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...
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...
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...
The Function of Kata Training
History
An elaborate code of movements of the arms and hands, and a flowing posturing of the body, "kata", meaning form, model or structure, uses...
Old Karate is About Interpreting Kata
I prefer "old karate." I mean this in three different ways.
When I first used the phrase, I had been training for about ten years....
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...
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 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 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 /...
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...
The Torso Method Exercises Transform One’s Taiji
The last of a series of exercises developed by Jou Tsung Hwa at the Taiji Farm, the aim of these subtle, precise, and intensive...
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...
Hyung: The Hidden Secrets of Tae Kwon Do
Many black belts and students of Tae Kwon Do don’t realize the devastating self-defense applications that are hidden within every hyung (forms) taught in...
Discovering Bunkai in Kata
By Bill Burgar ~ Today kata are practiced for a variety of reasons. Some people use them as good exercise, some to practice technique,...
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...
Naihanchi’s Mook Jong Drills – Karate’s Hidden Wooden Dummy Techniques
Naihanchi or Tekki kata is one of several traditional Chinese-Okinawan karate katas whose origins have been lost over the centuries. While the Naihanchi kata...
