Putting Kata Back at the Heart of Karate.
Column by Bill Burgar, author of Five Years, One Kata.
In the last article we covered setting objectives and took, as an example, training to use the leg sweep in competition. At the end of that article I suggested that you write an objective statement for each of your key areas of study. So by now you should have a number of objective statements that you are just about ready to use. But first we need to return to the idea of context (that we looked at two articles ago) and, in particular, we need to look at 'rules'.
Often we tend only to be aware of rules when they are explicitly stated, for example in a competition. What we are not so aware of are the unstated rules which form our environment every bit as much as the stated rules. For example, many people say that there are no rules in a self-defense situation but this is not true. In any self-defense situation there are several "fights". There are immediate physical demands, clearly, but your actions at the time must allow you to survive the next battle which may be with the legal system. Finally, you need to be in a position to win the psychological battle with yourself as you agonise about whether or not you did the right thing. All of these battles have their own rules and making sure you operate within them is important.
Let's look briefly at the hidden rules related to competition, then dojo training and, finally, self-defense.
First, each individual needs to look at their moral and ethical beliefs to determine exactly how far they are prepared to bend the rules. For some people obeying the spirit of the rules is every bit as important as obeying the letter of the rules. To others, gamesmanship is perfectly acceptable. For example, hitting your opponent hard near the start of the bout (in a touch contact competition) in order to intimidate them is allowed in the rules (really it is, because depending on how you do it you may only get a warning) but is against the spirit of fair play. This clearly illustrates the difference between, on the one hand, people who make an ethical stand on playing by the spirit of the rules and, on the other, those who are prepared to use gamesmanship in what might be considered by many as a less ethical way to win. When these two types of people are drawn against each other in a bout we can now see that they are fighting under different rules; one of them has more options than the other and has increased his chances. That is not to say that he will win but that he has a better chance, or at least that his opponent, who has the moral high-ground, will have to be more skillful in order to win.
In the typical dojo there are many hidden rules that we take so much for granted that they can be highly detrimental to our goal of self-defense. Take, for example, the hidden sparring rule in effect in most dojo, that of not kicking to the groin. Because you know you won't be kicked there you don't defend properly. I remember vividly about 20 years ago having always trained under the 'no groin kicking rule', going to visit a dojo where it was allowed. After a few painful encounters I quickly understood the power of false assumptions and how my more restricted rules meant that I was poorly prepared to face someone who had practised using wider rules.
A similar situation exists if one of your goals is training for self-defence. We all too easily assume that the same rules apply to both us and our potential attackers. This means that we will often be taken in by well practised cons that are highly devious and well outside our expectation of fair play. Sometimes these tricks can cause loss of material goods and in less fortunate circumstances, injury.
To avoid losing against someone who is using different rules (be it in competition, in the dojo or on the street) we need to come to some understanding as to what the differences might be and how we can deal with them. Naturally, in a short article like this it would be impossible to go into detail about the wide variety of rules that you may have and that all your potential opponents may have. However, it is something that you should consider. It is therefore worth spending some time writing down some of the, as yet, unwritten moral and ethical rules that you take for granted in the various theatres you practise for.
Finally, a question for you: I’ve broken a rule in the picture where I’m hitting the bag – which rule? It is not a technical rule (although I’m sure there are a fair few of those that I’m breaking too).
In the next article we will take a look at practice versus performance.
About the author: Bill Burgar is a 6th Dan, member of Rick Clark's ADK organisation and author of the advanced karate text Five Years, One Kata which is available from http://www.martialartspublishing.com/
In the last article we covered setting objectives and took, as an example, training to use the leg sweep in competition. At the end of that article I suggested that you write an objective statement for each of your key areas of study. So by now you should have a number of objective statements that you are just about ready to use. But first we need to return to the idea of context (that we looked at two articles ago) and, in particular, we need to look at 'rules'.
Often we tend only to be aware of rules when they are explicitly stated, for example in a competition. What we are not so aware of are the unstated rules which form our environment every bit as much as the stated rules. For example, many people say that there are no rules in a self-defense situation but this is not true. In any self-defense situation there are several "fights". There are immediate physical demands, clearly, but your actions at the time must allow you to survive the next battle which may be with the legal system. Finally, you need to be in a position to win the psychological battle with yourself as you agonise about whether or not you did the right thing. All of these battles have their own rules and making sure you operate within them is important.
Let's look briefly at the hidden rules related to competition, then dojo training and, finally, self-defense.
First, each individual needs to look at their moral and ethical beliefs to determine exactly how far they are prepared to bend the rules. For some people obeying the spirit of the rules is every bit as important as obeying the letter of the rules. To others, gamesmanship is perfectly acceptable. For example, hitting your opponent hard near the start of the bout (in a touch contact competition) in order to intimidate them is allowed in the rules (really it is, because depending on how you do it you may only get a warning) but is against the spirit of fair play. This clearly illustrates the difference between, on the one hand, people who make an ethical stand on playing by the spirit of the rules and, on the other, those who are prepared to use gamesmanship in what might be considered by many as a less ethical way to win. When these two types of people are drawn against each other in a bout we can now see that they are fighting under different rules; one of them has more options than the other and has increased his chances. That is not to say that he will win but that he has a better chance, or at least that his opponent, who has the moral high-ground, will have to be more skillful in order to win.
In the typical dojo there are many hidden rules that we take so much for granted that they can be highly detrimental to our goal of self-defense. Take, for example, the hidden sparring rule in effect in most dojo, that of not kicking to the groin. Because you know you won't be kicked there you don't defend properly. I remember vividly about 20 years ago having always trained under the 'no groin kicking rule', going to visit a dojo where it was allowed. After a few painful encounters I quickly understood the power of false assumptions and how my more restricted rules meant that I was poorly prepared to face someone who had practised using wider rules.
A similar situation exists if one of your goals is training for self-defence. We all too easily assume that the same rules apply to both us and our potential attackers. This means that we will often be taken in by well practised cons that are highly devious and well outside our expectation of fair play. Sometimes these tricks can cause loss of material goods and in less fortunate circumstances, injury.
To avoid losing against someone who is using different rules (be it in competition, in the dojo or on the street) we need to come to some understanding as to what the differences might be and how we can deal with them. Naturally, in a short article like this it would be impossible to go into detail about the wide variety of rules that you may have and that all your potential opponents may have. However, it is something that you should consider. It is therefore worth spending some time writing down some of the, as yet, unwritten moral and ethical rules that you take for granted in the various theatres you practise for.
Finally, a question for you: I’ve broken a rule in the picture where I’m hitting the bag – which rule? It is not a technical rule (although I’m sure there are a fair few of those that I’m breaking too).
In the next article we will take a look at practice versus performance.
About the author: Bill Burgar is a 6th Dan, member of Rick Clark's ADK organisation and author of the advanced karate text Five Years, One Kata which is available from http://www.martialartspublishing.com/
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