Kata Practice: “Fixed” Forms?

Kata Practice: “Fixed” Forms?

By Rennis Buchner
Copyright © Rennis Buchner, 2009. Not to be used without permission

Kata practice is the prevailing traditional method of study in Japan’s various classical martial pursuits (and most other cultural arts as well). While this method is the norm, it is not without its detractors, especially among more modern practitioners who prefer more free form methods of practice. The single largest complaint is that kata is “fixed” so there is no deviation and you always know what is coming next. This is even worse for iai based arts as you do not even have a partner to interact with. Others have deal with the issue of the effectiveness of the kata training process far better than I ever could so I will not address the issue. Rather, I would like to briefly touch on the idea of how “fixed” kata is and why such views are often mistaken. While I am approaching this from an iai practitioners point of view, the points will remain true across the board.

Like most, my initial introduction to the art of iai was through the ZNKR’s seitei kata and my first impressions were that I’d never seen something so minutely detailed before in my life. Seemingly every detail was predetermined and meant to be performed exactly the same every time. While I am of the opinion that the seitei kata is far more detail oriented than pretty much all classical sword systems I have come across to date (iai or otherwise), it is important to realize this level of “fixed detail” is an important phase for the newer student, helping them have a focus and goal to work on. I eventually abandoned the practice of the seitei kata, but even among the more traditional school so of iai I have been exposed to, it is still quite common for newer students to be given a fairly rigid technical framework to work in during their first several years of training (one often hears stories of famous sensei doing nothing but the kata mae for two or three years before being allowed to study anything else). Unfortunately a great many never advance beyond that phase and for whatever reason drift away thinking that is how all training takes place. In my experience, however, nothing could be further from the truth.

One day a decade or so ago, while critiquing my performance that day, my sensei quite  emphatically made the point that “kata should never be performed the same way twice”. While this is simply common sense to me now, at the time, still being fairly new to training in Japan, it was something of a revelation. At the time (and even today for that matter) I was told that I should endlessly explore all the variation that kata has to offer. While one might think this is a license to do whatever one wants and add a bunch of extra moves and variations to the kata, that is not quite the point (or at the very least, it is getting way ahead of yourself). Rather the first areas you begin to explore are more connected to the timing of your performance of the kata. While seemingly limited (you are still doing those same damn movements) there is so much to study here that it is mind blowing, even a decade later. Kata is often criticized as some sort of 1,2,3 dance step performed at a steady and regular rhythm, but again nothing could be further from the truth. There is a natural ebb and flow to every performance of kata that should be unique. This ebb and flow can be expressed through speed, intensity, focus, breathing or any combination there. The point is to break the “dance steps” and begin to really internalize the kata. The natural change helps keep you “in the now” and limit to some degree the automation that leads to “dance steps”

Not long after the revelation that kata is not to be performed the same way twice, I was told I should spend time performing the kata with very different focuses and mix them up often. Sometimes I should try and do the kata as powerfully as possible. Other days I should work on them as slowly as possible, using as little muscle as possible and try and let my breathing do all of the work. Still on other days I should focus on doing them with as much focused intent on the enemy as possible, without worrying about the body. Other days I focus on the technical correctness of all my movements. And yet on other days I should work on them with as much relaxed speed and snap as possible. The variations go on and on and one should spend time working through them all regularly. It should go without saying that at this stage one is not really studying the kata anymore. Rather one is using the kata as a vehicle for studying and reorganizing how you use your body, with the kata limiting your motions down to workable chunks. Interestingly, I think one major advantage of the partnered training over solo in this regard is that much of this shifting of focus is delegated to the senior partner who can alter the focus and intensity to fit needs of the junior any given moment. With that said, solo kata training does offer one the chance to really focus on what your body is doing at every level and I personally feel that the practice of both feed off of each other.

From this part on we may be drifting into territory that is more specific to my tradition of choice (although I have heard of others have similar processes) but eventually as you continue even the all those picky physical details of the kata start to become very loose. One fairly unique aspect I have heard from a number of sources within different lines of the tradition I practice is that a large number of the kata are not strictly predetermined. The basic outline is there, but the finer details can readily be changed to meet the needs of the situation (as an aside, the majority of the kata in our tradition are meant to be performed partnered as well as individually. The addition of a partner can make such changes a matter of necessity, rather than just change for change’s sake). Rather than learning that one should step to such a place in such an attack, one begins to realize that you should be learning much larger and more adaptable principles that can apply to most situations and where often the finer details of the kata learned up to that point become rather moot. You should not be collecting a catalog of “if attacked with A, reply with B”.

Interestingly, my own training recently has really taken a radical turn. In the past couple of years, my time spent directly training with my sensei has involved very little kata training in the sense that most people think of it. Rather with bokuto or fukuro shinai in hand we go through the general outlines of the kata and at every step of the way, sensei will present something different. “What would you do here?”, “How about if I attacked like this?”, “What if you didn’t have your sword here?”. More often than not we end up abandoning the “kata” entirely and just work on various principles in a wide variety of situations. It is a very freeing and eye opening process. It is also very dangerous. The temptation of thinking you are really starting to “get it” is huge and the realization that you can make most things adapt to the principles of the ryu can readily lead to you  believe that because of this, anything you come up with is a proper expression of those principles. It is the dangerous line between “the ryu” and “garyu” (我流, “one’s own way”, not to be confused with the famous garyu kamae of Hoki-ryu which is written 臥龍), the tradition versus your personal  bastardization of it. Your sensei is there to help keep you from crossing that line, but your best defense is to… go back to the kata.