In Search of Karate: Paradox

The Paradox

The nature of a single kata practice requires that it be structured differently for training. One would think that there wouldn't be that much difference between practicing one kata and practicing many. The very core of the practice is the study of kata, but by changing the number of kata studied at one time one drastically changes the type of training one can do. One cannot engage in the traditionally taught technique-based training method. This is where we practice the kata and after a sufficient amount of time we begin to extract specific techniques and technique variations from the kata to practice in scripted or semi-scripted drills. Unlike other martial arts, which contain a fixed list of techniques, karate kata do not have a verifiable list of techniques from which to draw. Some would argue that each kata is merely a memory-aide list of simple defensive techniques, so this is our list. The problem with this theory is that there are so many viable technique variations within each kata. I have never once seen two people with exactly the same application of a kata movement, unless they practiced at the same dojo. This becomes a paradox. The widely held and correct belief that “there is no one viable interpretation of each kata movement” is a contradiction for technique-based training. If a kata movement can be multiple techniques, it is not one technique. If it is one technique, it can't be multiple techniques. This logically means that a kata movement is not a technique at all. This can be shown in two ways: the practicality of trying to extrapolate technique and the practicality of practicing individual technique variations from kata.

Technique is not the smallest component of karate kata. It is the smallest part of the theoretical side, which includes technique, tactics and strategy, but it is not part of the nuts and bolts of kata. These are context driven considerations, which are dynamic and change from situation to situation. The humble punch for example is a single type of technique. It is a strike. Simple, yes? But, the straight, the hook and the upper cut each use different body mechanics to produce force. The straight uses gravity and a step, the hook is the rotational torque of the body, and the uppercut uses the upward driving force of the legs. One of these punches does not show the body mechanics of the other. They only share a striking surface. When you can use the straight, hook or uppercut are also different considerations, which change due to situation. It is hard to extrapolate technique, but it is easy to extrapolate body mechanics. The body mechanics of a straight, a hook and an uppercut can also be used to lever someone off their feet. This is also dependent on body position and context, but the same movements are used. If I put a foot behind someone's leg and push them over it, that's a straight. If I grab onto someone's chin and hair and twist that's rotational torque,a hook. If I drive upward at someone's shoulders and push them over a curb, I'm driving with my legs, an uppercut. None of these examples involve striking, but the body mechanics are the same. Mechanics can be applied to produce an infinity of technique.

The practicality of trying to pull out individual technique variations, or rather the impracticality of trying to practice each technique variation even of a single kata, is that there are so many different technique variations for each movement. For a single kata movement there can easily be 10 different technique variations or more. Strikes, locks, take downs, gouges and chokes, not to mention limb clearing, or moving and manipulating a body. These change based on position of yourself and the position of your opponent. This doesn't cover all the possible actions of the opponent as well. To use my own kata as an example, there are 13 distinct movement patterns. If there are 10 technique variations for each movement, and I want to practice all the different permutations in a flow drill or even in my head there are hundreds of billions of permutations. For a set of 13 there are over 6 billion ways to put these 13 movements in order. Even if I try and simplify the process by narrowing my practice down to how each of these different variations could be a simple attack and counter attack drill, I run into similar problems. Even with 10 variations of each movement taken two at a time there are tens of thousands of permutations. Imagine having to memorize this many flashcards. Keep in mind this is only one kata. Once we get into the billions of permutations it would take well over one hundred thousand years of continual practice to get through one repetition of each distinct flow drill. Each new technique discovered adds to this process. This is not a practical mode of study when it comes to kata. This problem also becomes more compounded when the more we practice. We find different and more creative ways to apply the kata, which mean more scenarios and continually adding to the list of techniques.

We can see that technique cannot be extrapolated and that memorizing techniques from an increasingly variable amount of applications is impractical. This means that kata is not technique. Kata has to be something smaller and more fundamental, which can be used to make an infinity of possibilities. This is something we see in nature all of the time. Protons, neutrons and electrons compose all of matter. Base pairs of DNA produce all life. We have followed this pattern artificially. Binary is the fundamental language of computers and it is merely 1's and 0's. Our alphabet is 26 letters, which is capable of spelling any phonetically spoken word. Kata is Japanese, but we don't use kanji we use our own alphabetic script. Every word that has been spoken and every word that will be spoken can be spelled in phonetic script. This is because the alphabet is a primer. It is the most fundamental component of our English language, which are phonemes used to create syllables. It is the foundation, which is built an ever more complex system of language. If we treated our alphabet like we treat many kata, as flow drills and scripted exercises to be memorized there would be over 403,291,461,126,605,635,584,000,000 permutations of these 26 letters. There are only a couple million English words in use today. We do not interpret the alphabet however, we apply it. It is a tool for the transmission of ideas from one person to another. Each individual letter is meaningless on it's own. It's the combined relationships between these letters and rules for application, which give a relatively small set of fixed sounds and squiggles their versatility and adaptability. Kata is the same.

Kata is a primer for an individual martial art. They are the fundamental body mechanics and movements, which take advantage of physics, anatomy and physiology, to have the greatest effect on an opponent possible with the smallest amount of effort. Instead of transmitting ideas, we are transmitting kinetic energy to do damage. It is not a list of techniques, but effective and efficient movement, which can be extrapolated and applied to produce a near infinity of techniques. It is a system and a system is greater than the sum total of its parts, because it's the connections between the parts, which are important, not the individual parts themselves.

The Nature of Kata

Our English alphabet gives a very convenient parallel to using kata as a primer. It is highly abstract and requires cognition (thought), but once it is learned is fast, frugal, efficient and highly versatile. It works by ingraining a series of cognitive processes to the point that they are instantaneous and effortless. If you are reading this now, you are using a host of mental machinery that is operating below the conscious level which is not directly observable. Letters are associated with one another based on sound, meaning and syntax to produce syllables, syllables are combined to produce words, words are interpreted based on their context and placement in a sentence and sentences transmit larger ideas and concepts. This is done below the conscious mental level after some practice, but it is all built on the bedrock foundation of 26 letters. The letters do not change only the context changes. We do not memorize all the words and then pull from a mental list, we employ a rule, which we use to make associations. A single kata practice is built on this same type of mental process.

Physics, anatomy and physiology lead to body mechanics, body mechanics lead to movement, movement leads to function, function leads to application, application leads to technique, technique leads to tactics and tactics leads to strategy. Each level effects all the rest and misunderstanding one level leads to a misunderstanding of all the levels that come afterwards. None of the levels are exclusive to one another because they all work together and effect each other. The type of situation will effect your strategy. Strategy effects tactics, tactics effects techniques and techniques effect movement. This is the same as how expanding your vocabulary and language skills changes the way you write and communicate. The most base element of this entire process is your kata. The fundamental movements, which need to be ingrained first and hard to allow us to build a strong starting structure, which can support the rest of the process.

This means we will not be memorizing a list of techniques and specific scenarios for their use. As shown above there are too many different ways to apply a movement as a specific technique to memorize them all. The only things we will be memorizing and internalizing are the body mechanics of our kata, their functions and the rules for applying these functions. This is a principle based training method. It also means that what is important is not the individual isolated movements, techniques, tactics or strategies, but the connections between them. Understanding the connections between these is what's important. If we understand that a letter is a letter, but don't understand how it becomes a word than knowing the letters means little. It's the connections between shape, structure, function and the abstract meanings they represent, which are important. This means internalizing and studying the connection between these different principles.

Individual and Creative Nature

The abstract nature of a single kata practice puts the focus on the mental processes as well as the physical. They go hand and hand. The physical without the mental is dance and the mental without the physical is just thought. We want both of them combined. Regardless of the physical skill learned there is always some cognition in the beginning. Aspects, which must be mentally attended to in the beginning, which are no longer attended to past their internalization. Repetition and scripted drills can work for things that have a one to one ratio of meaning, but kata movements do not have a one to one ratio of application. The meaning changes with the context of the situation.

I am not you, you are not me. Body type, size, temperament and personality can have as much impact on the application of a kata as an opponent. The meaning of each movement is individual because of these factors. They are individual to you and only to you. This requires more mental work than is usually expected of in other martial paths. It requires not only that we build our bodies, but that we build our minds. We must think and be creative to unlock the secrets of kata for ourselves, because they will be different for each and every person. This makes kata a wonderful tool if you're up for the challenge. It is something that will be internally personalized beyond traditional style markers. We may practice the same kata, but my kata is mine and yours is yours. They will be different, because we are different.

The Goals of Study

The goal of this style of practice like other styles of martial arts practice is to make intent and action spring forth intuitively, instantly and effortlessly. We want to ingrain a set of martial movements, rules for application, techniques, tactics and strategies, which we can use in an emergency. We will do this by slowly and diligently attending to each aspect of the training process until all the required skills become second nature. A skilled fighter will know their own position, available weapons and techniques that can be performed from that position, the position of the opponent, open targets, the environment, appropriate tactics and strategies for the individual type of situation and survival goals. They will be acting on, adapting and responding to the opponent in a continuous and dynamic fashion, and almost all of this will be done below the conscious level in less than a second. It is a none observable process built on applying principles, knowledge, experience and conditioned responses. On the inside this entire process is taking place, but on the outside it merely looks like someone kicked the legs out from under a person and knelt on their neck. It will look like a predicted outcome, when the situation was actually instantly read like a book and acted on.

Mental Tools for Study

The physical and cognitive tools for violence require cognitive tools for study. Most of what is contained in this book are thought experiments and guided thinking problems and ideas for creative practice. We want to flex our problem solving muscles as much as our physical muscles. It is easy however to get trapped by certain modes of thinking. I will cover these again as they are relevant in each subsequent section, but I want to go over them now, so you can be thinking about them.

Ideas as Possessions

We should not think of ideas as possessions. The point of practicing a single kata in the manner that follows is so that we can change our minds if needed. We will grow, adapt and change over time, but this cannot happen if we get locked into certain ideas when it comes to practice. Our only concern should be improvement and getting better, and this involves acknowledging when we've made a mistake or a wrong turn. Does this mean don't think or have ideas? Not at all. The whole point of this mode of practice is training our brains as much as our bodies. It is important to have as many ideas and theories as possible, but it also means not getting attached to them. We want to put all of these ideas to the test, and this requires sacrificing our ego. We need to allow ourselves the room and opportunity to grow and this means allowing ourselves to be wrong. A single kata practice is not about your ego. It's not about your ideas. It's about getting better. Getting better means growth and growth can't be done in the dark.

The Confirmation Bias

The confirmation bias is our tendency to test and interpret things in such a way to prove our preconceived ideas about a subject. This means that we ignore proofs or signs that point in the opposite direction. This is an easy trap to fall into as a martial artist because we are mostly concerned with what “works.” We want to prove that our thoughts on application are correct, or prove that our chosen martial art is effective, so we look for all the instances where our ideas are shown to be correct, while ignoring any evidence, which might prove it to be false.

This is an easy trap to fall into when one starts to apply their kata movements. We look for applications that work and we find them, but we find too many applications that work. This is like having a math problem where you find five answers when you were supposed to find one. These confirmatory results soon become noise.

Negative Results

In scientific research, one designs an experiment in such a way that it will prove the hypothesis wrong. This is the same type of thinking that we need to adopt when examining and studying each aspect of our kata, from movement to strategy. There are no definite right and wrong answers when it comes to kata, there are only what works and what doesn't work. There are so many ways that a kata movement can be applied that it does us more good to discover how a movement consistently doesn't work. This usually has to do with the function of body mechanics and force vectors rather than specific contextual scenarios. An example is that certain movements will work if they follow a certain force vector, but will fall apart along any other force vector. For ease of the example imagine a compass. North, south, east and west. A particular kata movement may work wonderfully for all applications in the northern direction, but will fall apart in any other direction. This is an important result, because knowing how not to use a movement is a shorter list than all the ways a movement can work. Another example would be if we were testing the penetrating power of a bullet. If we only test a bullet's performance by shooting through different types of tissue paper than it will appear that the bullet can go through anything. Conversely if we only shoot at thick plates of tempered steel than it might not penetrate at all and we'd have learned just as little. We want to find the very edge of its capabilities, so we should fire through an ever increasing range of materials from tissue paper to steel to find that edge. Kata movements are the same. A movement may have a million different successful applications in one avenue, but fail in all others. The function of the movement will be that avenue, not the millions of applications. Search for the negative results. There is a strength and weakness to everything in kata. Find the edges.

Attention to Detail

This is a critical skill, but the details you will attend to across your lifetime of practice will change. This is a continual mental examination of everything you are doing during practice. At the beginning this is body mechanics, how you are moving. At the end you will be examining strategy and everything else will be automatic. This is a continual process without any set destination.

