Kata?

By Matt Baskett
As printed in the August 2001 FMK School Newsletter "KIAI"  

  Every once in a while I read an article in some magazine by a Martial Arts practitioner who questions the reasons why other arts teach Kata. Some of these practitioners say Kata is useless and outdated. This belief has always bothered me because sometimes the person who is making the statement is well respected Martial Artist. These practitioners often site many reasons why they believe who are doing Kata are wasting their time. So being in a school that bases much of our teaching on Kata I feel that it is most important to review some of the reasons why Kata is important.

  Kata is important for every level of Martial Artist from the beginner to the 10^th dan. For the beginner, Kata teaches the student the basic kicks, punches and stances. It gives the beginner something to practice on his or her own. It allows the beginner to the basic aspects of Karate together and to improve on their own. This gives the beginner a sense of ownership. The Kata is his/hers. For the intermediate student who knows how to put the katas together it allows the artist to strengthen their body as well as maintaining it. Now while this student is doing this Kata intensely enough to get a good workout they are learning focusing their mind.  The artist is focusing on nothing else but what they are doing at that moment. As this student becomes more advanced the ability of the mind to focus in on a task will increase. The mind is similar to a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets. Remembering a Kata, learning new ones, improving and teaching them all exercise your mind and make it stronger. The more advanced Artist, who has learned the Katas, has the physical stamina and mental focus can reach the highest levels of the art. Then the Katas become a thing of beauty and transforms the artist. The thought and movement become one action. The artist will do his/her karate to exhaustion with the intensity as they can muster. While doing this the artist can reach the point where the exhaustion no longer matters. The artist’s perception of time will slow down while doing the Kata. Many athletes refer to this as being in the zone. You and everything around you seems to be in slow motion. You feel like you are trying to move through water. The artist then pushes their body faster. It is like you are pushing against a barrier. This barrier is the fact that your body simply cannot move as fast as your mind is trying to make it move but you push against it as hard as you can try to break because it is holding you back. I often wonder if you can break that barrier and if you can I am sure the way to do it is though Kata. The real question is not “Is Kata important?” But,  “How far can Kata take you?” To me Kata is the most amazing thing and I feel a great sadness for those practitioners who have never understood that. Karate’s core or essence is Kata. Without it, we are just another fighting style.