Current Kata for Saturday Morning Kata Class: Hangetsu
Our current kata-of-the-month is Hangetsu (半月). The kata name means “Half Moon,” which refers to the way we step in the kata’s signature stance, hangetsu-dachi. In contrast to fudo-dachi we used in Sochin, with Hangetsu we practice gripping the floor and connecting with an inward squeeze in hangetsu-dachi and neko-ashi-dachi.
You can see good examples of Hangetsu performed by Osaka Sensei here and by Kanazawa Sensei here. And here is Nakayama Sensei, giving some pointers.
Hangetsu is officially a brown belt kata, but we encourage students of all grades to come to the Saturday kata classes. Even if you won’t practice advanced kata regularly yet, it’s great to begin to learn how techniques can be combined, and the practice in applying techniques is indispensable. That said, we also offer basic kata classes at the same time, for those who would prefer to review their Heian kata or find the advanced kata too challenging.
See you Saturday!
At SVSK our Saturday morning kata classes focus on one kata at a time. We typically spend four Saturdays on each kata:
- Week 1: Overview/review of the kata
- Week 2: Fine points of the techniques and the kata
- Week 3: Hands-on practice to understand applications (bunkai)
- Week 4: Variations in the kata