h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The statement that karate is primarily kicks and punches is incorrect. The very core of all styles of karate is kata.

The kata taught during karate training are full of throws, joint locks and breaks, the sequences of moves are not just meaningless strung together techniques. They have purpose and are at the very core of what karate is.

Heian Shodan (Pinan Nidan) has a sweep and trips. Heian Nidan (Pinan Shodan) has an arm lock. Heian/Pinan Sandan has a knee lock a hip throw and several arm locks. Heian/Pinan Godan has an arm lock, a leg trip/throw. There's loads more in early kata and more still in the more advanced kata.

You're not doing real karate till you've practiced and mastered these throws, trips, locks as well as the basic kicks, punches and blocks.

I am a first dan in shotokan in the SKE (a faction who split from the JKAE upon the death of sensei enoeda) and I have studied karate for 9 years. I am only 16 and my earlier practice was simply copying movements that my seniors showed me. In the past 3 years my practise has become far more intense and I am researching technique and focus in body and mind whenever I get spare time - my school studies sometimes suffer as a result. I would like to say that the heian (pinan) kata are very basic kata, designed by master itosu, to practise and teach the basic movements of karate. As kata were designed for this purpose, every move in a kata must be effective and practical in use for us to truely progress in our art, the order of the movements in kata is just for neatness and equal development. If we give moves that arent designed as throws and locks that status from the beginning how can we be prepared to use said moves in their original, far more useful, way. These moves are only given throw/lock status to neaten up the kata and make sure that every opponent is finished or that the same movement doesnt happen on both sides in bankai. This is surely wrong, we must be able to perform a move properly in any context and get equal practise on each side in the application of the move in the same way. Not every opponent need be finished in kata out of a sense of neatness, if you must treat the kata as a story or play then remember that blocks may be used as attacks and that a well focused block can splinter the average mans bone. Surely this focus is the heart of the kata and karate-do.