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Jason Lester
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Back to the future

It has been a while since i have posted anything here but i thought i would share the following which would have been my 5th Dan written karate thesis, however, due to a split within my assocition i didnt get chance to take my examination.

Since i was a child i have trained the norm, for many years in Shukokai and Shotokan gaining Dan grades in both, however, i have never really been truly happy with my training believeing we should only be training one to three kata at the most as it takes a lifetime to master just one kata.

Through this belief, i have taken the plunge and created my own kata which took five years to complete, after 32 years now i feel i am truly studying karate, i have reopened my association and now only teaching just one kata.

The following may not be of interest to anyone, but i thought i would share anyway.

Many masters, past and present say that Kata is the soul of Karate, however, since the introduction of Karate to the public in Okinawa around 1900, this is really not the case anymore.

Before Karate was introduced to the public, Karate was, at one time a secret fighting art, practised in gardens and backyards of Okinawa. A Master at that time had very few students or disciples and it was normal that the Master had one Kata in his style, this Kata was studied for three to six years, but through this kind of training, the Master and his students would have a complete understanding and a complete fighting system.

Sadly, over the last century, the practice and study of a single Kata has long disapeared.

So, what is Kata? Well, firstly, the primary purpose of Kata was to provide a record of defence and offensive techniques. The Master of old created these Kata's in which they recorded their favourite fight techniques which won them fights on the battlefield. Kata consisits of blocking techniques, punching, kicking, stamping, strikes, locks, holds, head butts, gouging, trapping and vital points.

There were of course no karate suits, coloured belts, grading's or competeitions at that time. Since the introduction of these, and over time, it is with great sadness that Karate has gone from a deadly fighting art to nothing more than a watered down sport. With the introduction of Karate, and these changes, it is without doubt beyond recognition to its original form and intent.

Master Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan Karate wrote" Karate that high school students practised today is not the same Karate that was practised even as recently as ten years ago, and it is long way indeed from the Karate that i learned when i was a child in Okinawa. He also goes on to say" In the past, it was expected that about three years were required to learn a single Kata, and it was usual that even an expert of considerable skill would only three to five Kata at the most. I too studied for ten years to learn the three Naihanchi/Tekki Kata. Interestingly, and despite this, it is said that Master Funakoshi, in his youth, had learned over one hundred Kata, and as a result of years of research and investigation, the Master reduced the number to fifteen traditional Kata. Master Funakoshi felt that, rather than a great varitey of Kata, it is more important to take a limited number and practise them thoroughly and precisely.

Today, the majority of Karate instructors and students practice Kata for the soul purpose of winning competitions and passing grading examinations. Students concentrate too much on the performance and continuity of the movements, without considering the effectiveness of each technique. Master Funakoshi once said that "many instructors and students are playing around in the leaves and branches of a great tree, without the slightest concept of the trunk" this was around 1955/56, however, i feel these words are truly valued for many of today's modern Karate-Ka. So we can see that Master Funakoshi was a firm believer in learning a limited number of Kata, however, he also said "there is great value in studying a single Kata until one has digested it well, rather than possessing  a shallow knowledge of thirty Kata.

Kata practice is ment to lead to an understanding of the true value of the movements as self-defence techniques. You take the techniques learned in Kata and apply them realistically in Kumite practice. If you study carelessly or haphazardly, your Kata and techique will never come to life. Itis important that you always try to discover and practise the techniques most suitable to your own situation. In the past i have heard the saying, walking in the footsteps of the Masters of Old. Master Shiguru Egami, a student of Master Funakoshi and the late Chief Instructor of the Shotokan Dojo wrote "It is said in former days a single Kata was practised for a minimum of three years, think what this means. One should try to understand the spirit of the Master Karate-Ka who created the Kata, for it has a life of its own and requires five to six years to be mastered. It would be interesting to be able to go back in time to the point when the Kata was created and study them".

Well, it is easier to go back in time than one may think, how is this so? Simple, pick a Kata and pracrice it for five years or more. This way, one is truly walking in the footsteps of the Masters of Old. Remember that a Kata has a life of its own, and takes a lifetime to master. A single Kataye has everything you need to defend yourself, wheather it be stand up fighting or grappling. The only way to unlock and discover the seceret. and techniques is to study deeply. Remember, "Although the doorway is small, go deeply inward."

