Would you prefer to study a martial style with many, (20 some), few kata, (2-5) or no kata?

This is a question of whether Kata are even a good way to teach the martial arts. Whether it%26#039;s important to have many kata, so you have techniques in your arsenal for any situation... or whether it%26#039;s important to have a few kata, supplimented with an intense knowledge of those few kata and many other practices. (Weights, Kumite, Kihon, Self-Defense exercises)

Would you prefer to study a martial style with many, (20 some), few kata, (2-5) or no kata?
Hi there





There%26#039;s nothing wrong in having small amounts of Kata or large amounts. The problem is the way its practised these days. The purpose of the Kata is to teach the student the principles so that they can apply them in their own way. With martial arts today most of the spirit has been lost when performing the Kata. It has become a painting by numbers exercise. People should not collect Kata they should spend more time looking into what is really going on in the forms. Zanshin, the perfect stance, power there%26#039;s far more going on than just perfecting these three elements.





Best wishes





idai
Reply:Our dojo does more than just kata, such as one steps and sparring as well.





But as kata is concerned we, Moo Duk Kwan, have the following:





3 white


1 yellow


2 green


2 blue


1 brown


1 1st Dan(black)





**ADDED**





A Grandmaster our style had, or atleast he was the highest ranking in Moo Duk Kwan for our area at 7-9 dan, created a bunch of kata on his own, atleast 14.





In our particular branch of Moo Duk Kwan, Kondi(sp?) 14 is required to know as well as Shin te for our 2nd dan.
Reply:It depends on what you want to get out of Martial Arts. If you want to learn to fight, I think youd be better off spending your time sparring, doing bag work, doing cardio, and strength workouts. If you want to be true to an older style and want to preserve it, you will probably have to do Kata. Some people really get into them and even compete in kata divisions of tournaments. If you want to truely learn some styles you can%26#039;t get away from doing kata. Ive been to schools that were really kata intensive and ones that did no kata at all. I have a short attention span and find kata really boring. I won%26#039;t train at a school anymore if they do them. I do martial arts to stay in shape and I like to spar. That%26#039;s just me though and what%26#039;s right for me might not work for someone else.
Reply:I did ryobu-kai karate for years, and although I never enjoyed the kata part of it, but rather the kumite, with time I accepted it as part of the learning process.





I practice muay thai now, although there is no kata I now know that kata does the same function (or very similar) to shadowboxing. It%26#039;s to perfect your moves against a simulated combat.





To answer your question I%26#039;d take any martial arts that I%26#039;d enjoy no matter how many katas it has, wether is 0 or 20.





good luck!
Reply:Well Shukokia world wide has I think 78 katas! I am a brown belt and have done karate for 7 years.


each belt promotion til brown takes a kata that u must no and remember and the black belt takes I think 3 extra advanced katas.
Reply:Kata should be an important part of your martial arts training. You want to be a Martial artist not a partial artist. With that said, Kata should be the theoretical part of your martial arts training. It should be the foundation of what you are studying, then self-defense and fighting should be the application of that theory. I think about 10 katas in an art should suffice.
Reply:Speaking for myself only. I do not do kata at all. I never had had any use for them. For me they are useless. I must then have to say NO KATA.


I know that most will disagree but for me kata and belts are two useless and outdated fluffy and non-practical aspects to traditional martial arts. I never have been into kata and know 0 kata. I still have state and national championships in sport karate point kumite, mma middle weight championship along with plenty of real world and compettion xp. All with out a single kata.
Reply:I love kata and i will tell you why, kata is like a hand book of techniques you cant really practice fully on anyone, things like eye gouges and other, i dont think people should spend WHOLE lessons on the MEANING of the kata, the kata is to be practiced and remembered, at the moment i feel confident i can execute the moves from the kata automaticaly if the need arises and because of practicing kata i seem to remember the moves ALOT more than i remember some of the individual %26quot;special%26quot; moves we did before





I absolutely see where your coming from however, some schools spend way too much unecessary time on kata but it is a great learning tool





its alright to have as many as 20 kata, it would get really boaring if you only had 2-5 and had to do them over and over and over again
Reply:kata has an important part in ma,unfortunately most instructers dont understand what the application of kata is for they think it%26#039;s just a grading requirement.i think there should be 1 kata for each belt rank,the bunkai associted with kata is of as much if not more importance than the actual kata.kata is only a small part of ma but is useless if not taught what the actual application is.
Reply:kata is a bad thing in martial arts because it wastes the time and there is no more time for sparring

White Teeth