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,...
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...
Kata Naihanchi – Karate’s Most Deadly Kata?
The kata Naihanchi (Tekki) is practiced within the majority of karate styles. The word 'Naihanchi' is said to mean 'sideways fighting' due to the kata's...
The Basics of Bunkai – Part 2
In this second article, we'll be looking at the basic application (bunkai) for the knife-hand block or "shuto-uke". As we established in The Basics...
The Pinan / Heian Series as a Fighting System: Part 1
The Pinan / Heian series are often the first katas taught in the majority of modern dojos. This can lead to the Pinan /...
Nage No Kata And Katame No Kata Part 1
Kata? Not in this dojo. We only do fight'n Judo here. It's bad enough you have to learn some of it just before ya...
Kata and Pressure Points
By George Dillman ~ Kata can be compared to a song. The meaning of the song is stated in the lyrics and expressed in...
Chuck Merriman on Kata and the Meaning of Bunkai
"The kata are the essence of karate; without them karate would be the mere learning of various fighting and self-defense techniques, expressing nothing and...
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: 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...
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,...
KIAI – The Powerful Shout
KIAI - ( Exhale - the strong shout )
KI ( chi ) – inner energy
AI – uniting, joining
Kiai is the consequence of a special...
Kata: Why Bother
There are many differing views on the value of kata. Kata is regarded by some to be the very 'soul' of the martial arts....
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...
Creativity, Culture, Power Plays and the Dao Of Movement
There are many fields of creativity in the realm of physical movement, but how serious are people in even attempting to reach the very...