11/29/2025
Jissen vs Taiiku Kata (Or, the combative expression of kata)
Iha Sensei gave the following instructions regarding kata to a group of students preparing for a test. They apply to all students.
1. Kata must be practiced with the feeling that you are being attacked. If done by the count, the teacher’s voice is the attack. However, you must practice mainly without a count to have the feeling of a fight that you can turn on and off immediately. This feeling should reflect jissen, or the actual fighting spirit of the movement. When done only for exercise it is taiiku kata. This is “not karate” he said.
2. The meaning of each kata shows itself through “no count” practice.
3. During individual kata demonstrations such as a test, one must balance between complete exhaustion and a lack of outpower. Sensei says this balance is found in your own body only if you train to complete exhaustion much of the time. He recalled that in his younger days in Okinawa he and his friends would figure out different ways to bring their bodies to the point of exhaustion. For example, they would use isometrics and see who could bring themselves to sweat first. Or they would assume various stances and push against immovable objects and see who could go longest while giving full outpower. Sometimes they would see who could break the makiwara or lift the heaviest weight. Sensei gave these examples to illustrate the point that we only grow when we put ourselves in situations where we max out on a regular basis. He asked, “What weight lifter never adds weight to the bar?” Kata, he says, is only kata if it is done in that spirit (jissen). It is a sprint, not a marathon.
4. While it’s true that at times we have to go slower to refine the technique, we must not stop there but rather understand that it is a martial technique that requires a certain balance, speed, and outpower as its end. This feeling in kata is called “ijiki”. Ijiki is this lively action that gives onlookers a sense of awe, that they can see that you are visualizing fighting when you move in kata. During a test you must demonstrate ijiki.
5. Ijiki combines breath control and a balanced and rotating center (jiku) through correct posture (head always over center) and lower abdominal awareness in the tanden (moderate pushing out from below the belly button connected to breathing). This, combined with the connection of the elbows to the body, allows for outpower to come from the hips and spine and not the shoulder and tricep. This centrifugal force is called “enshin ryoku”. Punches are not pushed out: they are whipped out (muchimi).
6. While all kata manifests kiai (the unification of focus, intention and power), part of kata demonstration is the audible kiai. It should be jarring and off setting. It is the audible manifestation of your spirit.