Choki Motobu, Okinawan's most feraed fighter and Teijikun (Real Fighter), was said to have only known one Kata, this was Naihanchi (Tekki). This Kata, as many know is only a very short Kata indeed performance wise, however, the techniques contained in the Kata could take a lifetime to master and contain everything you need to defend oneself. Kata was never created for and against Karate-Ka vs Karate-Ka, this type of training is very modern. Kata and the techiques contained within were created to defend against thugs and hooligans, or in modern British term, hoodies. Attacks such as wild swings, headbutts, biting, the Kata teaches us to defend against these type of attack's, so when studying Kata, these are the things we need to study and defend against, not Oi-Zuki's and Mae-Geri's.

The Teijikun (Real Fighter) Choki Motobu, said, "One must learn how to apply the principle's of the Kata, and how to bend with the winds of adversity". Choki Motobu was a formidable fighter who, some claim that he never lost a fight, however, i have read that he only ever lost one fight, making him train harder never to lose again. My point here is that if Choki Motobu really did only know the Naihanchi Kata, this just proves that one can beceome a formidable fight from the study of a single Kata. Although it is always exciting to learn a new Kata, i will point out that by studying just one, one can create many Kata from training this way, this idea would keep students from getting bored, if one were to go back to training this way. In my opinion, i feel nowadays, we truly do not have the time or dedication from students to teach any more than one Kata, at a push, i would suggest just three.

Within my own assocition and Style, Jikoboei-Ryu, and as mentioned above, i have created my own Kata and put all my knowledge and experiance in to what i have created. There is still a grading system were the Kata is spit into elements/sections, were the student simlpy learns the next stage of the Kata and of course bunkai.

So, finally, after 32 years, i have gone back to the future and walking in the footsteps of the Masters of Old.

I hope this may be of interest to some, although i am aware what has been written here has already been covered before.

All the best,

Jason

Marc
Marc's picture

Thank you, Jason, for sharing your thesis here.

Now that you have mentioned it, we are, of course, very much interested to see/learn your personal kata. Any chance you might want to share a video of your kata?

It would be intriguing to do a bunkai experiment: People on the forum could analyse your kata and suggest possible applications, as we would for any other kata. Since you know exactly what every move in your kata means we can then verify how close people got to what you intended the applications to be. Maybe give us a few months before you reveal the true meanings.

The experiment would strictly not be about judging your work, rather it would solely be about how well the bunkai process works. Which kind of bunkai approach leads to results that are closest to the original meaning of the kata in question.

Of course, if you'd rather keep your personal kata to yourself and your students, that is absolutely fair.

What do you think?

All the best,

Marc

Jason Lester
Jason Lester's picture

Hi Marc, thanks for your reply.

I am currently working on some video's, once completed i will be more than happy to share here.

The Kata is simply created from techniques from other Kata so would not be alien to other Karate-Ka if they were to learn it, i have kept it very traditional.

All the best,

Jason

Marc
Marc's picture

Awesome, looking forward to seeing it.

Take care,

Marc

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

I am also interested to see the results of your work. Admittedly, I have reservations about people creating and naming "styles." I'm curious as to why you didn't simply forego using a style name?

Jason Lester
Jason Lester's picture

Hi Wastlander,

i understand why you would have reservations  but we must remember that Gichin Funakoshi founded Shotokan, Kenwa Mabuni founded Shito-Ryu, Miyagi Founded Goju-Ryu and so on. I am simply following my heart and own path as others have done, i have for many years used a style name Shukokai/ and then changed pver to shotokan and taught both however i always felt i was missing the point, what i mean is we dont need 15 Kata, 27 Kata, 30 Kata, we should be training just one to three kata.

Many Karate-Ka are following the modern path of training because it is the norm and think this is the way because everyone is doing the same, of course there is nothing wrong with this only i really do feel they will one day look back never really understanding what they have been training for and possible regret it realising they have missed the true meaning of Karate.

All the best,

Jason

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

Jason Lester wrote:
i understand why you would have reservations  but we must remember that Gichin Funakoshi founded Shotokan, Kenwa Mabuni founded Shito-Ryu, Miyagi Founded Goju-Ryu and so on. I am simply following my heart and own path as others have done, i have for many years used a style name Shukokai/ and then changed pver to shotokan and taught both however i always felt i was missing the point, what i mean is we dont need 15 Kata, 27 Kata, 30 Kata, we should be training just one to three kata.

