Life Hacks from the Martial Arts...

Budoand a Block of Wood

In , authorKata: The Key to Understanding and Dealing with the Japanese

B. L. De Mente describes ( ) as one of the “most importantshikata ��

words in the Japanese language.”

It means “way of doing things,” with special emphasis on the form and

order of the process… Kata, by itself, is usually translated as “form.”… Early

in their history the Japanese developed the belief that form had a reality of its

own, and that it often took precedence over substance. They also believed that

anything could be accomplished if the right kata was mentally and physically

practiced long enough.

Martial artists are familiar with the term kata, because practice of

choreographed forms comprises a significant portion of training in traditional

Japanese budo — in karate, the forms are solo, while in older, weapons based

arts like (swordsmanship) or (staff fighting), forms are oftenkenjutsu jojutsu

practiced in pairs, with a live partner.

Solo forms are also a component of modern, sport karate, and kata

competitions are a regular part of tournaments. In the following essay,

reprinted by permission from the former e-magazine ,Budo Shinbun

F. J. Lovret addresses the situation of persons being called on to judge kata of

which they have no personal knowledge. The points Lovret Sensei makes can

be “reverse engineered” to provide a guide to how we might improve any area

of endeavor.

Continued on next page

— Why Budo? —

Regardless of the times

you live in, or the

circumstances of your

life, success largely

depends on things you

actually can control:

• Building strong

relationships in a

community of

achievement.

• Forging a disciplined

and positive mindset.

• Enhancing your

physical health and

capabilities.

These are exactly the

things membership in a

dojo provides.

Sword SpiritandThe eNewsletter of Itten Dojo October 2016

2

Budo and a Block of Wood

During a recent conversation on budo, the topic of just

how difficult it is to judge a kata in an open karate

tournament came up. For a JKA black-belt to judge a

series of JKA kata is not too hard. But, what if he has to

look at a series of kata from schools as diverse as Shorin-

ryu, Goju-ryu, and Wado-ryu? Aside from the fact that

there are major differences in techniques, there will also be

some major differences in the philosophy behind the

techniques.

The fundamental question seemed to be, “Is quality an

absolute, or must it always be judged in context?” While I

will admit that a technique must be ultimately judged in

context, according to the standards of its own ryu, there

are still a number of factors that apply to all schools.

A Block of Wood

As a reference, I will use a wooden cube measuring 4"

on a side. You could apply these arguments to just about

anything, but a chunk of wood is easy to obtain and easy

to work with. And, if there is such a thing as absolute

quality, it should apply to something as basic as our simple

cube.

The ultimate test will be: Does our statement of quality

apply equally to a block of wood and budo?

Workmanship

Using a simple hand saw, you can guess at the

measurements and create a rough cube of wood with only

a few minutes work. Use a good table saw and the result

will be quite a bit nicer. An expensive planer does an even

better job.

I don’t think anyone would deny that a perfectly

machined cube of wood, measuring precisely 4.00" to a

side and with each angle being exactly 90.0, is of higher

quality than a crudely carved lump that is only approxi-

mately a cube in shape. This, then, gives us our first rule

of quality: .Quality is proportional to precision

This rule is easily applied to our problem of judging

kata. As most kata will contain multiple instances of the

same technique, you merely compare techniques: Does

each zenkutsu-dachi look exactly like every other zenkutsu-

dachi, or can you spot differences between them?

Difficulty

All other factors being equal, a block of oak is per-

ceived as being of higher quality than one of pine simply

because the hardwood cube is harder to make. A cube of

ebony would be even better. Difficulty of workmanship can

also include difficulty in obtaining the raw materials: you

can get a chunk of pine at any lumber yard; finding a piece

of black walnut is much harder.

The phrase “all other factors being equal” is of critical

importance: a crudely carved block of oak is not viewed as

being superior to a finely made cube of pine. Therefore,

for our second rule: .Quality is proportional to effort

Applying this rule to kata, a good yoko-geri jodan gets

more points than one of equal quality to a low level

because the high kick is harder to do. Again, difficulty

ranks below precision: a great low-level kick should score

better than a bad upper-level kick.

Finish

You could take your block of wood, a slab of glass,

some oil, and a fine abrasive, and lap your cube into

perfect polish. You might even go so far as to create a jig to

hold the wood so as not to round the edges during the

polishing process.

The result of many hours of extra work should be a

cube that seems to glow. It’s so perfect that you don’t want

to breathe on it, much less touch it, which gives us a third

rule: .Quality is proportional to finish

Please note how this ties in with our first two rules. If

the angles of the original block weren’t true, or if there are

a lot of tool marks on the wood, all the polishing in the

world won’t make it beautiful. Also, a hardwood will take

a much nicer polish than a soft piece of pine.

Applying rule three to a kata is very difficult and it’s

something that you only learn from experience. There is

no way that the difference between a kata that is done well

and one that has been finely polished can be expressed in

words, and it’s not something that a junior can ever

appreciate. (It’s like learning how to spot the difference

between an off-the-rack and a tailor-made suit at a glance.)

Continued on next page

3

Artistry

Going back to our polishing stage, there are a couple of

options. You could use a very hard and very fine abrasive,

and a very hard wood such as ebony. With enough time,

the result should be something that looks more like a block

of black glass than wood. But, this is something that could

be done by machine.

On the other hand, you might note that the hardness of

wood is not a constant. With a lot of experimentation, you

could find an abrasive that had more effect between the

grain than on the grain. The result of this would be a cube

of wood, perfectly polished and measuring exactly 4.00"

on a side, that was still rough enough to allow you to feel

its texture.

There are two important parts of such artistry: The

block must start with some good, basic, mechanical work-

manship; the variations must be unique and of such a

nature as to enhance the finished product. Therefore, our

fourth rule is: .Quality is proportional to artistic content

This is even harder to apply to a kata than proper

finish was. It also requires the judge to make a tough

decision: “Is this person modifying the kata to cover up a

basic lack of ability, or do the changes come from the heart

and are they based on a solid foundation of great

technique?”

Conclusion

Please note that I have not discussed such things as

speed, strength, focus, breath, or balance. These are things

particular to budo and, therefore, cannot be a numbered

among the absolute elements of quality. Workmanship,

difficulty, finish, and artistry, however, apply to everything

from a koshi-nage to a coat. And there is a difference

between K-Mart and Brooks Brothers.