Kiyama-Sensei basically said to quit worrying about anything in the kata except making the cut incredibly powerful. His cuts are absolutely...

I went to Japan for a week to see my friends. I did some incredible jodo with Matsuda Shihan, and judo with old friends (and we all felt ol...

I've heard karate guys talk about their art as being so "effective" that "One Punch, One Kill" is an outcome. I won...

In martial arts circles, you run into people who do only one thing, and do it incredibly well. You also run into people who try to do every...

I've been expecially aware of the most basic aspects of movement in my iai lately. I noticed recently that when I'm doing kata from...

Only about 7 weeks overdue. Instead of considering the parts of kata, I've been trying to apply timing, spacing, commitment and other b...

Kata practice is usually thought of as restricted because you know what's going to happen. In good practice, you do know the movement o...

There are lots of kata around, from the kata of karate and iaido, to the very formal and seemingly fossilized two-man kata of koryu kenjutsu...

Kata invoke some strong feelings. Many competition oriented martial artists consider kata training a waste of time. Many koryu bugei folks...

I'm thinking a lot about what goes into a kata? What elements should a kata teach? What are the most fundamental parts of a kata? Eve...