There are three pillars to studying traditional Karate: Kihon, Kumite and Kata. They teach different aspects of the art and so complement each other, but each one of us will have its favourites. For me, it is Kata, which is where we can most readily identify the differences between fighting styles. In a sense, the different Kata make up the soul of Karate (or of Shotokan, or any other traditional Asian martial art).

That said, if Kata is so important, is there a better way to perform it? Should we all try to emulate what sports Karateka do in competitions? Should we instead try to execute each technique with perfect form, but perhaps less strength? Or else, the whole Kata with perfect fluency, but perhaps less form definition? Or take each step and movement with strength and speed, but in isolation from the next or the previous one?

At the…

Introduction

Kata Kihon is on the surface a simple Kata. But its simplicity can be deceiving. Funakoshi said it is not only a Kata for beginners, but one that experienced masters will frequently return to, in order to refine the core principles without the distraction of more difficult techniques. This left me thinking: what are these principles that we can practice from Kata Kihon? What lessons does it teach us?

Kata Kihon, or Taikyoku Shodan, is part of a set of 3 Kata introduced by Gichin Funakoshi in his book Karate-Do Kyohan, and created by him or his son Yoshitaka. They were created after the Heian as an intentional simplification of these. The three Kata are so similar that typically only the first one is taught. When I started my Karate journey, none of these was part of the curriculum, and I started immediately with Heian Shodan. These days, many…

I recently watched footage of Shorin-ryu masters in Okinawa teaching how they breath during kata. What they highlighted also made me recall past teachings I had also seen of Inoue Yoshimi Sensei, 8th Dan Shito-ryu.  Their practice involves silent breathing and not making loud or audible exhalations for techniques.  Its called, 'shizen-kokyu' (breathing naturally) and the Shorin-ryu master's reasoning was so that you do not telegraph your rhythm to your opponent, for example in sparring.  On the other hand, Inoue Sensei's explanation was that loud exhalation causes unnecessary tensing of the core.  In contrast to this, for Rick Hotton Sensei (5th Dan, WWD), his audible exhalation of breath is natural for him and helps to release the power of his techniques, so rather than tension, it is a 'release'.  Telegraphing your rhythm does not really have as much relevance from a self-defence perspective.  Also, the princle of exhalation is tha…