life hacks from the martial arts - itten dojo · japanese budo — in karate, the forms are solo,...
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Life Hacks from the Martial Arts...
Budoand a Block of Wood
In , authorKata: The Key to Understanding and Dealing with the Japanese
B. L. De Mente describes ( ) as one of the “most importantshikata ��
words in the Japanese language.”
It means “way of doing things,” with special emphasis on the form and
order of the process… Kata, by itself, is usually translated as “form.”… Early
in their history the Japanese developed the belief that form had a reality of its
own, and that it often took precedence over substance. They also believed that
anything could be accomplished if the right kata was mentally and physically
practiced long enough.
Martial artists are familiar with the term kata, because practice of
choreographed forms comprises a significant portion of training in traditional
Japanese budo — in karate, the forms are solo, while in older, weapons based
arts like (swordsmanship) or (staff fighting), forms are oftenkenjutsu jojutsu
practiced in pairs, with a live partner.
Solo forms are also a component of modern, sport karate, and kata
competitions are a regular part of tournaments. In the following essay,
reprinted by permission from the former e-magazine ,Budo Shinbun
F. J. Lovret addresses the situation of persons being called on to judge kata of
which they have no personal knowledge. The points Lovret Sensei makes can
be “reverse engineered” to provide a guide to how we might improve any area
of endeavor.
Continued on next page
— Why Budo? —
Regardless of the times
you live in, or the
circumstances of your
life, success largely
depends on things you
actually can control:
• Building strong
relationships in a
community of
achievement.
• Forging a disciplined
and positive mindset.
• Enhancing your
physical health and
capabilities.
These are exactly the
things membership in a
dojo provides.
Sword SpiritandThe eNewsletter of Itten Dojo October 2016
2
Budo and a Block of Wood
During a recent conversation on budo, the topic of just
how difficult it is to judge a kata in an open karate
tournament came up. For a JKA black-belt to judge a
series of JKA kata is not too hard. But, what if he has to
look at a series of kata from schools as diverse as Shorin-
ryu, Goju-ryu, and Wado-ryu? Aside from the fact that
there are major differences in techniques, there will also be
some major differences in the philosophy behind the
techniques.
The fundamental question seemed to be, “Is quality an
absolute, or must it always be judged in context?” While I
will admit that a technique must be ultimately judged in
context, according to the standards of its own ryu, there
are still a number of factors that apply to all schools.
A Block of Wood
As a reference, I will use a wooden cube measuring 4"
on a side. You could apply these arguments to just about
anything, but a chunk of wood is easy to obtain and easy
to work with. And, if there is such a thing as absolute
quality, it should apply to something as basic as our simple
cube.
The ultimate test will be: Does our statement of quality
apply equally to a block of wood and budo?
Workmanship
Using a simple hand saw, you can guess at the
measurements and create a rough cube of wood with only
a few minutes work. Use a good table saw and the result
will be quite a bit nicer. An expensive planer does an even
better job.
I don’t think anyone would deny that a perfectly
machined cube of wood, measuring precisely 4.00" to a
side and with each angle being exactly 90.0, is of higher
quality than a crudely carved lump that is only approxi-
mately a cube in shape. This, then, gives us our first rule
of quality: .Quality is proportional to precision
This rule is easily applied to our problem of judging
kata. As most kata will contain multiple instances of the
same technique, you merely compare techniques: Does
each zenkutsu-dachi look exactly like every other zenkutsu-
dachi, or can you spot differences between them?
Difficulty
All other factors being equal, a block of oak is per-
ceived as being of higher quality than one of pine simply
because the hardwood cube is harder to make. A cube of
ebony would be even better. Difficulty of workmanship can
also include difficulty in obtaining the raw materials: you
can get a chunk of pine at any lumber yard; finding a piece
of black walnut is much harder.
The phrase “all other factors being equal” is of critical
importance: a crudely carved block of oak is not viewed as
being superior to a finely made cube of pine. Therefore,
for our second rule: .Quality is proportional to effort
Applying this rule to kata, a good yoko-geri jodan gets
more points than one of equal quality to a low level
because the high kick is harder to do. Again, difficulty
ranks below precision: a great low-level kick should score
better than a bad upper-level kick.
Finish
You could take your block of wood, a slab of glass,
some oil, and a fine abrasive, and lap your cube into
perfect polish. You might even go so far as to create a jig to
hold the wood so as not to round the edges during the
polishing process.
The result of many hours of extra work should be a
cube that seems to glow. It’s so perfect that you don’t want
to breathe on it, much less touch it, which gives us a third
rule: .Quality is proportional to finish
Please note how this ties in with our first two rules. If
the angles of the original block weren’t true, or if there are
a lot of tool marks on the wood, all the polishing in the
world won’t make it beautiful. Also, a hardwood will take
a much nicer polish than a soft piece of pine.
Applying rule three to a kata is very difficult and it’s
something that you only learn from experience. There is
no way that the difference between a kata that is done well
and one that has been finely polished can be expressed in
words, and it’s not something that a junior can ever
appreciate. (It’s like learning how to spot the difference
between an off-the-rack and a tailor-made suit at a glance.)
Continued on next page
3
Artistry
Going back to our polishing stage, there are a couple of
options. You could use a very hard and very fine abrasive,
and a very hard wood such as ebony. With enough time,
the result should be something that looks more like a block
of black glass than wood. But, this is something that could
be done by machine.
On the other hand, you might note that the hardness of
wood is not a constant. With a lot of experimentation, you
could find an abrasive that had more effect between the
grain than on the grain. The result of this would be a cube
of wood, perfectly polished and measuring exactly 4.00"
on a side, that was still rough enough to allow you to feel
its texture.
There are two important parts of such artistry: The
block must start with some good, basic, mechanical work-
manship; the variations must be unique and of such a
nature as to enhance the finished product. Therefore, our
fourth rule is: .Quality is proportional to artistic content
This is even harder to apply to a kata than proper
finish was. It also requires the judge to make a tough
decision: “Is this person modifying the kata to cover up a
basic lack of ability, or do the changes come from the heart
and are they based on a solid foundation of great
technique?”
Conclusion
Please note that I have not discussed such things as
speed, strength, focus, breath, or balance. These are things
particular to budo and, therefore, cannot be a numbered
among the absolute elements of quality. Workmanship,
difficulty, finish, and artistry, however, apply to everything
from a koshi-nage to a coat. And there is a difference
between K-Mart and Brooks Brothers.