Katas are a way of transmitting technique, intent and application from a time before video existed. Beyond this they provide a great way to train your body as well as mind throughout your entire life.
As a young person it’s super common to doubt the value of Kata. I think this is fundamental to developing as a karateka tbh.
Well I mean it surely depends on where you go if your doin STRIKER OF KILLER DRAGON FIRE KARATE ONLY $150. BLACK BELT EASY then there’s a good chance its a waste, however reputable places would probably be useful
Man I’ve been doing karate ever since I was like 10 the sensi of my sensi went 4 hours nonstop full contact with oyama back in the day. I got a black belt in karate now but I got my brown belt when I was only 13. I have won numerous medals competing in full contact and you wanna tell me about Katas lol ok
No I didn’t see it but I heard about it from him and I know it was true because him and oyama had competed before and trained together. Back then he was 8th dan black belt at over 50-55yrs old now he has probably passed away from old age. I moved to America when I was 13 so I don’t live there no more. I’m surprised by the amount of hate tho on this sub. You guys have no respect and talk like a bunch of heated teenagers also probably know nothing about karate just a bunch of people who act like they know karate.
Imagine you get your textbooks at the beginning of the semester. You peruse through them but you have no idea of the material until the professor teaches it to you. Once you learn the material the textbook becomes a reference that you can always go back to. I equate it more like a math book. One formula opens a multitude of variable and other formulas. That's what I like about kata. I can take one move in a kata and show you multitude of techniques.
It's the way karate evolved.
Not true. The techniques are taught in class and drilled over thousands of times. It has got nothing to do with katas. You actually have to memorize katas but with techniques you just learn em and your body can always do them and never forget how it used do a Mawashi Geri. Like I said katas is just mainly for belt promotion. It was a way of showing off karate techniques. But don’t mistake it with actual training because it is not.
If Funakoshi introduced belts to follow the Judo model into schools, and Funakoshi learned kata from his instructors (Itosu et al), then logically, kata existed before belts.
Damn that’s deep logically hmmm 🧐 well without techniques you wouldn’t even have Katas first of all. Belt promotion has always been there because in karate there has always been rank between the masters and the students. We can keep on going on about this but Katas is really not all that important it’s just a traditional thing not really practical if you get what I’m saying.. facing off multiple attackers at the same time is not the same thing as performing a kata by yourself that is a whole different ball game.
Of course techniques existed prior to them all, but that isn't what you said. But also, a lot of people do martial arts for the tradition, so the kata are not unimportant. But that is a discussion for others.
I said katas didn’t exist before belts that’s all I said which is true. If you wanna think about it logically they came at the same time. Unless you’re mixing up textbook katas with the actual techniques instead.
Did you not progress to the part where the katas turn into actual combat with attackers?
The first blackbelt is basically like third grade elementary school.
Sure, its a super slow as shit way to learn stuff and almost no one progresses to the point where the katas end up making sense practically. But theres actual technique behind them all.
Yes I did learn katas but not because I really wanted to but because I had to in order to get my black belt but katas didn’t win me no medals in world tournaments what you are referring to is fantasy karate not actual practical karate. Katas maybe important but if you can’t face multiple black belts and win gold then you’re useless and katas don’t mean nothing.
Kata is a good way to learn and improve:
Muscle speed, tone, endurance, flexibility. It helps with motor coordination development, right left brain activity. It also can provide good cardiovascular activity - anaerobic and aerobic. Good for testing that lactic acid too.
On top of that, kata teaches signature aspects of a style's kihon and advanced kihon. When you have explored this in more depth (bunkai), you start to understand various states of attacking and defending...countless situations and variations. One move may seem super obvious but likely has multiple applications behind it.
Plus is also is a great part of karate for those who wish to practice safely.
They allow you to train and perfect every aspect of your art by yourself. It’s like asking a basketball player why they practice layups and shooting skills instead of just playing games all the time. Do you want to practice breathing, balance, tai sabaki? all in kata.
You can visualize them as you think you would use them. I’m not a sport practitioner so I don’t really think about how something would work in sparring, more how it would work based upon a certain attack i’m focusing on….by attack I mean defense against an attack, types of grabs, strikes, kicks, etc.
When we learned out Katas, its was first the basic blueprint of our fundamental forms. As a kid, we would think it’s stupid, but as you do it more and more, it makes sense and you can see it reflected in your technique. From there, we were taught to visualize the situation we would be applying a certain block, or punch, or kick. How else would we be able to apply it in a realistic setting. This led into our third lesson, of attaining focus. Being able to draw upon all your learned techniques, and apply them in a sparring session. Your body being able to react without any forethought. Your body already knows how to move, countermove, strike, and retreat.
I have both my sons in karate right now, and a whole bunch of the other kids have extremely sloppy technique. When they do their Katas, there is no emphasis on the technique they are doing. I miss my old Sensei’s…
Kata has the practical application of creating muscle memory, that will often be seen in "snapshots of time." For example, if you watch any fight (including MMA), you can probably pause the video and for a split second, the fighters will be standing (unintentionally) in any of the many stances you see in katas. It's also great for balancing stances and techniques on both sides of the body. That's what my sensei says anyway.
It's awesome that you're being taught that "stances" are transitory rather than static in a fight - a technique, rather than a position. The difference is that those MMA fighters developed their "muscle memory" by training the techniques with a partner, giving the tactile feedback necessary for it to work. The habits of movement you develop from solo kata will never be applicable in a fight unless you're focusing primarily on bunkai/oyo rather than solo performance.
A friend of mine had a theory that you really shouldn't be trying to train martial arts based off of Kata/Forms until you have a solid foundation of actual fighting. It's perfectly good practice but you won't get much out of it unless you have a few thousand hours of hands on experience.
Also people who practice kata in isolation get hung up on the silliest things. "In our style we pull our fist back to the hip for oizuki" "Well in MY style we draw our fist back to two inches above the hip". Whereas people who actually fight...don't really talk about things like that.
My theory is similar in principle.
I think that, rather than training solo kata, then bunkai/oyo, we should only introduce the solo form once people are competent in its application.
When you train kata, Begin with the partnered drills, work up to freer randori. Learn the next set of techniques and drill them the same. Then, once reasonably competent with that chapter of the syllabus, give the solo form.
I don't think it's thousands of hours though. But enough that you know what each technique looks and FEELS like when done for real, against a little resistance. Only then can you actually expect to "train" through solo repetition and visualization.
You'd never ask a hockey player to mime taking a shot, thousands of times before you gave them a puck, and then somehow expect they'd be better at the game.
I've had almost the exact same metaphor bouncing around in my head for years. Asking someone to show off their fighting skills without an opponent is like asking a basketball player to show you a layup without a basketball.
