How I Learn New Kata

It's simple: I learn from the Masters of Shotokan Karate.

Thanks to Youtube that is...

The twenty-first century is amazing - think of how we gather knowledge and learn compared to the late nineteenth - early twentieth century methods of learning kata.  We have Youtube and they didn't.  Thanks to uploads from around the world the best former and current masters of Shotokan are available for viewing and reviewing.  Download the videos and play them in slow motion, or reviewing a sequence repeatedly, aids tremendously in learning a new kata.  It's how I've learned eleven of the eighteen kata I currently know.

I agree with the maxim "simply performing a kata isn't truly knowing it...".

I will review a kata by as many Shotokan masters I can find on Youtube.  I download the videos and compare each technique and sequence among three to four masters and continue from there.  After dozens and dozens of reviews I walk through the kata in my mind dozens of more times - actually I'm doing this as I watch the videos as well.  Next I start walking through the kata in one of my study locations - typically outdoors at Lower Perkiomen Park in Upper Providence, PA.  With each new kata I find the learning process improved due to the foundations of the previous kata I have (and continually...) learned.  the most recent kata I'm learning is Nijushiho, which is considered an mid-to-advanced Shotokan kata.  I began learning it in mid September of this year and have performed it with varying intent well over one hundred times so far.  Each session (typically 1:00 to 1:15 hours after work M-F and 1.5 on one weekend day) I've been ending with ten repetitions in full - the first five are 3/4 drill and the last 5 are with full intent.

The important part is the next step:

Learn the bunkai and make the kata your own.  I'm finding within a month of learning a new kata the mind is able to grasp many of its intents simply because it's so new and mentally invigorating.  Movement isn't simply for movement's sake though.  The self-defense purpose must be understood and ingrained in your mind, body and soul.  Practicing bunkai as a self-training student is admittedly difficult, but with the aid of  standing and hanging heavy bags I can accomplish enough to understand the intent well enough I believe.

Well that's all for now...