Continuing Steps in Karate

Just a random thought - it's generally held that when turning, or changing direction in kata, the sequence is head-feet-hands.  But, what if the sequence finishes after the turn?  What order should it be then?   Some places where this does occur, or could occur, are in kururunfa with the west and east open-hand soto ukes; sanseru with the 4-directions technique sequences; and in seisan, particularly on the first 180 degree turn.

Every so often I tape myself doing kata so I can review if what I think I'm doing is what I'm actually doing. Here's one I did a couple of weeks ag, and as usual, there were a few things I thought I was doing and wasn't, as well as a couple of things I didn't think I was doing, but was. But, since that was the point of the video, that's ok. One interesting point about this run-through was the difference in being able to freely move between stances on the soft, springy grass compared to the dojo floor - an excellent reminder to me to keep practising on different surfaces and with different footwear, as aspects of my normal footwork needed to be adapted for the grass. It is well worth making semi-regular videos to review progress and form; not to mention it makes for interesting and educational viewing when there are multiple years of videos to look back over. I have, for instance, videos of myself doing sanseru kata from 2010, 2015 and 2020, and whi...

More and more, I see (or have pointed out to me) similar techniques across different kata.  They are not all identical, but have the same intention or principles behind them. Some of the ones I have encountered recently are: Head/neck grab and crank: saifa, sepai, seisan, sanseru (seienchin as well, but not in the tradition I am training in) standing arm bar: seienchin, saifa, shisochin different standing arm bar (I've forgotten its name): kururunfa, sepai escape from rear bear hug: shisochin, seienchin, seisan guardian opens and closes the gate: saifa, seienchin, seisan, kururunfa, shisochin, hakkucho escape from front bear hug: kururunfa, happoren, shisochin leg takedown: sanseru, kururunfa, tensho (with interpretation) shoulder wheel throw (kata garuma): kururunfa, shisochin front strangle escape: seienchin, shisochin, happoren There are plenty of others, too.  It raises the question: Why have so many kata, if there is so much overlap?  But that's a questi...

February is the month for me to concentrate on sanseru and tensho kata.  So, here is me performing sanseru, shot early last month. For those who know this kata, you probably notice several differences in performance.  The most notable (apart from my general poor form) are: two punches per step at the start.  This is the variant we commonly practice, but we also have the more traditional option of the single punch as well "steeple" blocks before all the kicks the separation of the two mae-geris in the first section into a kansetsu-geri, finishing of one application sequence, and then a mae-geri, starting off the next application sequence shifting the stance up to maintain distance and balance between the feet when doing the elbow/punch arms out (I did them more up than they are meant to be.  It's ok though, when practising the technique with a partner, I hold them properly - I'd get punched in the face otherwise) when doing the two cross-arms, drop into shiko...