I was recently reading a message board in which the topic was whether Kata had a place in modern Karate. As you might imagine, there were opinions both for and against. Most of the opinions in favor only focused on the external benefits of Kata, and the ones against tended to focus on the inflexibility and lack of practical application of Kata. While I agreed with most of the positive comments, even some of the negative ones had a point, but they both missed some essential benefits in the diligent practice of Kata.

In addition to strength and technique, experience is one of the most important factors in a physical confrontation. It is difficult to obtain experience in street fighting while maintaining the ethics of Karate. This is where Kata can fill an essential gap.

As I was taught in Intro to Psychology, strong mental visualizations can create a physical reaction. This is why excessive worriers often experience as much physical stress by worrying about a catastrophe as experiencing one. The creators of Kata discovered how to use this phenomenon to their advantage. Practicing Kata while tricking their minds into believing they were in a real fight allowed them and their students to attain valuable experience in applying proper form and focus under the mental stress of a real fight without the physical risks. No other form of training can accomplish this.

While other forms of training are of course useful and key elements to a well-rounded training regimen, they also miss some of the aspects gained through Kata training. Kumite is great exercise, improves the spirit and gives us a chance to experience people throwing punches and kicks at us. However, in Kumite, the first thing out the window is form. This of course is due to the nature of Kumite. Kumite is two trained individuals, fully prepared, with artificial rules and in an artificial environment. I