Delayed Gratification

This type of training requires an ability to delay gratification. You will “not get it” until you “get it.” It's a yes or no question until you reach the higher concepts of technique, tactics, and strategy. This is very, very similar to the process in which you learned to read and write. You can either read or you can't. You can sometimes get by with guessing, where you have the outer appearance of reading, but looking at squiggles and guessing correctly that it represents a word is very different from looking at a group of letters and reading them. Even someone who technically can read, who can't put it into practice in the different contexts in which we encounter them on a day to day basis is considered illiterate. Reading is not merely recognizing a list of words. It is receiving a transmission of ideas. A single kata practice involves applying principles in a dynamic situation. It is not regurgitating memorized scenarios.

Direct Action

This is an important concept for a single kata practice and for life. It is the idea or strategy of only looking for how we can directly effect a situation or environment. In the case of karate, we will develop our skills in such a way that they do not require a specific response from the opponent. What they want shouldn't factor into the equation, they're the bad guy. They don't get what they want. They definitely don't get a “turn.”

Environment for Creative Play

Repetitive drills are boring. Drilling for the sake of drilling is not only a waste of time, but it puts practice in the wrong context. Training should be fun. All aspects of training should be fun. There is a certain amount of training that needs to be done to internalize the pattern of a kata, to free up the mental working space to move on to other aspects of the kata, but this is a very small part of your lifetime of study. You should strive to create a training environment for yourself that encourages experimentation, creativity and play. This is an internal process as much as an external one and we are not playing a matching game. This is not a memory game, paint by numbers or Rock Paper Scissors. This is art, and your art, so there needs to be a fair degree of freedom involved in the practice. Your kata should fundamentally stay the same, but how you choose to practice and the ways in which you study it can vary greatly. The kata is only worth as much as your understanding of its application, so anything that has the potential to increase this understanding and doesn't damage you or others is beneficial. Even if you just learn that certain exercises or training routines are wastes of time. Part of this involves “increasing exposure to opportunity.” The individual nature of karate kata means that I can't hand you a list to check off and by the end you will understand your kata. It doesn't work that way. Every aspect of our entire lives has changed our judgment and perceptions. What's clear to me may not be clear to you, so it's important that you experiment, play and study as much as possible to form your own ideas. You never know what will make things click in your head. Carpentry, personal finance and a love of letters has probably done more to influence my understanding of my own kata than anything else. Don't limit yourself.

Philosophy of Training

Practicing a single kata is not like practicing at a conventional dojo. In the traditional dojo, one is not expected to start examining the nature of their karate until after decades of dedicated study. This process starts immediately after memorizing the pattern with a single kata practice. There is no destination with a single kata practice. There is only the process of study. No belts, no ranks, no hierarchy, no ultimate techniques, no seminars. It is almost a purely internal journey with none of the external markers, which we associate with a successful martial arts practice. Your kata will look wonderful, but it will hide a dense network of conditioning, knowledge and applied principles, which cannot be seen. While this type of study is directed toward the practical application of skill, it will have more in common with zazen, or sitting meditation. It will be Zen in motion first, not because this is the goal, but because they share a common practice. Constant wholehearted attention to the present moment. There is no halfway in this type of karate practice. You are focused and training, or you are daydreaming and dancing. This doesn't mean that you are being serious, rigid and/ or strict. It only means that your brain is where it should be. It shouldn't be checking the clock, thinking about dinner, or wondering what new shows are on Netflix. This is not training. The process of study is the point and this process is never ending. It is a lifelong practice. This changes the tone of training. It is mushotoku, practice without the thought of gain or profit. If you are thinking about what you will get from practice, the perks, the techniques, the skill than you are not focused on your training. You are focused on illusions. The external and superficial aspects of training.

“You can eat whatever you want because you're healthy.”

“No, I'm healthy because I don't eat whatever I want.”

The same is true of our karate practice.

A Note on Kata

A single kata practice is the application of principles. It is building a tool out of our bodies and then studying the application of this tool. It is not a list, a scenario and it is not predictive. It is a preparative model of training meaning that we will not assume to predict what a living breathing and thinking person might do, so we will train ourselves to act accordingly to a situation by learning to read the situation and developing appropriate and adaptable tools. Kata cannot predict what a person will do. It makes a nice little story to demonstrate to people, but this is impossible. We are not automatons. Stating that a kata plans for the failure of your technique and responds to a specific counter attack of the opponent is putting forth the idea that a fixed set of movements can accurately and consistently predict what a thinking human being will do. It also means that a mindless pattern will be thinking for you. A kata does not have a brain. It's what you're there for, your brain. It's your most powerful weapon. Use it.

dividends later. 1

The real strength and strategy of a preparative kata model is that you tie everything fundamentally back to a set of power movements. All you really need to memorize is your kata and

the directional energy it represents. Once you memorize this

you can apply energy in any direction in any variation at will. The movements act: as an anchor point for action that ultimately connect and unify all the other aspects, technique, tactics

and strategy the same way that the alphabet provides a standard anchor point for the entire English language. Techniques are merely options for expression like words. You don't need to know or master all of them, you Just need enough of them. Know your options for use and the best techniques for different tactics and apply them all based on your larger strategy. Because we've based our system entirely on power movements any new technique and tactic or strategy requires no new information beyond the concept. We just use our movements in a different combination. This

is the same as learning new words. We don't add letters, we already know all the letters, we just put the letters in the right order. Unlike a predictive technique based system where a specific technique is matched to a specific stimulus, which needs a new technique for every different stimulus and each new pair takes up space in our head. this has a dilutive effect because there is just so much information that is readily available for use at any one time. It creates a giant list like a syllabery. with all actions

connecting back to a fundamental group of movements any additional information has an additive effect, because we don't

use up any more brain power. It becomes associated with the sense at of movements, which can eventually be used instictually and intuitive, like the alphabet.

Following this model and facilitating it with proper training should lead to a fighting style that is individually tailored

to your strengths, tactics and strategy, which can be employed

as easily as having an argument with a stranger, or a c conversation with your friend in your native language. Do you think when you speak? Do you think when you read? No, you just do it, because you know the rules. Considering it takes five years for for someone starting to learn to read and write at six to master it sufficiently to be set for the rest of their life, and each subsequent use strengthens those connections I'd say that if one practices a single kata is shouldn't take more than five years i to potentially becomes the most dangerous person on your block. Are you excited? I'm excited. Let‘s talk about training. It's time for the fun stuff.

We're Not All Talking About the same thing

(assumptions)

Part of the confusion with karate is that not all of karate is the same or for the same purpose, but we mostly treat it all the same out of respect and politeness. All karate is valid. To the outside observer, the new student, this can be confused with meaning that all karate is the same. If they train hard enough and long enough than they will find the answer or their teacher will tell them the answer. It's a big assumption and one that I believe unethical instructors take advantage of to justify lousy teaching and misunderstanding. Karate becomes

a wonder tool, which will solve all of life's problems. Health, fitness. spirituality, confidence, fighting skill. self defense, cultural study and power. If something is everything, it's really hard to tell the difference between good and bad. The problem as I see it is that we're mostly trying to learn

writing composition from a calligraphy book.

It's no secret that the more popular karate pioneers changed karate, or at least the focus of karate. W 1'. sure many will argue with me on this point, but many karateka like Shoshin Negamine and Gichin Funakoshi saw karate as a means for self discovery, a vehicle for zen, and they did this by shifting the focus from what you were doing to how you were doing it. A zen exercise similar to calligraphy. In an English calligraphy

book you have many different fonts, you may even have unreadable characters, almost like graffiti tagging. Calligraphy is not

about what you're writing, it's about how you're writing it. It's about the aesthetics of the activity and understanding isn't required. It would be much more practical to Just use your own style of hand writing to compose a note. Think of the misunderstanding that would occur if we tried to use a calligraphy book or teacher to learn writing composition if we didn't know we were learning calligraphy. we would later apply rationalized explanations to our activities and we would be confident in our assumptions because of the confirmation bias. we could say that using many different fonts increased our understanding of the letters, that the preciseness of the writing was because of tradition to guard against the loss of knowledge and that the secrets through diligent practice would one day be revealed to us. The notion

or information that a person used to use one font dependent on his own style and ease of use and that these variations between similar fonts was inconsequential can just be chalked up to the primitive and antiquated methods of older teachings. Whatever is new is better and the l more information you have the better off you are. Unfortunately, information without understanding is

Just noise. If you could not read English, these pages would be meaningless, no matter how many different fonts of the alphabet

you know.

The negative results

You may hate me for saying this, but as a rule modern karate do has failed in all endeavors except one, sport. The three K incarnation of karate is a wonderful for competition, athleticism, and aesthetics. The fact that when this model is applied any other way it either falls on its face or leaves a lot of In unanswered questions. In theory, if fighting skill and zen enlightenment were the real goals of modern karate than we should have millions of supreme fighters living from moment

to moment in a crystal clarity of thought. Our mixed martial arts tournaments would be dominated by karateka. Sadly they are not. This isn't to say that the modern platform is bad, or even wrong it's that it's only the outliers in this category of karateka who excel at the none athletic aspects of karate. They are the exceptions that prove the rule. If you practice, 3K karate you haven't been lied to or deceived in any way. Funakoshi still gives us all the information anyone really needs to learn karate. I'll explain this later.

preparative and predictive models

I've said before that people don't like abstract concepts,

because they're harder to understand initially. Abstract

actions representing simple fundamental principles can be

mostly meaningless on their own, but when put together to

create a system they can be very powerful. this is the nature

p of a preparative model or system. A preparative system

deals with cultivating fundamental principles that can be

applied widely over a very wide amount of subjects and situations.

A predictive system is based on using p1 specific actions to solve specific problems, and because we cannot predict everything

we choose the average of all the possibilities. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

The advantage in a predictive model is that solutions can usually be implemented instantaneously once they are learned. Action and reaction have a one to one ratio. They are concrete, are easy to learn and readily understandable. The draw back

is that x anything falling outside the predictions or odds

that you have decided on will not have answers, and there

will be no system in place to find an answer. This is the model of most technique based learning. We have a set of responses to set actions and they are specific. One has to make their own connects between techniques to become adaptable.

The advantage of the 31:11: preparative model is that once learned you have a means to respond efficiently to an almost

infinite number of scenarios, because it is designed to

adapt by working from general actions to tailored solutions. The downside is that they require more work on the front end. They are abstract and harder to learn and the concepts can't be readily applied once they are learned. They take more practice and study. This is the model that solo kata uses.

It doesn't teach us the techniques or the specific scenarios,

but the basic connections that link all of them.

There are a couple of examples, which may make this more clear. If we are designing a general plan for a household budget to mitigate risk, we can go two routes. the preparative and the predictive. If we use the predictive model we will set aside, a little bit of money for the things we predict we will need it for. We will predict the most likely types of emergencies or bad things that we can think of like a car breaking down, a new drier, house maintenance etc and we will set aside a set amount of money based on the average cost of each of these things. or we will dedicate a credit card for emergencies if we don't have the money. This is easy and simple to implement and frees up a lot of money each year for doing the things you really want to do. If the only things that go wrong are the things you predicted than you'll be fine, but if more things go wrong than you planned, or different things go wrong you're in real trouble. You may have planned on just replacing your car's headlights and performing general maintenance, but the transmission breaks down and needs to be replaced. The washer and dryer go out

at the same time and you find out that your wife is pregnant with your third child. Hey, life happens. The predictive model only works for the things you really know are going to happen and if you know it's going to happen you're not really predicting.

In On the other hand if we use the preparative model things are going to be different. You're going to hurt now, so you don't hurt later. You decide that you cannot predict what will go wrong, so you decide to implement a plan that encompasses the widest range of things going wrong, from nothing to losing your job for one year. You will implement this plan by saving up one years worth of household expenses, plus a couple grand for comfort. This means not eating out, cutting expenses, staying in at night and drinking the beer on sale instead of the single malt scotch. It might take a little bit more time and work to implement, but the dividends pay big. Once you have saved one year of living expenses you don't need to save it again. You can go back to drinking scotch and eating out, parties with friends and vacations as long as you don't touch your emergency fund. this won't solve all of your problems, but something really big and catastrophic is going to have to happen to impact you in any significant way. You still have your normal income, you can cut expenses and with a readily available sum of money you can take advantage of good luck. Your friend is running a thriving business that needs to expand and needs investors, you want to buy a new house, you come up with an invention that might change the world.

You have resources, not just prediction and luck.

Another comparison is xnxxkphxhat a phonetic alphabet and

a syllabery made up of individual symbols, which each represent an individual idea or concept. The alphabet is preparative and the syllabary is predictive. if this has more to do with implementation rather than the and expression, because functionally the end expression is the sane. I don't need to know how to exactly spell a word if I'm leaving a note for my wife. I can sound it out and spell it phonetically and probably get pretty close. I can also use other words to describe what I'm talking about, but this is not the case with a syllabary. I can know

a concept and know how to communicate it in speech, but if

I don't know the corresponding symbol, which represents it, I can't even guess at how to write it. (Don't give us a lecture about how the Japanese use computer software to instantly

transfer harigana to kanji. It's not the point.)

