Kata order

Hello Students,

We’re making some changes.

About a year or so ago, I started training with a new karate instructor.  This instructor has a history of producing great martial artists that have experienced success at national and international levels and I’ve had a lot of fun working with him and his students.  One of the things that I’ve learned during this time is that for as long as I’ve trained and taught, our katas have been in the wrong order.  With that being said, beginning September, we’re going to be moving some of the katas around.

Now, you may be wondering ‘What do you mean by that?  What do you mean that they’re out of order?’  Well, for example, the third kata that we teach is Heian Yondan.  Internationally and traditionally, that’s recognized as being about the fifth kata you would learn.  The seventh kata we learn right now is Heian Nidan but that’s about the third kata that people learn.  Not all of them are out of order, but some are.

While this isn’t a huge problem and we could continue as we’ve always been, the change will help us in a few different ways.  This new plan will simplify our curriculum as we go from 12 katas down to a more internationally recognized, seven katas to achieve Black Belt.  Students will now be able focus all their efforts on learning a single kata at each rank with the goal of improving the quality of their ability to perform it (quality over quantity).  Furthermore, I would really like to see some of our students grade on an international level and practicing what is internationally recognized is a good step in that direction.

If you receive your new rank at the end of August, this isn’t a big deal.  You’ll move to the next rank and begin learning a new kata just like you always have.  For some students, the next few months until they receive their next rank, will be a challenge as they work to learn a new kata.  During testing for stripes, we will keep all this in mind and recognize that students grading may not be as strong at their new kata as desired.  To help them overcome that we will be providing more one-on-one help to those students that require it as well as encouraging everyone to take advantage of our Junior Open Help classes on Wednesday at 3:45 pm or our Adult Open Help class on Wednesday at 7:00 pm.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to talk to me, email me at mcameron@aurorafamilymartialarts.com or call me at 905-713-1774 and I’ll do my best to help.

Thank you,

Michael

Here’s an explanation of the kata order that we’ll be adopting:

[two_column_block style=”undefined”] [content1]Current Kata Order

White – None

Yellow – Heian Shodan

Orange – Heian Yondan

Green – Heian Godan

Purple – Seisan

Blue – Shi Ho Hi or Bassai Dai

Brown – Heian Sandan and Heian Nidan

Brown II – Tekki Shodan and Chinto

Red – Empi and Kanku Sho

Black – Kanku Dai, Bassai Sho and Tekki Nidan

[/content1] [content2]New Kata Order

White – None

Yellow – None

Orange -Heian Shodan

Green -Heian Nidan

Purple -Heian Sandan

Blue -Heian Yondan

Brown -Heian Godan

Brown II -Tekki Shodan

Red – Bassai Dai, Kanku Dai, Enpi or Jion (Student’s choice)

Black (1st Dan) – Bassai Dai, Kanku Dai, Enpi or Jion (Student’s choice)

[/content2] [/two_column_block]