Arranging The Martial Arts By Form, By Art, And By Country
Monday, October 4th, 2010When we consider the best martial arts forms we are considering those martial arts kata that give the most benefit to the student. I usually recommend learning as many patterns and arts as possible, then working on the ones that the student prefers, although there can be oddities in this method. I also hold that one should learn entire arts, first taekwondo, then karate, then kung fu.
The kebons are good, basic kata taught in both karate styles and taekwondo styles. Though there are three to five of these introductory patterns, I don’t usually count them as forms because they are actually the ABCs of the martial arts.
The next batch of forms to consider would be the Taekwondo Taeguks. These are basic forms, a bit more advanced than the kebons, but not as advanced as the Pinans (Heians). Though they take a few moves from the Pinans, they serve them up as straight block and counter moves, no inherent throws or weapons, and no real generation of internal energy.
After the taeguk patterns one should learn the Pinan forms from the Shotokan system, the Kyokushinkai system, and other Japanese martial styles. The Pinan kata are actually designed more for weapons defenses, though not many people know this. The idea here is that one learns the Taeguks for hand to hand combat, then moves into the Pinans for a basic understanding of weapons defenses, and the beginnings of chi eneergy generation.
After the Pinans one should learn the three forms found in the Pan Gai Noon, which are the base forms from Uechi ryu Karate, and which are actually three extremely intense gung fu forms. These three patterns are sanchin, seisan, and sanseirui, though the last one is often thought of as more of a demonstration form. These three unique kata are specifically designed to build the intrinsic energy known as chi or ki.
Sanchin teaches a student to bolt the body/motor down to the ground. There are not a lot of moves in it, but the moves are perfectly designed for adapting hard energy to excellent self defense moves.
Sanchin may be the power form, but seisan is the technique kata. This form takes the power of sanchin and transfigures it into (probably) 13 specific self defense moves. These are all based on one specific move called wa uke, which is a circle block with a flesh tearing grab on the end.
So to ultimate arrangement of forms is Kebons to Taeguk to Pinans to Sanchin and seisan; or, as art, from taekwondo to karate to kung fu. This sequencing of martial arts forms provides the student with the most complete arrangement of classical martial arts training possible. Other forms can and should be leaned, but the heart of the art can really be found in this arrangement of art.
Learn more about about the correct way to sequence all the Martial Arts patterns with the Evolution of Art course at Monster Martial Arts. Mouse to Monster Martial Arts. A1