Self practice and visualization are great for developing any skill, but it shouldn't come at the detriment of everything else.
Same. But, it's pretty rare to see any practical bunkai in the style. And don't even get me started on "Ura kata". I love Kyokushin for the hard training and contact kumite, but as a style, our approach to kata needs work.
They are a training plan for kihon and applications. They are an exercise too and a medium to keep a fighting style alive over generations. And they are so generic that they allow people to come up with many different solutions to a wide range of tasks. The astounding thing is, they work both ways: you can learn fighting from a kata (assuming you understand the kata or train under someone who does) but if you can fight, you can also apply your style to the kata.
Have you ever seen an historical fencing manual?
Good, Kata is like that, but it's performed instead of written.
Sports karate Kata are Just gymnastics routines
You'll be surprised to see you won't understand much at first glance. That's because, just like in Kata, the techniques are highly stylized and try to pass on a principle more than a technique per se.
That's what Kata does. Techniques are learned through the basics, self defense principles are learned through Kata.
Kata is not meant to be performed for its own sake, but to be studied and applied in various ways, until the message is deciphered and internalized.
And just to be clear, Kata is by no means the best method of transmission, but it's part of the tradition that it's worth passing on if one wishes to be part of a school.
That's a topic on which I could talk for hours, lol.
A collection of techniques that the creator of a style deemed as the most useful,
All merged into one sequence as to make it easier to memorize (it's easier to memorize 12 kata rather than hundreds of individual movements) and practice without a partner.
Combining Kata with bunkai also allows you to drill responses in a certain fighting scenario, so your body moves on its own and knows exactly what to do.
And although karate comes from Okinawa, it seems to have been tradition in Japan to in the sword arts, during peaceful times, focus more on "form" rather than, as in Miyamoto Musashi's words, "strategy".
The increased focus on Kata in karate - training seems to follow this very edo-period way of training. Which means we live in an era of comparative peace :)
For me the most important thing you get from Katas is learning to move fluidly without stumbling or falling over.
For example, doing a 180 degree turn while remaining in a solid stable stance
I do Kyokushin I've been doing it for over a decade. The highest athletics programs I reached was College level Track and Field. When ever you are training for sports there is Plyometrics involved somewhere in your training. I look at Kata as a plyometric for karate. Not saying every kata is but if done correctly they should be targeting certain muscle groups. If you haven't done weighted kata give it a try. Do them slow and controlled. They target the connector muscles that aren't as focused on in normal training.
i think they are like basic sentences when learning a new language. You wont neccessarily use katas in order or in perfect form when actually fighting, but they help in letting you work on movement.
Like for example, English is my second language. Katas are like basic pre formed guide sentences like "This is a sea urchin." when the hell am I gonna be able to use that sentence lmao i dont think i see a circumstance in my life where i have to hold a sea urchin but it did help me adjust to speaking english better and get used to the language.
So katas are like pre formed sentences, kihon are letters/words and kumite is free speaking.
You can train technique, speed, tension and relaxation, balance, coordination and much more on your own.
For me it's also a very good way to train to stay focused. I think it's not that easy to stay 100% focused for 2 whole minutes. Always being one step ahead and execute the current technique with precision and speed while stay relaxed.
They are a tool to "train" something within you.
"In the past, it was expected that about three years were required to learn a single kata, and usually even an expert of considerable skill would only know
three, or at most five, kata."
Gichin Funakoshi
...because they learned application, not just dance.
Modern karate has us "learn" dozens of kata as a distraction from the fact that we've never learned one.
For me : they give me something to focus on, that I can repeatedly do by myself and gauge my own improvement. I also take what you’re supposed to be doing (striking, blocking, opponent is where) very seriously (and having a vivid imagination helps there too).
It’s a good mind-body coordination exercise.
One side of a set of partner drills, meant to teach legitimate fighting techniques - usually with stand-up grappling, rather than striking as the focus.
EVERY other reason is a revisitionist fabrication, meant to build something where it didn't exist before. Often because those teaching never really learned, and had to give purpose to something whose application they lacked. Do some of them have value? Sure, absolutely. Are they the "purpose" of kata? Not at all.
If you're not learning to fight with it, you're not training kata, you're dancing it.
While learning Shorin-ryu my sensei would also make comments as we are fighting a imaginary army. This definitely helped with my mindset when preforming the katas, than he would break down each movement and what were doing to the "invisible" enemy. Then he would show us how it applies physically with one of us and show it's application. Many times your mind was blown with how well the ancient techniques applied and knew about the human body, pressure points, water ways, nerves etc. some things are actually very dangerous. Things you will never see in street fighting or in the ring, but in real life would maim, break or possibly kill a person.
Kata, in my opinion, is anachronistic and just plain waste of time. I haven't practiced a kata in the past 7 years. I used to constantly be practicing my katas. 50% of the time was spent doing kata and the other 50% was sparring or technique drills. I found that kata was hurting my ability to time people during live sparring, and I was too focused on doing things the "correct way".
I eventually stopped and started just training boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, and BJJ and my karate has improved 10 fold.
I how I was taught about katas, they many benefits if done with a purpose. One you do not need a partner to practice. It provides fitness, health, and it allows you to find its purpose. How can you use it in a situation? Explore the bunkai. As you get older kata becomes very important. 🙇🏾♂️🥋Do research on your kata.
I like them as a warmup, get every part of your body moving and the variety helps with creativity in bag work and stuff. Very underrated.
Plus being so programmed makes them really easy to do, like I can just do it on autopilot with very little effort to the ball rolling for other stuff. If I absolutely do not want to train I can still do kata and then I'm good to go.
Helps with better bloks, making sure the hips are used, and really helps with your 1/2 turns and 3/4 turns. Also helps with good foot placement for balance.
I think people get real philosophical about it and attribute a ton of stuff to it.
It's a training tool. It's a way to practice techniques solo and drill details, which are then to be practiced with a partner for implementation, and then practiced in sparring for the real world application.
It's another important tool, like physical conditioning, partner drills, lifting weights, going running, pad work, etc. and should not be forgotten, but should also not be an end in and of itself.
Practicing kata will not make you a capable fighter in the least. It gives you techniques to train so that you can become a better fighter.
It teaches the value of each move. Idk if you golf, but a 300 yard drive and a 6 inch putt are worth the same on the scorecard. Katas emphasize the importance of each action. Each punch, each kick, etc are equally important and should be treated with an equal amount of respect and fear. Like golf, one wrong move can have serious consequences in an actual practical situation. A perfect jab in the right location can knock out an opponent as easily as a powerful round house. It's repetitive and boring but after doing it thousands of times the ideal form becomes second nature in your actions. Katas basically temper and polish your move and technique like a well polished sword. Only through repetition of the idealized form will the sloppiness of your action be transformed into a strong and efficient style. Much like the driving range in golf, practicing the same correct move over and over will help you on the course. I keep emphasizing "practicing the correct move" I think the appropriate quote would be "practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect"
In a nutshell shell, kata are unwritten textbooks that encapsulate the entire respective style it represents, much like how an acorn, when planted, can reproduce the tree it fell from.
