In the early days of my karate journey, I’d look upon kata as a strange activity that made no sense. It was like meeting a complete stranger with whom you shared nothing common with, and yet sensei would force those repeated, awkward interactions on you. After some time, those kata became strangers that you’d find curious and exotic, like a pretty girl who spoke a different language, or someone who was from a different culture that piqued your interest. I remember Tekki Shodan, and the last few moves of Bassai Sho to have those exotic elements of “coolness”. I couldn’t wait for sensei to introduce me to those kata.
With good training, and I was fortunate to have the best sensei, sensei would teach you the principles that guided your karate, and defined movement in its varying efficient, graceful, and powerful iterations. Sensei taught feeling, and with time, you’d feel. Less and less was his need to correct you, because the kata would tell you when something felt right, or wrong. From being a complete stranger, Kata became a teacher. It would be this teacher, who stopped you in your tracks and forced you to repeat movements till you got it right. It would be this teacher, that you would have a love/hate relationship with. It would be this teacher who would frustratingly demand perfection… but with persistence and patience, the relationship became more relaxed and intimate, in a casual sense. Kata became a friend in times of difficulty, anxiety, loneliness, boredom, and joy. It became as much a source of exploration and discovery, as it would be, a source of entertainment. Even whilst performing the kata, the internal dialogue was like good friend’s advice…”Hey, coming up, you should feel such and such”, or, ” Hey, don’t neglect this part, as you focus on that part”. Feelings moved from the technical/physical, to the philosophical and spiritual realm.
After almost four decades of near consistent karate training, I am now beginning to feel that one becomes the kata, and the kata becomes you. What once coexisted with some element of struggle or duality, now exists as my companion. We are free of dialogue and advice, and there is no future, to be warned of. There is no story to be told, in the kata. Instead there’s a “present” where we just “are” . I suppose I, and kata, have accepted my flaws, and in turn we have accepted each other’s limitations. Now we just submit to what the universe gives us, and we are grateful for it. Kata, like life itself, had been one of the best gifts of my life.
Shoshin Karate-Do International 