Looking for a kata

Alec Cousino

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I am currently testing for my level 2 Jr. black belt, for people under 18 who have earned a black belt, and one of my requirements is a special presentation. I am studying shorinji ryu under the zen bei butoku kai international organization and I picked out Kajukenbo to study for a while. I was wondering what kata would be best to perform in front of my group. It needs to be short, about 2-3 minutes since I have 5 minutes to present and 2 while be talking about the history. I'm looking for the a kata that shows some of the basics as well as a few advanced moves. Palama set 14 looked pretty good. I just want to make sure I find the best kata to perform that would show lots of Kajukenbo movements.
 
Ok, gonna need some more info to make sense out of this...

You are currently studying, and testing in shorinji, but want to do a kajukenbo kata in your test? And what background do you have in kajukenbo? And why would you do this in your shorinji test? And why would this be accepted by your sensei in shorinji?
 
Okay I'm confused...you're testing for a belt in one style but want to show a kata from another style...am I getting that right?
 
One of my requirements for my black belt is to make a special presentation on a martial art in which I go over a short history of it and some of its movements. I was looking for a kata that contains a few basic kajukenbo movements that would be taught to beginners.
 
One of my requirements for my black belt is to make a special presentation on a martial art in which I go over a short history of it and some of its movements. I was looking for a kata that contains a few basic kajukenbo movements that would be taught to beginners.

You do this without any instruction from someone practising that art? basically then you are taking the written work from somewhere like Wikipedia and the moves from a video? Can I ask how this benefits you and what you are supposed to learn from this? I've never heard of anyone doing this, usually people concentrate on working on their own style rather than look superficially at someone elses.
 
Yeah, how exactly do you intend to learn the kata?

Honestly, this sounds like your instructor does not know what he is doing...
 
You do this without any instruction from someone practising that art? basically then you are taking the written work from somewhere like Wikipedia and the moves from a video? Can I ask how this benefits you and what you are supposed to learn from this? I've never heard of anyone doing this, usually people concentrate on working on their own style rather than look superficially at someone elses.
I know in kenpo you're required to write a thesis about any subject to do with kenpo and it can include elements from other styles if you want but never a full demo of another style.
 
Yeah, how exactly do you intend to learn the kata?

Honestly, this sounds like your instructor does not know what he is doing...
Pretty much my opinion. I mean the op has to find a new kata and learn a new kata and then teach it after only learning it maybe a few weeks previously...that makes no sense. Surely he should be training his own stuff...sounds weird to me but then again it's a junior black belt and I hate those things I believe them to be a con to earn money and it gives kids a false sense of security and can go round saying they're black belts when In reality they only know up to adult purple belt.
 
I'm sorry that I wasn't being very clear, but i wasnt going to perform the kata. I was looking for a short kata with the basic movements that i could use in my presentation. I am not using videos online or wikipedia to learn these movements. Instead I have a friend who practices kajukenbo and he was going to help me learn and practice the movements that are not traditionally used in my style. The special presentation does not have to be a different martial arts it can be doing a kata in a slightly different way or just shorunjii ryu techniques that aren't studied at my dojo.I have decided to demonstrate the clock sequence and a few basic movements.
 
Ok, I guess I still don't understand why your test would includ bringing in elements from a different system that you do not actually study...
 
I'm sorry that I wasn't being very clear, but i wasnt going to perform the kata. I was looking for a short kata with the basic movements that i could use in my presentation. I am not using videos online or wikipedia to learn these movements. Instead I have a friend who practices kajukenbo and he was going to help me learn and practice the movements that are not traditionally used in my style. The special presentation does not have to be a different martial arts it can be doing a kata in a slightly different way or just shorunjii ryu techniques that aren't studied at my dojo.I have decided to demonstrate the clock sequence and a few basic movements.
Okay but I still don't see the point. It seems a lot of fuss for a junior belt. Even for a proper adult black it seems a waste of time
 
What is this exercise intended to accomplish? What does your instructor feel you will get from doing this?
 
What everyone is trying to say is, "I don't know."

Perhaps you could check on a Kajukenbo forum?

who may be less understanding and a tad harsher than us.
 
What everyone is trying to say is, "I don't know."

Perhaps you could check on a Kajukenbo forum?

who may be less understanding and a tad harsher than us because they won't understand anymore than we do why you'd concentrate on a kata from a style other than your own.
 
Let's not be too harsh on the OP. He's doing what's required of him by his teacher. Furthermore, is it such a bad thing that his teacher found a way to expose his students to other arts? Is it such a bad thing for a kid to have to go out and research something new?

The teacher is putting it on the students to get off their butts and do something outside of what they normally do. The teacher is requiring the students to learn something themselves and present it to their peers rather than the teacher doing it.

It's just a different approach to what I've been through. For my shodan, I had to write an essay on what karate means to me and what it's done for me, then present it to the group. Higher ranks had to research things within the art - practitioners, history, origins, etc. While I don't think the OP's assignment is the best assignment possible/most practical, it's certainly not worthless nor a total waste of time. What he actually finds and presents is only a small part of what he's learning - the process.

@Alec Cousino - I wish I could help you, but I don't know much about Kajukenbo. There was a show called Fight Quest that did a Kajukenbo espiode. You might see something in there that'll help give you some research direction. You could also email a few Kajukenbo instructors.
 
Let's not be too harsh on the OP. He's doing what's required of him by his teacher. Furthermore, is it such a bad thing that his teacher found a way to expose his students to other arts? Is it such a bad thing for a kid to have to go out and research something new?

The teacher is putting it on the students to get off their butts and do something outside of what they normally do. The teacher is requiring the students to learn something themselves and present it to their peers rather than the teacher doing it.

It's just a different approach to what I've been through. For my shodan, I had to write an essay on what karate means to me and what it's done for me, then present it to the group. Higher ranks had to research things within the art - practitioners, history, origins, etc. While I don't think the OP's assignment is the best assignment possible/most practical, it's certainly not worthless nor a total waste of time. What he actually finds and presents is only a small part of what he's learning - the process.

@Alec Cousino - I wish I could help you, but I don't know much about Kajukenbo. There was a show called Fight Quest that did a Kajukenbo espiode. You might see something in there that'll help give you some research direction. You could also email a few Kajukenbo instructors.
I'm mostly with you on this one, JR. I don't think someone learning and demonstrating a new kata from an unrelated art is terribly helpful, but nor is it really harmful. And it gets the student out looking into new information, being less insular, looking beyond what's in the dojo. I'm guessing that's the point (since the OP mentioned he also has the option of demonstrating/discussing techniques from his art that he didn't learn from the dojo).

Sometimes there are "tests" which are really about the effort, rather than the result. I had 3 short essays to write for my shodan.
 
who may be less understanding and a tad harsher than us because they won't understand anymore than we do why you'd concentrate on a kata from a style other than your own.

Perhaps. It's just sad that someone comes here with an honest question, and rather than even an attempt to answer or offer assistance, the OP is criticized for doing what was asked of him, and expected to explain the reasoning of his instructor.

Usually, people who don't have answers find comfort in criticizing the question.
 
I like it.

Go out experience another martial art.

It shows maturity.
 
I was asking questions. :)
 
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