Create a Kata.

[Touch Of Death]

I can create a kata no problem I don't because I don't put myself in the same level as my teachers or their teachers.

So, you have never danced around string ideas together? It's all I do, when I have too much time on my hands.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Gpseymour,
Having seen countless videos, debates on various internet forums, and self proclaimed grandmasters creating kata majority of seeing are of a low caliber, lack of understanding of the how and why a kata is created. Modification and creating are two different wording. I do one particular way of circle walking that I have modified however, I still practice the traditional way, in Japanese arts we call it henka or variation.

If you want to create your own kata with fireworks and rainbows because you discovered something that the previous grandmaster due to his ignorance then great I don't care it's your business.
And that is my final comment to you Sir on that matter.

Ah, your last comment drives to the point, as does your first. There are many reasons for making a new kata, so the "understanding of .... why a kata is created" is something the creator of that kata decides. And most of those possible reasons have nothing to do with "fireworks and rainbows" and more to do with refining technique or improving transmission.

I did, in fact, create a kata intended for my students to use. I haven't yet been satisfied with it, and will likely restart the development from the beginning (for the third time) to produce a result that matches my intent. It's actually simple and straightforward. I'm just not happy with the flow of it, nor the transitions it seems to encourage. The process of building and analyzing the kata has been helpful enough that I'm actually not concerned whether the kata actually ever becomes usable.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I can create a kata no problem I don't because I don't put myself in the same level as my teachers or their teachers.

You do realize that pretty much everyone who ever created a kata was once someone's student, right? And creating those kata wasn't their way of saying, "Hey, look, I'm at least as good as the guy who trained me!" It was a tool they developed for teaching students. Someone has to build new tools from time to time.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

You can even group a bunch of techniques you don't like together, and call it your problem technique form. LOL

Now that's a kata I'd enjoy making others do. Not me, of course. I don't HAVE any techniques I don't like.

 

[Midnight-shadow]

Now that's a kata I'd enjoy making others do. Not me, of course. I don't HAVE any techniques I don't like.

Or just do what my instructor does when he's feeling mean, by getting me to perform an entire kata in a low horse stance.

 

[Flying Crane]

• Some people use kata as a way of training certain fundamental body mechanics and movement principles. Realistic application may be indeterminate, ambiguous, or even absent.
• Some people use kata to train techniques in an exaggerated manner, either to emphasize the underlying body mechanics or for exercise purposes.

You've been listening to me?

 

[Tez3]

Come on tez you have been here long enough to see how many people come on this site with creating their own style,own kata, own what ever and our laughed off the site. My how martial talk has become more of a joke since Bob left, no wonder he sold this site it has become pathetic.

Actually, no, I think you are wrong for a number of reasons. The site has become much more friendly, the political stuff has gone and that was just plain nasty, I remember one poster saying that in the UK we killed premature babies, how nasty is that? I also remember being a mentor on here and having it taken away without warning because of my so called left wing views, yes I was told exactly that by Bob. People aren't 'laughed' off here, for the most part they are asked questions about their style or whatever. if they don't like that then perhaps they shouldn't post. people may be sceptical, scathing or sarcastic but they rarely laugh at people on here. the reason they are like this is because they take martial arts seriously.
You are deflecting from the fact that you are quite insulting about other martial artists. Your 'humbleness' is in the vein of Uriah Heep.

If you want to create your own kata with fireworks and rainbows because you discovered something that the previous grandmaster due to his ignorance then great I don't care it's your business.

I don't know, because you don't say what the previous grandmaster did 'due to his ignorance'.
Most people don't create their own kata, most of us are happy working hard with the ones we already have. Don't make out that you are the only one who 'understands' or 'holds to the traditional ones', most of us do. Some are tempted to make new katas, perhaps they don't understand the old ones well enough or don't understand how to train them but one thing for sure is that aren't wanting new ones to look flashier when training.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Or just do what my instructor does when he's feeling mean, by getting me to perform an entire kata in a low horse stance.

That's just inhumane, man.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

You've been listening to me?

