Sacred Reality:

The Three Levels of Kata

By Brett Denison, Mizukan Dojo


Kata: the kanji character means "form" or "shape."	Kata: the kanji character means "mold" or "model."

When taken together these two characters cover a broad conception of the idea of form. They integrate perception of "form" and "that which gives form," of "shape" and that which "defines shape." This totality or holism forms (just as, not remarkably, kata does!) the heart and methodology of kata training.

In Japan "art" may be referred to as a word that implies refined practice in a sort of general sense, or as jutsu a word implying a distinct technique for practicing refinement. Neither word excludes the artifacts produced by artist activity while both clearly place primacy with the activity itself. Art is, therefore, in the Japanese understanding, primarily an action in and of itself and not a product of that action. Refined behavior is the essence of art in Japan and objects of beauty merely a result (almost a byproduct) of that refinement.

Kata, far from being a uniquely martial concept, is the central teaching tool of all traditional Japanese art. The kaho methodology, that is the use of kata as this primary teaching tool, forms the central body of the experience of the novice painter, dancer, musician, singer, actor, and calligrapher. Kata is also the foundation of all subsequent practice, and finally the source of the skills of refinement, which characterize a master artist as she is, led towards full integration with her art through the kata. When there is no kata, no "form," no integration, no inspiration is probable.

In the bugei or bujutsu and the humanistic and actualization oriented budo forms of martial arts kata is the central method for transmitting the form, function, and essence of a particular tradition. In the ko-bujutsu or classical martial techniques kata make repeated practice of dangerous and sometimes deadly techniques safe while allowing no softening of the matrix of form, function, and essence.

Form or kei means the outward packaging, the correct positioning of hands, feet, torso, etc., or the ideal total configuration necessary for the correct functioning of the technique. Function or yo means the desired effect or purpose of a technique, the "what it is supposed to do." Essence or tai refers to the inner quality of perfection which supports the form and function of the technique, the set of unique elements without which the technique will not not be itself in-and-of-itself. Without form a technique is shapeless, unstructured. Without function it has no purpose. Without essence it is hollow. Without the total integration of all three a technique can never be spoken of as perfected and will never rise above itself into the rarefied ether of art.

The kaho methodology teaches all three of these elements synergistically, systemically, and holistically. By this I mean that kei, yo and tai are taught without breaks between them, all at once, complete, and whole. They are not separated out and taught cognitively but learned within the context of the kata itself and through the kaho methodology itself. Kata do this work by careful balancing of in (Chinese yin) and yo (Chinese yang) elements, by careful integration of sei (passivity) and do (activity). They do this within a formal framework that allows for a high degree of safety in performance while even managing to hide the essence of the techniques from the casual observer or potential opponent.

The kata thus serve as mental and physical exercises. They promote physical fitness by being carefully designed as physical challenges requiring stamina and strength. The fitness matrix of the kata will often take surprising shapes. Kata, in classical systems, serve to contain within their comprehensive and conscious design much that is not readily self-apparent even at the surface level of physical fitness. In actual combat a kata technique might be silent, for instance, while the technique will appear in the kata in such a way that the weapons clatter together. This design element serves to hide the true essence of the technique while strengthening the wrists and hands and conditioning them to the shock. In similar ingenious ways, the kata stimulate and cultivate mental and spiritual powers as well.

Kata are perfect, unchanging, heavenly decreed or inspired, "sacred" (tenshin shoden) timeless, ideal. Human beings are imperfect, ever changing, bound to the earth, limited in time and space, mundane. In the kaho methodology the martial artist strives towards this ideal but can never reach it. As he does so the martial proponent unifies thought-mind, word breath-voice-spirit, and dead-action-activity in a dynamic flow of "inner," non-physical and "outer" physical movement designed to empower him in the world through liberating and empowering this very unity-inspiration, integration, completion, and realization. In the kata then, the body/form, the spirit/function, and the mind/essence combine in a striving towards perfection in integration and wholeness.

In this way of thinking (and training) kata are not subject to analysis or interpretation, they contain no hidden meanings separate from themselves, and they will not succumb to apprehension or comprehension. They are meant to be experienced, savored, and re-experienced. Kata, especially the two-man kata characteristic of the koryu or "old style" traditions, furthermore cannot be understood in the usual sense of that word-as in "to stand beneath." They are dynamic wholes with, through, and in which the trainee must flow freely without pause or break. The kata trainee must become one with his partner and one with the kata, out of his head and into the "space" of the kata, free in a world without logical, cognitive thought or evaluation or judgment. This is a world of pure action, totally "doing" in the eternal Now. Functioning fully in this world is the goal and method of true martial art and the only way to be fully alive on the field of battle and battlefield of life.

