Most of the kata bunkai you see online was never meant to survive contact with a resisting person. It looks tidy, it works on a compliant partner, and it falls apart the moment someone pushes back. This short video lesson gives you a few ideas on how to interpret kata, patterns and forms so the moves become something you can actually use.

About 25 years ago we released a set of kata bunkai tapes on VHS. For us it was basic material. The strange thing is that the basic material is still well ahead of most of what is being taught today. This lesson is for karate people, and anyone who practises forms, who wants their kata to mean something.

Why Most Bunkai Fails

The usual explanation of a kata move is a block against a punch, followed by a counter. The trouble is that real attacks do not arrive one clean punch at a time. People grab, push, swing and crowd you. If your bunkai only works against a single, committed, straight punch, it is not much use.

Good bunkai starts from a different question. Not "what does this block stop?" but "what does this shape do to a body?" When you look at kata that way, the same moves turn into strikes, locks, off-balancing and takedowns at close range, which is where real fights happen.

How To Read A Kata

When I look at a kata I am looking for a few simple things:

  • Where are both hands, not just the one doing the obvious work?
  • Where is the weight going, and what would that do to someone in front of me?
  • Which joint, or which balance point, would this shape attack?
  • Does it still work if my partner is bigger and is not helping me?

Ask those questions of every move and you will start to find applications that make sense. You will also stop accepting explanations that only work in a demonstration.

How To Practise It

Take one move at a time. Find an application, try it slowly with a partner, then add a little resistance. If it only works when your partner lets it, go back and look again. Work with control, especially on joints and anything near the head and neck. Your training partner is not an opponent, and you need them fit for next week.

Take It Further

If you want to go deeper into kata applications that work, Kata Unleashed is where I take this much further. Many of these applications become even more effective when you add pressure points, which I explain in Pressure Point Fighting: The Complete Guide.