Ten no kata

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Ten-no-Kata ( Japanese : 天 の 形, sky form ) is a kata of Shōtōkan karate . Like the three Taikyoku kata, it was developed by Gichin Funakoshi and his son Yoshitaka Funakoshi together in the 1930s. Ten-no-Kata is the only Kumite -Kata in the Shotokan-Kata canon, which means that there is a standardized form of application with partners ( Bunkai ), which is an integral part of the Kata. The Kata itself consists of two parts: the Omote form, which is practiced by the performer alone, and the Ura form, which is practiced with a partner in the sense of a Kihon-Ippon-Kumiteis to be trained. The kata thus clarifies the old philosophy of karate: Ikken hissatsu - "killing with one blow".

In 1935 Ten-no-Kata was first published in Funakoshi's great standard work Karate-Do Kyohan . In his two older works Ryukyu Kempo Karate (1922) and Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu (1925) the kata has not yet been mentioned. It is described in detail in his 1943 book Karate-Do Nyumon . Funakoshi expressly points out that the ten-no-kata sequence he designed is only the basis of this kumite-kata, which, after the karateka has internalized it, must be further developed in the same sense. The execution of the kata in the omote appears to the advanced karateka to be simple and not very challenging at first glance, but if you try to master the movements and achieve an appropriate mental posture (ready to kill or die), you have some time to practice .

Funakoshi introduced the kata after the Okinawan spelling was changed from karate ( China hand ) to the Japanese spelling ( empty hand ). He created the kata as the quintessence of his long karate life in order to combine the harmonious triad of the elements kihon, kata and kumite in one form of exercise and thus set an impulse for the further development of his karate concept.

Today Ten-no-kata is mainly taught and practiced in Shotokai , Egami Shigeru's karate association . In the Shotokan of the JKA (and the subsidiary organizations that emerged from it) it was treated rather neglected and is no longer of particular importance there. Shitō-ryū and goju-ryu also have kihon kata, some of which are very similar. The Shotokan Kihon Katas are still taught by the IMAF today.

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