Karate Kata Competition

An Overview of Kata, by Hidai Ochiai

"Kata is a series of prearranged defensive and offensive movements, including intricate body motions, each of which is an actual response to one or more attackers. At its highest value levels, the martial artist `fights' these imaginary opponents in deadly earnest.

One day while performing kata, I realized that one of my imaginary opponents caught me off guard. And I realized that if what we were dealing with was actual combat, I would have received a fatal blow. I became aware of the seriousness of this situation, and when I finished the kata, I felt that my back was wet and cold...."

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