PDA

View Full Version : transmission and personalisation



charlesl
30th June 2001, 08:27
I'm given to understand that one of the goals of SMR jo is to pass on skills and training methods with as little variation from generation to generation as possible. And that the idea behind this was that any contemporary variation or additions to the training regimen would be untested and potentialy incorrect, unable to be tested in combat.

So I've always viewed the kata as a template, something that you should learn and pass on intact. What I wonder though, is to what extent advanced practitioner's personalize their technique/combative behaviors? It's unlikely that each person would be able to perform in the same manner as every one else out there. Differences in size, speed, shape, talent would seem to require a certain amount of variation.

I've met a few people who have personalized their technique based on their training in other arts and concepts. While sometimes this seems to work, sometimes it just really doesn't, various modifications just end up being obviously flawed. For those people out there who do "personalise" their technique, varying their kata training, how do you, or do you at all, test this out?

-Charles Lockhart

Jeff Hamacher
5th July 2001, 00:59
Originally posted by charlesl
So I've always viewed the kata as a template, something that you should learn and pass on intact. What I wonder though, is to what extent advanced practitioners personalize their technique/combative behaviors?
my understanding of katageiko is that, although the form appears to remain the same, every student produces a slightly different movement every single time they practise a given kata. this is not to suggest that they intentionally modify the fundamental structure of the kata or even each waza that it contains; rather, they come to understand the "meaning" of each point in that kata (i.e. "if i were presented with this action by this 'opponent' in real combat, how would i produce the following technique?") and, to use a slightly japanese expression, they "bring that technique to life". the same has been as true of my aikido training as it has of my jo training. the point is not to become obsessed with form, but to use it as the entry point for coming to understand the principles which underlie your training. the use of the term "template" is very apt: the template provides structure, but the practioner must fill it with the contents of their constant practice.

cheers, jeff hamacher