as they strive to perform it and it's techniques at those levels. Unfortunately many never are taught or encouraged to make that effort and are only taught it for their next belt. For every really good fighter I know-I know several other really good fighters in karate that are also good in kata.

Answer 4

For Kung Fu, and Karate, Kata is the lifeblood of a style. The 2 or 3 kata a student chooses to perfect and practice intensely throughout life will greatly effect much of their martial development and what type of martial artist they turn out to be.
Even in boxing they have many/short kata, like the "one, two." (The most famous, but there are many combinations, all of which would be called Kata in tradtitional martial arts)
Kata also practices techniques you can't use in any sport competition, but are deadly useful in real life-death combat.

Answer 5

Karate in any form does not fare well against any other fighting art in it's sport form.
The rule at my dojo is challenges from any other form of fighting are to be treated as a street fight.No gloves no rules.
We have had boxers come in and accepted those conditions .So far not one has lasted more than 2 minutes.

What has this to do with KATA?

Within the kata are
eye gouges
testacle crushes
arm and leg breaks
chokes
arm locks
wrist locks
throws
sweeps
besides the common everyday punch in the mouth or liver or spleen or groin or solar plexus shall I go on.

Dont fall into the trap that what you see in a tournament is real martial arts and if your practice only reflects what you see in tournaments you are at a disadvantage against any other discipline .

Find an instructor who knows where and how the above mentioned techniques are hidden in kata then you will be practicing martial arts as it was meant to be .A savage brutal method of defending your life your family against any method thrown against you.

Answer 6

I loved karate (I'd still be in it if my parents didn't force me to quit), but katas weren't my favourite. Your experiences with them really depends on your teacher; the first teacher I had was actually a blackbelt in a different martial art (I forget which it was, but it wasn't karate), so he was kind of clueless and made up/improvised the katas as he went, thus making them impossible to learn. Then I started going to a different place (same program, different location) and the teacher there was so much better because she knew the katas well and made them less frustrating. The problem for me was the katas were too repetitive (we had ones for yellowbelts, greenbelts, and purplebelts that were essentially the same); they would have been better if they were all different.

Answer 7

I for one hated katas and gave up karate for that reason. I didn't care about belts and all that so I left for greener pastures. I went from karate to boxing and Judo. Shadow boxing is a form of kata I suppose and Judo has something similar to katas, but it seemed more active and atheltic to me. The karate school I was at (Matsumura seito Shorin-ryu Karate) taught bunkai but I still hated it. I remained friends with my Karate instructor and popped into the dojo to see the guys and spar once in awhile. The boxing ate up those "black belts" that had seemed so formidable before. And the judo.....fuhgedaboutit. But man could those guys perform some kata LOL! Some people like katas and that type of thing but I never saw that I was going to be able to learn anything from it. Give me live resisting opponents at real speed as a primary method of learning over kata training anyday. Sure the karate guys spar live, but I've never seen a session in a Judo dojo or a boxing gym go by without lots of sparring. I can't say that about Karate class.

Answer 8

Kata can be boring. Yet if you study a good system the kata (forms) can be great. I teach Praying Mantis the forms are wonderful, their beauty helped me to walk away from Japanese Karate, I think that many of their forms are ugly and robotic. Try to, in training, devote time to Kata and sparring . By the way, I have used praying Mantis to defeat boxers....

Answer 9

Kata has little if any value in my opinion.

its just "filler" for instructors to throw in in order to extend the time that it takes to teach you which in turn translates to more money for them.

Typical excuses for kata would be "well it teaches you the punches then you can separate them".

Ok- a half-truth designed to try to make you believe that kata has value.

What it brings to light is that yes, there is value to learning how to throw a strike properly and generate power behind it. However, is doing one such strike in a pre-set form any good for that?

Will throwing say "30 crosses" in a row, with bieng corrected on form not do that better than 1?

Of course it will. but learning how to properly throw your strike, and doing so then practicing your striking form without resistance (shadowboxing) prior to or in addition to hitting the heavy bag or hard drills or freesparring, is of value as you will use that strike in that manner 100 or 1000 times. however punching forward while someone simultaneously creeps up behind you (for the chambered elbow- give that stuff some credibility for this question), then someone randomly moves to your side for your side kick, while you then turn and low block, well- what are the odds of it happening EXACTLY like that.

Answer 10

Kata practice (or Poomse in TKD) is the best practice for discipline and focus training. They can be very exciting. They should tell a story with motion, so if you find them boring, I'll bet you're having dificulty translating energy through your motions.

Treat them like a fight, facing multiple attackers in various directions. See if that makes them more interesting for you.

Answer 11

I really thought I had very strong legs until I really started focusing on katas. If you work on the fundamentals and really push stances, your core muscles will benefit - if not you're not doing it right. They are boring when you force yourself to do them, they are enjoyable when you really appreciate what you get out of them.