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ARTICLES
AND COMMENTARY
While waiting on the Lebanon Tenn. tournament for
my next article, I decided to re-run something I wrote some time back on,
"The Kata." During all the tournament training the past few months,
this back to our roots article came to mind.
THE KATA
BUNKAI, INDIVIDUAL INTERPRETATION, OR BOTH!!
In my earlier day of martial arts training
I had a love/hate relationship with Kata. Compared to a "real live
opponent" activity, it frankly bored me. Fortunately (in this instance)
age begins to somewhat dictate what activities you can do daily and what you
cannot. Opponent contact, day in and day out, will send you in search of
alternative training methods. Thus begins the age of wisdom. You come to a
time where you start shifting much of your learning from the neck up, instead
of the neck down. This is why working masters are better teaching sensei's
than they were in their earlier days. When you can no longer dominate just
through physical superiority, the age of necessary wisdom is here to stay. Now
you have to internalize information before you can externalize. You become
more analytical and begin to teach students more than just demonstrate on
them. You begin to slip into the role that benefits the students the most;
full time instructor, part time participant. When I look back, I wish that I
had had the knowledge to pass along to my earlier students, that I have now.
It has nothing to do with just having done it longer. It has to do with being
compelled to think about every thing you do. So begins the sometimes
controversial "kata bunkai". A master once told me that he thought
people who did nothing on the mat or ring anymore, became
bunkai experts. I mostly agree with that but I do know some noted
exceptions. Now I'm not saying that about bunkai experts who use the Heinz
method of teaching bunkai. The Heinz method is 57 varieties of bunkai for
every move. That makes them a fanatic not an expert. It also makes me wonder
if they do anything else except dream up bunkai. Plus, how many ways do you
need to know how to do the same move? In this sense Bruce Lee was right when
he said that, "running kata would program and paralyze you". I
believe there is a middle ground here. When I run or teach kata, I insist on
visualization. I want to use my imagination to create a realistic fighting
scenario. There is nothing new about that, but it takes a mix of concentration
and meditation. You can trash a
training day in a hurry by just going through the motions or just
demonstrating the effort. This activity is counter- productive. I'm sure you
have been running a certain kata and something popped into you mind about the
move. All of a sudden BUNKAI!!! Maybe you make a note of it, or maybe you just
remember it. I try to internalize it. In other words it becomes a living part
of my defense/offense system. I have done things on the mat, and students ask
me to do it again or show them how I did it. Honestly, I have no idea how I
did it and I can only hope I could do it again at the right
time. This occurs due to the many times I have run kata, visualized,
and learned how to remain spontaneous in the face of repetition. When a Master
runs kata exactly the way he learned it, time after time, he is working on
tradition, footwork, conditioning, and
the other predictable conditions set up by this structured practice. I
personally prefer to run them and let my natural instincts take me from start
to finish. I'm not trying to re-invent the kata. I'm trying to find the real
me in them. Suffice it to say, that this is not a student activity. Although,
the natural evolution of a student will begin to dictate his or her internal
interpretation. I will always believe that Master Shimabuku had the best and
most practical bunkai. Even though all the kata (except Sunsu) were customized
and tweaked versions from other styles and masters, he was a martial arts
genius and uniquely capable of invention and re-invention. There are friendly
(sometimes not so friendly) discussions between masters, Associations and
Grandmasters as to who has the "real" Shimabuku version of kata and
bunkai. The way I see it, these Masters have all been teaching for thirty
years or longer. What they are doing obviously works, and more important, it
works for their students. For the very little difference it makes or the
variation of the move its-self, it isn't worth the worry. From a traditional
standpoint, and out of respect for a man (Shimabuku) who devoted his life to
an art we practice, we should do it as close to his way as possible. As an
innovator I believe he knew that we would take, shall we say, "artistic
liberties". I believe we have, and I also believe that we are teaching
better Isshin-ryu because of it. Let
me emphasize here that these creative liberties are the interpretations of the
kata (bunkai), not the kata themselves. There are many creative and practical
training methods using the kata. All sensei's use unique and versatile
adaptations of the kata to maximize the mental and physical improvement of the
students. The merits of footwork and transitioning alone are endless. There is
no other formal or informal practice that can duplicate it. Running the kata
to physical exhaustion while keeping your composer and concentration is an
exercise of unlimited value. At no other time can you practice this
mental-toughness exercise and not risk injury to yourself or an opponent. It
can almost duplicate the never say die attitude you must have in the street or
competition when you are physically spent. Practical, philosophical,
traditional, informational, inspirational, the kata has it all. Some say it
takes five years on each kata to understand its true value. I use to think
that was a stretch. Now I wonder if
that is enough time. At worst, the Kata is a physical documentary of Martial
Arts history every time you run them. The older I get, the more I appreciate
the trip. I've slowed down enough to more accurately enjoy the scenery.
Denny Shaffer, Ku-Dan
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