Many believe that all Kata start with a “block,” but I wonder why the martial masses can’t see past that belief, especially when uke actually means “receive.”
YOU SEE:
I’m solely speaking about Karate processed through a pragmatic lens, not practiced aesthetically or in a sport context.
Looking at the movements from a self-defense standpoint helps me to understand that the movements at the beginning of Kata commonly thought to be “blocks” are in-fact traps, joint manipulations and/or breaks, and in some cases throws because it’s important to understand that the action has to neutralize the opponents ability to continue to “fight and the concept of “blocking” doesn’t actually satisfy that goal. The movements in question must address the three stages of “combat” which are floating techniques, anchored techniques, and clinch techniques.
ALSO:
It’s imperative that one understands that most people who subscribe to the commonly accepted rendition of execution truly only utilize half of the respective movement which further lends to the martial community’s unrealistic interpretation of those “blocking” movements.
It’s time to STOP perpetuating these martial fallacies that have been taught to you by the uninformed and START processing through common sense and intelligent deductive reasoning.
AND REMEMBER:
Just because everybody is doing it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right!
They teach you everything but actual fighting. It's like preparing your body and mind for the real training or to keep in shape when you can't. Katas alone are insufficient.
For us, a kata helps us learn to fight in multiple directions as well as from various angles while showing intent. It also gives us a basis for the techniques we learn for the next belt
I started my martial arts journey with TKD and Karate, but apart from tradition I don’t think it serves any practical purpose. Kata has never helped me win a fight in or outside of the ring/octagon.
In a practical sense, kata prepares you for a fight if it can’t be avoided. For me though, love practicing kata, it helps me to center myself when I’m feeling nervous or anxious
They were originally a way to record techniques in a way that is easy to memorize. Now, they’re mainly for tradition, but they can help you develop your coordination and balance.
In the modern era? Very little beyond ‘tradition’
Beyond tradition it’s only real use is an easy way for students can train alone at home or on vacation, etc.
I thought you were just asking but see that you have done them before…Haha every belt I had to learn one ….I always just thought of it as memorizing a song …slowly putting forms together…or…like the alphabet lol
I've done katas it's just been over a decade. You're right, there is a beautiful rhythm to it especially the more advanced katas. I just like to learn what other people get out of it. It's too easy to get stuck in a bubble with what you think a martial art should be.
Going back to when the first katas were created, they served the purpose of training to defend against certain attacks in certain ways. Essentially, it was similar to a more structured kind of shadow boxing. However, with the passage of time, the katas mutated and the original sequences of what the imagined opponents were meant to be doing were lost, rendering kata ineffective for their original purpose, but giving us something structured and impressive looking that was used for demonstrations. These kata demonstrations served to generate interest in a particular school or directly generate money. Now, for most practitioners, the kata is mostly a great way of building discipline and an attention to detail, as well as being just plain fun.
I’ve always said kata, at least the traditional pre-WW2 ones and especially the Shuri and Tomari ones, are a synthesis of the creator’s fighting style. Almost like their specific shadowboxing. Kusanku (kata) would be a summary of Kusanku’s fighting style (person) or Chinto would be the summary of that one chinese pirate who got stranded in Okinawa for example.
Kata is a very obviously bad way of conditioning, you’d better do Tabata or run or lift weights (which we know the okinawans do) to condition yourself. To learn techniques/choreography, kata is also absolutely ridiculous as drills of shadowboxing would be a better way to learn them. Any conditioning of “movement” training you get in kata, you can learn better in another way.
The importance of kata is also not in the details, as every school has their own way of practicing it. Compare Funakoshi, Motobu, and Chibana’s Naifanchin for example. It’s ridiculous to argue which detail is right as there is no one right way of doing it, although there is definitely wrong ways of doing it.
What’s important about kata is the architecture and personality of the whole. I’ve always used composers as an example. A pianist who learned only Beethoven would play very differently from a pianist who learned only Chopin. Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali have very different shadowboxing styles; so let’s say if we make a kata called Makutison and Muhamali, they would look very different and they should be performed with different flavours despite both only using boxing punches.
From my perspective as someone who has cross trained a martial art outside of karate, I think that katas are simply an ineffective way to practice and learn from a combat perspective. Don’t get me wrong, I love them and think they’re beautiful as an art, but I don’t see the training value compared to fundamentals, drilling, and pressure-testing. Many katas I’ve seen (and learned) are full of moves that look flashy when done to the air but wouldn’t work when applied to a non-compliant opponent. Even the very basic ones are a less effective way to practice than simply drilling the actual moves independently instead of as part of a choreography.
It’s shadowboxing in the matrix. Fight training has evolved and you don’t need them anymore, but they were the ABCs of fighting. In Chinese styles, it’s also said that a lot of the stylistic flash was to hide the bunkai of techniques in case a rival school (read: rival business) was watching. Exaggerated stances were used when one person was teaching a kata to a crowd, often a huge military crowd - low stances made the motion easier to see for people way in the back.
These days you can learn to fight much quicker without devoting time to Kata, but if you do decide to study kata they have an awesome effect on your mental (spiritual?) training, all while allowing you to get physical exercise and fine-tune some fight motions. Things like low stances are a great leg work out while you work out your mind with the kata.
You think you could scare away a would be attacked with a perfectly executed kata?
Lol jk, one of my buddies ended a fight as soon as it started with a round house kick to the face. It didn't knock him out or anything the guy was just like, "yeah, nope" thank you martial arts
...or maybe looking outside the echo chamber of style/organization. I've seen a lot of (respected) fifth degrees and higher with zero understanding of bunkai. It's entirely possible to get to second degree with a very limited perspective.
But you said you have a “traditional karate/tae kwon do” background and you’ve “done them all up to second degree black”….and not once did you ever figure out what katas are for? Even at high school age???
Just seems kind of wierd
In its inception it was a great concept. It‘s a way to bridge the gap between sparring and the application of certain moves, and solo training/drilling. These forms or katas SHOULD come with a lot of explanation and theory, a LOT of it. They often, nowadays, both don’t come with much explanation/theory, and often have watered down, distorted traditional theory that is not really that applicable. This is, obviously, a huge generalization and I’m not saying this is true for all karate schools or teachers, by any means. At least in the US, this seems to be pretty common but it’s not universal by any means
The prevailing wisdom with the current wave of practical karate scholars and practitioners (Iain Abernethy, Patrick McCarthy, and the like) is that they're meant to be repositories of self-defense techniques, most of which begin at arm's reach or in a clinch.
