Forms
What are forms?
In traditional martial arts, forms are an exercise performed individually consisting of precisely defined sequences of techniques in different directions, with perhaps 20 to 40 techniques in each form. Most oriental martial arts utilise this type of exercise, for example the forms of Tai-Chi, the hyung of Taekwondo and the kata of Karate.
There are a number of reasons people offer for practising such forms. Arguably, the original purpose of forms was to act as a vehicle by which one could produce motor memory for specific self defence relevant movement patterns and as a means for remembering the set of sequences that constituted a particular self defence system. In modern times, in most systems forms have became divorced from this original purpose. For example, karate kata were modified for teaching school and University students as a way of cultivating the body and building spirit, or as a form of moving meditation. Kata probably arose from that aspect of Oriental culture that likes to preserve the exact ways something was done by a respected senior or ancestor. As such it promotes conservatism rather than progressiveness in practice, especially if the kata become the end in itself rather than a stepping stone.
Karate forms or kata used to play a central role in the club's teaching and training methodology. Now kata plays a limited role. We practice spontaneous shadow boxing with a visualised opponent, and often such an exercise is themed (e.g. imagining particular scenarios) but we do not practice set forms. Why has our methodology changed?
Some reasons for practicing set forms or kata:
For people coming from a "traditional" form-centred background, like modern day karate, tae kwon do or kung fu, and who then want to increase their knowledge of self defence:
1) Kata provide a way of focussing cross-training: One learns what one needs to provide a rationale to a finite set of kata movements. The vast world of cross training is cut down to bite-size chunks.
2) Kata provides the link from our past training, which becomes a base, to our cross training, which builds on the base. We don't throw away what we already know.
(For a person starting from scratch, kata provides similar functions:
1') Kata delimits a self defence syllabus
2') Kata provides an overview of many martial skills, hence providing a link to any other art to be practiced)
For everyone practicing established kata:
3) Kata still unites us as a community, linking us in common practice to many martial arts alive now (e.g. in ADK); and to the past, making us feel part of a history (and providing us with many intriguing mysteries, like who historically practiced what kata when and why)
For everyone practicing any kata, including your own invented one:
4) Kata unifies the knowledge from all your training. Throws, locks, strikes etc are integrated together, they are not just separate things we have learned. They are put together in meaningful combinations.
5) Kata provides a mnemonic for your self defence syllabus (as argued especially by Bill Burgar)
6) Kata - especially if you are constructing your own "Burgar" kata, i.e. the kata defining your favourite self defence moves - helps you focus on what is really important to you
7) Kata allows you to practice solo, either because you have no partner, or because the move should not be practiced full power on a partner. Solo practice allows reflection on exactly how you are performing the move.
8) Repetitive movement performed with concentration may induce an altered state, as in dancing, various meditation techniques etc and kata may serve this function also
9) By learning to associate kata performance with the release of endogenous opiates, the performance of kata becomes desirable for its own sake.
10) Kata becomes a way of representing what you know to others.
And so on; there are other advantages as well of course. So little wonder many people regard kata as the heart of their training. I have appreciated all these advantages myself. However, I would like to question the efficiency of kata training as the central methodology of one's training.
Consider our goal. In three years we want to train people to achieve the following: Ability to defend oneself in the various common scenarios (standing, clinching, on the ground, all in the different common configurations) (while (a) keeping fit with self-defence specific exercises; (b) promoting health in all aspects; and (c) having fun).
All other considerations, let us say, are secondary: It is secondary whether one feels linked to a wider community of practitioners, linked to a mysterious past of great masters, and so on. The only goal (with provisos a, b, and c above) is to learn self defence as quickly as possible, to be fully functional within the span of time it takes to e.g. finish a University degree.
Consider a different methodology taken from MMA (mixed martial arts): Training consists largely of being put in self-defence scenarios with a progressively resistant partner. There is no set technique, only relative success or failure (did you achieve your objective or not?).
One could understand this philosophy in terms of evolution: The surest way to creatively find solutions is to try continual variations in an uncompromising environment that lets only some attempted solutions succeed.
For example, we use a "wrist tie drill" to help train response to wrist grabs. Person A attempts to grab one or both wrists of B to control B's balance and facilitate punches, kicks or other attacks; B must release the grab, attempt to neutralise the attack, and grab A by the wrist or wrists in order to attack him. Neither partner "waits" for the other or for their "turn", nor lets the other person succeed (proviso: resistance is progressive and starts very mild). This provides the uncompromising environment, the furnace in which to test and devise strategies for dealing with the wrist grab, while dealing with realistic time intervals and pressure.
In terms of efficiency, would it help in learning to deal with wrist grabs to have learned any traditional kata first? I don't think so. When time is limited, it is best just to do the drill. Of course, specific techniques can be shown, variations pointed out, and nuances practiced separately. But by continually returning to the above drill, one's present state of ability is constantly tested and honed. The drill simulates the chaos of a real confrontation. It produces realistic expectations concerning the success rate of your responses and reactions of the other person. It fixes in your mind weaknesses in your game and motivates finding solutions.
Solo practice is of course useful. One can take the lessons from the drill and practice responses solo, reflect on how your body is moving, should be moving. But why fix that practice in stone as a kata? Why not keep it fluent, variable, evolving?
Of course, the wrist tie drill is just one example. The clinch drills we use (while standing) as part of regular weekly training are: wrist tie, bicep tie, neck tie, and over-under swimming (see "why join" for more detail). We also use drills for ground and stand up, and the transitions between each. The drills provide unity by allowing you to practice locks, throws, escapes, strikes, chokes, take downs, throws, restraints, flesh twists, gouges etc in a single context - in the context of the one drill you can practice all these things and how to flow from one to the other, use one to setup or facilitate the other. They test your functional use of all these things: can you get the arm bar on against a struggling opponent? They delimit what you need to learn: Whatever you can get to work in the context of the drills. They define your self defence syllabus: the set of things that work for you in each context. The train a natural mnemonic - your response in context. (Do we really need a list as well? Kata, after all, is a list.)
There is now no kata in the traditional sense in our syllabus to blackbelt. People may make a study of kata and their applications in going from first dan to second dan.
Below we present applications for the basic Shotokan kata. In the applications, the Heian kata deal with the most common habitual acts of violence, excluding ground scenarios. Even Kihon kata - one of the most basic karate kata- provides a virtually complete self defence system, using only the theme of gedan barai-tsuki. Click here to see how gedan barai-tsuki can deal with the most common habitual acts of violence, as determined by Home Office statistics.
A women's self defence syllabus is presented here . The opening move of Kanku Dai is used in most of the moves to provide a coherent theme.
Below we indicate some self defence applications (bunaki) of some common kata: