karate kata

File:Motobu Choki2.jpg performing Naifanchi.]]

Kata ({{langx|ja|形}}, or more traditionally, 型; lit. "form") is a Japanese word describing detailed patterns of movements practiced either solo or in pairs.{{cite web|url=https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b06601/?pnum=2|title=The Global Allure of Karate|date=2 January 2017|access-date=27 May 2018}} Karate kata are executed as a specified series of a variety of moves, with stepping and turning, while attempting to maintain perfect form. The kata is not intended as a literal depiction of a mock fight, but as a display of transition and flow from one posture and movement to another, teaching the student proper form and position, and encouraging them to visualise different scenarios for the use of each motion and technique. Karateka "read" a kata in order to explain the imagined events, a practice known as bunkai. There are various kata, each with many minor variations.

Origins

Kata originated from the practice of paired attack and defense drills by ancient Chinese martial artists, these were known as the "five form fists" or "five patterns" after the fighting methods of five different animals.{{cite book |last1=McCarthy |first1=Pat |title=Classical Kata of Okinawan Karate |date=1987 |publisher=Ohara |isbn=9780897501132 |pages=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2IpsQm_SKgoC}}{{cite book |title=Black Belt Magazine |date=November 1995 |publisher=Active Interest Media, Inc |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t88DAAAAMBAJ}} These were brought to Okinawa and were later used as the foundations for new kata to be devised.

Kata were created as solo forms containing the concatenated sequences of movements of the defensive portions of the drills. The initial forms being simply strings of movements, sets of rules were created to allow the creation of kata which could fit comfortably within training spaces.{{cite book |last = Toguchi |first = Seikichi |title = Okinawan Goju-Ryu II: Advanced Techniques of Shorei-Kan Karate | page=48|date = 2001 |isbn = 978-0-89750-140-8 | publisher = Black Belt Communications}}

Teaching

Traditionally, kata are taught in stages. Previously learned kata are repeated to show better technique or power as a student acquires knowledge and experience. It is common for students testing to repeat every kata they have learned but at an improved level of quality.{{cite book | last1 = Pawlett | first1 = Ray | title = The Karate Handbook | location = New York, NY | publisher = Rosen Publishing | pages = 149–233 | date = 2004 | isbn = 978-1-4042-1394-4 }}

As a library of technique, it is understood that kata works best through consistent repetition. The most basic kata continues to be performed by practitioners throughout their practice of Karate. This repetition is believed to perfect technique, strengthen the body, and ultimately act as a form of moving meditation that develops character.{{Cite web|url=https://ejmas.com/pt/2006pt/ptart_langsner_1206.html|title=A Performance Theory Analysis of the Practice of Kata in Karate-Do|website=ejmas.com|accessdate=11 May 2023}}

The various styles of karate study different kata, or variations of a common core. Some kata may therefore be known by two names, one in Japanese, the other in Okinawan or Chinese. This is because Gichin Funakoshi, and others, renamed many kata to help Karate spread throughout Japan.{{cite book|last=Bluestein|first=Jonathan|author-link=Jonathan Bluestein|year=2024|title=Martial Arts Politics Explained|publisher=Amazon Digital Services LLC - KDP|isbn=979-8335564984}}

Kata names

=Chinese connections=

The number 108 has mythological significance in Dharmic religions and is present in a number of traditional kata. This number also figures prominently in the names of Karate kata, predominantly those with an origin in Naha-te, including Goju-ryu. The advanced Gōjū-ryū kata, Suparinpei, literally translates in Fuzhounese to the number 108, while gojushi of Gojūshiho is the Japanese pronunciation of the number 54 (half of 108). The other Gōjū-ryū kata, Sanseru (meaning "36") and Seipai ("18") are factors of the number 108.{{cite web|url=http://www.seinenkai.com/articles/108.html|title=Hyaku Hachi No Bonno: 108 Defilements|website=www.seinenkai.com|access-date=27 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070601024320/http://seinenkai.com/articles/108.html|archive-date=1 June 2007|url-status=usurped}}

However this direct connection between Zen Buddhism and karate particularly has been discredited in recent times as both a modern Western misinterpretation and as part of a tendency towards nationalist religious homogenisation in the early unified Japan of the late 19th century.{{cite web |last1=Bragg |first1=Melvyn |title=In Our Time, Zen |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04sxv29 |website=BBC Radio 4 |access-date=23 March 2022}} Other propositions for the origin of the number 108 in kata include the legendary story of Outlaws of the Marsh (of which there were 108), or from Yue Fei, a 12th-century Chinese general who created the Yibai Lingba Qinna (一百零八擒拿; "108 Locking Hand Techniques") of the Ying Sao (Eagle Hands) or Ying Kuen (Eagle Fist) which evolved into modern Chinese boxing that karate was influenced by.{{cite book |last1=Hopkins |first1=Giles |title=Suparinpei: The Last Kata of Goju-Ryu Karate |date=2021 |publisher=Blue Snake Books |page=3 |isbn=9781623175597 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cL3DwAAQBAJ |access-date=23 March 2022}}

Kata performed in various styles

Some kata and styles are not included here, due but not limited to popularity and common usage for kata, and recognition (or not) of styles by the various governing bodies.

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! style="vertical-align:middle"|Kata

! {{verth|stp=1|Gōjū-ryū[http://www.gojuryu.com/kata.htm Gōjū-ryū kata] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060421203746/http://www.gojuryu.com/kata.htm |date=2006-04-21 }}}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Shitō-ryū{{Cite web|url=http://www.shitokai.com/kata.php|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120524184230/http://www.shitokai.com/kata.php|url-status=|title=Shitō-ryū kata|archive-date=24 May 2012|access-date=11 May 2023}}}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Shōrin-ryū{{cite web|url=http://www.shidokanarg.com/history_esp.htm#katas|title=Best Travel Safety Tips & Tricks -|website=Best Travel Safety Tips & Tricks|access-date=27 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207035048/http://www.shidokanarg.com/history_esp.htm#katas|archive-date=7 February 2012|url-status=dead}}}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Shotokan}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Shuri-ryū}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Wadō-ryū}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Isshin-ryū}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Gensei-ryū}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Kyokushin}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Tōon-ryū}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Uechi-ryū}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Ryukyu Kempo}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Shindō jinen-ryū}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Shukokai}}

! {{verth|stp=1|Shōrinjiryū Kenkōkan}}