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nytoothfairy
31st May 2003, 15:45
Meena san,

I posted this query on the Karate page but thought I might also try it here, too.

Is there anyone here who can help me better understand why, when there were so many *original* kata handed down in Okinawa, masters like Miyagi, Funakoshi, Mabuni, Chitose, etc., made up their own kata? More specifically, can someone actually quote or cite testimony, written or oral, supporting these developments?

While I am certain many of you have your own theories, right now I am only looking supporting testimony from the pioneers themselves.

Thank you

Gene Williams
31st May 2003, 19:36
I don't think there is a good answer for that question. The people you mentioned never placed their own kata above the older traditional ones. Several of them developed "beginner" kata because they felt that jumping right into the Naihonchi or Pinan was too difficult for beginners, and Mabuni developed several of his own kata which we only run as supplementary and do not require. Gene

CEB
1st June 2003, 00:16
See if this helps you any. I thought it was a nice piece. You can thank George Yanase for turning me on to Charles Goodin's work. In addition to the prefecture's commissioning of the promotional kata developed by Nagamine and Miyagi the article makes some mention of Itosu's relationship with the teacher's college in his day. Maybe print it out and put a copy in the bathroom for when you have time to read.

Take care

The following article appeared in Dragon Times, Volume 15, 1999. See Dragon Times Online. It was also reprinted in Patrick McCarthy's Koryu Journal, 1st Quarter 2000, and in Masters of Combat, July 2000. Copyright Charles C. Goodin, as to text. Copyright, listed individuals, as to images. All rights reserved.

Click on Me (http://seinenkai.com/articles/art-fukyu.html)

glad2bhere
10th June 2003, 04:53
Dear Larry:

The question of Kata and its development is not one of those subjects for light discussion. Like the proverbial onion, you can peel layer after layer of culture and teaching styles off of Kata and still not be able to identify what it is that folks are working to do. Maybe thats because everyone who involves themselves with Kata has a different intention, or maybe goals and intentions change, are created or disappear from generation to generation.

Personally I take kata--- or as we in the Korean MA call them "hyung" ---- very seriously but it is amazing how freely people play with these exercises up to and including making their own up. As far as "modern" kata, well, I tend to go with the "nothing new under the sun" philosophy. What I mean by this is that perhaps it is enough to training in Naifanchi, then Bassai, then Chinto then Kushanku. Seems like there would be more than enough material there to keep somebody busy for at least one lifetime--- maybe more. Just consider how many moves can be found in a hyung and then consider the challenge of identifying as many applications for each biomechanic in that hyung as you possibly can. Then consider multiplying that times five or six forms. With that kind of work load I can't see the point of making up new forms when there is so much to learn in the old ones. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce