Shotokan Karate Kata

The Dancing Kata People!

Several years ago one of the black belts at our Dojo decided he was going to enter a competition.

We all knew what was going to happen, he would lose in the first round.

He was a great Karateka! his techniques were focused, strong and fast. Every time he executed a technique it was like it was his last.

The great Karateka Terry O'neill, always says, you must be able to switch on and off at will.

Well, this black belt could certainly switch on and off at will, he would die rather than lose, a very hard man to stop.

The day of the competition loomed ever closer, as an extra to normal dojo training we were running early in the morning for several weeks before the big day, we all prepared ourselves as best we could.

We arrived at the venue and warmed up.

Our black belt friend was the first one up, the first event was kata and the heian katas were the chosen katas.

The chief referee called Heian Nidan.

We sat and watched as our friend bowed, announced the Kata, flicked the switch on and performed a very strong Heian Nidan, that looked CRAP!

His opponent strutted onto the mat like a proud peacock, as soon as his eyes met with chief referees eyes there was an overwhelming look of love. The chief referee announced Heian Nidan and our friends opponent replied OSSU with a look at the referee that translated as, 'I love you, please vote for me to win'.

Our friends opponent bowed, screamed the kata, didn't switch on, well that's not exactly true, he had already switched on, he was in Hollywood performance mode before he even walked on the mat. When he came to the first kiai I thought someone had been kicked in the nuts while trying to announce something on the tanoy system, also when he performed a kiai his head shot forward as if someone had hit him around the back of the head with a sledge hammer while his body was held completely still.

Saying that, he performed a very fast Kata that was text book technique and looked GREAT! I think.

Needless to say our friends opponent won.

Many years ago I watched Yahara Sensei perform Unsu, it was amazing but at the same time it was almost frightening, it was alive. I can always remember thinking, Yahara Sensei is actually fighting, really fighting.

That one performance from Yahara Sensei had a strong impact on me. I thought to myself, am I going to dance, or am I going to fight.

I believe competitions are good, great training arenas, places where you can test yourself with people you don't know, but I believe the emphasis should be on training, not winning a trophy, don't get me wrong, I would rather die than lose and it's a great feeling to win, but if I lose, I lose graciously.

If you are a Hollywood film star Karateka, I have a question, do you wear underpants that match the colour of your karate suit label? If you don't, then you should, If you do then you really should give the chief referee a quick flash as you strut on the mat, it can only help!

Ahhh.... That's made me feel better.

Linden

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