The World According to Renshi

It’s nice to wake up before 6am to allow me to work on some kata before my wife is awake. Today I am working on Karurunfa – one of the more advanced katas in Goju Ryu Karate. It has many beautifully devastating techniques and some unique ones. I will upload a video one of these mornings for you to see. Unfortunately, right now I am dealing with a left hip issue that doesn’t help my kata performance.

If any of you have found my blog because of either theology or music, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about when it comes to kata. Karate and many martial arts consist of basics (kihon) – both standing and moving basic blocks, strikes and kicks; kata – the application of techniques in a form of shadow boxing, and kumite – sparring.

Kata is, in many people’s opinion, the essence of karate. Some people who only want to fight, see no value in kata. Personally, I believe it helps bring life to techniques. But – like most things in life, we all have opinions.

Many people ask what it takes to become a black belt (and I will discuss what that means at a later date…)? To achieve the rank of shodan (first degree black belt) one must have dedication. One must practice regularly both in the dojo and outside the dojo. One must learn and work toward perfecting techniques and one must learn katas appropriate to their rank. But – the single most important thing is the student MUST work to perfect his/her stances and basic techniques. An advanced kata with poor basic techniques is simply a bad kata. No secret sauce – just hard work and attention to detail. I hope you have a great day!