Tegumi – Old Style Karate’s Two Person Exercise
Tegumi or Okinawan grappling and wrestling
Just as a great dish needs a recipe or an extensive trip needs a map, so too does the...
Mike Hancock on Kata Bunkai
For centuries the martial arts have been cloaked in mystery and folk lore. The deadly techniques used by master practitioners of karate were frequently...
The Basics of Bunkai Part 7
This series of articles explores the basics of "bunkai" (kata application). Over the last six parts we've been discussing the fundamentals of this vitally...
Martial Art Subtleties: The Lessons Kata Teach
The kata were created in such a way that they required careful learning, training and much repetition to acquire the skill and learn the...
The Basics of Bunkai – Part 8
Welcome to the final part of The Basic of Bunkai - Part 8. In this series of articles we've been exploring the basics of...
The Basics of Bunkai – Part 6
In this series of articles we've been looking at the basics of "bunkai" (kata application). The purpose of these articles is to introduce the...
Kata: Lock or a Key
In this article I'd like to briefly discuss some of the ways in which we can view kata, and how, if we adopt a...
Kata Training: Practice Kata Correctly
This translation originally appeared in Vol. 29, No. 1 of the Hiroshima University of Economics Journal of Humanities, Social and Natural Sciences.
Translator's Introduction
Over the...
Sanchin Kata
Kata (exercises or forms) are performed in many styles of martial arts. With the help of these particular forms of exercise, many diverse techniques...
Ju No Kata
So-called "Forms of Gentleness," as the ju no kata is referred to, is a grossly misinterpreted standard of Kodokan. As performed in modern-day judo,...
Katas: Closing the Skill Gap
Although they are often derided by the uninitiated for their perceived lack of practicality, the katas are the key to ensuring karate remains a...
Formlessness And The Dao Of Movement
The Dao of movement may imply different things to different people, ease of movement, many different stances, continuity, the art of improvised movement, etc.
All...
Bunkai: The Meaning Behind Kata
Okay! Bunkai (分解), literally meaning “analysis” or “disassembly,” is a term used in Japanese martial arts referring to process of analyzing kata and extracting...
Kata and Old School Karate
Many of the past masters knew and perfected one, two or a handful of kata. Now many practitioners know (or half know) many kata....
The Importance of Kata
Over the past several years I've written articles discussing various sides of martial arts training. In my article entitled, “Commercialism vs. Traditionalism” I talked...
KATA – An Important Part of Martial Arts
Kata is a form of unique obligatory exercises involving a series of hand and foot techniques, of punches and kicks, connected by certain movements,...
