The Boxer’s Lesson, The Master’s Secret: Kata’s Practical Legacy.

 

Posted by ADAM CARTER on JUL 03, 2025

The Boxer’s Lesson, The Master’s Secret: Kata’s Practical Legacy.

(Approx 2 minute 50 second read)

Take a single technique from a boxer’s shadow boxing routine. What do you have? For example – a left jab aimed at the head or body.

Take a single movement from kata. What do you have? For example – a left gyaku zuki (reverse punch). It too could be aimed at the head or body.

What’s the difference?

We all know what the boxer’s jab is designed to do, but what about the gyaku zuki? If we follow the name of the technique, it’s a punch – right?

Now, to be clear, I’m not saying a boxer’s jab and a gyaku zuki are identical in their biomechanics or their full range of intended uses. They are distinct techniques. However, for the purpose of this article, I want you to consider them both as single, fundamental striking movements.

But what if I told you that if you removed its name, gyaku zuki, that the now unnamed movement could be something else – a grab, a push, a pull, a setup for a throw, or an arm-lock. You decide what you need. You’d think this is pretty useful, right?

Someone said to me the other day that they’ve lost all faith in kata. As they see it, it’s of no use – I get this a lot.

Let me ask you a question. How long have you studied a kata, or perhaps the several kata in your system? Months? Years? But you pay no real attention to it because “it is of no use.”

If you’re fine with basic arithmetic, that’s all you’ll ever understand. But if you delve deeper, what do you then begin to understand? Algebra, calculus, trigonometry, geometry – and so much more. This is just common sense, isn’t it?

People who keep saying kata is useless, quite frankly, haven’t understood or studied it enough. They see the performance from beginning to end and believe that’s how kata is used. No – it isn’t.

Imagine for a moment it’s 1870 and you have to police the local village, and you need a way of protecting yourself and the people. So you come up with a system to do just that.

To practice it, firstly you create two-person drills, each designed for a certain scenario, based on common assaults. There are several that make up the system. And to practice them on your own – with no partners to help – you create what we now call a kata. In Japanese, remember, kata can simply mean ‘a way of doing something’, not simply ‘a form’ as people know it today.

Now, you still have that one technique in there – the gyaku zuki – but the movement has many applications, not fixed to just one thing. So, within this bunch of unnamed movements, there are a myriad of possibilities for you to apply when needed.

While walking home one day, you’re approached by a local thief. He wants anything of value that you have. You can’t talk your way out of it, so you take action.

You deflect the arm that’s about to grab your clothing. You, in turn, grab his arm, pulling him off balance and onto your accelerating fist, heading straight for the side of his jaw. You connect forcefully. Down goes the attacker – unconscious.

You’ve used just one combined movement from your two-person drills – your kata. There was no need to use it all. You selected what was appropriate for the circumstances.

Do you understand that you don’t fight with the whole kata? Like the boxer, you select what is required at the time – nothing more. The boxer’s ‘kata’ contains the whole of his boxing routine; he too doesn’t always use it all.

I was attacked by someone wielding a crowbar once. My scenario matched my story above, and my response saved me.

All you have to do is open your mind and understand why these things were created. Stop viewing the whole thing as you see it in demonstrations and performances. See it as it was – someone’s effective system of defense.

Written by Adam Carter – Shuri Dojo