So for the past year or so I've been working on making my kata less of a "metronome" pace. I've been trying to link together the different moves with some sort of phrasing to show I understand the bunkai (application), or at least my interpretation of the bunkai behind it. This causes the tempo to change and not be merely "1, 2, 3, 4, 5...." But recently, I've also been making some of it a lot softer and really trying to experiment with the "flow" of it.

So there I was, doing kata in front of my instructor who gives me a dubious look. After an explanation, he basically said my kata was too much of a set rhythm. I suggested "metronome?" and he agreed. Darn. I was half-pleased with myself for trying to feel a certain flow and continual movement, but looks like I've been really over-emphasizing that too much. Granted, there's many ways I practice my kata and many ways to practice kata (hard, soft, rhythm, breathing, bunkai timing, etc.). I guess I really need to work more on the timing a little bit more, at least when I'm doing in front of my instructor. In other words, I've been adopting a certain pace and tempo for my kata practice that "took over" all of it, rather than being just one of the many ways to do it.

So some of you are wondering (perhaps all one or two of you gentle readers) why I ramble about this stuff and not my daily life? The answer is really simple. My life is pretty uneventful so there's not much else to talk about...

On the lighter side, I'm starting to learn Hamahiga no Tonfa kata. I started learning Monday and have just got to the point where I can at least go through the whole kata with the rough movements down (emphasis on the "rough"). Due to my somewhat stunted weapons development earlier in my brief karate career, that makes it the 9th weapons kata I've learned in the past 7 months (and 4 of those were in the period of a week last June). Fortunately, I have my entire life ahead of me to get better. Although looking back at the kata I "know" and still practice, that makes 20 empty hand kata and 14 weapons kata, not including basic kata like the kihon or fukyuu, or the yakusoku kumite and the few other kata (empty and weapons) that I've learned and let fall by the wayside. That's a lot to work on...but that's a topic for another day...