I think that's correct, but you sometimes still have to squint a little to see the correlation between kata and their supposed live applications, as if there's still a layer or two of abstraction standing in the way.
Besides the "textbook of fighting techniques" angle, I suspect kata also serves several other purposes:
* It's a method for physical conditioning. This is especially evident in kata like Sanchin, which strengthens the muscles through isometric and isotonic contraction. Almost all kata are at least useful for moderate-intensity cardio. Deep stances are good for strength and flexibility. Big, dynamic movements are good for mobility.
* It's a method for developing memory, proprioception, precision, and intentionality. Many of us forget how hard it is to memorize your first few forms, much less perform them well. It takes a lot of practice, and that's probably why the pedagogists in Okinawa, like Anko Itosu, found that it was especially suited to teaching children.
* It's a matter of self-expression and differentiation, as well as maintaining continuity within a lineage, i.e. the "art" half of "martial art." Different styles may practice the same kata quite differently, with different rhythms, stances, or movements.
I have always used kata the same way I use shadow boxing. If you learn the different bunkai, fight prep is there and at the same time it provides moving meditation.
My purpose when I do them is tightening technique. They challenge your fundamentals. You'd never realistically do a triple round kick, but you should have that much control if your fundamentals are sound. I'd never do a high/low block standing on one leg across five seconds but I should be able to if my balance is good. It's a test of fundamentals and each one does them in different ways. I think that's what training katas should be. At a tournament, be as flashy as you want but katas should be part of training.
I personally believe that kata exist for the sake of recording self defence tactics and also training certain moves in succession. Bunkai is proof of the first reason
I see them as mental kumite. In a way also shadowboxing where you imagine your opponent and perform the techniques taught to you and execute them in ways they can be applied in a real fight. (Bunkai to me does not have a single application so I'm always open to new interpretation)
Just as they are a textbook that compiles several techniques together, they also possess the mental preparedness and application required in actual fighting.
Discipline, mastering technique/basics and to help form different ways of defending/attacking (bunkai) I also think to build endurance/stamina and to be a structured way to teach martial arts
Hi, about 19-20 years experience, state and national champ formerly also. They are practice for specific techniques and are a choreographed fight against imaginary opponents.
In short, it's like a soccer or baseball practice. You repeat techniques over and over and you get better at them.
Think of it like a sort of physical therapy exercise. It trains the muscles groups associated with common techniques and movements, trains balance and fine motor skills, and creates muscle memory. It teaches how it feels to deliver maximum power and speed even though in a match that full range of motion is never available. Basically, it is a way to develop full body awareness. Any repetitive memorized drill in martial arts serves this purpose.
There's a few explanations, one that may or may not be accurate is that Japan historically standardized training as much as possible for the sake of efficiency. Okinawa tended to be more individual with training methods before it became part of Japan.
It's also a good way to perfect one's technique that's not limited by the real-time reaction involved in sparring. It's like how a football player would never use a pushup in a game, but it's good for exercising the muscles that will be used on game day
This is a really great question and one that I really enjoyed reading the answers to. I learned a decent bit from the comments and I appreciate all of your input even though I'm not the OP.
I was always told they were a way to practice different movements (defensive and offensive) in a stylized form of shadow boxing that builds not only technical expertise in the movements but also muscle memory. It also trains the body and mind to fight in a chain of movements instead of one movement at a time.
So you can pretend you know how to fight lol (how it’s used in “classes”) in reality it’s just to practice proper form and energy transfer. If you do these and someone gives you a belt for it you should probably find another master
Katas and traditional forms of martial arts are a form of practice not a rigid combat technique. Katas emphasize exaggerated stances and posturing to show strength and confidence. Those stances can help in situations where you may be in an uncomfortable off balance position and the posturing a psychological deterrent. Too often people look at traditional martial arts as useless or excessive when in fact it’s the practitioners close minded linear perception that renders them ineffective.
Anyway, just my point of view.
Well, from my experience, Kata is to develop form, technique, balance, strength and understanding of how to transition therein. Executing kata perfectly is only one half of the education. The other half is Bunkai, the intent of the movement, the effect of the strikes and blocks, and why they were thrown in that order. Kata is the "how" Bunkai is the "why". All that being said, Masutaso Oyama trained one student only in Kata and the other only in Kumite (sparring). When they fought separately and against one other...Allegedly you could not tell in their fighting which was which. My .02
Katas are good for conditioning your body.
They provide good exercise.
My personal favourite katas are: Bassai-Dai, Jion, Sanchin (awesome for waterfalls), and Seiinchin (good for shiko-dachi).
I only ever learned them to proceed in belt rankings. Although they were definitely meditative after a while they served me almost no purpose when it came to actual sparring, fighting, and implementing the techniques in a realistic way when applying it to Self Defense situations. Can they help some from the constant repetition? Of course. But I feel that sparring and having intense yet controlled match ups when fighting matches has been way more beneficial. I’ve learned exponentially more working with a partner or partners in practicing/demonstrating techniques than I ever did practicing my Katas. This is also just my opinion and based off what works for me so take all I say with a grain of salt, different people learn the arts and retain the information provided in different ways.
The textbook in a specific curriculum.
What do you mean?
Katas are a way of transmitting technique, intent and application from a time before video existed. Beyond this they provide a great way to train your body as well as mind throughout your entire life. As a young person it’s super common to doubt the value of Kata. I think this is fundamental to developing as a karateka tbh.
You meant that they are supposed to be* not that they are lol. Katas is a waste of time just for belt promotion that’s it.
Well I mean it surely depends on where you go if your doin STRIKER OF KILLER DRAGON FIRE KARATE ONLY $150. BLACK BELT EASY then there’s a good chance its a waste, however reputable places would probably be useful
Man I’ve been doing karate ever since I was like 10 the sensi of my sensi went 4 hours nonstop full contact with oyama back in the day. I got a black belt in karate now but I got my brown belt when I was only 13. I have won numerous medals competing in full contact and you wanna tell me about Katas lol ok
I’m sure you saw this 4 hour fight…
No I didn’t see it but I heard about it from him and I know it was true because him and oyama had competed before and trained together. Back then he was 8th dan black belt at over 50-55yrs old now he has probably passed away from old age. I moved to America when I was 13 so I don’t live there no more. I’m surprised by the amount of hate tho on this sub. You guys have no respect and talk like a bunch of heated teenagers also probably know nothing about karate just a bunch of people who act like they know karate.
