You've Learned Your Kata. Now It's Time to Modify Them So You're Better Prepared to Defend Yourself Against Any Adversary!
When facing a real attack, creativity and quick thinking are critical for survival. The problem is that, in moments of stress, most people tend to fall back on a single, familiar response—whether it’s worked in the past or not.
This tendency is one of the main challenges martial artists must overcome, and the goal of martial arts training is to help you avoid it. Training in martial arts is designed to develop your ability to solve a variety of tactical problems during a crisis.
This process cultivates several key attributes, with mental flexibility being the most important. Interestingly, traditional self-defense arts help foster this mental flexibility through kata.
Combat the Old Way
Kata have been a core element of martial arts training for hundreds of years. What makes them such an effective learning tool is often what’s overlooked in many modern schools today, where forms are treated like a mere curriculum requirement.
However, classical kata are composed of actual self-defense techniques based on solid fighting principles.
To truly improve your proficiency, you must begin to practice your forms “for real.” This means not only performing kata solo but incorporating bunkai—two-person applications practice—into your training.
Some practitioners claim to practice bunkai, but they’re missing the mark if their practice involves defending against stylized attacks that don’t mirror what they might face in a real-world encounter. Similarly, they’re misled if they rely on distance and anticipation in response to these stylized attacks.
True bunkai involves applying the movements from kata to real forms of aggression.
Note: To test whether you're practicing true bunkai, have your training partner attack with intensity and realism. If your response doesn’t work under these conditions, it’s probably not true bunkai.
Changing Tradition
When kata training is approached correctly, you begin to uncover a simple, realistic, and usable interpretation for every movement in the form.
Each movement is linked to a real-world response to a likely attack, and the kata are generally taught with the assumption that the attacker is roughly the same size as the defender.
But what if you’re a 5-foot-6-inch, 125-pound woman training in a dojo filled with 6-foot-tall, 200-pound men? Clearly, the standard techniques may not always be effective as taught.
This is where kata training’s true value lies. The first key is understanding that kata are practical and that their practicality is fully expressed through realistic bunkai. The second key is recognizing that effective bunkai is ultimately about understanding and applying the underlying principles of a technique. In other words, mastering one kata move gives you one solid technique, but understanding the principles behind that move opens up a thousand variations.
So, how can kata be taught and practiced in a way that maximizes both usefulness and conceptual understanding?
The answer lies in giving yourself permission to think creatively about forms and to develop a variety of bunkai that work for you. You need to be free to experiment in the dojo.
Experimenting with Kata
There are many ways to experiment with kata to make it more applicable for self-defense. A simple method to get started is to change the timing and emphasis of movements. Take the downward counter (gedan-uke), for example.
The typical emphasis is on the downward strike, but if you instead focus on the beginning of the movement when your hand comes up near your opposite ear, you may discover another striking action hidden within the form.
In this case, your downward counter isn’t a low strike moving away from your body—it becomes a rising strike directed toward your body.
Another way to experiment is by working backward: Start with bunkai you already know and apply it to a different-sized or differently-abled opponent. Pay attention to any modifications you could make to execute the technique more effectively. Once you’ve identified a useful modification, try applying it to your solo kata performance.
The key is to allow yourself to think freely and creatively. Experimenting with kata becomes a form of self-expression, which leads to creative thinking and the discovery of new self-defense principles.
This, in turn, helps you develop the skills to solve tactical problems and devise effective solutions when facing stress or danger.
Not Abandoning Tradition
Some traditional practitioners may resist the idea of modifying kata, fearing that it implies abandoning the "orthodox" form, which is central to many martial arts philosophies. However, modifying a kata doesn't mean you’re discarding tradition. In fact, it's a valuable practice to first learn the orthodox kata, then perform a personalized version of the same form.
There’s also concern among some instructors that allowing students to personalize the art could create confusion. But imagine the benefits if students were taught to think critically and creatively on their own, rather than simply parroting the teacher’s movements.
They would gain much more from each class, especially when struggling to make a technique work. Instead of following rigid forms, students could modify movements to find alternative methods that suit their own abilities. This freedom to adapt could solve a number of common dojo problems.
For example, students often think there's only one "right" way to perform a movement, but this can lead them to force the technique through sheer strength, sacrificing proper form.
When students are encouraged to adapt techniques to their own body mechanics, they begin working independently to improve their overall martial skills.
Solving Additional Dojo Problems
Another common challenge in many dojos is the gender disparity—karate is often a male-dominated activity, especially among adults.
Yet, if you look at kids' classes, the gender mix is much more balanced. Why do some girls quit karate as they get older?
There’s no single cause, but one contributing factor is that girls aren’t taught how to adapt techniques to work for their bodies. Early on, when boys and girls are about the same size, most techniques work for everyone.
However, as they grow older and the disparity in size becomes more apparent, girls may find they can no longer muscle their way through techniques against larger male partners.
Unfortunately, many instructors don’t have the time to teach every student a different variation of each technique to make it work for them. This is where the freedom to experiment with kata becomes invaluable.
By allowing students to modify their kata, especially in bunkai, girls (and anyone else who might face size or strength challenges) can adapt their techniques and continue to train effectively.
A bonus benefit of this approach is that it also helps resolve the issue of training partners who may not always attack “helpfully,” especially when the male partners try to overpower female students.
When students have been taught how to modify their kata for different circumstances, they are better prepared to adapt to unpredictable situations while still utilizing the framework of the kata.
For students who embrace this approach, kata becomes a dynamic tool, something that can be manipulated and shaped to fit a wide variety of combative circumstances. These students will be better prepared to think on the spot, adapt their techniques in real-time, and improve their sparring skills by learning to think outside the box.
In a self-defense situation, they’ll be less likely to freeze when a standard technique doesn’t work. The most important skill in combat is the ability to think clearly—and kata, when practiced creatively, is the perfect tool for developing that skill.
April Taylor is a 31-year-old practitioner of Ryukyu kempo, a 5-foot-6-inch, 125-pound woman who trains routinely with 200-pound men. Chris Thomas is a long-time martial artist whose articles have appeared in Black Belt magazine since 1981. He’s also April’s father.