A technique based system is like the one to one predictive model of a syllabary. Easy to transmit, understand and copy, but cannot

adapt,

A solo kata based system is like the preparative xiphxsnt model of the alphabet. Harder to learn, transmit and understand, but

infinitely adaptable, robust and fault tolerant. It's okay to be good enough, because good enough is all you need. Perfect

is just something nice to think about. Hopefully, you're seeing how this is beneficial.

ice very abstract nature and representation of the very bare fundamental elements of useful movement allow kata to be

as robust, versatile, adaptable and fault tolerant as the English alphabet. it does this by working from most general and fundamental to most specific just like the alphabet. Letters become words, words become sentences, sentences become paragraphs, paragraphs become pages, pages become chapters and chapters become books. It's the understanding of the connections between these elements, which make it so well awesome. A kata works in the same way. Movement becomes technique, technique becomes tactics, tactics becomes strategy. If we understand the movements at their fundamental level and understand the connections between technique, tactics and strategy than we don't need to predict at all. To quote Motobu "we learn to bend with the winds of adversity.’ Preparation and adaptation not prediction and finger crossing.

the opposite is also true once we understand these connections. If we know the strategy we'll know the tactics, if we know the tactics, we'll know the techniques and if we know the techniques than we'll know the movements. Screw up the movement of your opponent and you screw up their technique,t heir tactics and ultimately their strategy, so just screw up their movement

and you'll be good. Oh the opposite end if your movement is

good or rather good enough it will have an effect. At the

very least it will keep you from taking damage.

In the end all of this really boils down to a simple application of move, recognize, exploit, but we have to learn all the connections first. This is the point of the book to connect

all the dots so you can really start learning and stop fumbling around in the dark without a flashlight. I'm not going u:

give you a flashlight, I'm showing you how to make fire without tools.

Let's start with the first layer, movement. I'll be speaking generally and this might not specifically apply to every single kata ever made. Every kata is some violent killer's own personal alphabet of death. they will have differences, but this should get you started.

Rules and the mechanics

All of this might seem complicated and hard to understand because of the abstract nature of karate kata. It's almost like trying to explain how the letter T fits into the

grand scheme of things as far as language is concerned.

rho biggest determining factor is that kata is based on preparation and not on prediction. It is not a list of defenses against the most common attacks, but you can use kata for the most common attacks. Basing practice on the most common attacks means that whenever you're attacked differently or unconventionally you will not have a way to respond to the situation. By being preparative we focus on the variables of conflict that we will have direct control over, ourselves hopefully, and nuke them versatile enough

to respond to the situation as it is. 2 We don't need to be predictive, because the application of kata will come down to adaptability. This requires more work on the front end of understanding and applying concepts than just picking the corresponding action to a list of the most common outcomes. we can't predict for a situation, which is unpredictable, so we will focus on training to respond and act on the given variables and not on prediction. this will mostly boil down to where am I now and where do I need to go, which will have

the greatest effect on the enemy. First we need to understand the nitty gritty.

. w th.. , _ a ne sue. a

Kata movements are not magic, mystical or even particularly profound. They are general purpose movements for doing one

thing and one thing only, producing force. Despite everything

you might have heard on the subject of power generation all forces of the mechanical kind act in exactly the sane way and along the same proportional rules. Force equals mass times acceleration. A punch, bullet, hand grenade, explosion, and

are all bound by the proportional attributes. I'll try not

to get too technical, but it's important we understand this. Remember, this is preparation, not prediction. If we want to increase our force we either need to add more mass or acceleration, or both. Keep in mind acceleration is both increases or decreasing the rate of speed. If we can't increase mass we increase acceleration, if we can't increase acceleration we can increase mass. An explosion is quickly expanding gas. The gas itself has very little mass, but it moves so fast that it can kill you. On the other end of the spectrum, a steam roller can just provide enough acceleration to keep moving and it will squish you like

a pancake. It's not moving fast at all, but it more than makes

up for it with its mass. Kata movement generally takes advantage

of net forces by coordinating your movement to work toward

a single purpose, generating force in a particular direction or plane of space. those not forces will be the force of gravity pushing down on your mass, coupled with propelling your mass or accelerating it in space by pushing forward off the ground and any rotational force from twisting your hips and the speed of propelling your arms forward. Po put it simply, dropping your weight in conjunction with efficient body mechanics.

All adds to the force. This force produces mechanical energy in the form of kinetic energy to do work. The work we will

be doing is manipulating another person.

we all intuitively know how to hurt. The point of martial arts

is to learn how to do it better by efficient1y using the kinetic energy we produce that is the energy produced by a moving object. we need to exploit our kinetic energy and our opponent's. There's a yin and yang aspect to this which will pop up again and

again and it's basically that you do the opposite of what your opponent is doing. Example, you can absorb, deflect or give kinetic energy. If you get hit or put up a stiff block you absorb energy by either transmitting the shock through your flesh and bones or breaking. You can deflect or redirect, which is

applying kinetic energy to your opponent's mass so that you change their direction so that you don't absorb the impact, and you can give kinetic energy. This boils down to you can get hit, or you can redirect. Anything you hit, hits back. It doesn't mater who initiates it. this actually makes our options response and action rather short, which is a good thing. Whether I redirect or hit in no matter what incarnation it takes I want it to put me at advantage and put the other person at disadvantage. For example, if a person charges at no I can either stand firm and make sure the person runs into the first available and supported bony prominence, elbow, knee or even forehead if

done correctly or I redirect his energy by using his own body

as a lever and my body as a fulcrum to redirect his own energy and decelerate him violently into the floor.

If we don't want to hurt someone with a movement we have to limit power and power is Just work applied over a unit of time. the exact same amount of energy is used but by applying it

over a larger segment of time we reduce the violent effect. For example a straight punch and a push are functionally the same the only difference is power. A punch dumps all of it's energy into a person over the course of a fraction of a second. A push is slower the energy or work is spread out over a longer period of time, so sssxsiissxxmmxs instead of breaking ribs you push someones entire mass backwards. The same with locks. the way you lock an elbow and break an elbow are the same. If you want to snap it you go fast putting more energy on the Joint than

it can absorb, so it gives in response to the stress. If you

go slow the joint has time to absorb the energy and flex, so you merely lock it.

Inertia is the property of an object to resist change. This is really what we're fighting. It's the property that keeps our atoms from flying apart or our bodies. It takes an outside influence to change us. It takes the application of force. jast asgpnuer>Infiuencea:a_change. We want to violently over corn 'Our opponent's inertia by either breaking them or moving them, or both. We want to effect our opponent's inertia violently

with power, so they do not have the ability to absorb, adapt or compensate.

All kata movements use these principles in some way. How we apply them is based on the context in a general way. You don't fight your opponent's energy, you exploit it for your own means. If they push you pull, if they pull you push, if they move circularly you move straight, if they move straight you more circularly, if they move forward you move back, if they move back you move forward. They go left, you go right. It

all depends on whether you are moving to redirect their energy, receiving it or giving it.

Kata exploits this or rather prepares you for this by generally having pairs or groups of complimentary movements. It's like

a built in general purpose counter. If I push and the opponent resists attempting to over power them with strength will generally result in a net force of zero and you will tire, but if I push and they resist I'll know that in my movement is thwarted and automatically pull them into an attack. I just

need to know how I exploit my energy and theirs. Very little thinking involved.

the primer for the english language is the alphabet. lwenty six letters, which comprise the very fundamental aspects of an entire language for communicating ideas and concepts. These limited letters are used to make up the more than 1,000,000 cursent words in the english language and the combinations of those words make up the sum total of every single sign, article, label, advertisement, essay, textbook, manuscript, novel, comic book, ingrediant list, script, poem and obscene statement scribbled on every bathroom wall that has ever existed in English. Not too bad for just 26 letters, which almost none of which individually represent anything other than a sound that

we make with our mouth. On their own they are almost completely meaningless, yet the sum total of their parts is so great that encompasses all of English literature. What's even more profound is that we've only had a couple of hundred years of standardized spelling. For almost a thousand years, everything was spelled phonetically. The alphabet has seen trends and revisions due

to these changes in popularity, but at one time Just knowing

the alphabet and the sounds they represented meant that you could read and n write in a very real way. Kata is a primer

for violent efficient movement, but instead of representing sounds, each kata movement represents an efficient neans of producing kinetic energy, which we can apply to fighting. Other than this they mean nothing and just like the alphabet they don't have to mean anything. Luckily instead or representing sounds, which are not readily apparent by looking at the symbols, the kata represent movement through movement, so all we have to do is pay attention to what it's doing.

Kata as a Primer

This explains a lot really, if not everyzhi single thing that you've ever heard or read about karate that made any sort of sense. fhis explains everything and it's been hidden from us

because of our assumptions and something called the a confirmation bias.

To know conclugévely what something is, it's more helpful to know what it i rather than knowing h what it might be and it's part of the reason why we haven't really thought about it. Martial artists usually don't care about what doesn't work. This means that we all fall prey to the confirmation bias, which causes us to stop looking for the answer to a problem if we think we have a plausible explanation. Remember earlier the

idea that kata was a list of techniques. This is plausible and because most karateka practice several kata, or have many

but practice one seriously, they never have to truly consider the ramifications involved in only knowing one. The variations just don't matter, because you can pick a few you like, practice these and get on with your life. You can ignore the paradox of multiple interpretations. In the real grand scheme of things this doesn't matter just because of the very nature ofa primer. You can still use it, if you don't understand it and knowing something doesn't mean you can transfer it's value to others.

fhe modern karateka spends very little time comparatively with each kata. They can be confident in their assumptions because they came up with an interpretation of a movement that worked and it's all that matters, why focus on one kata when I have

so many. I can just learn more techniques from other hate. You only run into the problem if you only have one kata and no other. Variations of technique are about as useful as knowing none, because there are so many. It's like trying to use the english language by memorizing every variation of its use. Not going to happen.

we can only memorize phrases and that is not internalized information. It's just sound that we knows means something.

Every interpretation, which you've ever seen of a kata movement is essentially correct if it works. fhe only thing that each interpretation has in common is the movement itself. Kata

does not have a one to one ration and we really don't have to think about this if we use multiple kata, because of the confirmation bias. Every plausible scenario that we can come

up with will be correct, because every incarnation of the movement is only employing that body movement to produce kinetic energy, which we use to perform the work that drives the technique. Techniques are like words. They need the right combinatio n of letters. If we have the right combination we have a word,

if we don't we have letters. Kata like language is purely contextual.

To put it another way, if we had fifteen alphabets and we used six of them to communicate sufficiently to get through the day, but one of them wasn't english, we'd have no real motivation

to test our assumptions. We might puzzle at it and with a little bit of tinkering we may form the phrase 'th ck brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.‘ We used all the assuming that the alphabet mostly had a 1 to 1 ratio. It's Just a d.ight variation you might think and it doesn't matter anyway because ihaxnaxxxximaxaan the phrasew orks and now you've got a way to say that so you file it away in the catalogue.

Another way to view it cones from the Book the Black Swann by Taleb. He describes an experiment where subjects are given a three number sequence and then they are asked to give the rule

, which governs the sequence. The facilitator can either confirm or negate theix'assumption. The subjects are asked to continue the sequence. Each time the facilitator answered yes, the subject stopped guessing because they becanm confident that they had puzzled out the correct answer, but none figured out the rulec orrectly. the reason? The rule was merely numbers axxan listed in ascending order. Any combination of random ascending numbers fits the rule, but is not the rule. You can only figure out the rule if you listed numbers in descending order. Or in martial arts terms by figuring out how the kata movement

doesn't work. This is the confirmation bias.

I) [III I LI -n

The Implications

I know a few other karateka who subscribe to this movement theory, but I don't think they fully grasp the implications of this because they have not changed their training plans or teaching styles. It's seen as almost the inevitable conclusion to be

made after decades of dedicated study and the pinnacle of understanding, but to me it's rather numerous. It's as if discovering that the alphabet was made up of sounds was the end of the journey. Ehe implementation of the movement primer idea could change everything. Kata as a primer makes karate far more versitle, adaptive, functional, intuitive and easier to learn than any martial art, which does not use a solo kata. because

it focuses on preparation and not prediction. Keep in mind that the Seisan kata I practice has what could be called 13 movements. This is half as many representations as the english alphabet, yet it only takes about five years, 1h. kindergarten to fifth grade to master the written language enough for you to use it for

the rest of your life. Newspapers are written on a sixth grade reading level. We don't have to analyze, research, or guess at what words we need to use. We know what we want to write, so

we write. It doesn't even need to be perfect. It just needs to

be good enough. In theory, we should be able to use kata as naturally, instinctually and easily during a fight as we do when we argue with someone. It's even half as complicated.