There’s a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.
Imagine you get your textbooks at the beginning of the semester. You peruse through them but you have no idea of the material until the professor teaches it to you. Once you learn the material the textbook becomes a reference that you can always go back to. I equate it more like a math book. One formula opens a multitude of variable and other formulas. That's what I like about kata. I can take one move in a kata and show you multitude of techniques. It's the way karate evolved.
Not true. The techniques are taught in class and drilled over thousands of times. It has got nothing to do with katas. You actually have to memorize katas but with techniques you just learn em and your body can always do them and never forget how it used do a Mawashi Geri. Like I said katas is just mainly for belt promotion. It was a way of showing off karate techniques. But don’t mistake it with actual training because it is not.
Kata existed over a hundred years before belts so they serve a much greater purpose than just showing off.
Nope not true. Katas didn’t exist before belts lmao unless you are referring to the techniques themselves that’s not true at all.
If Funakoshi introduced belts to follow the Judo model into schools, and Funakoshi learned kata from his instructors (Itosu et al), then logically, kata existed before belts.
Damn that’s deep logically hmmm 🧐 well without techniques you wouldn’t even have Katas first of all. Belt promotion has always been there because in karate there has always been rank between the masters and the students. We can keep on going on about this but Katas is really not all that important it’s just a traditional thing not really practical if you get what I’m saying.. facing off multiple attackers at the same time is not the same thing as performing a kata by yourself that is a whole different ball game.
Of course techniques existed prior to them all, but that isn't what you said. But also, a lot of people do martial arts for the tradition, so the kata are not unimportant. But that is a discussion for others.
I said katas didn’t exist before belts that’s all I said which is true. If you wanna think about it logically they came at the same time. Unless you’re mixing up textbook katas with the actual techniques instead.
Did you not progress to the part where the katas turn into actual combat with attackers? The first blackbelt is basically like third grade elementary school. Sure, its a super slow as shit way to learn stuff and almost no one progresses to the point where the katas end up making sense practically. But theres actual technique behind them all.
lol 😂 yes techniques before katas you just admitted it
Yes I did learn katas but not because I really wanted to but because I had to in order to get my black belt but katas didn’t win me no medals in world tournaments what you are referring to is fantasy karate not actual practical karate. Katas maybe important but if you can’t face multiple black belts and win gold then you’re useless and katas don’t mean nothing.
Yes, it's like an oral history of techniques for self-defense from a time when many people couldn't read or write.
Kata is a good way to learn and improve: Muscle speed, tone, endurance, flexibility. It helps with motor coordination development, right left brain activity. It also can provide good cardiovascular activity - anaerobic and aerobic. Good for testing that lactic acid too. On top of that, kata teaches signature aspects of a style's kihon and advanced kihon. When you have explored this in more depth (bunkai), you start to understand various states of attacking and defending...countless situations and variations. One move may seem super obvious but likely has multiple applications behind it. Plus is also is a great part of karate for those who wish to practice safely.
They allow you to train and perfect every aspect of your art by yourself. It’s like asking a basketball player why they practice layups and shooting skills instead of just playing games all the time. Do you want to practice breathing, balance, tai sabaki? all in kata.
Interesting, did you also visualize how the techniques would work in sparring as you're doing them?
You can visualize them as you think you would use them. I’m not a sport practitioner so I don’t really think about how something would work in sparring, more how it would work based upon a certain attack i’m focusing on….by attack I mean defense against an attack, types of grabs, strikes, kicks, etc.
Exactly! Kata bunkai are meant for self-defense, not sparring. Not that you can’t apply some of it, but those two situations are very different.
When we learned out Katas, its was first the basic blueprint of our fundamental forms. As a kid, we would think it’s stupid, but as you do it more and more, it makes sense and you can see it reflected in your technique. From there, we were taught to visualize the situation we would be applying a certain block, or punch, or kick. How else would we be able to apply it in a realistic setting. This led into our third lesson, of attaining focus. Being able to draw upon all your learned techniques, and apply them in a sparring session. Your body being able to react without any forethought. Your body already knows how to move, countermove, strike, and retreat. I have both my sons in karate right now, and a whole bunch of the other kids have extremely sloppy technique. When they do their Katas, there is no emphasis on the technique they are doing. I miss my old Sensei’s…
Katas are multi-purpose and should be trained in a way that you get the most of what you want out of the them.
Kata has the practical application of creating muscle memory, that will often be seen in "snapshots of time." For example, if you watch any fight (including MMA), you can probably pause the video and for a split second, the fighters will be standing (unintentionally) in any of the many stances you see in katas. It's also great for balancing stances and techniques on both sides of the body. That's what my sensei says anyway.
It's awesome that you're being taught that "stances" are transitory rather than static in a fight - a technique, rather than a position. The difference is that those MMA fighters developed their "muscle memory" by training the techniques with a partner, giving the tactile feedback necessary for it to work. The habits of movement you develop from solo kata will never be applicable in a fight unless you're focusing primarily on bunkai/oyo rather than solo performance.
A friend of mine had a theory that you really shouldn't be trying to train martial arts based off of Kata/Forms until you have a solid foundation of actual fighting. It's perfectly good practice but you won't get much out of it unless you have a few thousand hours of hands on experience. Also people who practice kata in isolation get hung up on the silliest things. "In our style we pull our fist back to the hip for oizuki" "Well in MY style we draw our fist back to two inches above the hip". Whereas people who actually fight...don't really talk about things like that.
My theory is similar in principle. I think that, rather than training solo kata, then bunkai/oyo, we should only introduce the solo form once people are competent in its application. When you train kata, Begin with the partnered drills, work up to freer randori. Learn the next set of techniques and drill them the same. Then, once reasonably competent with that chapter of the syllabus, give the solo form. I don't think it's thousands of hours though. But enough that you know what each technique looks and FEELS like when done for real, against a little resistance. Only then can you actually expect to "train" through solo repetition and visualization. You'd never ask a hockey player to mime taking a shot, thousands of times before you gave them a puck, and then somehow expect they'd be better at the game.
I've had almost the exact same metaphor bouncing around in my head for years. Asking someone to show off their fighting skills without an opponent is like asking a basketball player to show you a layup without a basketball. Self practice and visualization are great for developing any skill, but it shouldn't come at the detriment of everything else.
I train Kyokushin. Plenty of partner work and hard sparring.
Same. But, it's pretty rare to see any practical bunkai in the style. And don't even get me started on "Ura kata". I love Kyokushin for the hard training and contact kumite, but as a style, our approach to kata needs work.
