The Way of Least Resistance

As I said in Creating a kata: Part 1 , you create a kata in order to: 1. package and preserve "fragments" of knowledge; or 2. fill a void; or 3. improve existing forms. In terms of the latter 2, this is not an exercise to be entered into lightly. That you are "filling a void" or "improving" something is a big assumption. Nonetheless one can see some obvious examples, eg. with beginner kata; finding newer ways of teaching beginners how to acquire basic coordination and skill quickly is the role of any coach/teacher. Now here is an interesting example of (I assume) a created kata: Daishizen Koken-ha Goju-ryu Tode kata Mizute - click on the image to view the video. I assume it is "created" recently because in my research I am not aware of any kata corresponding to this name or to this movement. If it is recently created, then I think it actually looks quite good. The real issue for me would be whether it would have any "value adding" ben...

There is a tendency in some schools of karate today to perform a particular "hip load" on most kata techniques, sometimes known as " Yamaneryu koshi/hip vibration" after a particular school of kobudo which practises this method. An example of this hip movement in karate can be found in the video below of Aragaki Sochin kata, performed by Aragaki Isumu, a descendent of the Aragaki Seisho and a student of the late Master Higa Yuchoku of Shorinryu: The level of skill shown by Aragaki Isumu in using his hips is indeed high: many karateka cannot do this despite the fact that an ability to control one's hips is central to the practice of karatedo. I have certainly spent a great deal of time isolating and practising hip movement. Yet I disagree with the particular direction taken by this school of "hip use". Why? As you might have gathered, my objection isn't to hip use per se, but its use in kata - and in particular its use for each technique . It i...