Next Kata for Saturday Morning Kata Class: Nijushiho

This month, we are studying the kata Nijushiho or Nijuushiho (二十四歩). This kata’s name is less poetic than some others. It means “Twenty-four Steps.” Although a relatively short kata, in Nijushiho we practice a wide variety of techniques and applications of power. It features most of the basic Shotokan stances and some less common stances, and slow application of power as well as quick movements. Flowing, continuous movement and unifying the timing of our movements are also emphasized.

You can see good examples of Nijushiho by Asai Sensei here and by Ohta Sensei here.

Nijushiho is an advanced black 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.

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