Ok, so if your favourite kata is one of the BB kata, make your vote in this poll.


Mick


[ADMIN NOTICE - Viewing results will count as a nil vote and you will not be able to vote again - sorry, its a board setting that will be removed in version 1.2.]

ok
though i dont know all of these katas YET... i like the look of kururunfa the best
a very difficult kata by the looks of it too

the more difficult the better as far as im concerned


bring it on... :thumbwink:

Well I tried to vote for Kanku sho but Wasnt allowed to as the board seems to think I have already voted

I havent seen any of the kata passed Seiunchin.

I was wondering if there were any special classes or displays where I can see them performed...

Just so I can vote in this poll too.

You will get to see many of them at tournaments. All you need to go with it is someone who can tell you which kata is being performed if you aren't close enough to hear them announce it.


Mick

Until I get the bug fixed please dont attempt to "view results" before voting.

This will be treated as a vote.

I really like the technicality of Sepai.

The earlier kata are about mastering individual skills, and whilst these can certainly be challenging, it's the combination of techniques, especially into unfamiliar pairings, that makes sepai so stimulating for me.

Although i love all kata my absolute favourite has to be kanku shobecause of it's strength and flow. A very close second would be sesain and sochin they both flow very well. :thumbwink:

Ah everyone says they like kanku sho. I reckon cos of the flashy jump.

Or maybe cos you have a reasonable chance of still scoring well at tournament even if you make a mistake due to lack of judges who know the higher kata well enough to know the difference.


Mick

(Just ---> poking a stick to see who jumps --->)

well i'll be first,

IMO the jumps are the least important part of kanku sho, the power and fluidity of the kata, as well as the technicalitites of the kata is the reason i like it the most.

Ian

[i'm always going to bite back]

Kururunfa looks like a really cool kata, especially because it seems to have a lot of variety in it, and because it's the only kata in this style that Kancho actually created himself. And seeing him actually go through it himself was awesome.

But my favourite BB kata, which is only out of Sepai and Sanseru, is Sanseru. I like the speed of the kata, and how two to three techniques are used in one single movement. A bit of overkill in some of the moves.

Most of you guys know a lot of much higher kata. Can you move down to Hobart so I can learn em off you?

Hi there,
just wanted to correct you on Kururunfa. It's a GoJu kata and Kancho didn't make it up. It is very flowy and it looks flashy, perfect for the tournaments. But my favourite would have to be Seisan. When performed well it just has that feel to it like no other kata. At least to me it does. I looooooove the side kicks. They feel great. I got a bit too carried away there, i have to go and do it now. See yaaaaaa

Are you sure Kancho didn't make it up himself? He actually said that he did, when he came down to have his 'inspirational' talk with us. But, if you say so, okay.

Seisan sounds cool. Side kicks are my speciality.

No, Kancho didn't make up kururunfa. He did make up his own kata though.


Mick

What kata did he make up then, and is it one of the kata you learn in Go kan Ryu?

The kata Kancho developed is called shokante, it surrently not part of our grading sylabus but rumour has it that it may come in as the 6th dan kata.

Why would he develop a kata for this style, and not allow it to be used? And why aren't there kata for the 6th Dan and upwards? Is this because there aren't many higher dan karateka?

that's because there are NO 6th dan or higher students.

If my memory is correct, other than Kancho himself, the highest graded student in GKR is Shihan Stacey Karetsian.
last I heard he was 4th dan (as shi means 4 this would make sense)


i could be wrong but thats unusual....

i must vote for sochin only because it took me so long to get the floor patten right, then the moves well i was still working on them when i went for my little 2 year break. now i'v forgotton most of the higher katas but i'll learn them again if a sensei will refresh me on them :thumbgrin: any offers lol

Shihan roughly means 'master instructor'. It is a title awarded to high ranking karateka. It is also one of the titles adopted by someone who starts their own school, regardless of their actual grade.

Other teaching ranks are Tashi (expert), Renshi (polished expert), Kyoshi (expert instructor) and Hanshi (master).

4th dan is yondan, AFAIK the ranks are as follows:
1st dan - shodan
2nd - nidan
3rd - sandan
4th - yondan
5th - godan
6th - rokudan
7th - nanadan
8th - hachidan

Anyone want to start a book on when they introduce more kata for higher dan grades?


Mick

Mick, thank you. I was starting to think that I was the only one in this Karate style that actually knew japanese...

I always count like that when I take a class, and usually go past Ju. OMG. Who woulda thought?

I just wish that japanese was actually taught to senseis properly. Though, I'm only speaking about senseis in Tasmania and Victoria... Gah, even Kancho himself seems to use poor japanese...

*THREAD DRIFT WARNING* but that seems to be pretty normal around here now

My pet hate also Brodius.

What sort of a number is "rook"? Its not even spelt that way!
No it wont make your karate better but it doenst make you look any more professional either

It's not that I think the entire class should be done in perfect japanese, though that would be pretty cool. At the very least, maybe just counting from 1 to 10 properly. Apparently the numbers were shortened so that they could be said faster for "hard and fast", but you can say them just as normal as they should be.

Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyu, ju.

