Kata (Aikido)
As Kata in are aikido exercises referred whose movement in many ways - are defined in detail - sometimes over time.
Kata exist in different forms in Aikidō. Unarmed kata with partners and kata with weapons with and without a partner are known.
In unarmed kata with partners (also called Taijutsu ), the most common variant is to execute the five basic holding techniques in Aikidō , Ikkyō, Nikyō, Sankyō, Yonkyō and Gokyō, one after the other against a blow. This sequence is practiced either standing (both partners standing: tachi waza ; one partner standing, the other kneeling: hanmi handachi waza ) or in the knee position (both kneeling suwari waza ) and goes back to Tadashi Abe , a student of Ueshiba Morihei , who belonged to the first Japanese aikidō teachers in Europe (especially France). Other forms with partners are known in Shodokan- Aikidō, which goes back to Tomiki Kenji .
In the forms with weapons, the Kata Sanjuichi no Jō (Kata of the 31 movements with a Jō ) is common, which was mainly taught by Morihiro Saitō . Occasionally, partner kata is also practiced with the wooden sword bokken ( kumi-tachi ).
Since the aikidō founder Ueshiba Morihei himself, according to his students, did not show anything twice in the same way, all systematizations as well as the kata go back to his students or later aikidō teachers.
In Ki-Aikidō , fixed partner exercises and the weapon kata are called taigi or tsuzuki waza .