Karate, Kata and its Interpretation

I have been reading and thinking again about what constitutes Karate, Kata and a Martial art versus an art for self defense.  I have touched on many of these previously, but here are some thoughts:

1. Martial Arts versus Self Protection Arts
2. Dissection of an art into three parts: techniques, tactics, strategies
3. Where does the above leave karate?

For the first item, there is a distinction that many draw, rightly so, between koryu and gendai.  Here we are talking about martial arts whose intent was to be used on the battlefield, and self protection arts whose intent was to give a person a chance to make it home after a violent encounter.  Koryu, in general, have their roots, if not their entire syllabus, targeted toward and coming from battlefield experience.  Fighting in formation or singly against a defined enemy using the weapons of the day.  Gendai became more philosophical with a different goal, with many of the modern ones aimed at self perfection and some level of sufficiency with martial techniques.  The end goal of a martial art like Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu was to produce a soldier who will live through a battle.  The end goal of a modern martial art like jujutsu was to have effective self defense for civilians who just want to survive (hopefully only) a single violent encounter.

The second item concerns the components pieces of an art: the overarching theme or strategy for all aspects of the school, the tactics used in individual applications of that strategy, and finally the techniques by which those tactics are carried out.  Koryu arts had the goal of getting around armour and that effected the targets they would attack and the techniques used with certain weapons to achieve that.  A given encounter might rely on a tactic of feigned slow response in order to make an opening which could then be taken advantage of, to reach a given target with a given weapon in a given manner.  There is also en emphasis on using terrain to your advantage - quite important when waging war on an incline.  Gendai arts generally have a much more open set of targets and techniques are designed to be used in an urban environment.  Flat sidewalks, floors, roads, rooms and modern clothing without armouring and without the use of default or battlefield weapons.  Couple that with a need to avoid litagation and you have a very different strategy or goal.

Finally, what does this mean to karate?  I don't know yet - my own thoughts are still forming on this.  But I begin to ask myself a few questions:

1. Does it matter if karate is not a battlefield art?
2. What do I want out of my martial training?
3. What is the strategy of karate?  This is tied to the tactics that will need to be used and the techniques (all of which pay a vital role in interpreting kata!)

That last one is quite key - how can I interpret the kata I study (both Goju and Shaolin) without an idea of the perspective from which they come?  Chinese arts, on the whole, seem to come from a history of rebellion and combination of personal self defense with large scale warfare.  But where does that leave karate, arguably a derivative and further reinterpretation of quan fa?

I end up with more questions every time I think about this.  Perspective is difficult to reach alone, but perhaps all the more rewarding because of it.  I begin to get a sense of how the original masters of martial ways must have felt with their own training - where do I go from here?  What skills do I want to acquire? How can those skills be tied into a cohesive whole with what I know?  What changes need to happen to facilitate this?  I believe the answer to many of these questions were answered many times as teachers created their own styles or variations on existing styles.

Martial Art, Fighting Art, etc.

I have been reading and thinking a lot recently about the phrase or term "martial art" and karate's purpose.  From different sources I have heard the same things over and over: karate is not a martial art.  To understand that statement, we need to understand the distinction that many people make between a martial art and a fighting art.  In the Japanese traditions it would be the difference between bugei and budo.  The difference being made is the intent behind the system.  Bugei were traditional battlefield arts intended to be used by professional soldiers and warriors, whereas budo are the more modern civilian derivations of those arts with an emphasis on spiritual and personal development.  Both are fighting methods but they have different emphasis.

Here is a little something from someone more in tune with modern law enforcement needs and the combative training available from a modern and traditional point of view.

http://prevailtraining.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/martial-arts-and-cops/

This has made me wonder - what do I want from my own martial abilities?  Do I want an art intended for self defense and self perfection?  Do I want to be a warrior with a variety of skills and weapons under my belt?  Do I want an art that is intended to protect others?

I know I want a complete set of skills, and I know that my own skills are far from complete.  But will mixing my own karate with something from a bugei bring me completeness?  Or will it be divisive to my training and the end result left with more holes than bridges?



--Post-Publish Edit--

Here is one of the articles I have been reading.

http://www.kowakan.com/?p=1613

I have been reading a few books at once, and I can't find which one discusses something similar.

Resolutions and Training

Better late than never.  Here is more great advice from Mr. Charles Goodin:

http://karatejutsu.blogspot.com/2012/01/resolutions-for-karate-students-for.html

I can't help but write Mr. Charles Goodin - he is so respectful and humble in his blog that I find it infectious.

Ma-ai and a deeper level of martial arts

I read another excellent post over on the Classical Budoka: Fluid Space in Budo

When I read such great articles and posts from others, it makes me ask a few questions:

1. Why bother writing when better people are putting out such awesome stuff?
2. What can I learn from this to better myself

So, in response, here are some of my thoughts coming from that post.

The first thought was that there are many levels to the martial arts.  There are the surface techniques: throwing, stabbing, punching, kicking, grappling, slicing, bludgeoning coming from striking, grappling and weapons arts.  Without correct distancing and timing it is impossible to utilize any of those techniques effectively.  If you act too soon, your opponent will not be there - they will use a different attack.  If you are too late...well, it will not be a problem for much longer.  Wrong distance on a punch and it has no impact, or results in injury.  While my grappling experience is more limited, as is my weapons experience, I do know this applies as equally.  So the first level of ma-ai is in its usefulness.

The next level down is the use of ma-ai alone to conquer and achieve victory.  Mr. Muramoto provides a story about Miyamoto Musashi on this point, but needless to say there are several dozen such stories of martial arts masters winning through the force of their ki.  As suggested in the Musashi story, there is more to it than just ki - mental unbalancing through space and time manipulation.

I experienced this in a 12 hour seminar this summer.  We were doing a session on Ni Ten Ichi Ryu (Musashi comes in again - odd I didn't realize this until just now) and the particular waza involved closing the distance and controlling the uke through the timing and movement.  My Sensei asked how this was possible and at which point the uke lost.  I couldn't explain it in so many words, but I suggested a good kick would solve the problem.  My Sensei agreed in the sense that it was an issue of distancing and timing.  This incident came back to me upon reading the above post.

The Way is in Training

Just a quick link and lesson for the day:

http://karatejutsu.blogspot.com/2011/12/look-good-or-be-good.html

My favourite line from this post:

So if you don't mind, I will just train.

The way is in training.  Training will never let you down.  Words spoken by wiser people than I.