Jion, Jion, Jion.

After grading to 3rd kyu in February, and in preparation for the European championships in Italy, I have started to learn the big four kata (Bassai dai, Enpi, Jion and Kanku dai). Bassai dai is a kata that I feel you can learn quickly. This is probably because you are exposed to the kata from a low grade, you watch and observe the higher grades practicing and you watch carefully because you know that it's the black belt kata. If you want your black belt then that's the kata you are going to have to do. I love Enpi, the kata is so fast and agile, which is where it's power comes from. It requires physical strength on behalf of the performer and good balance to match. Kanku dai is also a kata that I think suits me. Control and fitness are two skills in high demand for a good performance of Kanku dai, along with a solid grounding in basic fundamentals. Jion?

The picture above shows Thomas, Helen and sensei John performing the opening move of this kata. Right from the outset the kata is akward and tricky. You need to land in a solid stance (heel first) and then move fluently into moves two and three. The kata gets even more difficult with excessive hand movements during the age uke gyaka zsuki section. Trying to perform the badly named swastika block in back stance with you momentum moving at a right angle to your forward motion is very challenging. The hammer strike and heel of the palm strikes in kiba dachi are also very unusual attacks in karate and very difficult to generate the necessary power. I also feel the kata doesn't flow in anyway, it jerks and lunges as you try to execute each sequence. Most annoying of all is that most of the people i talk to actually like this kata, there must be something I'm missing.

More practice needed I think.