At this point, I have had a few months of training in karate, interrupted by a few weeks of winter festivities and obligatory illnesses during which I could not train but I got to think a lot about it, and hopefully I'm starting to learn something about the martial art's general concepts. I feel like I should try and bring some order into my sparse thoughts, and then write them down into a few blog entries. Keep in mind that these are very early understanding from a beginner! As such they may be very much wrong and incomplete at this stage, but it will be interesting for me to look back at these early thoughts in 1, 5 or 10 years...
Karate (and presumably every other martial art) is many things indeed, and this is reflected in the fact that no two of our training sessions are alike. There is so much material to learn, and so many ways of practicing it, that every training is different. In fact, the general feeling I'm getting from our lessons is that they are often like small collections of sample exercises for everyone to cherry-pick depending on our interests and purposes, and then continue practicing at home or in one of our "free-training slots" at the club. Other lessons instead are focused on a single theme or topic at the exclusion of almost everything else, and this type of trainings in my opinion serves a complementary purpose: to teach us the *how* rather than the *what* we should be training on our own.
Almost always some of our training time is dedicated to straightforward fitness exercises or to something related, but much wider in scope, which in our karate style (Goju-Ryu) is traditionally referred to as "body conditioning". This is very much an integral part of Goju-Ryu, but at the same time a casual observer may not see it as strict karate content because it is not directly related to fighting, in a way similar to how athletics or bodybuilding are used as a non-technical background to support other sports. Truth is that body conditioning is at least indirectly related to fighting, and can be quite essential: after all strong, conditioned body and mind make up your first line of defense! But for the sake of the discussion, let's keep body conditioning out of this for now, and say that karate is studied and practiced in the form of what could be informally called the "3 Ks": kihon, kata and kumite. What are these really about? Here I just try to give some general definition, and I'll try to dedicate one article each in the coming weeks, to summarize what I've understood (or think I have) so far.
Kihon are the fundamental techniques, the bulk of stances, strikes, blocks and other moves that make karate different from other martial arts. Well, at least quite different from western boxing and wrestling. A kihon technique can be practiced just from standing up in a relaxed stance, or combined with a more formal stance and stepping (in which case is called Kihon Ido). The focus is on the precision of the movements, therefore a kihon technique is isolated as much as possible and practiced out of context. When several kihon techniques are combined in a sequence (e.g. a block followed by a kick followed by a punch) and performed in an informal combat stance, they are called Renraku Waza. Kihon is practiced individually, except when the focus of training shifts from precision to power, in which case a partner is useful for holding striking pads.
Kata are longer sequences of moves performed timely. They are both a traditional way of practicing the kihon in a more complex context, and of transferring the knowledge of both the techniques and their applications to the next generation of karateka. Truth is, there is much more than meets the eye, to the point that one single kata can be conceived as the alpha and the omega of an entire fighting style. Kata are often used in demonstrations and advertising since they can be more easily made spectacular than a fight (which can itself be just as spectacular as it can be pathetic and boring to watch) without the same high risk of injuries.
Kumite generally means sparring rather than fighting, in the sense that it never really approaches a real combat neither when it's part of training, nor when it's in a competitive tournament. Kumite in training includes a variety of settings, starting from Kihon Kumite which is a fully pre-arranged short sequence of moves for two sparring partners, one of which traditionally plays the role of the attacker and the other that of the defender, which is truly the "main character" of the exercise, given the fact that karate is always defensive. There are then various forms of semi-arranged kumite, where for example the attacker may declare in advance which strike or strikes he is about to use next, while the defender is free to decide how to defend and counter. At the other end of the sparring spectrum, we finally arrive at Jiyu Kumite which is free sparring, the closest thing to a real fight, although it is still generally agreed at least the level of striking power and often also which techniques are allowed to be used, depending on the level of the practictioners.
In the next article, I will try to write down my thoughts in details about the first K: Kihon.