Kata may unfold (the trainee must be led by the kata and not attempt to drag the kata along behind him) to reveal itself to the trainee after long and arduous training. This is the way of shin-shin shugyo or austere and disciplined training of the mind and body. It is the belief that seishin tanren or spiritual forging is a matter of life and death, a literal combat to the death called shinken shobu. There is no escape from the literal facts of the battlefield. A warrior either kills his opponent, is killed by his opponent, or both are killed. This translates into a 33 1/3% chance of survival and clearly ought not to he taken lightly. In true martial art there can be, therefore, no dabbling in training, no dilettantish playing at training but a literal immersion in this shinken shobu life path. There is also no room for contests of skill, no sparring or fencing. In the reality of combat the exchange of blows, the pulling of blows for safety, the artificial establishment of point systems or rules, the separation of attack from defense, are all made invalid within the context of literal combat.

No one, the philosophy of the classical traditions suggests, can practice fighting because the essence of fighting is formlessness, jiyu (freedom) as opposed to riyu or yukei (formal or having form). Kata is an antithesis of ran or freedom of action (read "chaos"). Otake Risuke, shihan of the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu has written that for his art, "Shi-ai (that is "contest") is always a matter of shi-ni-ai (that is, "a matter of life and death). Otake shihan, furthermore, refers to all explication of the carefully hidden technical-functional elements of the kata of his ryu as kuzushi which may be translated as "movements of absolute destruction" (more literally, and without the war like punning the word means "to breakdown" or to take apart") or paraphrasing what he has written, "whenever the wooden weapons clatter together in kata a moment of sure kill is represented." Kata, in the classical traditions are not to be explicated (bunkai) but "destroyed" (kuzushi) literally and figuratively.

All of this can be heady stuff indeed and not a little confusing and even overwhelming. This is why, in part, only senior proponents are instructed in kuzushi. For one thing, as I have suggested, meaning and interpretations are left alone in the kata; they are allowed to flow out of the kata itself. For another thing, also as I have mentioned, the kata must be made safe so that they can be practiced in disciplined repetition. For another thing, techniques have to be protected from professional and non-professional snoopers; they must be guarded and held in reserve for use in life and death encounter on the battlefield and are not to be lightly or easily shared out to any and all.

Yet and notwithstanding this complexity kata are also essentially "plain and straight" or, in Japanese, sunao. A cut is always essentially a cut even though it may hide all sorts of extrinsic, intrinsic, exotic, and esoteric, complexities. Kata are a lot like onions. They contain a myriad of layers within their essential quality of sunao and a fundamental quality of sanao within their essentially complex nature.

For the true martial artist the kata reflect the ideals of warrior life-style while they help generate that life-style. Simplicity, discipline, and a calm demeanor are the hallmarks of the martial lifestyle. Along with concentration these factors are both required and generated in the kata.

So, kata follow this set of principles in what is termed the kaho methodology. They contain, generate, transmit and maintain the essence, form, and function of a given art, martial or otherwise, of a given style, school, or tradition. They present the trainee with a method for practice that is at once freeing and formal. They put form first and allow for inspiration to follow.

In addition, the kata (and this is perhaps essential to an understanding of the way in which the kaho works!) function on several inter-related levels of "reality." This is simply because the kata must contain so much, for want of a better term, information. They must be safe, they must have kei, yo, and tai, and they must be sunao. They also must offer the finest in physical exercise and must be well balanced in terms of in (yin) and yo (yang) and sei ("passivity") and do ("action"). In their multi-faceted, multi-leveled "reality" the kata of the classical bugei do all this wonderfully. In addition, the classical kata dynamically teaches the concept of kobo itchi, which is essential in understanding the true nature of combat.

In the concept of kobo ichi attack and defense are co-terminus, continuous, contiguous; they do not exist as separate whole enteritis but reside only in a smooth, holistic flow in which an attack is often more "like" a defense and a defense more "like" an attack. Here a depth of character, of morality, and a centered and alert being are constantly put to the test. Here also, the proponent's ability to "see both with the heart and the eyes" (kan ken) is stimulated as the trainee learns to use his intuitive sense to correctly detect sakki or "bad air" which may or may not signal a sneak or surprise attack.

It would be easy to simply cut down the "enemy" who may or may not attack. It might be equally easy to be killed when a real enemy's intentions cannot be penetrated. Also, and characteristic of all classical combative systems, the proponent must learn through the kobo ichi concepts embedded within the kata that any sort of parry or block will be wasted motion in the split seconds of time that govern the outcome of a shinken shobu. Thus "attack and defense are one" (kobo ichi).

In the midst of all this complexity, perhaps the most straightforward way to comprehend kata is to do them. However, it is possible to come to a cognitive realization of the kaho essence by recourse to theoretical "analysis." However, it must be remembered that kata cannot be grasped through cognition or conceptualization. Kata, it must be remembered, are not concepts. Kata are "doings," not subject to normal understanding. What follows is not a substitute for kaho training but an attempt at insight into the methodology itself.