Ich, ni, san, shi, go, rook, shich, hach, kyu, ju.

See? No need to have changed them.

The other thing is saying "Yes/Hai" to every thing a sensei says, and asks. Couldn't we say "I understand/Wakarimasu" or "Understood/Wakarimashta"?

yeah - I used to think that (speed), and argued same once with a japanese speaking sensei when I first started. She then counted correctly very fast and shut me up

To me its like saying:
one, two, three, four, five, smeghead, seven, eight etc etc

My fathers girlfriend is Japanese and did a class with us once. She couldnt understand a word I was saying . No I guess its not important in the grand scheme of things, but if we're supposed to be teaching a traditional Japanese art surely we could at least count to ten correctly

And then once everyone has up to 10 down, we can go beyond. Up to 40 even. That's probably as high as we'd need to go with our Kata.

Ju ichi, Ju ni, Ju san... etc etc

Interesting, cos as I understand it there are differences between different provinces in japan (including okinawa here). Apparently in some parts 7 is nana while in others its shichi. In some parts 4 is yon, in others it's shi except when you're only counting to 4 in which case it's yon.

Some parts too it seems the ending is less pronounced, as in roku or rok'

Brodius, looks like you want to confuse the poor instructors who have learnt 3rd/4th/5th... hand japanese from someone who spoke it poorly in the first place.

Although the insults are kinda cool-sounding
Say to your (non-japanese speaking) instructor "Sensei, anata wa totemo warui sensei desu" and see if they thank you. (Joking here people)

Could go on for ages and ages on this topic...


Mick

Like, when you're talking about the time in japanese 4 o'clock is always Yoji(Yon), 7 o'clock is always Shichiji(Shichi), and 9 o'clock is always Kuji(Ku).

I think with every other number situation it's Shi, Nana, and Kyu.

Mick, saying that they're a really bad sensei isn't gunna faze them that much. You need something much more than that, like...

"Sensei, anata wa baka desu yo"

Yeah, that'll make 'em all cry. Ahahahaaa. But I highly doubt it.

when talking about months the ninth month is called Nanagatsu...
the rest are in line with 'normal' counting though...

(or is july something different aswell ????)

yes i'm a git...

nangatsu is july
nana is 7 if you are not counting by rote...

Well...you are a git, but I still have no idea wht you are talking about

You'd need that long to memorise the damn thing. Anyone seen it? I think kancho is the only one who knows it so far .....

I saw Kancho do his Kata last year at the Seminar he did in Birmingham. I wasn`t close enough to hear what it was called - but it didn`t look as good as some of the katas performed by the black belts - I`m not saying it was bad though - I`ve made up my own katas in the past and they`re been pretty dire.

I saw it in Melbourne 2002 Aust championships. It looked pretty basic and simplistic, but that was before I knew there was more to kata than looking good

But what makes you think... err.. ahh.. nothing. nevermind.


Mick

It didnt look like a kata to me. Had the feel of a long combination.

Ive been through a cpl of invented (you know what i mean ) kata since, they felt more like kata and actually had real principles to teach...

What were you going to say, Mick?

Shokante did look like an overly large combination, imo.

Favourite kata after Empi would be Sepai.

What did it look like then?

Kancho himself says its GKR's basics made into a kata. But this doesnt make it a kata, it makes it a combination. It doesnt seem to have a theme to it.

That`s what I was thinking...... It`s not "storming the fortress" or "fighting in the canoe" It`s....... I dunno......
And If shokante is made up of GKR basics..... shouldn`t it be a recognised 1st kata for the white and yellow belts.... after all, it is made up of basics......Shoudn`t it be the first thing they learn?
Take Saifa..... You have tettsui strikes - not in the syllabus..
Bassai dai....Crescent kicks - again, not in the syllabus..
I could go on, but i`m going off-topic here!

Ive never seen it and i wasnt ever really interested in seeing it, now i'd like to just to see what all this fuss is about...

is there a film of it anywhere????

Doubt the BBFC would pass it

Is a combination not just a kata? If you do a standard combination in a set pattern then I suppose this called be called kata. But I wouldn't necessarily go naming it...


Mick

Kata

A system of basic body positioning and movement excercises, as in karate or judo.

So, combinations could be seen as a kata of sorts. I know a few 18+ combinations I've been taught through one of my sensei that feel just like kata. But, I don't know if this is because they're long ones or not.

Hmm...


Mick

Eeek! 18 + techniques in a combo!

For those lucky enough to see the kata was there an explanation of what it was all about?

When I saw Kancho do his kata last year at his seminar, no explanation was given. Although, having said that, he might have said something - the acoustics in the hall were terrible.
I was going to ask him at the Q & A session at the end - but couldn`t get too close `cos he was being grilled by all the kids!

I should imagine that the elbow strike is an elbow strike and the punch is a punch and the block is a block.........see where this is going?

Er, so a kick is a kick and an apple is nothing like a pear?

what are you all talking about??

Well actually that's not quite right.

Consider and compare:
Apple
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Subfamily: Maloideae
Genus: Malus

Pear
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Subfamily: Maloideae
Genus: Pyrus


Mick