What does a Karate Kata mean? It's a dance, it's a book of techniques, it's a method for controlling and teaching large numbers of people without the need for data. It's zen, it's one thing at a time, it's a belt arrangement system.
It's a recent innovation that dates back 2000 years...and it shows you exactly and precisely and where to place them little clodhoppers you call feets.It's information arranged out of order in a fixed method. Whatever karate forms are, practice them long enough and you will come to know Karate.
Well, maybe it so. And maybe it is not so. After all, if the founder of karate, Master Gichin Funakoshi, is to be believed, Karate is changing...here are his words.
"Hoping to see Karate included in the universal physical education (studied) in our schools, I set about (changing) the kata so as to make them as simple as possible. Times change, the world changes, and obviously the martial arts must change (keep pace) too. The Karate that high school students (learn) today is not the same Karate that was (learned) even as recently as ten years ago, and it is a long way indeed from the Karate I (studied) when I was a child in Okinawa."
The classical Karate forms attributed to Gichin Funakoshi are labeled Heian. This writer studied, from a lineage other than the Japanese, Karate Kata called Pinan. And there were distinct and obvious differences between the two, even though they were the same.
The Heian are violent forms, filled with front stance attacks, explosive, in your face, one punch one kill. The Pinan put their focus in the fist, work out of the more defensive rear stance, modify the explosion exactly to the work being performed, are subtle and polite, and believe in getting along with your fellow man. This is a sizable difference, to say the least.
Of course, my bias nevertheless, the Pinan forms are better. They were created before the young tigers of the Japanese colleges altered them for tournaments and power and fighting and power and glory and power and...well, power. The Pinan kata were made before lust was in vogue.
Of course, that said, this writer's bias taken into account, one can modify the forms back to the way they were. All one has to do is adjust the angles and modify the mind. Ahh, modify the mind...perhaps it is not possible...but one can hope.
It's a recent innovation that dates back 2000 years...and it shows you exactly and precisely and where to place them little clodhoppers you call feets.It's information arranged out of order in a fixed method. Whatever karate forms are, practice them long enough and you will come to know Karate.
Well, maybe it so. And maybe it is not so. After all, if the founder of karate, Master Gichin Funakoshi, is to be believed, Karate is changing...here are his words.
"Hoping to see Karate included in the universal physical education (studied) in our schools, I set about (changing) the kata so as to make them as simple as possible. Times change, the world changes, and obviously the martial arts must change (keep pace) too. The Karate that high school students (learn) today is not the same Karate that was (learned) even as recently as ten years ago, and it is a long way indeed from the Karate I (studied) when I was a child in Okinawa."
The classical Karate forms attributed to Gichin Funakoshi are labeled Heian. This writer studied, from a lineage other than the Japanese, Karate Kata called Pinan. And there were distinct and obvious differences between the two, even though they were the same.
The Heian are violent forms, filled with front stance attacks, explosive, in your face, one punch one kill. The Pinan put their focus in the fist, work out of the more defensive rear stance, modify the explosion exactly to the work being performed, are subtle and polite, and believe in getting along with your fellow man. This is a sizable difference, to say the least.
Of course, my bias nevertheless, the Pinan forms are better. They were created before the young tigers of the Japanese colleges altered them for tournaments and power and fighting and power and glory and power and...well, power. The Pinan kata were made before lust was in vogue.
Of course, that said, this writer's bias taken into account, one can modify the forms back to the way they were. All one has to do is adjust the angles and modify the mind. Ahh, modify the mind...perhaps it is not possible...but one can hope.
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Want to see the difference between the Heian and the Pinan Karate Kata? Head on over to Temple Karate at Monster Martial Arts.
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