Multi style
tournaments were very popular in the 70’s and 80’s in the states, but promoters
saw money and an exciting possibility when they put on tournaments. But they
also saw the issues of multi style events when it came to mixing traditions. The
tournaments used to include Weapons, Kata and Kumite. Slowly however they added
musical Kata and Weapons Kata and the traditional aspects of those two died
off, replaced by screaming and flashy moves that only vaguely look like
Karate. What did it for me was when they
started wearing Ninja suites to do Kata and throwing music and light shows in
to make it a spectacle.
The reason for the
changes were simple, the criteria for Kata competitions (Weapons or empty hand)
changed from “Can they do the traditional form with power, speed, timing and
precision” to” what kind of Michael Jackson dance moves can they throw into the
Kata they made up in their garage to make the crowd go WOW”. It became a competition
in spectacle and not in Kata performance. Why?
Easy answer….to many styles have different criteria for Kata…sometimes
the same Kata….to make it fair. If 4 Shito ryu guys judge a Goju guy on his
Seasan they will show their style bias, so why not have the Goju guy make up a
Kata that’s flash dancey and have at it?
A very famous
incident happened in LA at one of the open tournaments, a Japanese tournament
Champion came out and did Sochin Kata, traditionally, and lost to a Tae Kwon Do
guy who did a flashy Kata that he had made up that week. The traditional Kata
champion by all account was fantastic, the Tae Kwon Do black belt wash sloppy
but added flipping kicks and fancy kicking to his Kata and dazzled the judges….who
were all Tae kwon do black belts and one Shito Ryu guy. It was at that point in the 80’s that the
traditional martial artists stopped doing open tournaments in the states…and
something strange happened….the open tournaments embraced the new ideology of “Anti-tradition”
and grew a cult following in the states. They still hold open tournaments with “non-traditional”
Kata events that are set to music and often judged on their acrobatics.
At the same time
that the Kata events were changing a change began to happen in the Kumite
events as well. First off the tournaments were open so you had lots of Tae Kwon
Do guys competing, more kicking and less blocking or hand techniques, the officiates
began to call kicks more than strikes form the hands and the promoters began
changing rules so that you could score more with kicks than with hand strikes.
The stage was set for a major metamorphosis.
The Kumite
tournaments began dropping all guise of being traditional, they started to use
the “Sparring” name more and more and they changed rules so that a head kick
was more points than a body kick or a punch, the competitors went from bare
hands to wearing boxing gloves or foam hand pads, head guard, mouth guards, and
in some cases foam on their shins and feet. The competitors changed as well. Originally
the competition was made up of traditional fighters from Goju ryu, Shito Ryu,
Shotokan and other Karate styles to mostly Tae Kwon Do and then “American Kempo”
or “American Karate”. The changes in competition made the changes in rules much
easier as the competitors did not want to worry about traditional rules that
they did not understand, they wanted a style that was kick based and had
multiple chances at making “points”.
The idea of hitting
as Taboo was replaced with “HIT the guy” and the sport made a big change
following boxing into a boxing ring and changing to from Kumite to Sparring and
finally Kick boxing. Ironically the hand
strikes from Karate were changed to a boxing style and the fighters began
wearing boxing gloves. Other kick boxing styles like Muay thai and Savate began to compete and the fighters
used this as a chance to change their striking a bit…the metamorphosis was
complete and a new style was created.
Fast forwards to
the 90’s and traditional Karate groups were trying to counter the “Style” issue
and also keep up or push their own systems into the lime light a bit, they had
issues….the same ones that the states handled by creating kick boxing and open
tournament spectacle based acrobatic Kata…but they did not want to simply join
the other group that still has a cult following…they wanted something that was
more recognizable as Karate…but without the issue of the “styles”…thus the WKF
was created.
From a Kata point
of view you have a set of Katas in each Ryu-ha (system) that you must master to
gain a black belt (Dan level) and often students and instructors are very keenly
focusing on those Kata alone. Also the systems use different methods and aesthetics
in the performance of the movements. A Shito Ryu person doing Sesan will look
very different than a Goju ryu person doing the same Kata or a Shotokan person
doing Hangetsu. The systems have different fundamentals and theory that they
follow….its impossible for a Shotokan based Judge to know the Kata from Goju
ryu, Shito ryu, Wado ryu, Isshin ryu, Shorin ryu, Uechi Ryu, Ryue Ryu ext. and
so on…never mind point out mistakes in movement! I defy anyone to tell me (Shotokan
or other system) that they can point out a mistake in another systems Kata!
Years ago, to
counter this issue, the WKF used a list of acceptable “Shite Kata” that you had
to use to perform. However over the years they bowed to pressure and now have
open Kata allowances that stipulate “things you look for” in a Kata. I however
go back to the difference in performance and technical application between a
Shito Ryu perons and the rest of us…and that goes both ways! Kata done at an open tournament is different
than done in a Dojo apparently (according to friends of mine who do sport
Karate). Meaning that you have to change
your style to fit the tournament needs. Thus WKF Kata is now a style of its own
as it were.
Okay, that’s all
very simplistic and does not take into account the modern “history” of the WKF,
but it’s accurate to the point that the WKF is trying to start out with a
multi-style tournament system and they are running into the same issues that
the old traditional tournaments in the states had. They are trying to push Geki
Shiai and call it BudoShiai and all they are doing is
watering down tradition and creating something new. When a organization holds a single
style/organization event the “modern” groups call them snobs or say they are segregationists,
not true, they are simply maintaining their tradition. The ideologies of styles
often do not mix, for traditional groups to keep up with the modern “open
tournament” musical acrobatics we need to focus on our tradition….not seek to
create a new one.