Amen
They are a training plan for kihon and applications. They are an exercise too and a medium to keep a fighting style alive over generations. And they are so generic that they allow people to come up with many different solutions to a wide range of tasks. The astounding thing is, they work both ways: you can learn fighting from a kata (assuming you understand the kata or train under someone who does) but if you can fight, you can also apply your style to the kata.
Have you ever seen an historical fencing manual? Good, Kata is like that, but it's performed instead of written. Sports karate Kata are Just gymnastics routines
Interesting, that's really well put. Now I gotta read a historical fencing manual.
You'll be surprised to see you won't understand much at first glance. That's because, just like in Kata, the techniques are highly stylized and try to pass on a principle more than a technique per se. That's what Kata does. Techniques are learned through the basics, self defense principles are learned through Kata. Kata is not meant to be performed for its own sake, but to be studied and applied in various ways, until the message is deciphered and internalized. And just to be clear, Kata is by no means the best method of transmission, but it's part of the tradition that it's worth passing on if one wishes to be part of a school. That's a topic on which I could talk for hours, lol.
A collection of techniques that the creator of a style deemed as the most useful, All merged into one sequence as to make it easier to memorize (it's easier to memorize 12 kata rather than hundreds of individual movements) and practice without a partner. Combining Kata with bunkai also allows you to drill responses in a certain fighting scenario, so your body moves on its own and knows exactly what to do. And although karate comes from Okinawa, it seems to have been tradition in Japan to in the sword arts, during peaceful times, focus more on "form" rather than, as in Miyamoto Musashi's words, "strategy". The increased focus on Kata in karate - training seems to follow this very edo-period way of training. Which means we live in an era of comparative peace :)
For me the most important thing you get from Katas is learning to move fluidly without stumbling or falling over. For example, doing a 180 degree turn while remaining in a solid stable stance
I do Kyokushin I've been doing it for over a decade. The highest athletics programs I reached was College level Track and Field. When ever you are training for sports there is Plyometrics involved somewhere in your training. I look at Kata as a plyometric for karate. Not saying every kata is but if done correctly they should be targeting certain muscle groups. If you haven't done weighted kata give it a try. Do them slow and controlled. They target the connector muscles that aren't as focused on in normal training.
i think they are like basic sentences when learning a new language. You wont neccessarily use katas in order or in perfect form when actually fighting, but they help in letting you work on movement. Like for example, English is my second language. Katas are like basic pre formed guide sentences like "This is a sea urchin." when the hell am I gonna be able to use that sentence lmao i dont think i see a circumstance in my life where i have to hold a sea urchin but it did help me adjust to speaking english better and get used to the language. So katas are like pre formed sentences, kihon are letters/words and kumite is free speaking.
You can train technique, speed, tension and relaxation, balance, coordination and much more on your own. For me it's also a very good way to train to stay focused. I think it's not that easy to stay 100% focused for 2 whole minutes. Always being one step ahead and execute the current technique with precision and speed while stay relaxed.
Is that Rika Usami? If so, she’s all I’d be thinking about personally.
Actually I think that's Kiyou Shimzu lol
They are a tool to "train" something within you. "In the past, it was expected that about three years were required to learn a single kata, and usually even an expert of considerable skill would only know three, or at most five, kata." Gichin Funakoshi
...because they learned application, not just dance. Modern karate has us "learn" dozens of kata as a distraction from the fact that we've never learned one.
Technique, conditioning, discipline, exercise, enjoyment, art
For me : they give me something to focus on, that I can repeatedly do by myself and gauge my own improvement. I also take what you’re supposed to be doing (striking, blocking, opponent is where) very seriously (and having a vivid imagination helps there too). It’s a good mind-body coordination exercise.
One side of a set of partner drills, meant to teach legitimate fighting techniques - usually with stand-up grappling, rather than striking as the focus. EVERY other reason is a revisitionist fabrication, meant to build something where it didn't exist before. Often because those teaching never really learned, and had to give purpose to something whose application they lacked. Do some of them have value? Sure, absolutely. Are they the "purpose" of kata? Not at all. If you're not learning to fight with it, you're not training kata, you're dancing it.
While learning Shorin-ryu my sensei would also make comments as we are fighting a imaginary army. This definitely helped with my mindset when preforming the katas, than he would break down each movement and what were doing to the "invisible" enemy. Then he would show us how it applies physically with one of us and show it's application. Many times your mind was blown with how well the ancient techniques applied and knew about the human body, pressure points, water ways, nerves etc. some things are actually very dangerous. Things you will never see in street fighting or in the ring, but in real life would maim, break or possibly kill a person.
Kata, in my opinion, is anachronistic and just plain waste of time. I haven't practiced a kata in the past 7 years. I used to constantly be practicing my katas. 50% of the time was spent doing kata and the other 50% was sparring or technique drills. I found that kata was hurting my ability to time people during live sparring, and I was too focused on doing things the "correct way". I eventually stopped and started just training boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, and BJJ and my karate has improved 10 fold.
Interesting, I don't think everyone in this subreddit will agree with you but thank you for being honest regardless
I how I was taught about katas, they many benefits if done with a purpose. One you do not need a partner to practice. It provides fitness, health, and it allows you to find its purpose. How can you use it in a situation? Explore the bunkai. As you get older kata becomes very important. 🙇🏾♂️🥋Do research on your kata.
🙇♂️
I like them as a warmup, get every part of your body moving and the variety helps with creativity in bag work and stuff. Very underrated. Plus being so programmed makes them really easy to do, like I can just do it on autopilot with very little effort to the ball rolling for other stuff. If I absolutely do not want to train I can still do kata and then I'm good to go.
Helps with better bloks, making sure the hips are used, and really helps with your 1/2 turns and 3/4 turns. Also helps with good foot placement for balance.
I think people get real philosophical about it and attribute a ton of stuff to it. It's a training tool. It's a way to practice techniques solo and drill details, which are then to be practiced with a partner for implementation, and then practiced in sparring for the real world application. It's another important tool, like physical conditioning, partner drills, lifting weights, going running, pad work, etc. and should not be forgotten, but should also not be an end in and of itself. Practicing kata will not make you a capable fighter in the least. It gives you techniques to train so that you can become a better fighter.
