Outlier

Sometimes in my own dojo I feel like an outlier. My dojo is Wado style, the man who started the style was never really into Kata so he basically threw a few random Katas in his style and focused mainly on Kumite. When Karate people think of Wado they know, 'Oh those are fighters.' But I have always been drawn to Kata, the flow, the strength, the fancy jumps, all of it. The only problem is that Katas from my style don't exactly do well in competition. They're too boxy, and honestly kind of boring. 

Shito on the other hand has tons of Katas, so many I can't even count them all. The man who started Shito really liked Kata, he put a lot of effort into creating them. The first time I ever saw a Shito Kata was at a tournament in Colorado. A girl performed her Kata and it caught my eye instantly. I watched her move through it, she looked almost as if she was water and stone at the same time. She would flow like a river into the move then freeze like stone. Mesmerized I asked my Sensei what she was doing. because I had never seen anything like that before. He said, "Oh, that's Shito." 

I wanted so bad to learn Shito Katas and compete with them. The only problem was that no one knew them or was willing to teach them to me. All until one day Hector came to our dojo. Hector is a US Military Officer, and has a black belt in Shito. Of course I asked him to teach me and he did. I picked up Shito quickly and soon started to do them in tournaments. But that only created conflict. My Senseis did not approve of me learning Shito Katas because we are Wado. But I've rarely seen Wado Katas win, and I felt awkward doing them. Shito had finesse and the majority of the best Kata Champions in the World do Shito. Eventually, me doing Shito grew on them. They even bring Shito people in to do seminars. But still sometimes I can't help but feel different for wanting to be successful in Kata.


        Wado Symbol                                                              Shito Symbol