Why kumite does not resemble kata?




Yes, I heard many people saying that kata and kumite are disconnected. Training one will not improve the other. Competitors focusing on only one part of Karate at the expense of the whole...

What do you think?

Well, as you may have realized, no, kata and kumite look like two different animals, but, why is that? Why can't you (you actually can) use the kata techniques to win a kumite?

Let me explain my conclusions:

1)
As you may have also realized, kata is an ideal sequence of different battle situations. It is stylized, idealized and tweaked to adjust itself to the standard. 
You must perform the techniques and stances following your style's ideas and parameters. 

2)
Most dojos and tournaments have kumite with rules.
Read that again.

Yes, different places have different rules, making the kumite different.

If you fight with rules (example: only punches to the body are allowed but kicks to head, body and legs are legal, no grabs or pulls) then there are many parts of the kata that will have no use under those rules. If you follow another set of rules (contact vs no contact) then the parts of the kata than you may use are different, aren't they?

Yes, you need some rules to make sure everyone survives the kumite session, but kata are self-defense ideas and principles. You have to follow no rules when fighting for your life.


3)
Your sparring partner knows EXACTLY what techniques you are more likely to use during the encounter.
As you know the same about him.
As you know what he is going to do you can easily find ways to counter his moves. You become good at fighting with people in your dojo. You become good at fighting with people that use the same techniques than you and under the same rules than you. 


As you can see in this picture my two friends are trying to land the same technique on each other, while keeping their hands in the same position.

As a matter of fact, the less rules you have the more techniques you will be able to use and the more techniques you will learn to defend from. And that uncertainty will also keep you more alert, in-dojo and out-dojo.
That's why I like practicing MMA.

Because of my somewhat special background on Shotokan, Kyokushin and Judo there are some people on my MMA club that could not touch me even if their lives depended on it. What I do and how I move is uncomprehensible for them. They are not used to fight people like me.
On the other hand, there are some guys there who fight on ways that I can not (still) beat.

Same 华府天地 Tournament, in 沈阳, 2014, kata competition.

Great thanks to my friend Huanghai Shihan (黄海) for allowing me to use the pictures. He is the most talented martial artist I have ever met. His training is brutal, with 4 to 6 hours every morning and teached 3 to 5 classes every afternoon. E-v-e-r-y-d-a-y!
More on him later!



Update:
I just found this awesome post on this awesome blog this afternoon. Talk about good timing!
http://www.karateobsession.com/2017/03/why-doesnt-kata-look-like-fighting.html







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A rainbow of choices

Image
Let's talk about something really trivial now: What colour should the embroidery of my belt be? First, let's start with the most common one: golden brown (金茶, in Japanese): This is a belt that was gifted to me so the content of the embroidery is kind of unusual but the picture will show the colour I am talking about. Beautiful and classic, right? So, what other colours are acceptable? By far, the two next more common colours are red and white: (red one is mine too) All the other colours have really few adepts but I have seen a blue one, a green one and a pink one: (it is pinker in person) You also can choose a metallic gold or silver threat: Considering getting a silver one soon... if not pink! And you can choose to get kanji and/or katakana (or hiragana) embroidered, but also common letters: Or you can just go crazy and get a multicolour multifont belt, like this one: Cool, uh? And what about rank strip...
Read more

My fight on video

Image
First of all, thank you to all my partners in Budokan Castellón who helped me prepare for the fight, thanks to Pedro, David, Xufei and specially Sensei Josep Florido for coming with me and helping me on fight night. Also, thanks to VFL for having me in this event. I would also thank my sponsors, but... Coming in. Spatial awareness run (thanks Ramsey!). Waiting for an opponent. Being introduced. Moving my arms. Thinking of the tactic. Where are my gloves? Well, the experience was amazing! I got to fight in a cage, in a nice promotion, against a very strong guy and then got to walk home unharmed, sure of having given all I had inside, that was not much. I gassed out too soon and could not play along very well. But it doesn't matter. The other guy, Fabio Wellinton, was more experienced, stronger and did a better fight. He was a nice guy before and after the fight and that is important too. Now, the fight: ...
Read more

My Karate style

Image
What is my Karate style? I guess one needs to know if he/she can feel identified with the contents of this blog. If my methods and theories are aligned with those of his/her Dojo. Fair enough. What is my Karate style? That is a fair question with a complicated answer. My first Art was Judo, which I started to learn when I was six years old. Even though I never stopped training I did it in a discontinuous manner, never caring too much about it. I never thought it could be used in a fight, until recently. After that I joined a Shotokan Karate class, not by choice (I wanted to learn Kick boxing) but because it was the only kicking-and-punching option available at that time, until I broadened my martial circle of friends and became involved in full contact styles. Many years and a few dans later I was forced to move my residence to China, having Kyokushin as my only choice for the first years after I landed. After that I met many people involved in a variety of arts who were ...
Read more