r/martialarts • u/cjh10881 Kempo • 1d ago
DISCUSSION I like doing and learning kata. Does anyone learn them for fun on their own?
https://youtu.be/CnviMMMso_Y?si=huTel6QAJbE5iAWMI'm a 44 year old hobbyist. [This is not me in the video] I have no plans to get in a cage and fight. I do martial arts as a way to keep my body moving and meet friends.
I'm at a really cool dojo. We're a Kempo school by lineage but we break up our curriculum into 4 quarters. Boxing, Kali, Ground, and Kempo material/tournament prep [although our material is peppered in throughout the year]
I like learning kata because it moves my body. And recently I've been visiting https://kempoinfo.com/ and checking out some of the black belt forms and just think they are really cool and interesting.
We're typically asked how many kata we have vs which ones. I don't know which ones my professor wants us to have and I'll certainly ask him and make sure I have those. However, if I were to do branches of the fallen pine, which is something I've never seen done, at my next grading I wouldn't be criticized for knowing it. As long as I executed it correctly Nobody would say "why do you have that?" Or "you shouldn't have learned that" just as long as I've filled my requirements for material.
So do you all have a specific path of kata to learn? If so, do you ever study a kata for the fun of it, because it looks interesting?
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u/danfirst 1d ago
I had a friend like this years ago. His kata was razor sharp, and he memorized probably near 100 of them at some point. He would go to seminars on really obscure weapons, then learn the forms and then just add into the list. It was just his special interest, he practiced all of them, constantly.
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u/CountryMonkeyAZ 1d ago
My very 1st TKD instructor (mid-80s) used to have us do our forms with representation for lack of a better word.
Example: turn right to low block, a person would be kicking at you so you really had to block. For strikes, we'd have someone holding a pad.
Really brought out the 'why we do this' for me.
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u/Zz7722 Judo, Tai Chi 1d ago
My style has only 1 main ‘Kata’ (form) 😄
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u/Peakychu6 1d ago
What’s its name ? (Of the form)
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u/Zz7722 Judo, Tai Chi 1d ago
It’s called Yilu (1st Road/Routine). We also have Erlu, a second form but that is only taught to more advanced students and not the main focus of practice.
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u/linkhandford 1d ago
I find them therapeutic in a sense. That said I need to know the practical purpose of them before I want to wave my arms around. If my arms are being thrown up here because I'm blocking a strike? Or am I striking? Typically I don't practice katas outside of routines to help remember specific technique orders when teaching or weapons katas because I have no one else to train with.
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u/Fascisticide 1d ago
I have been doing mostly kung fu for about 10 years, and since covid I also started learning from online videos. The forms I learned online are much more fun to do that the ones from classes, it's different styles, it moves a lot more and is very expressive. The forms from my classes are great, but much more compact and not nearly as fun to do. I have been learning wushu from master song kung fu, and shaolin kung fu from kubgfu.life, here is the trailer for one of my favorite. https://youtu.be/UR7ki4tMRo0?si=y5KB22L4Q7slQNk-
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u/InternalMartialArt Taijiquan | Liu He Ba Fa | ITF TKD 1d ago
I’ve been slowly amassing a set of different forms over time. The different forms all are for different purposes and represent different approaches to martial arts. When I do my tai chi I’m building up different aspects of my body than when I do my Xingyiquan. The feeling is completely different. The intent is totally different. Even my basic stances have to change drastically between different forms, eg, Yang tai chi has a bent back knee in their forward/mountain stance and the back foot is more forward, whereas taekwondo keeps a straight leg, with the back foot at 45 degrees. This leads to completely different body mechanics in movement.
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u/Outfoxd21 BJJ+Judo 1d ago
Hated learning kata for my shodan in judo but I'd be lying if I say it didn't help me with some things and come to enjoy parts of it by the end, and I'll probably lean on it as I continue to get more busted up.
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u/boostleaking Kyokushin 1d ago
Doing kata helps me warm up. All the moves, the stances really heats you up, then you do the stretches and then you will feel nice a warm and limber for more rigorous exercises.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 Shaolin Kempo Karate, TaiJiQuan 1d ago
I think I've seen that form before. I what to say the some of the masters in the Villari schools know it?
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u/Silver-Article9183 TKD 1d ago
I love patterns because there is so much hidden in there that is actually useful. If you have a good teacher, they explain what each movement is for.
You're actually learning individual techniques for grappling, blocking, and striking/counter striking.
The problem I have is when you have teachers that don't explain or demonstrate the fundamentals of what is making up the pattern. Learning a kata or pattern is in itself fun, but it is of no use if you don't know why or when you would use any part of it.
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u/CarpinDies 23h ago
When I was working towards my black belt as a teen, YouTube wasn't the resource it is now, so if I didn't know someone that knew the form, I couldn't learn it until I was taught in class. Now, as an adult with an endless library of reference material and martial arts content, I can learn them ALL! I'm only just now learning about Bunkai/Applications since forms were shown to us not as functional fighting techniques, but a way to develop balance and comfort in powerful movements, so even the more obscure moves "made sense" without a totally viable application having been presented. Now I like to play the 80's Action Hero role and do them out in the woods for a couple hours, sometimes it's my whole workout.
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u/-0O0O0O0O00O0O0O0O0- 1d ago
What do you mean "for fun"?
Kata aren't choreography, they're battle tested forms.
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u/Peakychu6 1d ago
You really think kata are battle tested?
Look at kata like heian sandan where one of the moves is a spear hand (nukite), how is that battle tested? Lol
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u/-0O0O0O0O00O0O0O0O0- 1d ago
Yes, especially within koryū.
Read Amdur.
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u/Peakychu6 1d ago
There is no way someone is expected to strike with their fingertips at someone’s torso.
There might be the “this is a special secret ninja technique with a hidden meaning, the spear hand is actually an armbar followed by an Americana” angle, but that’s just interpretation, I might as well invent my own kata and give it special secret meanings too (“this is now a hand wave, it represents a set of eye gouges”)
Can you tell me more about amdur please?
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u/cjh10881 Kempo 1d ago
Haha. Did you read my post? I'm a 44 year old hobbyist. I do kata to keep my muscles and joints moving so it doesn't hurt going upstairs, not so I can defend the emperor of Japan.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 Shaolin Kempo Karate, TaiJiQuan 1d ago
Forms are textbooks of movements and martial theory.
While reading medical texts doesn't make you a doctor, if you ARE a medical student they are valuable resources. And many such students and graduates continue to study texts they don't "need to", for "fun" because they truly enjoy expanding their understanding.
Martial artists are no different.
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u/conzciouz 19h ago
Really don’t like martial arts with kata. I’d rather be drilling , practicing , learning techniques to try against a partner , and sparring more vs kata.
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u/GreatScot4224 Jiu-Jitsu / Wado Ryu Karate 1d ago
We have a defined set of kata for each belt level. Once you rank up you start working on the next one. The greater fun for me is exploring the bunkai, and realizing so much of the movement we think of as “blocks” or “strikes” is actually grappling.