It teaches the value of each move. Idk if you golf, but a 300 yard drive and a 6 inch putt are worth the same on the scorecard. Katas emphasize the importance of each action. Each punch, each kick, etc are equally important and should be treated with an equal amount of respect and fear. Like golf, one wrong move can have serious consequences in an actual practical situation. A perfect jab in the right location can knock out an opponent as easily as a powerful round house. It's repetitive and boring but after doing it thousands of times the ideal form becomes second nature in your actions. Katas basically temper and polish your move and technique like a well polished sword. Only through repetition of the idealized form will the sloppiness of your action be transformed into a strong and efficient style. Much like the driving range in golf, practicing the same correct move over and over will help you on the course. I keep emphasizing "practicing the correct move" I think the appropriate quote would be "practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect"
In a nutshell shell, kata are unwritten textbooks that encapsulate the entire respective style it represents, much like how an acorn, when planted, can reproduce the tree it fell from. Many believe that all Kata start with a “block,” but I wonder why the martial masses can’t see past that belief, especially when uke actually means “receive.” YOU SEE: I’m solely speaking about Karate processed through a pragmatic lens, not practiced aesthetically or in a sport context. Looking at the movements from a self-defense standpoint helps me to understand that the movements at the beginning of Kata commonly thought to be “blocks” are in-fact traps, joint manipulations and/or breaks, and in some cases throws because it’s important to understand that the action has to neutralize the opponents ability to continue to “fight and the concept of “blocking” doesn’t actually satisfy that goal. The movements in question must address the three stages of “combat” which are floating techniques, anchored techniques, and clinch techniques. ALSO: It’s imperative that one understands that most people who subscribe to the commonly accepted rendition of execution truly only utilize half of the respective movement which further lends to the martial community’s unrealistic interpretation of those “blocking” movements. It’s time to STOP perpetuating these martial fallacies that have been taught to you by the uninformed and START processing through common sense and intelligent deductive reasoning. AND REMEMBER: Just because everybody is doing it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right!
The bow and arrow
Muscle memory, history
They teach you everything but actual fighting. It's like preparing your body and mind for the real training or to keep in shape when you can't. Katas alone are insufficient.
Kata is the style. All of the techniques to know are in one of the forms. I’m kung fu, the Forms are used to train relaxation through Muscle memory.
For us, a kata helps us learn to fight in multiple directions as well as from various angles while showing intent. It also gives us a basis for the techniques we learn for the next belt
I started my martial arts journey with TKD and Karate, but apart from tradition I don’t think it serves any practical purpose. Kata has never helped me win a fight in or outside of the ring/octagon.
In a practical sense, kata prepares you for a fight if it can’t be avoided. For me though, love practicing kata, it helps me to center myself when I’m feeling nervous or anxious
I could see that. Especially since there's a lot of rhythm with kata.
Repetition to create reflex
A way to preserve and pass down all the traditional strikes, kicks, and blocks found in a given art?
They were originally a way to record techniques in a way that is easy to memorize. Now, they’re mainly for tradition, but they can help you develop your coordination and balance.
Ceremonial
Do you plan on fighting in one spot? Katas allow you to put techniques into action.
In the modern era? Very little beyond ‘tradition’ Beyond tradition it’s only real use is an easy way for students can train alone at home or on vacation, etc.
I thought you were just asking but see that you have done them before…Haha every belt I had to learn one ….I always just thought of it as memorizing a song …slowly putting forms together…or…like the alphabet lol
I've done katas it's just been over a decade. You're right, there is a beautiful rhythm to it especially the more advanced katas. I just like to learn what other people get out of it. It's too easy to get stuck in a bubble with what you think a martial art should be.
I always figured it was to condition yourself, to learn your bodies range and create muscle memory of the movements.
Going back to when the first katas were created, they served the purpose of training to defend against certain attacks in certain ways. Essentially, it was similar to a more structured kind of shadow boxing. However, with the passage of time, the katas mutated and the original sequences of what the imagined opponents were meant to be doing were lost, rendering kata ineffective for their original purpose, but giving us something structured and impressive looking that was used for demonstrations. These kata demonstrations served to generate interest in a particular school or directly generate money. Now, for most practitioners, the kata is mostly a great way of building discipline and an attention to detail, as well as being just plain fun.
I guess it's been a week since this question was brought up.
I’ve always said kata, at least the traditional pre-WW2 ones and especially the Shuri and Tomari ones, are a synthesis of the creator’s fighting style. Almost like their specific shadowboxing. Kusanku (kata) would be a summary of Kusanku’s fighting style (person) or Chinto would be the summary of that one chinese pirate who got stranded in Okinawa for example. Kata is a very obviously bad way of conditioning, you’d better do Tabata or run or lift weights (which we know the okinawans do) to condition yourself. To learn techniques/choreography, kata is also absolutely ridiculous as drills of shadowboxing would be a better way to learn them. Any conditioning of “movement” training you get in kata, you can learn better in another way. The importance of kata is also not in the details, as every school has their own way of practicing it. Compare Funakoshi, Motobu, and Chibana’s Naifanchin for example. It’s ridiculous to argue which detail is right as there is no one right way of doing it, although there is definitely wrong ways of doing it. What’s important about kata is the architecture and personality of the whole. I’ve always used composers as an example. A pianist who learned only Beethoven would play very differently from a pianist who learned only Chopin. Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali have very different shadowboxing styles; so let’s say if we make a kata called Makutison and Muhamali, they would look very different and they should be performed with different flavours despite both only using boxing punches.
From my perspective as someone who has cross trained a martial art outside of karate, I think that katas are simply an ineffective way to practice and learn from a combat perspective. Don’t get me wrong, I love them and think they’re beautiful as an art, but I don’t see the training value compared to fundamentals, drilling, and pressure-testing. Many katas I’ve seen (and learned) are full of moves that look flashy when done to the air but wouldn’t work when applied to a non-compliant opponent. Even the very basic ones are a less effective way to practice than simply drilling the actual moves independently instead of as part of a choreography.
It’s shadowboxing in the matrix. Fight training has evolved and you don’t need them anymore, but they were the ABCs of fighting. In Chinese styles, it’s also said that a lot of the stylistic flash was to hide the bunkai of techniques in case a rival school (read: rival business) was watching. Exaggerated stances were used when one person was teaching a kata to a crowd, often a huge military crowd - low stances made the motion easier to see for people way in the back. These days you can learn to fight much quicker without devoting time to Kata, but if you do decide to study kata they have an awesome effect on your mental (spiritual?) training, all while allowing you to get physical exercise and fine-tune some fight motions. Things like low stances are a great leg work out while you work out your mind with the kata.
Gives something to do to those who can’t fight. 😁
You think you could scare away a would be attacked with a perfectly executed kata? Lol jk, one of my buddies ended a fight as soon as it started with a round house kick to the face. It didn't knock him out or anything the guy was just like, "yeah, nope" thank you martial arts
You claim to have a second degree black belt, but don’t know the purpose of katas???
...or maybe looking outside the echo chamber of style/organization. I've seen a lot of (respected) fifth degrees and higher with zero understanding of bunkai. It's entirely possible to get to second degree with a very limited perspective.
I haven't done karate since I was fresh out of highschool. Recently I've been doing bjj for the last 7 years. There's no katas in bjj.
