Sometimes we get the same questions again and again. While I love talking about the inherent potential of Karate Kata, and many of the answers are also presented on our DVDs and in our books, here are some of the frequently requested answers:
Why are your Downloads in $$$s?
You can see the DVDs in £££s here. Our payment system means that you can pay in your own currency. Naturally the rates depend on what's happening with the exchange rates.
Our servers for delivery of Downloads operate in $$$s, and so it is simplest if we use $$$s.
How do you know your applications are the original applications?
I don't. And neither does anyone else who didn't invent their own kata. The creators of our kata are long dead and gone, and anyone who says they are handing down the applications without change since time immemorial is not thinking clearly. As the teachers aged their kata changed and the way they moved changed. Someone who was taught by Master X when he was 50 got a different experience to someone who trained with him when he was 70. His teachings changed, and yours will too.
So where do your applications come from?
A broad mixture of the training I have undertaken with different teachers all over the world in many different arts, some real world experience, and a filter of common sense applied to what I have seen and heard. Come and train with me, I'll bore you to tears with the tales of people I've trained with. However, too many people claim this lineage or that lineage. Please take what you see here and think for yourself. What you don't agree with will be my mistakes, and what you do agree with I'll happily credit to my teachers.
Why did Master Y teach things that you say are not practical? Aren't you being disrespectful?
No, not really. I have respect for lots of people who think differently to me. There are better athletes; better boxers; better competitors; better fighters. There are lots of people better than me. I respect lots of people who are worse than me, too. I respect hard work, dedication, and discipline. I respect the experiences that lots of people have been through.
The reason that I am dismissive of some bunkai is because it doesn't meet the parameters of the art as I understand it. If it relies on long-range attacks and long range defences where one karate-ka pits his skills against another then it's not what I believe the art is for. That's not disrespectful to Master Y - he might be very good at what he does - it just doesn't fit what I'm doing, and within that framework it needs pointing out as to what is workable and acceptable.
As to why Master Y teaches that stuff, you must consider the context of Master Y's background. If Master Y or his teacher were born in a country where street-crime is virtually non-existent (like Japan) and the art he learned was for "development of character" then he never needed to use it. If Master Y was part of a culture that did not question because such a thing was unacceptable then it must have been quite a shock to be asked what Move 3 was for. He did the best he could with his background and put together a really nice dynamic choreography. He just wasn't thinking of hook punches and grapplers.
We'll add more later.
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Our books and DVDs represent years of training with top instructors from across the globe. Travel to other countries and study of history and anatomy and the combative process.
Seminars with John Burke sensei are available by emailing info@KarateAcademy.co.uk or by calling 01626 360999. Outside the UK the number is +44 1626 360999.
Seminars are tailored to your requirements, and are always "hands-on".
John Burke's Bunkai Resources
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