The Kata Collector

Last night as I entered the dojo, I picked up the sansetsukon (3 sectional staff) and decided to work and polish on something I hadn’t touched in quite some time. So long that covid and lockdown rules in Australia had probably changed more times than I have my underwear. As I was swinging the head smashing thing in the air, I was thinking why the heck am I even doing this when I should be spending time on the “more important” and core weapons - Bo, Sai, Eku, and Tunkua. Karate and Kobudo can be both physically and mentally demanding, requiring full awareness and involvement of the body and mind. In all honesty, I didn’t have a clear mind of what I was trying to work on or achieve. Staring at the kobudo kata board I have hanging on the wall in the dojo, it kind of startled me a bit at how many kata we actually “know” and practice. Around 20 Kobudo ones, and 13 for Goju – Jesus, that’s over 30 kata in total. Anyway, I really wasn’t fond of that feeling of simply playing around for the purpose of seeing whether I remembered the kata or not so put the weapon aside for another day and began working on Bo kihon.

Kobudo Kata Board in the background there...

This did make me wonder though, how many practitioners out there are proud of “knowing” a hundred kata in this and that style, in addition to other martial arts forms. These fanatics may have attended a ton of seminars with renown masters or even held some themselves. In addition, some may have even acquired a healthy number of social media followers. But what merit is there really to all of this? On the surface, a high level of proficiency may seem the case however if probed further, what would really be revealed?

As one of my students stated tonight to her partner (though unrelated to collecting kata), “You’re like a person who knows everything about fine cuisines but has no idea how to cook”. Wow I thought – such an excellent analogy comparable to Kata Collectors of this world. Knowledge is undoubtedly vital, however if beyond the accumulation of kata and bunkai, karate would stand for absolutely zilch. A karateka who comprehends only a few kata and techniques but has the capability of making effective/practical/good (chose the word of your liking) use of this understanding, is surely better off than someone who “knows” a million forms. Beg to differ? Just my 2 cents.

So how many kata or forms do you all know?