Very, very familiar. Good post.

I don't want to go on too much… but… I was a younger man then and I overheard a fella ask Mr. Oyata (I paraphrase from a distant memory)…

Fella: “I heard you quit smoking, cold turkey. How did you do it?”
Mr. Oyata: (in accented English) “I quit.”
Fella: “Yes Sir, but how did you just quit so suddenly.”
Mr. Oyata: “I quit. When you quit something, quit it. I quit.”

That was my first real, live internal arts lesson. I imagine (to go back to topic) he applies such Real practicality to each of his forms.

Great blog!

When the traditional kata were being developed the creators did not write down thier methods, probably not because they wouldn't but because their pupils couldn't read. (I know a large leap but it's my view of the subject.) So I take kata simply as note cards where techniques are there to be available as a reminder to those students. Of course the great mysterious and hidden techniques of kata would not have been mysteries to someone who was taught directly by a kata creator. Sadly most students didn't feel secure enough to divulge the “secrets” to their students hence the eternal quest for meaning.

That is not to say that kata should not be broken down, studied, analyzed, and applied to modern situations. Just a new way to looking at it.

3. Not all books, even good books, are appropriate or useful for all readers. A book may be full of deep meaning for one reader, while another will find it trite and useless – not because the second reader lacks understanding, but because their circumstances (life experience, abilities, personality) render the points the book is making moot.

I'm really liking the book analogy. But then again, I'm a severe bibliophile, with enough books to open a mid-size library. I like book everything!