Continuing Steps in Karate

Or, why it's not a bad thing if you don't get it right all at once. Two years ago, I learned my first bo kata, shuji-no-kon.   I learned it in a weekend and took notes and videos and have practised it regularly ever since.   These last couple of weeks, we have revisited this kata and in just two run-throughs with my sensei, I picked up two major, fundamental flaws in how I was moving and half a dozen smaller things to work on as well.   My initial thoughts were along the lines of - "I wish I had known/realised this ages ago", but my second (and subsequent) thoughts were - "I probably wouldn't have understood beforehand anyway". I'm seeing this in my empty-hand work too.   Improvement seems to happen piecemeal or in sudden jumps, when something that I have seen many times before just suddenly stands up, slaps me on the face and shouts "THIS is how you should be doing it!"   And the reason why, I think, is that the brain and body can only...

Two things my sensei has been talking about recently that have struck a chord with me are to do with how we develop as karateka. The first is regarding how we perform techniques.  As beginners we learn full, large movements; three-hip punches, the formal setup and execution of mawashi-uke, chambering of kicks and punches.  These are to train us in correct form and power generation.  As we develop, however, we should not be keeping the same large, overt movements, but should be internalising them while keeping the same feeling and function.  In other words, going from big to small. The second is how we perform kata, and is very much related to the "big to small" concept.  There is a standard way we learn to do kata, with standard applications that are learned as we do.  But this is again a learning technique.  A kata, while coreographed, should have personal meaning to the person performing it, and will change slightly to reflect their understanding ...