Archives for February 2013

Another excellent kata class today.

We started out doing each kata, Heian 1 through Heian 5, Tekki Shodan, Jion and Bassai Dai, once and then doing the same katas but this time in mirror image.  Mirror image katas are always interesting but if you do not do them often, it can really slow things down.  It was a good warm up and a good wake up telling me that mirror image katas might be something that I need to spend more time on outside of the dojo.

Full and chunks of kata….

Sensei Noia started out by counting each move of Bassai Dai and then he had us done a full kata on our own.  After Bassai Dai, we split up the Kyu ranks and the Shodans for their respective katas..

We spent a lot of time working on Kanku Dai.  Sensei had use work on parts of the kata, then he broke it up into thirds and then we did the entire kata on our own.  We spent at least 20 minutes or longer just working on Kanku Dai.  We did Kanku Dai at least three times before we moved on. I really feel that breaking the katas down into bite size pieces or chunks makes a big difference.

Apply your kata….

After that, Sensei had us choose the kata of our choice, I picked Gojushiho Sho, and then get a partner, my partner did Bassai Dai, and work on an application (bunkai) of a movement or group of moves from our kata.

For example, in Gojushiho Sho, my attacker moves in with a front punch and reverse punch, I deflect both of them and then use a spear hand strike to his throat.  There are many different applications for each move but this just one that I thought of while doing this drill.

Over the years, I always have my best classes when we work on kata and kihon.  It’s in those classes that I really find my Karate.  There is something about doing a kata and knowing that each  move you are doing would stop someone in their tracks.  Today, Sensei Noia had us do enough kata to make it one of those excellent days.

Partner up to warm up….

We stood across from our partner with both of us in a horse stance.  From there, one partner punched to the face and other other to the stomach.  After that we switched targets.  From there, we moved into a front stance and did inward block, outward block and downward block with our partner.

From there, we ditched our partners and moved on to some basics.  From front stance, we moved our back foot forward into a cross leg stance with reverse punch then back.  After those, we did back stance with knife hand block, front snap kick and move into front stance with spear hand strike.  The foot shuffle and switching motions really allow you to train in small space and still get good results.

Doing kata is good….

Wwe spent the rest of the class working on kata.  We started with parts of Bassai Dai.  We did the first move a few times, then the first, second and third and so on.  After working on various parts we did the entire kata to put everything back together.

I have found that breaking the kata into chunks or parts really helps me improve sticking points, in my kata faster, than if I work the entire kata from start to end.

We moved to Jion next and then the Shodan and Kyu ranks split up.

We then worked on Kanku Dai the same way we did Bassai Dai.  Parts at first then the entire kata after working on the parts.

We ended class with three different katas of our choice.  My choice today was Empi, Sochin and Hangetsu. Doing kata is good!