I was training in the dojo the other Sunday morning…my happy place, and I was having a conversation with a couple of other black belts.
We somehow got on to the topic of kata (not exactly unusual) and we were discussing different view points of what kata is. This is one of the beauties of karate, and other martial art, in that kata to one person can be a sport, for another a moving meditation etc.
Personally kata for me, is not only moving Zen but also teaches us a set of principles through the art of movement. The techniques aren’t the things to get hung up on, but more specifically what it is they are trying to teach you.
In fact I recently wrote a blog about it, "Principles based bunkai".
Instead of, this is how you block someone to your right and counter, I focus more on things like “control the head and you control the fight”, “create space” and so on. As well as these principles I have a set of “general principles” I usually adopt for all kata.
One of them is then is:
The direction of the kata dictates the position of the opponent to yourself.
I believe it is not about facing an opponent to your left, right, etc. We should not expect our opponent being in the perfect place at the perfect time. To me, this represents an external perspective on bunkai, almost as if we are relying on others for our actions. Instead, when I look at bunkai I try to adopt an inward perspective. By that I mean that you need to position yourself according to your opponent so as to perform the technique. If the kata moves to the left, you need to be thinking about positioning yourself to the right of your opponent (from your view).
This got me thinking that there's a life lesson in kata. We shouldn't look outside for approval or validation; instead, we should look within ourselves. It's not Dave's fault for insulting us and putting us in a bad mood; it's about how we react to it.
How often do we place blame on others for our feelings? The phrase "They made me feel..." is commonly heard, and I've even used it myself. Instead of expecting others to behave in a manner we think is correct and feeling frustrated when they don't, recognising that each person is unique and that our reactions may be the true path to personal contentment.
P.s - I appreciate this might be a tedious link between the principle and life lesson, but looking inwards is the best way I can explain how to apply bunkai in a way that makes sense in my brain. :)
Jez
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