Author: marklglasgow

Kata ( 型 or 形) translates as “form” and is a set pattern of moves designed to teach students how to complete combinations of attack, defence, and movement.

Katas help:
•Teach strong stances and footwork
•Build muscle memory
•Develop breath and muscle control
•Teach move combinations
•Build flexibility
•Teach fast and slow (power) moves
•Teach key principles such as blocks, strikes, holds, and throws.

There is a long history on when, how and why kata was developed and taught. In summary, kata was a key component in how karate was used to pass on knowledge of fighting techniques.

Each kata has a set of ‘bunkai’ (分解), literally meaning “break down” or “disassembly”. These are explanations or example applications of individual or combination moves in each kata.

There are many different types of bunkai and each sensei may have their own bunkai for a specific move/combination that differs from another sensei’s bunkai for the same move/move combination.

Katas may seem straightforward but can take years to fully understand.

Note that some sensei teach variations on kata depending on how they were taught.

The aim of this site is not to teach or guide students on how to perform kata but as a teaching aid to be used as students are guided under their sensei.

The Nicomachean Ethics is Aristotle’s best-known work on ethics, the science of the good for human life, which is the goal or end at which all our actions aim.

The “Tao Te Ching”, roughly translated into The Book of the Way and of Virtue, is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi. The text’s authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are still debated.

It is a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism and strongly influenced other schools of Chinese philosophy and religion, including Legalism, Confucianism, and Chinese Buddhism, which was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts.

When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created.
When people see things as good, evil is created.

Lao Tzu

Published in 1958, “The Human Condition” is Hannah Arendt’s take on how “human activities” should be and have been understood throughout Western history.

Arendt is interested in the vita activa (active life) as contrasted with the vita contemplativa (contemplative life) and concerned that the debate over the relative status of the two has blinded us to important insights about the vita activa and the way in which it has changed since ancient times.

She distinguishes three sorts of activity (labor, work, and action) and discusses how they have been affected by changes in Western history.

Men in plural can experience meaningfulness only because they can talk with and make sense to each other and themselves.

Hannah Arendt