In this way, the kata never needs to be changed beyond your conveinient understanding of it. Each new concept or technique is just a different combination of movements that need to be applied. we don't need new movements just like we don't need new letters to spell new words. we just need to be aware of the words to spell them. We don't even need to spell them right most of the time for people to understand us. It just has to

be good enough. Phe movements are completely contextual. The situation dictates what movement we use and how we use it and the movements are simple enough to apply and general enough that we don't need to remember complex plans. or make predictions based on the odds. We know the rules of use and with these

rules the use is only limited by our understanding and imagination. Do we wake up every morning and cone up with a list of phrases that we might use that day? Not likely. Too many variables, too many situations and we don't know what will happen that day.

Kata as a primer for movenent operates in the same way, and it won’t take 30 years to become<:ompotent. It might take a lifetime to master, but it should only take a couple of years to become useful.

when we look at kata from this perspective all the pieces suddenly fall into place and it explains everything. It explains why there are so many widely varying, but effective applications of kata, how a tug single kata can be the basis for an entire fighting system, how one can practice keta without dedicating time to

each different scenario of use, why there are so many different flavors of the same kata and how it didn't seem to matter in earlier times, how one an could gain mastery in a relatively short amount of time, why the bubishi was important, how pioneers clouded meaning and why karateka kept their kata secret.

Funakoshi didn't hide anything from us, nor did anyone else. They just might not have told people the most useful ways to use kata. Let's take what some people call kiddie karate or punch, kick, block. fhis too is valid functional application of kata. It

can't really be denied that you can't use these pnnxhnxxsx

kink: movements for punching and kicking and that you can't use the rest of the movements for blocking punches and kicks. It's just that in the same way that "See spot run," is a sentence, punches, kicks and blocks are the introductory level understanding of kata movement. They are the safe version. See spot run is a sentence, it's just not a good sentence. If our level of reading comprehension had stopped at this level our grasp on the written language would be limited and tenuous at best. Our understanding of more complex sentenses does not come from memorizing the

true interpretation of the alphabet, but by being able to apply it more efficiently and usefully.

Let us start looking at the fundamentals of kata, or rather the fundamentals of movement that make up kata, so we can understand what tehy represent and how we can apply those movements in a useful way. Let's start to break down the mechanics, xnxxnxxx We're not memorizing a phrase book, we're going to become fluent. It's tine to really start learning.

Knowing and Understanding

How can this be possible? You a rank ametuer know the neaning

of kata? How can it be that there can be about a hundred years of modern karate history and no one has mentioned it? I don't know, and I have my guesses, but it doesn't really matter. To make a guess though, it's because itds possible to do something without understanding what you're actually doing. Think of everything you do on a day to day basis, which you know, but don't understand. Emixkngxxklikingxmmxxnmx Do you know how everything you use on a daily basis workd? Your car, cell phone, outlets, a: toilet, plumbing, television, computer, the internet, satellites, exercise, your digestive system? Most of diet ime you don't need to know how these different things work. It

isn't nesseccary to their use unless something goes wrong. Little details get lost, which can have a big impact on the function of these things like the traction of your car. You don't need to know how your tires grip to be able to drive, but knowing the properties that allow your tires to keep you on

the road will make you a better driver.

Other factors are also important like correlation does not

equal causation and the pitfalls of the confirmation bias. I

can make a pretty good guess as to which cities will have higher crima rates based on the number of churches in the area. This isn't because religion causes crine, but because the larger

the population the more churches there are, and the bigger the population the more crime there usually is,

The confirmation bias also throws the wool over our eyes. If I drive 100 mph on the highway and don't get in a wreck I could assume that I'm a good driver, but it might just be because I'm lucky. The first wreck will most likely make me

the worst driver on the planet, because generally good drivers don't kill themselves in firey car wrecks.

A detail might be so banal and obvious in one context that it isn't even worth mentioning because everyone knows that. 01d recipes for meals before a certain time are usually little more than a list of ingredients because it was understood how hot your oven needed to be and what ratio of flour to shugar and other spices x you would need in order to make cake. You wouldn't have the detailed and precise instructions of your modern cookbook. It wasn't deemed essential information. If

we followed these same recipes as we followed modern ones we'd all tax die of food poisoning.

rhere is a way to view kata, which will help solidify our understanding of it and use it's abstract nature in a concrete way, which will help us use it as a tool for violent conflict. Phat is to view it as a primer.

WWW W W:

khax Karate esn't make sense

I'd always loved karate since the time I started when I was 16 years old, but time and circumstances led me away a couple of times and I didn't pick up my serious study of karate until 13 years later. I found one disturbing thing over and over again that kep bugging the crap out of me. Karate didn't lane sense. It seemed to make sense to other people duo had come up with convincing arguments and theories about karate. Theories that were good enough to silence their doubts and start spreading their ideas, but as much as their ideas made sense at the tine I heard them they would ultimately stop making sense the more I thought about them and tried to

apply them to my own karate. Try as I might, I could never make it fit. It doesn't seem like a big deal and didn't seem like a big deal at the time when I started, but I only practice one kata. Not only do I only practice one kata I only know

one other kata, which I don't practice. There are plenty of people who have spent a significant anmunt of time practicing one kata, but this is usually a response to their already long practice and love of other kata. This complicates things because try as you might this experience clouds your Judgement and thinking. We are ruled by our assumptions, but I found out that knowing ant and practicing only one kata was the key to answering really contradictory and confusing questions about karate that everyone else seems to dismiss out of hand. The very things which make karate make no sense at all.

Here are some of the more popular theories about karate: Everything is a punch, kick or block.

Each kata is a flow drill, or half a flow drill.

Each kata is a series of basic defensive techniques.

Each kata isd esigned to defenda gainst the 30 habitual actus of violence.

mach kata is a solo exercise, which shows common techniques and the counters for when those techniques fail.

Kata is the culmination of prior technique training.

Kata is a specific way to fight in a specific scenario.

Each of these theories seem to make perfect sense on the face of it, but you need to discount or dismiss other infornation in order to practice karate in this fashion. what is worse and even more confusing is that there are plenty of anecdotes and evidence to show that every single one of these theories are plausible, because we see it being used successfully in other martial arts. Each of these ideas answer the question of karate, but they don't answer all of the questions. They have to ignore the rest of the questions.

Here are some of the questions they raise:

If karate is just punches, kicks and blocks why are there so many movemnts, so many kata and so nany other ways to use the movements?

If each kata is half a flow drill, what happened to the other part of the flow drill? Even with the devastation on Okinawa after Hail are you suggesting that everyone forgot a perfect mirror to every single kata ever made?

If each kata is a series of basic defensive techniques why is it so complicated and how can there be so many variations and interpretations? Why would one kata be useful, since we know that old karateka only learned one kata and mastered it before moving on?

If each kata is designed to defend against 30 attacks why aren't each kata 30 steps?

If each kata is a solo exercise, which shows a technique and

then predicts the counter for that technique when it fails doesn't that mean that a 100 year old kata with fixed movements is supposed to predict accurately what a living, breathing, thinking person will do?

If kata is the culmination of previously learned techniques then how come anecdotale evidence shows us that people were taught kata with absolutely no explanation before hand?

If kata were a specific way to fight in a specific scenario than once again why would knowing one or even two or three, be useful? You would have to know infinite.

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All of these theories are built on rather large assumptions about fighting, violence, self defense, technique and based on the assumption that they actually know what's going on or What they're talking about. They do all however work, which has led to most

of the confusion. Everyone can point to their own work and sq

see it works.

nhmixxxnted to intuitevly understand what was happening in Wan because I practiced one kata and was looking for the ultimate answer to karate, I applied all of these theories to my kata, and they all worked, but because I only practiced one kata there was no concrete or simple way for me to apply tra se concepts, unless I just told myself that kata is just movement. Kata is just movement, but this is about as helpful as telling name a child that algebra is made up of numbers. You need to

know the rules.

Is kata what we think it is?

One of the problems that karateka have had in deciphering martial application from Rate is that we've had to reverse engineer kata by looking at techniques. Many of us including myself believe that kata is Jam packed full of practical fighting applications just ripe for the picking. We see a effective fighting technique either in sport, combat or

self defense and it reminds us of a kata movement. We try out the kata movement and behold we have a working and practical application based on the interpretation or a Late movement. It doesn't seem so very hard really, and this is the way of thinking that I used when I first started out my serious karate journey of discovery. Being limited to only two kata, I decided to take the perceived old way and choose one of them for my study and set out to practicing. I was confident that each kata was in fact the very heart of it's own individual fighting system, because old karateka only studied one or two kata for many years before moving onto another. I didn't: really mum understand what this really meant or its implications. I knew that it didn't take many techniques to comprise a fighting art and that it was better to master a small collection of techniques and know how to use them than know many techniques and only know them on a surface level. I was therefore convinced that each kata must be a list of specific basic complimentary techniques. Each of these techniques could be extrapolated into a broader use. I decidedlthat with enough diligent practice, study and reseach that I d be able to find the basic techniques found in the flavor of Seisan that I'd chosen and once I'd discovered this core of techniques that I would be able to extrapolate

these into different techniques. They would in effect be the principle techniques. I practiced.

I ran into a snag however. The more I practiced the more seemingly effective applications I found for each movement. Some of these applications seemed to be leading to different tactical solutions. I could turn almost every movement into a block, a look, a strike or a throw and more disturbingly the more I learned about violence and survival fighting

the more I realized that I could sometimes do all of these things within the confines of a single movement. I studied other people's applications like Iain Abernathy's and John Burke's or Lawrence Kane's and Kris Wilder's. I'hey all had really good, really practical ideas and all their interpretations seemed like they could work. The more similarities I found between applications the more differences I found. The only thing that really stayed the same were the actual movements. What the hell was going on? There was a saying or accepted position by all of these people that no one seemed to pay much attention to, which was almost just a throw away statement to accept everyone's differing theories. There is more than one proper interpretation for any movement.

This is the first principle in The Hay of Kata by Kris Wilder and Lawrence Kane. It was the principle, which would eventually be the key for my personal understanding of hats.

One of the queer things I discovered while practicing one kata was that immunmuxmtiamndannm it had very different factors and implications for study than those who practiced many kata. For those who practice many kata it

wasn't that nesseccary to take a serious look at the implications of the above principle. You could cherry pick the applications, which best suited you and move on to another kata and cherry pick applications from that kata. When you went back to practice your kata you could think about your favorite application and focus. Here's the problem with trying that with single kata practice. Hhcih interpretation do you use? What do you think about while you practice? My early solutions were to just think of it a different way each time I practiced. This way if someone attacks and I joint lock them, this way if it's a block counter, this way if it's close range, this way if I'm Just moving them, this way if they block my first attack, this way if they do this. This is inefficient and ineffective. Each expression of hats would have to be practiced independently to solidify it

in your brain, except there are an almost infinite amount of different scenarios, applications and plausible uses for each one kata movement. How do you get to a sufficient amount of reps for each of the s amazingly infinite expressions of a single movement. You don't. It's a trap. I'd fallen into the confirmtion bias. l‘his bias is basically that you find an interpretation

of anything and because it works you simply move on thinking that you've discovered its meaning. The problem I was running into was that everything works, so I wasn't proving anything.

I had to start looking at what each technique wasn't. It turns out that you can learn a lot more about anything by discovering what it isn't rather than what you think it is. Negativeresults are more telling and informative than positiveresults.

The thing is if something can be many techniques than it's not one technique. If it's us: one technique it can't be many. It's seemingly a paradox and one that people who practice one kata don't have to face. How do we resolve this paradox? We decide that each kata movement is not a technique, but a movement.

The only thing all the different interpretations had in common was the movement and the directionality of applied kinetic energy. You moved in the exact sane way delivering the same body mechanics, but the contact points were different. i‘he

only negative result I could find for a movement was that it really sucked at delivering energy in certain planes. A movement would be very good at delivering energy downward or upward, or out from the middle or in toward the middle and any application

that supposed the technique was directed in any other way than this specific plane was very weak to the point of useless.