First of all, all kata have an actual level of reality. The kata has been designed and transmitted by direct, person-to-person teaching with an emphasis on containing essentially dangerous techniques within a framework that is at once "realistic" and yet safe. Part of this actual level of reality will be clothed in reishiki no kata or the "form of proper behavior." This is the ritual underpinning, which surrounds, supports, and leads into the actual combative techniques. It is a highly refined system of manners, which help to generate the necessary level of concentration and devotion.

At the actual level, furthermore, kata are exactly as they appear. This is the precise, correct, and unchanging form or kei without which inspiration will be shapeless. It is the "way" the kata is to be done. It provides for a measure of safety, contains the functional, and essential facets of the techniques and manages to do so without an open demonstration of those techniques.

Unless kata is pursued with vigor over a long period of ardent training within the context of seishin tanren and shin-shin shugyo the actual (or surface) level of kaho reality cannot be penetrated.

Beneath the actual level of kata reality lies a more profound and difficult level of reality. This level is the virtual reality of the kata. At this level of reality the kata is revealed to possess a deeper functional level of "meaning" beneath the formal level. The kata may be explicated at this level and isolated techniques "interpreted" within the context of kuzushi. However, it is never practiced in its virtual form. This is because it is far too dangerous; it simply cannot be done without killing the partner. In the first place the "sword" used in an o-dachi jutsu kata (long sword form) is only virtually a sword while it is actually a wooden replica or bokken. This means that the weapon functions at the actual level of a wooden weapon but at the virtual level of its steel counterpart. In the virtual level of reality of the kata a real sword is applied in lethal ways to weaknesses (suki) in the dynamics of what is actually a training partner and virtually an enemy/opponent.

It must be understood at this point that this is not simply an elaborate game of make-believe, substitution, or imagery but literally two intra-contained levels of "reality." The kata contain an actual level of reality, which forms the basic framework for practicing the techniques, which exist at the virtual level of reality-in a literal, non-figurative, and concrete way.

The final level of kata reality is the most slippery but is still contained in a concrete way within all traditional kata and is a gateway into the eventual level of "freedom action," ran or ji, which the proponent may achieve after long training. Although ran may be translated as "chaos," at this level of attainment the proponent is so far integrated with the art as to be "one" with it. Therefore, no chaos exists. A profound freedom, or ji, is the hallmark of the master; a profound freedom which might be thought of as "inspiration," as the word implies, a kind of life-breath unity with and in the techniques of his art and which is, yet, firmly imbedded in ri and kei, or form.

This most slippery level of the kata reality matrix is the potential level. I use the word here in the sense with which I this used in modern physics. This level is supported by the level, further, of possibility and only contained within the very, very wide borders of the limitations inherent in the use of any specific weapon.

Yes, kata can and do achieve this. In every actual/virtual reality of the kata there are contained a whole set of ultimate but finite possibilities which form the matrix for the potential realities of the kata. Whereas the actual and virtual levels of the kata, furthermore, center upon an ideal world in which techniques all function perfectly, the potential level assumes that various types and kinds of failure are possible.

The actual level requires long and disciplined practice before mastery allows a penetration to the virtual level. Within this context of continued training the actual and virtual levels of training always are assumed to function perfectly. The potential level is a different story! At this level the techniques can and do go wrong. This is a truth that much of the how-to literature of martial arts seems to ignore and it is a grave weakness in much training in which an isolated defensive technique is repeated over and over again in perfect harmony (wa) with an attack. Techniques, no matter how well done, will go wrong. In fact, most "one-step" training is about something all together different from combative effectiveness and reality. At the potential level of reality in kata the trainee learns that he must, in the final analysis, learn to accept his own defeat and destruction even in the context of the perfect world of the kata!

Lest it be inferred from all this that classical kata training is in sum total only concerned with the levels of "combative reality" and essentially fatalistic because of its insistence upon accepting our potential for destruction, let me here suggest that the koryu traditions have at their heart the absolute belief that mankind can overcome his passions to the extent that the human being need not slash his fellow beings to bits at the slightest excuse. This is precisely why kata possess all these levels of reality and why the balance of form, function, and essence is so vital to their perfection. The kata in their wholeness teach Life, not death.

In their integration of form, essence, and function kata contain, transmit, and nurture the art form in which they are found. Clearly, these richly structured, miraculously ingenious, and supremely gorgeous training techniques cannot be simply slapped together out of isolated technique. They must be founded in something of great depth and breath. This is the tradition rich foundation of all true martial art.

(Please, visit the website of Denison sensei at the Mizukan Dojo )