Occam’s razor is a problem
solving principle that was penned by William of Ockham, an English Franciscan
friar and scholastic philosopher and theologian who lived between 1287 and
1347. Essentially the principle states
“among competing hypothesis, the one with the fewest assumptions should be
selected”. So, what the hell does this
have to do with Karate….a great deal if you are asking what a Kata
interpretation or Bunkai is!
In Science Occams Razor is used
as a heuristic technique (Discovery tool) to guide scientists in the
development of theoretical models, or rather…to use my own words it’s a way
tool that scientists use to set up educated guesses about things they don’t
have “proof” of. It is not a result but
a hypothesis as to outcomes. Ockham did not invent the theory, he just mastered
its use. He also had some very important things to say about creation of
multiple hypothesis around specific questions. He said “entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity” or Don’t create to many hypothetical answers
to a single question.
So, again…what the heck does
this have to do with Karate. Well take into account the number of Bunkai for
each movement in kata. Some clubs teach nearly 20 Bunkai for each Kata move,
its borderline ridiculous and most of them are far stretches from the plausible
intent. But how to argue this without reverting to “I think its stupid cuz it
is”. Well, Occam’s razor has an answer for this. First off you have to deal
with the number of bunkai being spewn out by the “masters of bunkai creation”
and let them know that multiple applications is not necessarily the best way to
go, a few is okay, but 20 for a down block…well that’s excessive.
It’s
important to also note that it’s not wrong, or stupid, it’s just a lot to learn
and not the intent of bunkai training to be frank. However when teaching a
standard class and introducing the idea of application to a student, its best
to only focus on one or two applications per move. If you introduce more you
tend to confuse a student and the strength of the work is limited. When
learning Bunkai you should be shaving away the applications that don’t seem
very applicable and don’t serve ton confuse the situation.
When
I started Karate there was no Internet, we simply went about our day without
cell phones and internet access and for Karate we actually had to go to the
Dojo and train and listen to what the Sensei said, he told us what his
instructor had told him, who was teaching what his instructor told him, along
the way some personal insight was thrown in and the style grew a bit. But with
the advent and implementation of cell phones and the internet ON cell phones I have
seen the implementation of personal ideas into Bunkai Grow exponentially till
its much like a competition to see who can create the most interesting, dynamic
and completely different applications to show insight and creativeness and all
it has served to do in my mind is create confusion with the students and an opportunity
for some to thumb their nose at tradition and insight and kind of create a new
dogma or ideology saying that they are right because they know better. Its bunk
not bunkai!
Occam’s
razor has gained a lot of notoriety in fields as far apart as mechanical engineering
and theology, from medical deductions to astrophysics. And I use it in Karate a
lot to try and figure out what is the best way to train, learn and teach
specific ideas and movement skills, to interpret Kata bunkai and to expand my
understanding of human movement and interactions in dynamic movement. The scary
part is not that there is a huge amount of variation in Karate and movements
skills, it’s the lack of thought and analysis that goes into a personas
approach to Karate. People tend not to be practical or pragmatic when it comes
to Karate and movement skills, they see out fancy and ineffective movements and
replace the simple and effective with them.
If a student were to use the razor in their though process then they
would see that often, not all the time, the fancy moves they throw or the crazy
applications they come up with are a hindrance, not a help.
One thing that the razor does
that ticks off Karate people is that it does not state that your application is
WRONG, it’s says it’s not likely to work, or less likely to work in real life
as opposed to this other application. That’s is simply something that Karate
people don’t get. The thing in Karate is one master will offer up their “understanding”
of a Bunkai and then the other will come along and say “No, that’s crap, the
application is this”! and there you have the black and white approach to
Karate. The Razor suggests that there are multiple “correct” ways for something
to be used, but that one is “more right” than another…now you just lost 90% of
black belts! They were taught yes and no, right and wrong…not right and left
sometimes but right and wrong for sure…and the answer is that they are right…ergo
everyone else is wrong…or was that Ego?
Now like some well-known “anti-Razor”
philosophers I will admit that some of the Bunkai I have seen would make me say
“even if they are not true, they are well conceived”. Getting down to brass tacks, when you do a
Kata you should be looking for a few applications you can use to identify what
you are doing….my suggestion is to get a partner and a good senior or
instructor and go over your ideas, see if they work, to what degree to they
work and can you replicate them easily? If so, they have passed the Karate
version of the Occam’s razor.
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