To be sure modern combative training as opposed to traditional martial arts has revolutionized the training for many thousands of practitioners.
Still as in all forms of combat the basic training in karate consists of a series of kata routines or moves.
Karate kata is more than mere formula responses come calisthenics.
Anyone who has trained extensively for many years knows that meaning.
After a long period of training you can move unconsciously, freely and properly.
Each form is a technique for training in control of ki or chi that fluid force that is inside all of us.
The result is, you can train for combat by gradually increasing the intensity and intent of the technique as well as, the way you do the kata.
On top of that, you’ll be under stress and the adrenaline and heart rate will be pumping through your chest like an express train.
It’s true, In the 21st century the world and the type of violent threats we face have changed so although traditional kata itself remains the same as it must, the applications of the said kata can be adapted to suit the types of modern day street attacks and threats we may or may not come across.
Apart from a few people who continued to train in them after WW2, they just faded into the background being overtaken as more and more people became interested in the mystic martial arts styles from the orient.
On top of that, serving service men and women as well as civilians who went out to the far east as part of their military service or just to train in one or more of the martial arts during the 1950s and 60s, started returning home from the far east bringing with them there newly acquired skills in Judo, Karate, Aikido etc all adding to the mix and interest amongst the public in the new fighting arts from the east.
Unfortunately or fortunately depending on which way you want to look at it, what happened next within many martial systems karate in particular was that over the following years a lot of the more deadly and effective combative techniques were removed or watered down to facilitate the competition and sporting elements of the art rather than sticking to the original concepts of true budo training.
The re-emergence all be it changed to suite modern day street fighting comes the modern Combative styles based on the old military style punching and kicking techniques and realistic scenario training.
More interesting still, there are many philosophies, sayings teachings about the proper attitude to training, while all valid in there own right the old saying that in real life or death combat “Have no posture of neither mind or body” still holds true.
You must remember that traditional karate kata were created to be a logical and structured record of practical fighting techniques.
In your own training you can adapt your systems kata and fuse the old and new east and west combative moves together.
You can easily adapt the applications applied to the kata and by do doing so can only add to your current training and study.
The applications of said kata can be adapted to suit the type of attack.
Do we take this to mean no first strike? If then this is true, take off your black belt, loose your ego and train for the street by using reality based techniques, awareness and realistic up to date strategies if you want to survive a 21st century real-world street confrontation that is.
Perhaps, people who train in traditional karate and the modern combative arts are now once again realizing that kata and its bunkai in all its forms isn’t bullshit.
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