So you’re a teacher and have just been asked a question you are not 100% certain of. For a million dollars, do you………..
a) Answer confidently and make up some bullshido
b) Scratch your butt crack and run off to the toilet
c) Punch your student in the face neutralising the situation
d) Other
Well last night while teaching a sai kata and one I have done what feels like a million times, I was asked a simple question which I thought I clearly knew. And then it hit me - the more I was repeating the set of motions to confirm the answer, the more I realised I wasn’t 100% certain anymore. Strange isn’t it? So, to answer the above question, I chose option “d”. What followed was a little Youtubing of senior Kodokan (Matayoshi Kobudo HQ Dojo) members doing the kata to get confirmation. Low and behold, all four videos we watched were different. Some kata with movements missing here and there, and in others, extra movements added. Which one was correct may forever be a mystery.
I wonder why this is? With the many different groups of Goju Ryu clubs out there in Okinawa, despite vast differences in movement style, timing, and speed, I can’t ever recall a video where the performer has added “extras” or sections taken out of a kata. Is it because most people spend more time training and dissecting karate while kobudo is left behind (maybe it is me), or is it due to the OG Kobudo master having different variations for everybody back in the day depending on the individual?
So to see four sensei with four kata variations on them vids within the same dojo came as a big surprise. I guess all we can do despite not having a concrete answer is simply continue our own training and do what we feel is the fitting way until our next Okinawa visit. Then again, there's always the special chicken chow mein combo and any questions can be dealt with by some verbal bullshido while scratching our butts prior to punching our students in the face - Osssssssu!
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