Kata

Kata (“a set form / format / mold / model”) are organized series of blocks, counterattacks, and body movements for solitary practice and developing proper biomechanics. Kata practice is the primary means of learning and practicing karate. If individual techniques are like individual musical notes, then kata are like cover songs — the standardized form only accentuates your own personal nuances, until becomes something uniquely your own.

Kata are compilations of several different self-defense techniques against an imagined attacker matching your proportions, which are strung together into a superficially dance-like routine. For your convenience, we have broken the kata down into numbered chunks, or “movements.” However, kata should be practiced as one continuous and unbroken motion. With practice, the starts-and-stops between movements will smooth out, so technique seamlessly flows into another.

Kata list

Since Grandmaster Durant attracted many strong-willed and fiercely independent students, Goshin-Jutsu Karatedō has no standard curriculum, and many variations of these kata exist. These forms were either devised by Durant, or were his interpretation of kata from other arts. We teach the following karate kata:

• Hajimete Undō no Karatedō
• Futatsu Mae Undō no Karatedō
• Mittsu Mae Undō no Karatedō
• Yottsu Mae Undō no Karatedō
• Ugoku ni Roku Hō
• Yonaka
• Murasaki
• Chugoku ni Chikara Himitsu
• Ichi no Hebi
• Katachi no Chugoku-te Dō
• Kishu Tatsu Geki
• Dwai Gun Do
• Godan
• Harimau Juru
• Naihanchi Shōdan
• Sanchin
• Gopeishō
• Gojūshihō

We also teach the following kobudō kata:

• Hajime Bō
• Heian Yodan Bō
• Nihon no Bōkata
• Seisan Sai
• Nunchaku Kata
• Hamahiga no Tonfa
• Katachi no Hajimete no Kama
• Tsuken Shitahaku no Sai

History

In the past, illiteracy was a cultural norm. Through endless repetition, the farmers and fishermen who developed karate ingrained their techniques into their muscle memory, because they had no other means to store and recall information. Even if they had instructional manuals or websites, what good are those in a fight? During an attack, there is no time to review. You either know karate, or you don’t. The techniques must become a part of you, just as the dancer becomes the dance.

Many modern karateka swapped their kata's practical applications for acrobatic and gymnastic elements to dazzle tournament judges. These flashy forms can win chintzy trophies of plastic and brass, and a fleeting sense of victory. However, these are a poor trade for self-defense skills, and the benefits which come with them — like the freedom from intimidation, and a feeling of personal security which can be extended to others. Function overrides appearance.

Several prominent martial artists have eschewed the need for kata practice. Bruce Lee championed this cause, stating that: “Classical forms dull your creativity, condition and freeze your sense of freedom. You no longer ‘be,’ but merely ‘do’, without sensitivity.” This is only true for karateka who have slipped into comfort zones and lost sight of the applications of these movements (bunkai). Without bunkai, kata is just aerobics. Unlike other arts, Goshin-Jutsu makes no one, correct, or authoritative way to interpret our kata; multiple self-defense applications exist for each movement. We will show you one application; it is up to you to discover the others. By analyzing a few, standardized techniques in great detail, you will learn how to breakdown and analyze motion itself, enabling you to find martial applications in everything. (Case and point: to pass help pass the time waiting to ride a new roller coaster, we devised a martial art based off of the ride operator's hand-signals.) Bruce Lee became a fantastic and free fighter — but only after reaping the benefits of Wing Chun Kung-fu's standardized forms for several years. Bruce Lee excelled not because he rejected forms, but because he rejected the dogmatic interpretation of forms. A man is only as weak as his imagination allows him to be.

Considerations

Your must focus on perfecting you biomechanics when performing a kata. Practice makes permanent — performing sloppy kata only trains you to become a sloppy fighter. The quality of practice sessions is always more important than their quantity — 10 x 1 = 10, and 10,000 x 0 = 0. Over time, as you grow more comfortable with a kata, you should gradually start focusing part of your attention to the bunkai of each movement.

The goal of kata is not to reach technical perfection. Perfection is impossible — there is always something that could be better — you could always be stronger, faster, more stable, or more fluid. Thinking that you're perfect only leads to stagnation, boredom, burnout, and atrophy. This is entirely preventable by remaining mindful that martial arts have no “final result,” and there is no “finished product.” The goal of kata is continuous improvement, and this is achieved by viewing karate as a way of life (karate-dō) and not as a bag of fighting tricks (karate-jutsu). Continuous improvement requires diligent training, so kata practice must become a part of your daily routine, like showering or washing the dishes. This daily kata practice requires conviction to keep you from skipping or slacking off. However, this allows you to practice conviction — and that carries over the to other spheres of your life, helping you achieve other goals and enriching your relationships.

There are a few other considerations we would like to state about kata:

• Karate begins and ends with etiquette, to clear the air of any ill-will, and to reiterate that this is a friendly training session. All kata begins and ends with the Goshin-Jutsu bow, which identifies forms as being from our system. Although it looks decorative, it too has self-defense applications.
• Kata always begin with a block. Karate is only to be used for self-protection, and starting every form with a block trains your subconscious mind to act this way. This prevents you from accidentally harming other; if your reflexes suddenly take over, they are conditioned to act defensively. Hitting someone is never an accident — it is either a display of incompetence or malice.
• Goshin-Jutsu kata typically do not begin and end on the same point in space. This is unlike other karate styles; however, our kata still follow a standardized path (embusen).
• Goshin-Jutsu kata movements are expressed in terms of the Eight Points of Harmony. This image is the "Rosetta Stone" or "Secret Decoder Ring" that makes the written instructions understandable:

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