Everything suddenly clicked in my head. Each kata movement was not a technique. It was a means of efficiently and powerfully delivering kinetic energy in a particular plane of space without a preconceived idea of what I was using the force to

accomplish. Joint lock, throw, strike, trip, gouge, block or all of them it didn't matter as long as it required kinetic

energy to be delivered in a certain plane of space than I could make it work. Each of my kata movement merely becana the efficient application of body mechanics for delivering energy in basic directions. Up, down, back, forward, left, right, and general combinations of all of them. rhia had great implications on practice, thinking, and what kata actually was. Kata in not technique, kata ie body mechanics for fighting. It's not what. It's how and this has far reaching application. It changea everything.

fhree Facets to Movement

Each individual kata movement has a function, the body mechanics involved in itss performance and the kinesthetic propreaception during use. rhe function is the general use or larger job

of the movement. mach movement is meant to affect a person in axxmxnxxnaxxxxxxp to have the biggest effect on that person

in a particular way. some movements sweep aside an entire person, others spread a person apart from the middle, others twist a person around their axis. lhey are large gross motor movements meant to have as big of an effect on the opponent

as possible. lhey are not specific little techniques for specific scenario. You use each movement like a tool when it

is needed. bach movement can overlap all the others in that

they can strike, gouge, lock and take someone down, but they all do so in their own individual ways. Dome have overlap in utility, but each has a weakness, but the other kata movements cover this weakness because they compliment each other.

ihe body mechanics are how you move your own body and the body of the opponent to get the best effect.

the kinesthetic feeling is being aware of our nwnentum, movement and our propreception, because we will be fighting mostly by touch.

inese three aspects of movement cannot be isolated from one another. they are inseparable, but we can put an emphasis

on exploring each of the aspectsx while practicing. Lhey must be studied, picked apart and examined little by little. Knowledge of one without the other two or even two without the other is of limited value.

the Paradox

i1mxnnxxxnxn I practice a single kata. For the conventional karateka this doesn't mean much. Even the karateka who

believe there is value in practicing a single kata usually only arrive at this conclusion after decades of traditional karate study. They usually know dozens of kata. I know one. You'd think that there wouldn't be much difference between the two types of practices. You would be wrong. the difference to me is as great as swimming in a pool and swimming in the ocean. I swim in the ocean.

when I first began this practice I believed as the majority

of karateka that a kata was merely a list of defensive techniques. Karateka split hairs about what is and what isn't practical or realistic, but almost all of them believe that

a kata is a list of techniques. What else could it possibly be? My mission was to understand all of the essential techniques of Seisan. I practiced, I studied and I experimented. One thing I started to notice is that I was forced to come up against hard questions, which I could easily dismiss. If I practiced in the regular manner I could move onto another kata whenever I became stuck, but I didn't have another kata. I only had the one. The more I practiced the more doubts I had about what the different movements meant. I was coming up against a paradox. Every time I was sure I understood a movement, I would find another way to use it. Sometimes it would be tactically or strategically different than earlier

incarnations of the movement. The only similarity was the movement itself. I must have come up with 30 different technique variations for the first sequence of movements

alone. One out of 13 movements with 30 different and distinct variations. The combinations are greater when I start linking and layering different movements. The conventional wisdom is that there is no one way to apply a movement. Any practical

and plausible application of a movement is valid. This is

a problem. It's a problem, which other karateka didn't seem

to think about, which bothered me even more. It's not a problem of finding practical techniques. It's the problem of finding too many. What exactly was I supposed to think about while I practiced kata? How was I supposed to practice and ingrain these techniques in any sort of practical manner? this is most easily described using math. For the first sequence of movements in Seisan, just the movement between one step to the next, I know how to apply it when facing a person to the front, the sides and while behind someone. I can apply it as a series of different strikes, blocks and strikes, limb manipulations, body manipulations, two easy locks, gouges and a take down. I can also strike, lock, gouge and take down simultaneously within that single movement.

this is well over ten variations for a single movement. I can do this for all 13 distinct moves of the kata. Let's say I

want to practice the kata or create a flow drill where I

want to practice all the distinct variations and combinations of these techniques. Easy right. Not at all. there are over

100 billion distinct combinations. It's lock a lock with

13 ten digit dials. In other words for me just to get through one repetition of each and it took a minute to practice the kata each time it would take me over 190,256 years of continuous none stop practice to get through one rap of

each incarnation. How many reps does it take to ingrain a single technique into muscle memory? This doesn’t even account for the variations due to an opponent's own movements, because none of these variations are responsive in any way, the variations caused because of an opponent's size and weight or variations between how I apply the kata and how someone smaller or significantly taller would apply the kata. Phis effectively if not literally increases the number of techniques and variations of a single Kata to infinity. If I followed the conventional training wisdom of training each individual technique to

muscle memory I'd need to do a few thousand repetitions of infinity. It is quite the paradox. It has an easy answer though. A kata movement is not a technique. It is merely effective

and efficient body mechanics. All of my 33 different technique variations had one thing in common. the movement. I moved the

same way, in the same direction to many different results.

the only meaning in kata movement is what you can do with it.

there is no right and wrong just what works and what doesn't work. All techniques need efficient and effective body mechanics on the part of the practitioner to be useful. Not all techniques require the ears type of body mechanics and even techniques

in the same category like strikes need different body mechanics. the humble punch seems simple enough, but the straight, the hook and the upper cut use three different types of body mechanics. If kata is merely body mechanics to applied in the context of the situation than for as there are only 13 movements. 13 movements to study, to examine, to relate to one another and

discover their uses. 13 is much easier to handle than infinity. the answer to kata is really rather simple. Kate is a primer.

A primer is the smallest essential elements of a system and

the smallest essential element of a fighting system is not technique, but efficient and effective body mechanics, or movement. This makes kata more abstract and cognitive and ultimately more versatile, adaptable and can be used more creatively than many other systems. It's closest relative, which you will be familiar with is the alphabet. 26 letters, which are the distilled essence of an entire system of communication. now many words can you spell with the alphabet? All of them. Kata is a Japanese word, but I didn't use kanji, I spelled it

in English phonetic script. How many techniques can a single kata encompass? All of them.

How many years must I practice my kata? Until you die.

The practice of a single kata is much different than the conventional, or traditional avenues of karate. In a traditional dojo there is always something that comes next.

A new kata, a new technique, a new belt, a new class or seminar. You continually collect all things karate. there

is always something to look forward to. It is only after many decades of continual and dedicated practice that you start

to really exam what you have in front of you. This examination begins the minute you have memorized the pattern when you practice a single kata. there are no belts, no tests, no seminars, no classes. New techniques become banal and do little to add to understanding the essence of your kata.

A solo kata is a Zen style cognitive process of discipline and patience, which is applied to every layer of learning.

One cannot sleep walk through its practice. One must give themselves entirely to the process. Careful creative and diligent thought applied in conjunction with physical practice. they are linked. The physical without the cognitive is dance. the cognitive without the physical is worthless in an emergency. they must be linked. Only then can kata be used

as the creative tool that it is meant to be. This takes patience, discipline, dedication and time, but if you're diligent it should only take three years to fully integrate

a fighting style that is intuitive, instinctual and infinitely adaptable and ingrained below the conscious level. Not

decades, but years.

the goals

the goal of any fighting art is to ingrain combat techniques

to below the conscious level. Action and intent should

spring forth without thought and one should be able to instantly and effortlessly recognize and adapt to the situation at hand and use the tactics and strategies, which best

fit the environment and needs of the moment. this is

sometimes called hishiryo or a state of thought without thinking or consciousness beyond thought. It sounds mystical and spiritual. home would say that this state is impossible, but they would be wrong. If you are reading this in an alphabetic script than you are employing hishiryo right now. she

mechanics of reading, the cognitive processes, which allow

us to instantly and effortlessly glean meaning from abstract squiggles called letters is performed below the conscious level. We see a word and instantly associate the lump of letters with meaning based on context, but our mind is identifying and recognizing each letter of each word, associating it with the letters around it to make syllables. combines the syllables and their associated sounds to form words, which are interpreted based on their context and placement in the sentence. this is done continuously, instantly and effortlessly as we read, and it is done without us ever consciously attending to the process.

the last time we thought consciously about this process was when we were first learning to read. It has been burned into our brain like the erroneously named muscle memory quietly working in the background. Not only is this state of mind achievable, but we use it on a daily basis for things which are much more complicated and encompasses a broader Variety of contexts than recognizing when you can hit someone in the neck and then using the proper body mechanics to HERB that happen.

In this book we will be employing the same strategies and tactics to study, ingrain and apply our kata by working from the most basic fundamental and abstract components, tin kata movements, and building on them layer after layer creating a firm foundation of internal cognitive processes , which we will use unconsciously to move, act and apply technique, tactics and strategy. this takes careful practice and careful study, but it can be done. It takes as much mental energy as physical energy and this book will give

you the tools to start connecting the dots and putting everything together in a way, which Hill allow for continuous learning instead of route memorization.

ta as a Foundation

the foundational movements of kata are a yes or no question. Like the alphabet, we either know it or we don't. Kind of sort of knowing how to move, where our body weight is going, feeling our force vectors and recognizing where we are structurally strong is not useful. Any continued study or information, which we acquire will be confusing or of limited value as well. It will turn karate practice into a confusing guessing game with no chance of winning. The movements of a Rate have their greatest value when they are all understood on the mechanical level and how they can be used in conjunction with each other. the movements are body mechanics and physics. If we learn of a new technique, all we need x do is observe the body mechanics and principles of the technique to know how we can apply our own kata to do the same thing. Movements are merely the how of technique they are not a what or the techniques themselves. If we truly understand a kata, we can apply it to perform an infinity of variable techniques. this is only the first level of understanding, we want to ingrain tactics below the conscious level and strategy and to do this we need to work our way up.

who is this Book for?

rhis book is for the principle based thinkers, the self starters and the autodidacts. It is for those who might have the drive, but not the cash to practice at a dojo. It is to show that karate is not a monopoly held by those with titles, colored belts, ticket stubs to Okinawa and shiny wood floors. It is

for anyone with the discipline and the fortitude to use their brain and practice. For those who refuse to believe that an

art requires bowing to a higher authority and that payment is required for an activity that people mastered in the dead of night in their spare time. Is this you?

Karate only takes patience, practice and play.

what is a primer?

A primer is the most fundamental elements of a system. Phe

most well known primer for an english speaker is the alphabet. rhe alphabet and kata, are not things, which are interpretted, but something that is applied. it is a set of tools when combined are greater than the sum t tal of its parts. Kate is a system,

it is not a list. lhe dic ionary is a list of words, the alphabet is a primer for a system. All those words are applications of

the alphabet, not the other way around. It is not a nemory aide, nor is it a drill or a list. It is a tool meait to be used

creatively. Fight is Thinking

lhe goal of almost any fighting art is for intent and action

to spring forth without conscious thought. we don't want our actions hindered or hampered by complex cognitive mechanics, but this is exactly what fighting requires. It is not a static memory Hatching game, it is a dynamic ever changing envirnonsnt of opposing bodies. It needs thought. One must know the environment, position of self and opponent, available weapons, available targets, tactics, strategy and the goals of the

type of situation they are in (social/ asocial, other). Phis

is not done blindly. It involves a cognitive process, which must be ingrained from the smallest body mechanic to the largest reaching strategy, so that we can act instinctually, intuitively, automatically and effortlessly. It is not knowing each level, but understanding how each connects to the other and how they influence each other. ihis takes thought and physical practice combined. One with the other and it can't

be done with blind practice, empty repetition.

Each movement has a rule or pinciple which is not based in technique, tactics or strategy. The rule is based on shape, structure and function. It is a tool. A hammer's use is based on its shape, structure and function. fhe techniques, tactics and strategy of using a hammer are one step removied from what makes a hammer useful. For instance a hammer nade out of glass may have the shape of the hammer, but its function and structure are different. It is decoration and the tactics, techniques

and strategy of decoration is different than that of steel hammers made for hammering nails. Unfortunately the shape, structure and function of a kata movement is not so easily handed off as a hammer. We ingrain each aspect, but it follows the same principles as a tool. Ybu don’t interpret a hammer,

you apply a hamner.

*W

rho function of each movement is almost like a math formula. It has a particular purpose, but the variables can change, it can be the end or it can be part of a greater whole, but none of these things actua 1y changes the formula. A kata movement can do many things and the variables can change, the contact points and position of you and the opponent, but the basic functional mechanics of the movement stays the same.

A point of confustion for people that sonatimes causes anger is my stance on money in karate. "IQm allowed to sell my services. If I didn't do this proffessionally, I wouldn't

be the resource I am now." One famous karateka told us defensively. He misunderstood the point I was trying to make. I wasn't saying that he shouldn't sell his services, but that people shouldn't buy his services. I don't believe that people should pay for things they can do themselves.

WW

5010 kata practice is built on layers of internalized cognitive processes. Use of technique, tactics and strategy look like matching problems on the surface, but this is only because

the cognitive process, which they derive from are hidden.

We cannot observe it and many processes become overlearned to the point that we forget we are using them. It's hard for

some people to explain, because they Just know. It's hard to attend to things that we have ceased to attend to.

W

Kate. is like a rough stone. It is worked, out and polished into a beautiful gem, but the real treasures are the skills

gained from the process. The jewel is just the outer expression of your personal knowledge.

um

W

lhe abstract nature of kata as a primer means that the meaning is not easily seen. It is cognitive, inside our head. lhe movements are proactive meaning they are not predicitive. A

kata movement cannot think for you. Nor can any martial movement. the idea that any karate kata can predict the actions and reactions of a person is claiming that a 100 year old fixed form can accurately and continuously predict thea.ctions of a liV1ng breathing thinking person. Kata can be used responsively, reactively, but you, the thinking person, must apply the kata appropriately to the context of the situation. We give the movements a brain, not the other way around.

tint-$86

Kata is not nagic. Kata applied appropriately results in effective technique. Kata applied in unintellignelty or stupidity results in failed flailing.

