The Kano Society

What about other people, what is old for them? Will this old person be willing and able to take the 30 hard falls while doing the Nage-no-kata? The average person will not. From my experience, people past their prime in Judo, already with ingrained attitudes, such as not wanting to be thrown, even one time. Having only been thrown by such throws as Tai-otoshi, do not enjoy being thrown by such throws as Kata-guruma. Even from the very first throw in Nage-no-kata, Uki-otoshi, they find they have a heavy fall, and worse still Tori does not seem to be in a position where assistance can be given with the landing. These kinds of “cold blooded” throws on someone are much worse than the quickly over, one throw, in a contest.

‘These are problems the coach must take into consideration, and I’m sure the coach will agree with me and say the sooner the student starts Kata or Contest the better. If the coach has to look after a mixed group of people, of a range of ages and Judo experience and teach them Kata, it can be done if not too high a target is set. The old person, for example, could just take Tori’s part in Nage-no-kata, so no falls are taken. This is not ideal, but what is in this life? If the old person does not study the part of Uke I think this person is only carrying out shallow learning, like a cook that can only put the icing on to a cake.

In Japan I was told that you should be Uke for seven years, before becoming Tori. This may sound, to some, like another bit of outdated Japanese mysticism.

In Western military circles I have heard it said that you should study your enemy in order to overcome him. This lesson has been ignored in modern times, with dire results. Basic strategies for armies often also apply to individuals in fighting situations and this is what we are talking about here. It is best to learn the attacks by Uke so as to know their strengths and weaknesses, then it is possible to avoid and counter the attacks. This sounds like here we are talking about Self-defense, so we are. Most of the listed Kata, are Self-defense-Kata. Even Nage-no-kata has blow attacks in it, but the same tactics that apply in Self-defense also apply in Contest Judo.

 Applying this principle of studying the opposition, in sport Judo situations, we look at all the films and videos to see the Tokui-waza of people that may be met in contest, so see what we must be careful of and even see if there is a chance to develop some Kaeshi­-waza, against it. But this cannot teach us as much as the physical experience  of being attacked can.

 Having said all that about the importance of being Uke, the old person that knows their Uke-mi is not up to the standard needed for Nage-no-kata, need not shy away, there are many other Kata that can be done, in fact one to suit every one, depending on what they want to learn. One of the many good points about Ju-no-kata is that the throws are not fully carried out. So you don’t need a mat or break-falls.  The coach should be knowledgeable enough to be able to give the student this kind of choice of Kata.

 All Physical Education teachers I have spoken to tell me, that students must start when they are young. Even six or so years old, is not too young an age to start things like gymnastics! What about learning in general, do the experts tell us not to worry about education until we are at least 25 years old? No, they say something like four or five. Some are even talking about learning in the womb! So it seems it is thought that all learning should be begin at as early an age as possible, as long as it does not harm the young We will let the experts fight among themselves, over the exact age to begin which learning. We in Judo can have our own idea.

 I’m not sure what age is right in to start Judo. I have an idea that it is around fourteen years of age for contest Judo. Before that play-Judo is all right, and even though there does not seem to be the follow on into senior Judo from this group that there should be, I think it is somewhere in this lower age group that Kata, of the right sort, should be introduced. Not when they are old.

 What about the real aged, I think we are never too old to learn, though we, exactly like the young, have to be looked after by the coach.  We should not attempt physically dangerous things the young can do our learning, just as with the young, must be in easy stages.

 Having gone all round the block maybe now I can get onto the subject of Kata in more detail, as it may affect the lower part, the middle as well as the top of the Judo pyramid. Each of the Kata deserve an article, or two, to itself, so I’ll try to keep my remarks to Kata in general so to make an end to this article.

 Kata to me is anything that is not the real thing. To me Uchi-komi is Kata. Ran-dori is Kata. Ran-dori is done on the move, but so is the listed Kata. In fact Kano called the Nage-no-kata and the Katame-no-kata the “Ran-dori-no-kata” so he thought there was a connection before I did.  Even Shi-ai I think of as Kata, as most contests are a step in training for higher level contests (the Olympic Gold?).

To give another example of my idea why Shi-ai could be thought of as Kata. Many students start Judo with the aim of learning Self-defense. Prospective Coaches please note. Any contest this kind of student has will certainly be Kata as it will be a part of Self-defense training for the life and death struggle they had in mind. This is how contest was thought of at the inception of Judo. Having said what I think Kata is, it will be seen that I think that Kata cannot be avoided in Judo, even by the Coaches mentioned in the introduction.

The listed Kata, what I believe the Coaches were thinking about, has a bad press in Judo in the West. One reason is the difficulty with the translation of the word into English. Even T.P.Legget, for his books on Kata, calls it Formal Demonstration. Having been a student of his,  and having a great respect for his Judo and Japanese language knowledge, to say nothing about the other things he was a master at, I admit all the words used for Kata, form etc. don’t fill the bill, and a long-winded explanation is no good on the front of a book  The thing is, if we think Kata is either formal or a demonstration or even both of those things together, we in the West can get lead down the wrong path.

 If we take only a little glance at all the Japanese Martial arts, we will see that they all have Kata as the main method of training, many have Kata as the exclusive training method. Judo began as a Martial Art, and to keep this tradition we need the listed Kata. For those that have, or a least like to appear to have, no time for tradition, they can look to the irreplaceable practical use of Kata.

 We must read up on what Kano said to find all the details of what he thought Judo should be, but one thing is obvious all Judo training must be safe to carry out, if it is not safe it is not Judo.

 For the sake of safety some techniques were banned from Shi-ai.  Those potentially dangerous techniques, leg locks, wrist locks, spine locks and such like were not banned entirely, they are now in the listed Kata, where they can be learned by Tori and yet keep Uke safe. So Judo Kata and Martial Arts Kata are used for the same reason, safety in training

 A thing that is easily overlooked in Kata is the things the attacker, Uke, must learn. In the Kime-no-kata and Go-shin-jutsu, for example, Uke must learn to use a sword, a knife, a stick and a gun. Uke must also learn non weapon techniques such as kicking, poking, punching and hitting in other ways, to name just a few things that help to broadens the, dare I say it, the Judo education that cannot be learned in Judo sport training.

 Each of the listed Kata can be looked-on as a study on its own, but a careful look will show us that the whole list has a balance so that each Kata compliments the other Kata. For example we see the attack Ryo-te-tori (Both-hands-held) in Kime-no-kata, Go-shin­jutsu and Ju-no-kata, to name just three, and in each Kata there is a differing response. So we learn at least three defenses against this attack.

 In learning situations I have always been told that we must start with the easily learned or, in physical subjects, safe and easily performed. Each Kata has the techniques put in order of difficulty. We may disagree with the exact order in some Kata, but we can still see it.

 The Kata where this order is most easily seen is in the Go-shin-jutsu. This has grip attacks before blows, blows before kicks, kicks before knife attacks, knife attacks before stick attacks and after those there are the gun attacks. This thought as to the order of learning is not at all modern, it is even seen in the Ko­shiki-no-kata.

The Japanese names for techniques in the Kata I think should never take up precious mat time, so this is another thing that can be left out until a more appropriate time. With beginners I find it better not to even mention the word Kata until the students find out how interesting what they are doing is.