Nobody
knows what the actual moves of the Kata are specifically meant to represent
because the people who made them up are long dead and didn't write the meanings
down.
When Funakoshi came from Okinawa to spread
the word of Karate he didn't bring a big book of applications with him, and if
he did, he didn't show it to his students.
In his book 'Textbook of Modern Karate', Okazaki even writes
that the
only use for some of the moves, is exercise
Because we will never know the original intention of most of the Kata, we have to break the Kata down into small fragments and attempt to find meaning within the techniques, even if the creator of that Kata only intended it to be a pretty dance depicting the Cherry Blossoms in the Spring under the new Moon near Mount Fiji.
What
is the Best Way?
The simple block / punch applications are just as valid as the complex Ju Jitsu type arm lock / pressure point explanations as no one can tell you they are wrong.
When you first start down the road of Karate,
unless you have done some other form of Martial Art, you will not have the
knowledge of complicated techniques to be able to construct complex
applications.
Don't just wait until someone tells you "This move means.......", make
something up yourself to try to get some meaning from what you are doing, even
if it is something simple like blocking a front kick with a Gedan Barai.
Fighting an army?
You will probably be told at some point that
when you are doing a Kata, you are in fact fighting off many attackers coming at
you from different directions.
As it says above, this could be true, no one can say it definitely is not true, but when you think about it, if you are going to be attacked by a group of thugs, they aren't going to wait in line while you finish them off one by one. They will all jump on you together - the safety in numbers theory.
The Katas are in fact a database of individual techniques strung together to make learning them easier, and perhaps more fun.
In the Japanese Martial Art of Batto Jutsu (Sword Drawing and Cutting), the Kata consist of:
A start position - standing, sitting, kneeling etc
Drawing the Sword
Cutting at various angles - up, down, side ways, diagonally etc
Wiping off the blood
Putting the Sword back
All this within a few seconds
If
this was the case in Shotokan Karate, you would need to learn many hundreds of
Kata which would slow down the learning process immeasurably.
Instead, you learn perhaps 20-30 techniques strung together in an easy to learn
framework that you will hopefully help you remember
What is the Framework?
The frame work is just the shape and direction of the Kata. Timing of the moves is also given a lot of importance in some schools but this can lead to some applications and interpretations being missed.
Heian Shodan for example:
Many teachers instruct that the timing of this Kata up to the first Kiai
is
1-2: block - punch
3-4-5: block - hammer fist strike - punch
6-7: block - punch
8-9 Kiai: punch - punch
Why not think of the Kata as being:
The first move happens before you move your legs - Some one
grabs you by the lapels so you bring your Left fist up to your shoulder and into
their Left forearm, and at the same time you break their Right grip by pushing
their arm away with your Right hand
You grab their Right wrist with your Right hand and pull them off balance by
moving into the first stance -Striking down into the bicep muscle with the
Left fist (Gedan Barai)
They now have a 'dead arm' and are disoriented. Grab the now useless 'dead
arm' with your Left hand and step forward and punch into their throat with your
right fist
Put your Right hand behind their head and pull them forward, throwing them down
as you turn into your next stance
The
timing of just the first 3 moves of Heian Shodan could therefore be:
1-2: block - punch
½ - 1: break grip - throw
½ - 1: break grip - strike
1-2-3: block - punch - throw
½-1-2-3: break grip - throw/strike - punch - throw
When thinking of an application to a move,
always consider the moves on either side of it and realise that what you are
doing is trying to cause some type of pain or damage to your opponent before
they damage you.
If your sequence of moves doesn't end with your opponent being in a position
that he can no longer attack you, then that is not the end of the
sequence.
If he is only a little bit hurt, he is likely to get up, become really cross, be
on his guard, and then kill you.
What we will do
Throughout ShotokanKata.Com, we will be
trying to make the Kata easier to understand and remember, by giving as many
different applications as possible to as many techniques as
possible.
It would be impossible to cover every move immediately but we will be
adding to the list on a continual basis.
Do you have applications for moves that you
think other people would like to know about?
If so just send in your ideas and if suitable we will add them to the site with
an acknowledgment to you
Good Luck, Have fun and Keep thinking!