Paired kata in Japanese martial arts.
Why the difficulty in accepting the idea that set ‘kumite’ is kata?
I don’t think karate people specifically resist the idea; I reckon that they just never considered it. After all, kata is supposed to be that thing you do on your own, making patterns on the floor, with appropriate accompanying shapes.
Part of it is, I am sure they are wrapped up in the definition of ‘Kumite’組手, the ‘joining or crossing of hands’ however you want to describe it, and conflated and overlaid it with ‘jiyu kumite’ or ‘free sparring’. That particular description narrows the spectrum of understanding and pushes aside any thought of pre-arranged paired work as kata. It’s a pity, the experience and value of that aspect of training takes on a whole new meaning if you just think of it as kata.
A convenient ‘straw man’.
To non-traditional karate critics the very idea of paired kata makes an easy target which they gleefully latch on to. It’s not their fault and they are entitled to their opinions, but really they are not my target audience. I doubt they’d read this anyway. But, in a way, it links with their insistence on what they believe the purpose of solo kata is; but I think I went some way in addressing that in my previous pieces; https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/karate-kata-from-the-wado-perspective
So, I have no real intentions of revisiting that area.
From the outside, these paired kata can look wooden and false and I am pretty certain that in some branches of karate they have been stripped of their original intentions and student are taught to just go through the motions, with the illusion that they are ‘really doing it’. So, any flak they take is probably justified.
In modern karate, any school or style that includes paired kata in a formal, specified format tend to structure them in a progressive way, as in; the lower grades have very simple block, kick, punch, five-step, three-step, one-step. They are classified as stepping stones.
Further up the ladder it would be a mistake to think that their complexity is based on just adding more moves, or incorporating higher kicks for the sake of athleticism. If your martial art values the capacity to memorise ever-more complex series of moves, or flashy kicks, then you are probably being sold short, in terms of depth of study – there are bigger fish to fry.
History.
I am fairly convinced that many people think that these paired kata came into existence in the mid 20th century, oh no, the whole idea of paired kata goes way back into Japanese martial culture.
There is value in looking at how that worked; I would recommend anyone to read the interviews given by Kuroda Tetsuzan Sensei, headmaster of the martial legacy of the Kuroda family in kenjutsu and jujutsu. When he is talking about ‘kata’ it is almost entirely paired kata. Kuroda Sensei attained an almost unimaginable level of skill, the nearest to the abilities of departed martial prodigies like Ueshiba Morihei, founder of Aikido. For Kuroda this came to him through paired kata.
I am sure that there are people who think they can achieve this same level of ability without ever considering the rich content of paired kata. Well, I say that, but I fear that western martial artists set the bar at a low level; this comes out of thinking that the highest benchmark of ability available comes through the model presented by sports; the athletes who aspire to the Olympic motto, ‘faster, higher, stronger’.
Part of the reason for that misunderstanding and low aspiration is that the people who have the abilities of Kuroda Sensei are so thin on the ground. High levels of technical mastery takes an insane amount of dedicated training, but for some, just being able to pack a hell of a punch is enough, for them the ‘paired kumite as kata’ just seems a pointless waste of time, the perceived rigidity and the formality is not something they will entertain – it’s a choice.
The reality is that the paired kata are the containers of useful and practical knowledge, and not just ‘head-knowledge’, the ‘body-knowledge’ is where the real value resides. I know I keep banging on about this but it’s all about PRINCIPLES, look for the underlying sets of rules, stick with them assiduously, be aware when you needlessly step over the mark. Take guidance from a teacher who will kindly (or unkindly) show you the error of your ways, in a practical way and just soldier on. It may take a while, but the results eventually start to appear.
Additional advice.
In the past I have described the paired kata as like ‘conversations’. There are healthy conversations and unhealthy ones. The unhealthy ones are where you force your point of view through, irrespective of what the other person says or does; good for the ego, but lousy for your own personal development, and the other party gets nothing from it either, (apart from coming to the conclusion that you’re being a dick).
A few suggestions:
· Examine your preconceptions of what you think kata is (look at solo kata as a starting point).
· With the paired kata; be curious about them in all their iterations and approach them with an open mind, as in, don’t load your own ideas on top of them.
· Have a curiosity about how ‘kata’ are used in the older Japanese martial traditions, be they kenjutsu or Koryu jujutsu, and apply the Darwinian perspective – if they were being used effectively through times when warriors risked significant harm, there must be something in them.
· Just because something has a label stuck on it and the same label is found in other systems, doesn’t make it the same thing. Example; a koshinage (hip throw) found in Aikido can often be a different entity than that found in modern jujutsu, Olympic judo, Daito Ryu or Koryu jujutsu. The common ground may just be that the paired kata involves the hip and the other guy ends up on the floor. What happened at the point of entry or in between may be a crude hoist over the top, like chucking a bag of cement, or a series of facilitating triggers involving vectors, structural alignment and refined timing – the spectrum is that wide.
· Ditch the western perspective and the western arrogance that you want everything on a plate – the Japanese teaching model is NOT the western method.
· Be prepared to be told ‘you’re not ready for this yet’. Don’t take it personally. I once had an 8th kyu student ask me to teach them the kata Seishan… I must have looked at them like they had some kind of mental blip. Are you serious? I didn’t say that of course, just suggested that maybe working on the fundamentals of the 7th kyu syllabus would be a useful stepping stone towards Seishan.
To round it off – shift the lenses, examine what is really going on and then, hopefully, these paired kata will take on a whole new meaning.
I've encountered the idea of kumite/pair-work being treated as kata in other martial arts, i.e. Kendo. Not in Karate though. However I don't see why karateka would be hostile to the idea of considering it as such.
I was reading Alexander Bennet talking about Nihon Kendo Kata. In the 1st kata, defender slays the attacker outright, in the 2nd, the defender merely maims and disarms but does not kill, and in the 3rd the defender counters an attack to chudan, then pursues the retreating attacker "with the point of his blade raised to touch the perspiration between his eyebrows in a display of penetrating zanshin". Each is supposed to represent levels of mastery, learning to kill, learning restraint, and learning compassion. Though I suppose what you're talking about here is less about philosophical value than practical value and technique.
I might see if I can find any good books/material about kata in older Japanese martial traditions...
When I practiced Wado Ryu I remember practicing a lot of 基本組手 (kihongumite) that were considered to be paired kata. Now that I practice Ashihara Karate (which is not a traditional style), I still find myself practicing kumite principles with partners as part of kata.
Ashihara Kata are all done in pretty much the same floor pattern and are there mainly to drill techniques by yourself. But these kata can be broken down into smaller components and done together with partners.
There is a video of 組手の型3 (Kumite no kata san) which demonstrates this quite well. The kata is demonstrated at normal speed, then slowed down, and then with opponents included.
I think other non-traditional forms of karate may include similar practices. But everyone has their own opinions on these things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo0Z51T8k4A