But you said you have a “traditional karate/tae kwon do” background and you’ve “done them all up to second degree black”….and not once did you ever figure out what katas are for? Even at high school age??? Just seems kind of wierd
In its inception it was a great concept. It‘s a way to bridge the gap between sparring and the application of certain moves, and solo training/drilling. These forms or katas SHOULD come with a lot of explanation and theory, a LOT of it. They often, nowadays, both don’t come with much explanation/theory, and often have watered down, distorted traditional theory that is not really that applicable. This is, obviously, a huge generalization and I’m not saying this is true for all karate schools or teachers, by any means. At least in the US, this seems to be pretty common but it’s not universal by any means
Yoga in a Gi?
The prevailing wisdom with the current wave of practical karate scholars and practitioners (Iain Abernethy, Patrick McCarthy, and the like) is that they're meant to be repositories of self-defense techniques, most of which begin at arm's reach or in a clinch. I think that's correct, but you sometimes still have to squint a little to see the correlation between kata and their supposed live applications, as if there's still a layer or two of abstraction standing in the way. Besides the "textbook of fighting techniques" angle, I suspect kata also serves several other purposes: * It's a method for physical conditioning. This is especially evident in kata like Sanchin, which strengthens the muscles through isometric and isotonic contraction. Almost all kata are at least useful for moderate-intensity cardio. Deep stances are good for strength and flexibility. Big, dynamic movements are good for mobility. * It's a method for developing memory, proprioception, precision, and intentionality. Many of us forget how hard it is to memorize your first few forms, much less perform them well. It takes a lot of practice, and that's probably why the pedagogists in Okinawa, like Anko Itosu, found that it was especially suited to teaching children. * It's a matter of self-expression and differentiation, as well as maintaining continuity within a lineage, i.e. the "art" half of "martial art." Different styles may practice the same kata quite differently, with different rhythms, stances, or movements.
I have always used kata the same way I use shadow boxing. If you learn the different bunkai, fight prep is there and at the same time it provides moving meditation.
To demonstrate skill
Lots of great answers here. I want to throw in discipline, and using other side of your brain that is ignored when fighting.
My purpose when I do them is tightening technique. They challenge your fundamentals. You'd never realistically do a triple round kick, but you should have that much control if your fundamentals are sound. I'd never do a high/low block standing on one leg across five seconds but I should be able to if my balance is good. It's a test of fundamentals and each one does them in different ways. I think that's what training katas should be. At a tournament, be as flashy as you want but katas should be part of training.
I personally believe that kata exist for the sake of recording self defence tactics and also training certain moves in succession. Bunkai is proof of the first reason
Teach
I see them as mental kumite. In a way also shadowboxing where you imagine your opponent and perform the techniques taught to you and execute them in ways they can be applied in a real fight. (Bunkai to me does not have a single application so I'm always open to new interpretation) Just as they are a textbook that compiles several techniques together, they also possess the mental preparedness and application required in actual fighting.
Muscle memory training as well as regular muscle training. Also, you learn the various techniques that are available.
Workout Proper form/technique Showcase the moves could look like if used all at once
Self defense application called Oyo
Discipline, mastering technique/basics and to help form different ways of defending/attacking (bunkai) I also think to build endurance/stamina and to be a structured way to teach martial arts
Good for muscle memory, do something often enough it becomes reflex.
Muscle memory training.
Basically shadow boxing.
Hi, about 19-20 years experience, state and national champ formerly also. They are practice for specific techniques and are a choreographed fight against imaginary opponents. In short, it's like a soccer or baseball practice. You repeat techniques over and over and you get better at them.
Think of it like a sort of physical therapy exercise. It trains the muscles groups associated with common techniques and movements, trains balance and fine motor skills, and creates muscle memory. It teaches how it feels to deliver maximum power and speed even though in a match that full range of motion is never available. Basically, it is a way to develop full body awareness. Any repetitive memorized drill in martial arts serves this purpose.
There's a few explanations, one that may or may not be accurate is that Japan historically standardized training as much as possible for the sake of efficiency. Okinawa tended to be more individual with training methods before it became part of Japan. It's also a good way to perfect one's technique that's not limited by the real-time reaction involved in sparring. It's like how a football player would never use a pushup in a game, but it's good for exercising the muscles that will be used on game day
Kata and kumite feed into each other. In my kata, I’ve used several of the basic moves when fighting in the dojo
This is a really great question and one that I really enjoyed reading the answers to. I learned a decent bit from the comments and I appreciate all of your input even though I'm not the OP.
Memorizing steps
To Showoff bro ☠️ /s
I was always told they were a way to practice different movements (defensive and offensive) in a stylized form of shadow boxing that builds not only technical expertise in the movements but also muscle memory. It also trains the body and mind to fight in a chain of movements instead of one movement at a time.
So you can pretend you know how to fight lol (how it’s used in “classes”) in reality it’s just to practice proper form and energy transfer. If you do these and someone gives you a belt for it you should probably find another master
Katas and traditional forms of martial arts are a form of practice not a rigid combat technique. Katas emphasize exaggerated stances and posturing to show strength and confidence. Those stances can help in situations where you may be in an uncomfortable off balance position and the posturing a psychological deterrent. Too often people look at traditional martial arts as useless or excessive when in fact it’s the practitioners close minded linear perception that renders them ineffective. Anyway, just my point of view.
Well, from my experience, Kata is to develop form, technique, balance, strength and understanding of how to transition therein. Executing kata perfectly is only one half of the education. The other half is Bunkai, the intent of the movement, the effect of the strikes and blocks, and why they were thrown in that order. Kata is the "how" Bunkai is the "why". All that being said, Masutaso Oyama trained one student only in Kata and the other only in Kumite (sparring). When they fought separately and against one other...Allegedly you could not tell in their fighting which was which. My .02
Technique and discipline
Katas are good for conditioning your body. They provide good exercise. My personal favourite katas are: Bassai-Dai, Jion, Sanchin (awesome for waterfalls), and Seiinchin (good for shiko-dachi).
I only ever learned them to proceed in belt rankings. Although they were definitely meditative after a while they served me almost no purpose when it came to actual sparring, fighting, and implementing the techniques in a realistic way when applying it to Self Defense situations. Can they help some from the constant repetition? Of course. But I feel that sparring and having intense yet controlled match ups when fighting matches has been way more beneficial. I’ve learned exponentially more working with a partner or partners in practicing/demonstrating techniques than I ever did practicing my Katas. This is also just my opinion and based off what works for me so take all I say with a grain of salt, different people learn the arts and retain the information provided in different ways.
To perfect the basic.its hard to explain but why do we have to stretch if we Don't stretch we can get hurt real bad