WW

We should study the effective techniques, tactics and strategies from those who stake their lives on them. we can change and adapt our kata applications as our Knowledge grows, so there is no reason to cling to any variety ort ype of application.

*m

"If someone grabbed my crotch, I'd put my thumb in their eye or their neck. I'm not going to grab their wrist."

Nilliam Blackmon, former police officer, prison guard,

and Vietnam veteren.

#8895

Talk about the confirmation bias as an analytical tool for studying kata and techniques.

W

Too Much Information is Noise

Too much continuatory data is useless. The adaptable and infinitely numerous ways for a kata movement to be applied successfully does not help us to understand a movement. A successful application in a defensive manner and a successful application in an offensive manner are seemingly contradictory conclusions. 'lhese accumulations of reasonable and plausible uses soon become noise.

This means we must strive to find how the movements fail rather than succeed. Failure is much more

distinct and is useful information. for example a movement may work in a thousand different ways while you remain stationary. I very time you try a different variation while staying in one spot you seem to find a plausible e\planation or application. If you try it while moving forward. you fail You try it while mm ing sideuays and you fail. you try it moving backwards and your applications fall again. Every other way you try and use the movement it seems to fail. except. for when you remain stationary. This means that the utility or function of the movement is affecting the opponent when you cannot move freely. This is very useful infonnation. because it means you will no longer waste time trying to apply the movement in any other situation. 1 his takes examination. diligence and discipline. A willingness to experiment and use trial and error during partner practice. You need to find the edges and

the weaknesses of a movement and by contrast you will find all of its infinite strength.

Delayed Gratification

The abstract nature of single kata practice requires a capacity for delayed gratification. You will not reap immediate rewards of practice. It takes dedication and careful study to internalize all of these processes. When you are finished you Will not have a clear re presentable list of killer techniques to show off to your friends. You Will Just be a killer If you demonstrate a stngle use of a movement, you will only be showrng them the outer expressmn of a much deeper and complex group of mechanics,

which can be used in an infinite amount of situations. It will be only the smallest tip of a mountain of knowledge showing itself above the ocean waves. The continued practice and study Will eventually

create a snowball like effect where each new hit of information and research can be integrated and absorbed faster and faster without additional extraneous practice You will train, you Will practice and

you Will get better.

Understanding a Kata

Because kata is a primer. the essential distilled functional movements ofa lighting system. knowledge of each individual movement and pattern sequence is of limited value The total is greater than the sum of its individual parts. A Simple example is the letter “A." Knowing and understanding that the letter is representative of the “ahhh” sound in the English language is of little value if you don't know the sounds of the rest of the alphabet, and knowing the sounds of the alphabet is of little value if you don't know how all the letters relate to one another, Understanding a kata therefore becomes more about understanding larger connections. The connections between mechanics. structural properties of body parts and gross motor body movements. The connection between movement and the concerted effort of body parts to produce power The connections between each kata movement and pattern sequence and function. The connection between function and application. The connection between application and tactics. The connection between tacks and strategy. Each tiny piece builds on the next. None are mutually exclusive from one another. To misunderstand one piece is to misunderstand all of the pieces

that follow. Studying a single kata means deep thinking. This is what deep thinking entails. Thought.

Kata is the beginning and the end

If we use kata as a primer for martial movement, as a tool used as a means to an end than we are not limited by interpretation or theories, but only by our imagination. It becomes the paints of the painter, the alphabet for the writer, the earth for the gardener. It becomes a continual process of learning and discovery that is not dillutive

, but additive. Learning helps us to understand and to apply: new information is applied to the model of our kata and integrated instead of just being one more than to remember and practice like we were memorizing flash cards for a test. We are not studying for a final. We are not cramming for a test, filling our heads with information to be instantly forgotten once it's done. Ne are studying an art and a 3 system and those are not a list of facts and figures to write on our hand. lhey are not a means to boost our ego,

so we can tie colored belts around our waste and dump

money and time into a school, which is feeding a fantasy.

You can take what I've told you here and do nothing. You can make it part of your training or you can use it to learn a kata and train yourself. This is just a guide, a way to rake fire to light your way. It's only one way to do things. To me it seems pretty awesome. A combative system, which uses our largest sense organ to respond to violent action and allows us a means to fight intuitively, instinctually and efficiently.

I've saved you about 30 years of blind groping in the dark and wasted money, so go train, study and learn. It's all on you, which is as it should be. It is what you make it and nothing more.

Karate is for Violence

Karate is for violence, but practicing karate does not make you a warrior. It makes you someone who practices karate. It can

be used for self defense, but self defense is more than fighting and deadly technique. Self defense is deciding that your ego is not worth your life that your safety is more important than your pride and that not fighting is always

safer than fighting. Fighting is a coin flip without experience and the very nature of karate and self defense is to not

gain that live fire experience. It is to avoid it. Po better understand karate, we must aquaint ourselves with violence by learning from those with hard won experience. Soldiers, police, guards, bouncers and even thugs. The people who nuke violence

a profession. Not so that we can relish in fetishistic fantasy but so we can learn, prepare and hopefully avoid. There are much more likely and iminant problems that you face every day, which should be addressed. Spending all your money on martial arts training does little for self defense if you have no

money for an unexpected bill, radical expenses or food. fampil Can you fix your own car, plant a garden, balance a checkbook, save money, make a dinner from scratch, maintain your health, and delay gratification? These skills will go farther and further than any amount of fighting skill, but that doesn't mean that karate does not have value without use.

me what is a primer?

cw ihe abstract nature requires cognitive thought for learning

and internalizing the primer. Martial arts require complex cognifitve processes, which cannot be directly observed.

A person will need to recognize what thype of trouble they

are in, their body position, the threat's position, open targets, available weapons, appropriate techniques based on tactics, proper body rechanics to express these techniques, the environment and hazards, strategies and the needs to accomplish the goal at hand (safety, damage, keeping others safe). All of this needs to be able to be performed intuitively, instantly, effortlessly and instinctually without directed thought. Ones conscious need only be focused on the goal.

and working towaru it. In an experienced operator almost all of this will be working in the background. It may only

take a fraction of a second and all you’ll see is someone

get their legs kicked out from under them and a knee put on their skull. ihis is not magic. We perform these functions all

of the time from walking, typing, driving and any number of normal everyday activities. J-hey are learned through directed

mental effort, paying attention to the pertinent details until they become automated.

W

Each level of complexity needs to be practiced to the point

of natural reflexive action, but each level builds on, re-enforces and improves subsequent stages and the foundational levels need to be rock solid before we can tnuly commit to

the more theoretical levels of technique, tactics andstrategy. Each level will be linked through our kata, thinking, practicing

and applying the movements will do this.

int-£85

Physics, structure, body mechanics, use gravity, skeletal alighnment, breathing, posture, F equals Mass atacceleration.

##5##

Force example a 14. kg bowling ball with the help of gravity can exert 39.2 newtons of force without the need of muscle. I‘his can break your foot or cave in your skull. An 06kg human

can use gravity to exert 613.6 newtons by just dropping their weight on some thing. If the point of contact is skeletally supported, hard, bony and strong, it can focus all of that energy into a small and structurally weak spot of another human being. Our mass and skeleton alone mke us strong.

A whole model for kata is laid out for us. We Just make things too complicated for ourselves. Remember unarmed fighting is older than written or even spoken language. It's not that

complicated.

Tactics

techniques eventually lead to tactics and like techniques they are contextual in the preparative model. Every situation will call for something different. Everything is always different because time moves forward, not backward and there is no way to truly repeat anything especially when it comes to human interaction. Otherwise pick up lines would have a 100%

success rate. ractics are what people most often confuse with strategy, axanxthangh Tactics are the more case specific

means to which you implement your larger strategy. You could probably generally call these tips and tricks and I think

they are the simple things and immediate plans needed, which are not covered in the kata. People confuse this point. They get it into their idea that because a supposed block precedes a supposed punch than that means tactically you always block and then counter attack. Bhis especially wrong when it cores to tactics, because it neans you are waiting for an action, which you might know is coming. If you know it's coming why are you standing there like a moron waiting for it. This is the level where people most confuse the tactics of games and sport with the tactics of survival. Using the same tactics you develop

in sport for self defense is like 83px; trying to apply the same tactics you use to winning a game of monopoly to becoming a realestate tycoon. It's not going to work.

"rho attributes of the uncertainty we face in real life have little connection to the sterylized ones we encounter in exams and games." Taleb

It's possible we're not even playing the same game.

There are general tactics to fighting and self defense and these can be better explored in other books, but in general they go along the lines of stop the threat, not the attack. Fight toward the goal, if attacked high counter low, if attacked low counter high, ignore the flurry, strike to disrupt, disrupt to strike. '

I would generally say that if the world is predictably unpredictable than specific scenario based tactics are rather pointless, but we can think generally about them and at

this level tactics is going to influence techniques just as much as techniques influence tactics. what's really important is recognizing what kind of situation you are in and knowing how to get out of it. Fighting is not always the best option. 2: Avoidance, de escalation, escape, evasion need to be explored as well. Kata does not cover this. The strategy of‘self defense is to stay safe, not fight out of trouble. Ehe tactics need to facilitate this, the techniques need to facilitate this and the movements can and will facilitate this, but it all starts with your movements. It’s rather pointless discussing tactics if

you don't know how to move to facilitate them. Like discussing how you'll explore the abstract nature of time in your post modern novel, once you learn the alphabet that is. Once you

figure out how you best use your movements to exploit 0 portunity and express techniques than you can start thinking abou tactics.

Strategy

rhe meta strategy or rules that I apply generally to hate is move, recognize exploit. No matter what you have to move and you have to move toward your goal. if you have absolutely no idea what to do you move and you keep on moving. Flail like

a wild killer ape on meth. This is really the beauty and strength of applying the preparative model to kata. Kata gives you a general set of complimentary power movements, which you can use in a mindless non-specific manner. It is intelligent and efficient flailing at it's very core. We've well I've been discussing the different parts and levels that need to be studied and understood for the preparative model to be effective. Work up front and results that pay continual dividends later. i

The real strength and strategy of a preparative kata model is that you tie everything fundamentally back to a set of power movements. All you really need to memorize is your Rate and

the directional energy it represents. Once you memorize this

you can apply energy in any direction in any variation at will. fhe movements act: as an anchor point for action that ultimately connect and unify all the other aspects, technique, tactics

and strategy the same way that the alphabet provides a standard anchor point for the entire english language. Techniques are merely options for expression like words. You don't need to know or master all of them, you just need enough of them. Know your options for use and the best techniques for different tactics and apply them all based on your larger strategy. Because we've based our system entirely on power movements any new technic and tactic or strategy requires no new information beyond the concept. We Just use our movements in a differentc ombination. This

is the same as learning new words. we don't add letters, we already know all the letters, max3131xnxaxxhxxxmmhxmkktnnxxn1

we just put the letters in the right order. Unlike a predictive technique based system where a specific technique is an tched to a specific stimulus, which needs a new technique for every different stimulus and each new pair takes up space in our head. ihax 9x13111111. this has a dilutive effect because there is just so much information that is readily available for use at any one time. It creates a giant lis

like a syllabery. With all actions connecting back to a fundamental group of movements any additional information has an additive effect, because we don't use up any more brain power. It becomes associated with the sense at of movements, which can eventua ly in with practice

be used instictually and intuitives, like the alphabet.

Following this model and facilitating it with proper training should lead to a fighting style that is individually tailored

to your strengths, tactics and strategy. which can be employed

as easily as having an argument with a stranger, or a c nversation with your friend in your native language. Do you think when you speak? Do you think when you read? No, you just do it, because

you know the rules. xxsxyna Considering it takes five year? for

for someone starting to learn to read and write at six to master it sufficiently to be set for the rest of their life, and each subsequent use strangthens those connections I'd say that if

one practices a single Rate is shouldn't take more than five years i to potentially become the mostdangerous person on

your block. stn Are you excited? I'm excited. Let's talk about training. It's time for the Fun stuff.

We're Not All falking About the same thing

(assumptions)

Part of the confusion with karate is that not all of karate is the same or for the same purpose, but we mostly treat it all the same out of respect and politeness. All karate is valid. To the outside observer, the new student, this can be confused with meaning that all karate is the same. If they train hard enough and long enough than they will find the answer or their teacher will tell them the answer. It's a big assumption and one that I believe unethical instructors take advantage of to justify lousey teaching and misunderstanding. Karate becomes

a wonder tool. which will solve all of lifes problems. Health, fitness, spirituality, confidence, fighting skill, slef defense, cultural study and power. If something is everything, it's really hard to tell the difference between good and bad. The problem as I see it is that we‘re mostly trying to learn writing composition from a caligraphy book.

