Looking Deeper into Martial Arts Forms and Katas

martial arts forms tournament competition Jan 26, 2008

I was at a tournament a few years ago and some karate black belts were competing in my empty-hand forms division. I'm always interested in forms from other styles so I watch them carefully. Three black belts from one karate school did the same form and it ended when them bringing their right foot to their left and sort of stomping it two or three times as it pulled in.

After the judging, I went up to the three, who were standing together, and told them I liked their form but wondered what the fighting application was of the little foot taps at the end.

They looked at each other, then at me, shrugged their shoulders and said they didn't know.

I know a high-level black belt in another karate style who does a powerful staff form. He wins first place in a lot of tournaments. I asked him one day if he ever practiced the fighting applications and he said he had never actually done that with the staff -- he only knew the form.

I was judging at a tournament and a young guy with an Asian background had just returned from studying for a year in China with Shaolin teachers. He was 16 and slim and did the most dazzling wushu form, flips and at one point he bent over backward, put his head on the floor, and did circles with his legs while pivoting on his head. Now, the other competitors were doing relatively simple, traditional forms, and this guy was doing acrobatics. We gave first place to a guy who did a very solid traditional karate form. The young wushu competitor and his father were angry. So I looked at him and asked, "What's the fighting application of the movement where your head is on the ground?" His face went blank and he said he didn't know. I replied, "Exactly."

I don't understand the value of doing forms without knowing what the fighting applications are. I like peeling the layers off of forms and knowing how many ways you can use one movement in self-defense. After all, isn't self-defense what all this was designed for? It's okay to do it for health or fitness or self-esteem, but if you're going to strap on a black belt, you have a responsibility to look deeper than the surface. Your teacher has a responsibility to teach you, and you should expect it.

Even more importantly, you should demand it of yourself to dig deeper into your arts. Never stop learning, and that doesn't mean learning new forms. Never stop learning deeper insights about your art.

--by Ken Gullette

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Looking Deeper into Martial Arts Forms and Katas

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