Bunkai Discussion

After our Aiki session on Saturday, Pat and I discussed kata bunkai for a little while. At the risk of repeating myself, my upbringing in striking arts (Tang Soo Do) taught that the kata or forms were meant to practice against imaginary opponents. Period. Nothing more. To be fair, I was a kid, and maybe that's just how they taught the stuff to that age group. So I'd practice low-blocking attack after attack from imaginary opponents while running through my forms at home.

I had always heard how these old karate masters "hid" their secret techniques in kata. "Hah!" I thought. "I don't see any hidden techniques! It's just a bunch of blocks and strikes!" (now I'm older and realize what "hidden" means).

I didn't realize until recently, as I'm getting interested in karate again, that there is definitely more than meets the eye when it comes to kata. In addition to the not-so-obvious applications of the particular techniques, Pat was talking about how the kata were devised partly as mnemonic devices for solo practice of more than just the kihon that were displayed in them (wrist releases, hair pulls, off balances - you name it!).

After our conversation, I'm starting to think karate kata have more in common with tegatana no kata than I originally thought. In tegatana (our style of Aikido's solo kata), none of the motions are actual techniques. Instead, each movement is an opportunity to practice certain types of motion...certain principles that get applied during paired kata, randori, or self defense situations. However, I suppose in karate kata, to paraphrase Sigmund Freud, sometimes a punch is just a punch.