Budo Shiai or “warrior
spirit tournaments” (Traditional tournaments) have a specific focus when doing
Kata or Kumite….to show the work you are doing to perfect Kihon and application
of Kihon. The Ikken Hissatsu or one punch one kill mentality is in full effect
here. The idea in Kumite is to be good enough in your techniques to use one
movement so perfectly that you would, theoretically, end the fight with that
one movement. For instance your punch or kick should be so powerful, well timed
and targeted that if it were to land with full force you would render the
opponent “Done”. Kata is basically an example of your proficiency as well.
Budo Shiai uses the
Shobu Ippon rules in most cases because 3-5-7-12 points is “Over kill” and
would take away from the ideology of the perfect Ippon and add a tag element to
the competition that takes away from the warrior spirit and mentality of the
occasion. Tournaments are also viewed as less than important in the long run,
you should be focusing on daily training….the tournament is simply a chance to show your hard work….not
something to work towards.
Geki Shiai or “Play
tournaments” are based on a more western point of view. The Kata competition is
more exaggerated and selection of the Katas is almost always based on the more
flashy Kata available, and regardless of the Kata selected they are
systematically embellished and sloppy form is covered with long improper and
over exaggerated Kiais and dynamic movements that often have no true
Application. The katas are also often outside of the rank syllabus and way
outside the true skill level of the performer. Worse, this is encouraged by
coaches and instructors to try and garner style points!
Geki Shiai Kumite
is DRASTICALLY different from Budo Shiai Kumite as well. The practical stances
are replaced with a side angle stance to allow for more flashy Geri waza
(kicking) and also a hopping motion is used in place of the shifting movement
of Budo Shiai. The focus on perfect form and execution is removed and now you
have a bouncy athlete who is focusing on athleticism and throwing high point
head kicks over someone working on form. The point system itself deteriorates
the Budo aspect by making it a multi-point game and also awarding more points
for difficult targets, and making a head kick more points, you have just put a
harder to control technique as the highest point, thus making it more
attractive to use and adding to potential injuries. Throwing more “less controllable”
head kicks while moving around makes for a more dangerous approach to Kumite.
Another aspect of
the tournament point system that weakens it and opens it to a less than Budo
spirit is the timed tournament Kumite. I have seen a few tournaments were one
opponent scores three or more points than plays run away for the rest of the
time. This is NOT budo and the person should be disqualified for that kind of
action, and if they are a black belt their instructor should think seriously
about letting them wear a Yudansha in their club. I was told that this is a
common strategy in WKF tournaments and that if the amount of points is scored
to earn a victory, but not enough to end the match the highest score earner
will often retreat till time runs out. This is not a factor in a Budo Shiai as
the single point system allows for this to be avoided.
Shiai should be a
way of showing your true spirit, your hard work and demonstrating your
dedication to perfection of the Waza and system you train in. It’s a pride
point in your training…..not a system of over dramatic Kata and tag Kumite. You
should be demonstrating what you train for in Class and at home, not some
fabricated “middle ground” system that waters down the waza and system you
should be taking pride in.
History has shown
us that multi style tournaments do not work, unless you create a “middle ground”
system that everyone trains in, then its back to a single system. In essence
the WKF system is a new style, it’s not Shito or Shoto or Goju….its WKF. Multi style tournaments don’t work unless you
change the approach and create a common ground system, thus altering the
systems, watering down and altering systems and creating a mixed system.
Now, WKF systems
are not “Bad” and they often lead to more people pouring into the Dojo’s, but
they are not traditional and as proof of this I offer that 2 of the Canadian
WKF based squads are not even Karate…they are Tae Kwon Do and accepted based on
athletic ability and not even being in a traditional Karate program….which you
would think would be the PRIMARY prerequisite! The other issue is that bait and
switch issue. You promise SPORT and then provide traditional or you promise
traditional and offer sport. For 99% of the members of a club they are
practicing because they love Karate, it’s fun and healthy…1% will become an
athlete that focuses on sport, you need to figure out who you are going to
focus on!
For traditional
clubs to survive and traditional systems to grow and develop, I believe that
they need to focus on the traditional aspects of training and not merge with
the other systems to create a new system. They need to embrace the traditional systems
they belong to and not get involved in multi style events, which sounds
horrible but the honest truth is that I cannot allow a student of mine to do
Kata and be judged by people who don’t know our Kata….the playing field is not
even at those events. We need to also push and run our own tournaments, we need
to be able to send our members to events and build solid events for the
students. I don’t endorse participation in the Kumite as well because it takes
away from the warrior spirit, the purity of the exchanges.
For traditonal
clubs to have their say in the way that the future represents us as a culture
we need to dig in and start building tournaments that represent our ideology and
not bow to the new sport spirit that is taking the Karate world off the path, we
need to promote and produce quality events and learn from the sport groups
marketing, organization and running of events, but we need to be consistent in
our approach and our execution of these events, we need to produce officials
and train them in how to run and officiate at these events.
The Budoka who
practice Karate with the true intent and true spirit know that the true nature
and spirit of Karate is reflected in the want to perfect the use of Waza to its
fullest, not in scoring points. We realize we are all different and there is beauty
in our differences, the sloppy hoppy system that has come about that others
train in is not Karate, its Sport Kumite and Drama Kata. As a Budoka, and an admittedly
stubborn one, I refuse to change my system of teaching, training and working
with students to merge my system with a different style of Karate and create a
sport system that encourages tip tap Kumite and Kata that is overly Dramatic.
In fact at the tournaments I help organize you get points off for being to
Dramatic and you will not score points for flashy but ineffective Kumite. Its
how I am trying to maintain my traditional roots.