It's no secret that the more popular karate pioneers changed karate, or at least the focus of karate. mm 1'. sure many will argue with me on this point, but many karateka like Shoshin Nagamine and Gichin Funakoshi saw karate as a means for self discovery, a vehicle for zen, and they did this by shifiting the focus from what you were doing to how you were doing it. A zen exercise similar to caligraphy. In an english caligraphy

book you have many different fonts, you may even have unreadable characters, almost like graffiti tagging. Caligraphy is not

about what you're writing, it's about how you're writing it. It's about the aesthetics of the activity and understanding isn't required. It would be much more practical to just use your own style of hand writing to compose a note. Think of the misunderstandi ng that would occur if we tried to use a caligrephy book or teacher to learn writing composition if we didn't know we were learning caligraphy. we would later apply rationalized explanations to our activities and we would be confident in our assumptions because of the confirmation bias. we could say that using many different fonts increased our understanding of the letters, that the precisness of the writing was because of tradition to guard against the loss of knowledge and that the secrets through diligent practice would one day be revealed to us. The notion

or information that a person used to use one font dependent on his own style and ease of use and that these variations between similar fonts was inconsequential can Just be chalked up to the primitive and antiquated methods of older teachings. whatever is new is better and the 2 more information you have the better off you are. Unfortunately, information without understanding is

just noise. If you could not read english, these pages would be meaningless, no matter how many different fonts of the alphabet

you know.

The negative results

You may hate me for saying this, but as a rule modern karatedo has failed in all endevors except one, sport. The three K incarnation of karate is a wonderful for competition, athleticism, and aesthetics. The fact that when this model is applied any other way it either falls on its face or leaves a lot of In unanswered questions. In theory, if fighting skill and zen enlightenment were the real goals of modern karate than we should have millions of supreme fighters living from moment

to moment in a crystal clasitiy of thought. Our mixed martial arts tournaments would be dominated by karateka. Sadly they are not. This isn't to say that the modern platform is bad, or even wrong it's that it's only the outliers in this category of karateka who excell at the none athletic aspects of karate. They are the exceptions that prove the rule. If you practice, 3K karate you haven 't been lied to or decieved in any way. Funakoshi still gives us all the information anyone really needs to learn karate. I'll explain this later.

The more important negative results that we ignore have to do with kata application. Every single plausible effective kata application excells in one way and is nearly worthless in all other ways. This commonality is the directionality of applied energy. A11 effective applications work in only one plane of space and are almost worthless in any other plans of space. It's like sumo stance. Sumo stance is very good at receiving impact on two fronts and only two fronts, to the side. It is not only worthless, but detrimental if it recieves any sort of pressure from the front or back. A toddler could push over a line backer in sumo stance from the front. This is the key. Not what a movement can do, but what it can't do. This is very, very important. mums-nu: I'll slow walk you through this, because it's

the essential piece that all karateka want to know and that all good karateka already know, but can't explain.

What do all effective kata applications have in common? They

all efficiently utilize the movennnt. What do all techniques whether they are strikes, gouges, throws, trips, locks, blocks or u; chokes have in common? i‘hey are the application of efficient body mechanics and kinetic energy. Kata is not the what or the when of technique it's the how. How do I take advantage of the kinetic energy my body can produce in different planes of space? Kata is the primer, the basic fundamental

tool that can be used to create efficient kinetic energy. The alphabet is representative of sound for the transmission of ideas and concepts. Kata is representative of movement for the transmission of kinetic energy during violent conflict. It is also aboutc ommunication, because what says don't hurt us better than slamming someone into the asphalt. It's the most basic

and primitive of communication, but refined for efficiency and

ease of transmission.

Preparative and predictive models

I've said before that people don't like abstract concepts, because they're harder to understand initially. Abstract

actions representing simple fundamental principles can be

mostly meaningless on their own, but when put together to

create a system they can be very powerful. lhis is the nature

p of a preparative model or system. A preparative system

deals with cultivating fundamental principles that can be

applied widely over a very wide amount of subjects and situations. A predictive system is based on using p: specific actions to solve specific problems, and because we cannot predict everything we choose the average of all the possibilities. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

The advantage in a predictive model is that solutions can usually be implemented instantaneiously once they are learned. Action and reaction have a one to one ratio. They are concrete, are easy to learn and readily understandable. The draw back

is that x anything falling outside the predictions or odds

that you have decided on will not have answers, and there

will be no system in place to find an answer. This is the model of most technique based learning. We have a set of responses

to set actions and they are specific. One has to make their own connects between techniques to become adaptable.

The advantage of the pxxdix preparative model is that once learned you have a means to respond efficiently to an almost infinite number of scenarios, because it is designed to adapt by working from general actions to tailored solutions. The downside is that they require more work on the front end. They are abstract and harder to learn and the concepts can't be readily applied once they are learned. They take more practice and study. This is the model that solo kata uses.

It doesn't teach us the techniques or the specific scenarios, but the basic connections that link all of them.

There are a couple of examples, which may make this more clear. If we are designing a general plan for a household budget to mitigate risk, we can go two routes. The preparative and the predictive. If we use the predictive model we will set aside,

a little bit of money for the things we predict we will need it for. we will predict the most likely types of emergencies or bad things that we can think of. ihe car breaxing down, a new drier, house maintenance etc and we will set aside a set

amount of money based on the average cost of each of these things. mumnmxxnw, or we will dedicate a credit card for emergencies if we don't have the money. This

is easy and simple to implement and frees up a lot of money each year for doing the things you really want to do. If the only things that go wrong are the things you predicted than you'll be fine, but if more things go wrong than you planned, or different things go wrong you're in real trouble. You may have planned on just replacing your car’s headlights and performing general maintenance, but the transmission breaks down and needs to be replaced. The washer and dryer go out

at the same time and you find out that your wife is pregnant with your third child. Hey, life happens. ihe predictive model only works for the things you really know are going to happen and if you know it's going to happen you're not really predictiong.

In On the other hand if we use the preparative model things are going to be different. Xbu're going to hurt now, so you don't hurt later. You decide that you cannot predict what will go wrong, so you decide to implement a plan that encompasses the widest range of things going wrong, from nothing to losing your job for one year. You will implement this plan by saving up one years worth of household expenses, plus a couple grand for comfort. This means not eating out, cutting expenses, staying in at night and drinking the beer on sale instead of the single malt scotch. It might take a little bit more time and work to implement, but the dividends pay big. Once you have saved one year of living expenses you don't need to save it again. You can go back to drinking scotch and eating out, parties with friends and vacations as long as you don't touch your emergency fund. Phis won't solve all of your problems, but something really big and catostrophic is going to have to happen to impact you in any significant way. You still have your normal income, you can cut expenses and with a readily available sum of money you can take advantage of good luck. Your friend is running a thriving business that needs to expand and needs investors, you want to buy a new house, you come up with an invention that might change the world.

You have resources, not Just prediction and luck.

Another comparison is anxakphxhnx a phonetic alphabet and

a syllabery made up of individual symbols, which each represent an individual idea or concept. The alphabet is preparative and the syllabary is predictive. if Phis has more to do with implementation rather than the end expression, because functionally the end expression is the sane. I don't need to know how to exactly spell a word if I'm leaving a note for my wife. I can sound it out and spell it phonetically and probably get pretty close. I can also use other words to describe what I'm talking about, but this is not the case with a syllabary. I can know

a concept and know how to communicate it in speech, but if

I don't know the corresponding symbol, which represents it, I can't even guess at how to write it. (Don't give an a lecture about how the Japanese use computer software to instantly transfer harigana to kanji. It's notthe point.)

A technique based system is like the one to one predictive model of a syllabary. Easy to transmit, understand and copy. but cannot adapt.

A solo kata based system is like the preparative xiphahnx model of the alphabet. Harder to learn, transmit and understand, but infinitely adaptable, robust and fault tolerant. It's okay to be good enough, because good enough is all you need. Perfect

is just something nice to think about. Hopefully, you're seeing how this is beneficial.

the very abstract nature and representation of the very bare fundamental elements of useful movement allow kata to be

as robust, versital, adaptable and fault tolerant as the english alphabet. it does this by working from most general and fundamental to most specific just like the alphabet. Letters become words. words become sentences, sentences beconn paragraphs, paragraphs become pages, pages become chapters and chapters become books. It's the understanding of the connections between these elements, which make it so well awesome. A kata works in the same way. Movement becomes technique, technique becomes tactics, tactics becomes strategy. If we understand the movements at their fundamental level and understand the connections between technique, tactics and strategy than we don't need to predict at all. To quote Motobu "we learn to bend with the winds of adversity.‘ Preparation and adaptation not prediction and finger crossing.

fhe opposite is also true once we understand these connections. If we know the strategy we'll know the tactics, if we know the tactics, we'll know the techniques and if we know the techniques than we'll know the movements. Screw up the movement of your opponent and you screw up their technique,t heir tactics and ultimately their strategy, so Just screw up their movement

and you'll be good. On the opposite end if your movement is good or rather good enough it will have an effect. At the

very least it will keep you from taking damage.

In the end all of this really boils down to a simple application of move, recognize, exploit, but we have to learn all the connections first. This is the point of the book to connect

all the dots so you can really start learning and stop fumbling around in the dark without a flashlight. I'm not going a:

give you a flashlight, I'm showing you how to make fire without tools.

Let's start with the first layer, movement. I'll be speaking generally and this might not specifically apply to every single kata ever made. Every kata is some violent killer's own personal alphabet of death. they will have differences, but this should get you started.

The Paradox

The nature of a srnglc kata practice requires that it be structured dichrcntly for training. One would think that there wouldn't be that much difference between practicmg one kata and practicmg many. The very core of the practice IS the study of kata. but by changing the number of kata studied at one time one drastically changes the type of training one can do. One cannot engage in the traditionally taught technique-based training method 1 his is where we practice the kata and afier a sulliCicnt amount of time we begin to extract specrlic techniques and technique variations from the kata to practice in scripted or semi-scripted drills l iilike other martial arts. which contain a fixed list oftechniques. karate kata do not have a veri liable list of techniques from which to draw Some would argue that each kata is merely a memory-aide list ol'simple dcfcnstve techniques. so this is our list. [he problem With this theory is that there are so many Viable technique variations Within each kata. I have never once seen two people with exactly the same application of a kata movement. unless they practiced at the same dole This becomes a paradox. The widely held and correct belief that “there is no one Viable interpretation of each kata mm cment“ is a contradiction for technique-based training, It a kata movement can be multiple techniques. it is not one technique. if it is one technique. it can't be multiple techniques This logically means that a kata movement is not a technique at all. This can be shown in two ways: the practicality of trying to extrapolate technique and the practicality of practicing indivrdual technique variations from kata.

Technique is not the smallest component of karate kata. It is the smallest part of the theoretical srde, which includes technique. tactics and strategy. but it is not part of the nuts and bolts of kata. These are context driven consrdcrations. which are dynamic and change from Situation to Situation. The humble punch for example is a Single type of technique. It is a strike. Simple. yes" But. the straight. the hook and the upper cut each use different body mechanics to produce force. The straight uses gravity and a step. the hook is the rotational torque of the body. and the uppercut uses the upward dnvmg force of the legs. One of these punches does not show the body mechanics of the other. They only share a striking surface. When you can use the straight. hook or uppercut are also different constderations. which change due to situation. It is hard to extrapolate technique. but it is easy to extrapolate body mechanics. The body mechanics of a su-aight. a hook and an uppercut can also be used to lever someone off their feet. This is also dependent on body posrtion and context. but the same movements are used. if I put a foot behind someone's leg and push them over it, that's a straight. If l grab onto someone's chin and hair and tWist that's rotational torque.a hook. If I drive upward at someone's shoulders and push them over a curb, I'm driving with my legs. an uppercut. None of these examples involve sinking. but the body mechanics are the same. Mechanics can be applied to produce an infinity of technique

The practicality oftrying to pull out indivrdual technique variations. or rather the impracticality of trying to practice each technique variation even of a single kata. is that there are so many different technique variations for each mox cment. For a Single kata movement there can easin be 10 different technique variations or more Strikes. locks. take downs. gouges and chokes. not to mention limb clearing. or moving and manipulating a body These change based on posrtion 0t yourself and the position of your opponent lhis doesn't cover all the pOSSible actions ofthe opponent as well. To use my own kata as an example. there are 13 distinct movement patterns. If there are 10 technique variations for each movement. and I want to practice all the diti‘erent permutations in a How drill or even in my head there are hundreds of billions of permutations. For a set of IS there are over 6 billion ways to put these 13 movements in order Even if l try and Simplify the process by narrowmg my practice down to how each of these different variations could be a Simple attack and counter attack drill. I run into similar problems Even With 10 variations of each movement taken two at a time there are tens of thousands ol pcmrutations. Imagine havrng to memorize this many flashcards Keep in mind

this is only one hats. Ono: we get into the billions ofpemiutations it would take well over one hundred thousutd years ot‘conttnual przictrce to get through one repetition of each distinct tlow drill. Each new technique disemered adds to (hl\ process 1 his is not a practical mode ol‘study when it comes to kata This problem also hecmnes more compounded when the more we practice. We find different and more creative ways to apply the kata. which mean more scenarios and continually adding to the list of redimques.

