2023-06-13

Subbing for ISKF Tempe at the Tempe Family YMCA.

Tonight we had a visitor from Chile who’s in town for a couple of weeks and wanted to find a place to train. He’s a sandan in Okinawan Goju Ryu, so there were pleny of diferences, but that just gave everyone something to learn and it was a pleasure to have him in class.

At the end of class, he and I demonstrated how kata have evolved over the years by performing the “same” kata in both styles. He did Seisan and, at the same time, I did Hangetsu. Everyone couild tell they were different katas, but they were also able to tell that they clearly had a common ancestor. For more on the differences that creep into kata over time, have a look at my article “Kata and the Ship of Theseus.”