I have no issue with changing the curriculum and training as you see fit--it is just the naming of a "style" that tends to bring with it a good deal of baggage. To your examples, as I recall, Funakoshi specifically didn't found the style of Shotokan, and was rather against the founding and naming of styles. Shotokan was simply the name of his dojo, and it sort of became retconned as a style name at a later date.

John Van Tatenhove
John Van Tatenhove's picture

I have no issue with creating your own Kata for yourself and/or your students. Historically, This has been a regular practice. I believe there is value in practicing the kata's from previous generations so each generation can study the approaches of the Masters that created them.

I have 6 karate kata that I practice (counting the Naihanchi and Pinan as one kata each). I really focus on 1, but glean approaches from the others to benifit my training.

Jason Lester
Jason Lester's picture

You are correct, Funakoshi was against the idea of styles and simply called it 'just karate', however, if Funakoshi wanted it to be just Karate, why didnt he incorporate aspects of Goju-Ryu, Shito-Ryu etc into his Karate. Some may argue he did, but as we can see from Shotokan. such as Kokutsu-Dachi and the ripping motion of the blocking techniques, it sets itself apart from others styles which is Karate.

May i ask your meaning when you refer to 'baggage' regarding the style name?

All the best,

Jason

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Jason Lester wrote:
if Funakoshi wanted it to be just Karate, why didn’t he incorporate aspects of Goju-Ryu, Shito-Ryu etc into his Karate.

In some cases, it’s because those elements were already common. Many of the techniques are common to all systems. There are also common kata too i.e. both the Shito-Ryu and Shotokan both include the Pinans (Heians), Naihanchi (Tekki), Kosokun (Kanku-dai), etc. In other cases, it’s because there is no need i.e. you don’t need to do every single kata.

Jason Lester wrote:
May i ask your meaning when you refer to 'baggage' regarding the style name?

There could be some talking at crossed purposes here. Noah didn’t mention any baggage relating to “the style name” i.e. the name of your new style.

Wastelander wrote:
it is just the naming of a "style" that tends to bring with it a good deal of baggage.

I read that as a general point about styles generally i.e. A style.

There is historical baggage when it comes to styles. Styles have a bad habit of becoming fixed and not open to change. I prefer to call what I do “karate” because that keeps it general and permits / encourages future innovation i.e. avoids “That’s no longer Iain-Ryu” because “Iain ryu” never existed.

There’s also the assumption – a false one – that the new style is always the product of ego. It sounds to me like you have thought this through in great depth and are moving in this direction because you believe it to the best way to approach karate.  That strikes me as entirely legit.

However, there has been a lot of people claiming, “This is a new style and it’s the best thing ever! I am now promoting myself to Shodai Soke 12th dan!” That’s not what you are doing, but “new styles” do have that baggage.

I see nothing wrong with using a “ryu” suffix to label any given group or approach. It’s not what I have done or would do; but I have no issue with it. Others may, and that’s the baggage. It remains legitimate regardless of that baggage of course.

All the best,

Iain

Jason Lester
Jason Lester's picture

Hi Iain,

thanks for comments.

I understood what Noah ment in relation to styles and apologies if my reply sounded offensive as was not my intent.

You are correct, i have put thought this through at great depth, and although i have decided to follow this path, i was of course extremely reluctant for of course what people (other Karate-Ka), for example would say and think.

I have no real interest in Dan grades, and could not possible promote myself as i know this is wrong, i will remain 4th Dan as i have been since 2011 and just injoy training and teaching what i do.

As mentioned above i am currently working on some bunkai video's and will happily share them here as i have done before for the benefit for others who may find it of interest and usefull.

all the best,

Jason

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Jason Lester wrote:
As mentioned above i am currently working on some bunkai video's and will happily share them here as i have done before for the benefit for others who may find it of interest and useful.

I can’t wait to seem them Jason. It’s a really interesting – and traditional – approach you’ve taken and I’m sure people will find it fascinating.

Thanks for sharing all of this with us. Very kind of you!

All the best,

Iain

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

Iain's explanation is exactly right, with regard to my intent with that statement. I'm not trying to be desparaging, and I definitely do look forward to seeing what you've come up with!