We can see that tuhnique cannot be eurapolated and that memorizing techniques from an increasrngly variable amount ot‘applicatrons is impractical This means that ltma is not technique. Kata has to be something snaller and more lundamental. which can be used to malte an inlinrty of possrbilities. This is something we see in nature all ol the time Protons. neutrons and electrons compose all of matter. Bis: pairs ot DNA produce all life We have followed this pattern artificially. Binary is the fundamental language at computers and it is meiely Pa and 0's. Our alphabet is 26 letters. which rs capable of spelling any phonetically spoken word. kata is Japanese. but we don't use kanji we use our own alphabetic script. Every word that has been spoken and every word that Will be spoken can be spelled in phonetic script. This is because the alphabet is a primer. It is the most fundamental component of our English language. which are phonemes used to create syllables. It is the foundation. which is built an ever more complex system of language If we treated our alphabet like we treat many kata. as flow drills and scripted accuses to he memonzed there would be over

403.29l.46l.l26.605.6 35.584.000.000 permutations of these 26 letters. There are only a couple million English words in use today. We do not interpret the alphabet however. we apply it. It is a tool for the transmrssion of ideas from one person to another. Each indivrdual letter is mwningless on it's own. it's the combined relationships between those letters and rules for application. which give a relatively small set of fitted sounds and squiggles their versatility and adaptability. Kata is the same.

Kata is a primer for an lnledual martial art. They are the fundamental body mechanics and movements. which take advantage or physics. anatomy and phystology. to have the greatest effect on an opponent posnble With the smallest amount of effort. instead of transmitting ideas. we are transrmttmg kinetic emrgy to do damage. It is not a list of techniques. but effective and efficient movement. which an be extrapolated and applied to produce a near infinity of techniques. It is a system and a system is greater than the sum total of its parts. because it's the connections between the parts. which are important. not the individual parts themselves.

The Nature of Kata

Our English alphabet gives a wry convenient parallel to using kata as a primer. It is highly abstract and requires cognition (thought). but once it is learned is fast, frugal. efficient and highly versatile. It works by tngrarning a series of cognitive processes to the point that they are instantaneous and effortless. if you are reading this now. you are using a host of mental machinery that is operating below the conscious level which is not directly obsen able. Letters are assodated With one another based on sound. meaning and syntax to produce syllables. syllables are combined to produce words. words are interpreted based on their context and placement in a sentence and sentences transmit larger ideas and concepts This is done below the conscious mental level after some practice. but it is all built on the bedrock foundation of 26 letters The letters do not change only the context changes We do not memorize all the words and then pull from a mental list. we employ a rule. which we use to make assocrations. A single kata practice is built on this same type of mental process.

Physics. anatomy and physiology lead to body mechanics. body mechanics lead to movement. movement leads to function. function leads to application, application leads to technique. technique

this is only one kata. Once we get into the billions of permutations it would take well over one hundred thousand years ot‘continiial practice to get through one repetition of each distinct flow drill. Each new technique discovered adds to lllh process This is not a practical mode of study when it comes to kata~ This problem also becomes more compounded when the more we practice. We find different and more creative ways to apply the kata. which mean more scenarios and continually adding to the list of techniques

We can see that technique cannot be extrapolated and that memorizing techniques from an increasmgly variable amount of applications is impractical. This means that kata is not technique. Kata has to be something smaller and more fundamental. which can be used to make an infinity of possibilities This is something we see in nature all of the time. Protons. neutrons and electrons compose all of matter. Base pairs of DNA produce all life. We have followed this pattern artificially. Binary is the fundamental language of computers and it is merely 1's and 0's. Our alphabet is 26 letters. which is capable of spelling any phonetically spoken vsond. Kata is Japanese, but we don't use kanji we use our own alphabetic script. Every word that has been spoken and every word that Will be spoken can be spelled in phonetic script. This is because the alphabet is a primer. It is the most fundamental component of our English language. which are phonemes used to create syllables. it is the foundation. which is built an ever more complex system of language. If we treated our alphabet like we treat many kata, as flow drills and scripted excreises to be memorized there would be over 403,291.46l.126.605.63S.584.000.000 permutations of these 26 letters. There are only a couple million English words in use today. We do not interpret the alphabet however. we apply it. It is a tool for the transmission of ideas from one person to another. Each individual letter is meaningless on it‘s own. It's the combined relationships between these letters and rules for application. which give a relatively small set of fixed sounds and squiggles their versatility and adaptability. Kata is the same.

Kata is a primer for an indiVidual martial art. They are the fundamental body mechanics and movements. which take advantage of phySics, anatomy and physiology. to have the greatest effect on an opponent possible With the smallest amount of effort. Instead of transmitting ideas. we are transmitting kinetic energy to do damage. It is not a list of techniques. but effective and efficient movement, which can be extrapolated and applied to produce a near infinity of techniques. it is a system and a system is greater than the sum total of its parts. because it's the connections between the parts, which are important. not the individual parts themselves.

The Nature of Kata

Our English alphabet gives a very convenient parallel to using kata as a primer. It is highly abstract and requires cognition (thought). but once it is learned is fast, frugal. efficient and highly versatile. It works by ingraining a series of cognitive processes to the point that they are instantaneous and effortless. If you are reading this now. you are using a host of mental machinery that is operating below the conscious level which is not directly observable. Letters are associated with one another based on sound. meaning and syntax to produce syllables, syllables are combined to produce words, words are interpreted based on their context and placement in a sentence and sentences transmit larger ideas and concepts. This is done below the conscious mental level after some practice. but it is all built on the bedrock foundation of 26 letters. The letters do not change only the context changes. We do not memorize all the words and then pull from a mental list. we employ a rule. which we use to make associations. A Single kata practice is built on this same type of mental process.

Physics, anatomy and physiology lead to body mechanics, body mechanics lead to movement, movement leads to function. function leads to application, application leads to technique. technique

leads to tactics and tactics leads to strategy. l ach level effects all the rest and misunderstanding one level leads to a misunderstanding chill the lei cls that come afterwards. None of the levels are ewlusive to one another because they all work together and effect each other. The type of situation wrll etlect your strategy Strategy etleets tactics. tactics effects techniques and techniques effect movement. This is the same as how e\pantling your vocabulary and language skills changes the way you write and communicate. 1 he most base element of this entire process is your kata. The fundamental movements. which need to be ingrained first and hard to allow us to build a strong starting structure. which can support the nest ot‘tlie process

This means we “I" not be meiiiori/iiig a list of techniques and specrl'ic scenarios for their use. As shown above there are too many ditl‘erent ways to apply a movement as a specific technique to ntemonze them all [he only things we Will be memorizing and internalizing are the body mechanics of our kata. their functions and the rules for applying these functions. "1 his is a principle based training method. It also means that what is important is not the individual isolated movements. techniques. tactics or strategies. but the connections between them. Understanding the connections between these is what's important. if we understand that a letter is a letter. but don't understand how it becomes a word than knowing the letters means little. It's the connections between shape. structure. function and the abstract meanings they represent. which are important. This means internalizing and studying the connection between these dillerent principles.

lndi\ idual and Creathe Nature

The abstract nature of a single kata practice puts the focus on the mental processes as well as the physical. They go hand and hand. 1 he physical without the mental is dance and the mental without the physical isjust thought. We want both ol them combined. Regardless of the physical skill learned there is always some cognition in the beginning. Aspects. which must be mentally attended to in the beginning. which are no longer attended to past their intemalization. Repetition and scripted drills can work for things that have a one to one ratio of meaning. but kata movements do not have a one to one ratio of application. The meaning changes with the context of the situation.

i am not you. you are not me. Body type. size. temperament and personality can have as much impact on the application of a kata as an opponent. The meaning of each movement is individual because of these factors. They are indiVidual to you and only to you. This requires more mental work than is usually expected of in other martial paths. it requires not only that we build our bodies. but that we build our minds. We must think and be creative to unlock the secrets of kata for ourselves. because they will be different for each and every person. This makes kata a wonderful tool if you're up for the challenge. It is something that \M“ be internally personalized beyond traditional style markers. We may practice the same kata. but my kata IS mine and yours is yours. They Will be different. because we are different.

The Goals of Study

The goal of this style of practice like other styles of martial arts practice is to make intent and action spring forth intuitively. instantly and ellonlcssly. We want to ingrain a set of martial movements, rules lor application. techniques. tactics and strategies. which we can use in an emergency. We will do this by slowly and diligently attending to each aspect of the training process until all the required skills become second nature. A skilled lighter will know their own position. available weapons and techniques that can be performed from that position, the position of the opponent. open targets. the environment. appropriate tactics and strategies for the individual type of situation and survival goals.

They Will be acting on. adapting and responding to the opponent in a continuous and dynamic fashion, and almost all of this Will be done below the conscious level in less than a second It is a none observable process built on applying prinCiples. knowledge. experience and conditioned responses. On the inSIde this entire process is taking place. but on the outSIde it merely looks like someone kicked the legs out from under a person and knelt on their neck. it Will look like a predicted outcome. when the Situation was actually instantly read like a book and acted on.

Philosophy of Training

Practicing a single kata is not like practicing at a conventional dojo. In the traditional dojo. one is not expected to start examining the nature of their karate until after decades of dedicated study. This process starts immediately after memorinng the pattern with a single kata practice. There is no destination with a Single kata practice. 1 here is only the process of study. No belts. no ranks. no hierarchy, no ultimate techniques. no seminars. It is almost a purely intemal journey wrth none of the external markers, which we associate with a successful martial arts practice Your kata wrll look wonderful. but it wrll hide a dense network of conditioning, knowledge and applied pnncrples, which cannot be seen. While this type of study is directed toward the practical application of skill. it will have more in common wrth zazen, or sitting meditation. It Will be Zen in motion first. not because this is the goal. but because they share a common practice. Constant wholehearted attention to the present moment. There Is no halfway in this type oi karate practice. You are focused and training. or you are daydreaming and dancing. This doesn’t mean that you are being serious. rigid and] or strict. It only means that your brain is where it should be. It shouldn't be checking the clock. thinking about dinner. or wondering what new shows are on Netflix. This is not training The process ofstudy is the point and this process is never ending 11 is a lifelong practice. This changes the tone of training. It is mushotoku. practice without the thought of gain or profit. lf you are thinking about what you Will get from practice. the perks. the techniques. the skill than you are not focused on your training. You are focused on rllusrons. The external and superficial aspects of training.

“You can eat whatever you want because you're healthy." "No, I'm healthy because I don't eat whatever I want.”

The same is true of our karate practice A Note on Kata

A single kata practice is the application of principles. It is building a tool out of our bodies and then studying the application of this tool It is not a list, a scenario and it is not predictive It is a preparative model of training meaning that we Will not assume to predict what a living breathing and thinking person might do. so we wrll train ourselves to act accordingly to a situation by learning to read the

situation and developing appropriate and adaptable tools. Kata cannot predict what a person will do. It makes a nice little story to demonstrate to people, but this is impossiblc. We are not automatons. Stating that a kata plans for the failure of your technique and responds to a specitic counter attack of the opponent is putting forth the idea that a fixed set of movements can accurately and consistently predict what a thinking human being will do. It also means that a mindless pattern will be thinking for you. A kata does not have a brain. It's what you're there for, your brain. It's your most powerful weapon. Use it.

Concrete and Abstract

This is the first abstract and the last comptetely concrete level ofpractice The other levels are completely dynamrc and based on the context of the Situation. This level has a definite concrete aspect to it because it is about examining the strengths and weaknesses of our movements. but it is a very abstract Idea because It IS not how we are used to thinking of kata movements. We are used to thinking of them as being responses and actions to deal wrth spectfic attacks. In a smgle kata as stated before. we cannot conform or reasonably use this type of limited thinking. A kata movement is a tool from the start to the very end. A fluid weapon made from our body. Just as arbitrary letters embody a sound. a kata movement embodies a prineiple of movement. which is only defined by what it can and can't do. not what it is supposed to do We must divorce ourselves from the thinking that any movement is more or less than what it is. It is movement There are no attached definitions to it. There is only the skill of application, which is divorced from function. Each movement is meant to achieve an end, that end is the application of kinetic energy Your posrtion. the other person's posrtion and the environment will dictate how you use a movement more than anything you memorize. The application is continually dynamic and changing from moment to moment. The actual movement or the principle of the movement does not change A simple example: punching someone in the stomach. and punching someone in the kidney from behind. The movement is exactly the same. it is only the context. which is diiferenL Knowmg that you can punch someone and where is a better tool than memorizing a scenario of when to punch someone. It is applied movement. not memorized script. We must think of mch isolated kata movement as a tooL a part ofa greater weapon for hand to hand fighting.

In Search of Karate

Friday, May 12, 2017

Paradox

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