If your KATA can't be used in a real fight, they're NOT worth practicing!

"I remember once asking my karate students at the Matsuyama school how many of them would like to learn kata. (Note: kata refers to stylized practice routines). Out of more than 50 people, maybe 10 raised their hands.

​Why are kata so unpopular? I went on to ask them why they didn't want to learn kata. The answers came back. "They're boring." "Useless in real fight." "Don't like kata; they're nothing more than warm-up exercises." "It seems like we learn kata only to pass the rank advancement tests." And so on.

Above: Well, we've seen it- mastered all the kata there is for Grading, still does kumite like a cat fight.

Why is this? I seem to remember that when I first began to study karate, I felt the same way, but I told myself that kata were the essence of karate technique, simplified and perfected by many experts before, so naturally they were bound to prove useful in a real fight.

Unfortunately, after all these years of study, if you asked me whether kata did prove of any use, I would honestly be at a loss to give a positive answer.

With this in mind, I re-examined traditional kata in the light of the rationale I first explained in the preface of this book; that is, the continuing improvement in martial arts techniques.

​Up till now, the theory behind kata (and karate in general) seems to have been to move faster than the opponent; even if you got hurt, it was acceptable as long as you could inflict more damage on the other person.

Above: A demonstration of 'kihon no kata ichi' or 'basic kata 1'. Among the various kata repertoire in Ashihara Karate, the 'kihon' series emphasizes positioning and breaking the opponent's balance, a cornerstone of the Ashihara system.

In the day and age when karate was first invented, the most important thing was probably developing a more powerful punch. In that respect, it's probably logical to squat down in a wide stance and punch straight ahead while letting out horrific yells.

​Today, however, we have television and are thus able to watch programs on every kind of martial art. Everyone knows that quick footwork and flexible body movements are vital to winning a fight. This puts us in the middle of an age of technical revolution in martial arts.

Taking this into consideration, it is no wonder that traditional kata can be thought of as worthless for real fighting. I believe that what the karate masters of old left us is fine, and should be preserved, but it is the martial arts and karate experts of our day who are responsible for studying, thinking, and practicing in order to create new techniques which are suited to our age and useful in real fighting."
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~ Excerpt from 'Fighting Karate'​, by Ashihara Hideyuki