The following is an excerpt from Gichin Funakoshi's "Karate-Do Kyohan"

How to study the kata
In the past, it was expected that about three years were required to learn a single kata, and it was usual that even an expert of considerable skill would only know three or at the most five kata. Thus, in short, it was felt that a superficial understanding of many kata was of little use. The aim of training reflected the precept expressed by the words, "Although the doorway is small, go deeply inward." I, too, studied for ten years to really learn the three Tekki forms. However, since each form has its particular good points and because there is also benefit to be gained from knowing a wide selection of forms, one might well reconsider the practice of becoming deeply engrossed in very few forms. Whereas people in earlier times made deep studies of a narrow field, people today study widely and not deeply. It is not a good idea to follow one way or the other; it is better to take the middle way. For this reason, I have employed the method of advancing students as soon as they have a good grasp of a form to the next one, up through the fifth Heian form or the third Tekki form, and of then returning to the first for renewed practice. Once a form has been learned, it must be practiced repeatedly until it can be applied in an emergency, for knowledge of just the sequence of a form in karate is useless.

pp38-39 (1973 edition)

The phrase that grabbed me -


Mick

i tryed to find a reply for this but i came up really short. i'll think on it and try again later, but with my deep dislike of kata i might find the thought prosess hard. note i'v changed from hate to deep dislike on the kata thing, bugger you guys are getting to me.

Thanks for that Sionnagh.
Gives me yet another perspective to the ever increasingly complicated world that is karate and martial arts. Always good to be reminded how much I have to learn (but hey, you dont have to tell me all at once )

If i could use smileys i would use tha one with its mouth open. not the laughing one but the shocked looking one. that was like a great um. thing. i especially liked the part that goes "knowledge of just the sequence of a form in karate is just useless". it's really ... like i dont know how to explain it. I see all of these kids trying to learn the katas really quickly because they think they can grade sooner if they know it but they only learn the pattern and dont think about the kata in depth at all.

lol sam s kata is only moving you feet to the right place, and getting your form right. in deapth means this sucks. oooooops done it again damn it but kata sucks. ok back to the tree, and you all missed again :thumbgrin:, my old body lives once more

*Pelts rotten fruit at Fang*

Well that article has certainly shed some more light on kata. Yay, more work.

work work work brodius where will it ever end. and how about throwing good fruit at me i'm hungry :thumbgrin:

*Pelts fresh fruit at Fang*

what a nice man now i'm freshly feed time for sleep :thumbgrin:

Yay! Only I'm not really a man. More like a... um... young adult of sorts. Man makes me sound old. Gah.