I read most of what's posted on the site. One reason I don't post more myself is that before I jump into a thread I read everything that others have already written and consider it a bit. That takes some time and then I only post if I think I have something to add that hasn't already been said better by someone else.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I read most of what's posted on the site. One reason I don't post more myself is that before I jump into a thread I read everything that others have already written and consider it a bit. That takes some time and then I only post if I think I have something to add that hasn't already been said better by someone else.

Or when he can make what I said sound intelligible.

 

[Touch Of Death]

I read most of what's posted on the site. One reason I don't post more myself is that before I jump into a thread I read everything that others have already written and consider it a bit. That takes some time and then I only post if I think I have something to add that hasn't already been said better by someone else.

That is too wise, I like to read the topic, and just throw my opinion out there. It causes all kinds of problems.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Or when he can make what I said sound intelligible.

Sometimes I'm just rephrasing what other people have said in a way which I hope might make it clearer to some folks.

 

[Tez3]

That is too wise, I like to read the topic, and just throw my opinion out there. It causes all kinds of problems.

No sh1t Sherlock!

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Sometimes I'm just rephrasing what other people have said in a way which I hope might make it clearer to some folks.

Damnit, Tony, there you go again!

 

[KangTsai]

Kata are fundamentally the same as a striking combination. I don't understand any comment here suggesting any sort of difficulty in making a good one.

 

[Tez3]

Kata are fundamentally the same as a striking combination. I don't understand any comment here suggesting any sort of difficulty in making a good one.

That could be because you only take them at face value rather than do the Bunkai.

 

[Midnight-shadow]

They aren't really, kata are training movements. Think of them more as a predecessor of videos where kata show the movements possible as well as obvious. 'Acting out' kata as if you were fighting, following each movement one after the other is not the best way to look at kata, study the Bunkai and you will get a far better idea of what kata are for.Bunkai - Karate's forgotten 95% | Iain Abernethy

Please note, I said "In its simplest form". Yes you are right in what you said but that is putting more depth into it than I intended in my post. Think of it like an onion with a number of different layers, where the more you practice a kata the more layers you uncover. Your interpretation is perhaps the third or fourth layer down, whereas what I put in my last post is the very first layer. Whenever you learn a new kata you start with just a series of pre-determined movements. Once you learn those movements you start to understand the purpose behind them, and each time you practice them you peel back more layers and uncover more secrets to the kata. But it all starts with the first layer of a kata in its simplest form, which to me is a set series of fighting movements for one or more people to perform. This is also why dance and kata are so similar, because the first layer is the same. Both are a set series of movements that you perform. However, once you get past the first layer the 2 arts separate and become more defined as you uncover more layers and learn more about them.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

That could be because you only take them at face value rather than do the Bunkai.

Not all (new) kata need be as deeply meaningful as those that already exist, though. A kata can be helpful if all it does is teach flow through a set of movements to let students practice transitions and balance.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Because most kata in modern times are done by self proclaimed grandmasters who do not understand the foundation of said art they are trying to say they practice.

I can create a kata no problem I don't because I don't put myself in the same level as my teachers or their teachers.

I'm not really convinced that the average knowledge/skill level of instructors and style founders was any higher at any point in the past than it is now. As far back as I can find reliable records, there have been people creating their own styles with less experience than most of the self-promoted "grandmasters" of today. It was also pretty common for those founders to be less than completely honest and accurate about their own background or the background of the arts they were promoting as well. Some of those systems have been very successful in the long run, some haven't.

 

[Ironbear24]

I'm not really convinced that the average knowledge/skill level of instructors and style founders was any higher at any point in the past than it is now. As far back as I can find reliable records, there have been people creating their own styles with less experience than most of the self-promoted "grandmasters" of today. It was also pretty common for those founders to be less than completely honest and accurate about their own background or the background of the arts they were promoting as well. Some of those systems have been very successful in the long run, some haven't.

I remember seeing this video a friend showed me of this guy who invented "bojutsu" a mix of boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, funny thing is bojutsu is already a thing but it is stick fighting. Anyway the "bojutsu" guy got in the ring and his opponent beat him into the canvas in less than 10 seconds.

That had to be very embarrassing but then again it is his own fault for stepping in if he wasn't capable.