Your dojo, kata, and you...

[nodachi]

Inspired by anothers post that kata was a waste of time...

Does your dojo place an emphasis on kata, do you place an emphasis on kata, and do you and your dojo actually follow through with it and practice kata?

[emitbrownne]

Kata gives me more a feeling of weilding a sword than a shinai does. I apply this feeling to how I handle a shinai... so I am no longer attacking with a stick but a sword.

sorry if this sounds cheesey... but it is what I try to do :)

ps. I think the Kata are useful for developing spirit as well..

[GMason]

I think Kata is very important, but also fun. We practice Kata for at least half hour, every week.

It is very easy to see people who don't practice Kata or just take it as one of the necessary evils of grading, and don't actually enjoy it.

I could go on for ages about the pros and cons of Kata and what you can learn from them. Some people say they are not real or as a good keiko and you don't learn anything from them but try doing some of the harder Jodo kata and then tell me they are not real and you don't learn anything from them. But if done properly there is wealth of knowledge to be had.

Personally I enjoy practicing Kata if it is Kendo No Kata, Jodo or Kenjutsu kata I love it.

[xvikingx]

I love kata. It is acually the reason I started kendo. Because I did naginata before kendo, (where more emphisis is placed on kata than shiai) I was under the impression that kendo was the same way and that we would practice all the time. Boy was I wrong. I think what I am trying to say is, I wish we practiced kata more often. That's just me.

[decembersnow6]

oooohhhhh, kata, our dojo NEVER practiced kata with a bokken, heck, no one in our dojo even bring a bokken for kendo except for the iaido beginners....

[kendomushi]

Kata are not important, they are essential to building a well rounded kendoka.
If you do kendo for the reasons defined by the ZNKR, development of oneself, not of ones fighting skills, you must expose yourself to and practice every element.
The kata also remind us of where kendo comes from; conflict and war. Note the first 3 kata are the ways you overcome opposition in just about everything in life.
Kata 1: you destroy the opponent, kill him, remove him as a factor in the contest.
Kata 2: you injure the opponent to the point of being unable to continue opposition, you take away his ability to oppose you.
Kata 3: you drive the opponent off, you break their will to oppose you.

Conflict resolution in a nutshell.

[nonamehandle]

Kata are not important, they are essential to building a well rounded kendoka.
If you do kendo for the reasons defined by the ZNKR, development of oneself, not of ones fighting skills, you must expose yourself to and practice every element.
The kata also remind us of where kendo comes from; conflict and war. Note the first 3 kata are the ways you overcome opposition in just about everything in life.
Kata 1: you destroy the opponent, kill him, remove him as a factor in the contest.
Kata 2: you injure the opponent to the point of being unable to continue opposition, you take away his ability to oppose you.
Kata 3: you drive the opponent off, you break their will to oppose you.

Conflict resolution in a nutshell.

your interpretation of kata 1-3 is quite interesting
our sensei said pretty much the same thing, but in a different way.
he mentioned that kata 1-3 carry the essence of kendo [the rest were more or less just waza] and that

Kata 1: illustrates the power and strength of kendo
Kata 2: illustrates the sympathy/compassion of kendo-since you could kill him(men strike) but instead opt to disable him (kote strike) instead
Kata 3: illustrates the spirit of kendo

the reasons that he would give for the justification of his views are the same as kendomushi mentioned

funny how we view the world seem to filter how we interpret things...