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krian_89
krian_89's picture
On the role of mirrored kata

Hey! Sometime back I came across the concept of mirrored kata, and that the kata was supposed to be practised in both the routine and mirrored way. Seems like an interesting concept to work on, since we tend to have a dominant side and this kind of training could help in balancing things out. Do any of you train/have trained this way, what do you feel about this?

Zach Zinn
Zach Zinn's picture

krian_89 wrote:
Sometime back I came across the concept of mirrored kata, and that the kata was supposed to be practised in both the routine and mirrored way. Seems like an interesting concept to work on, since we tend to have a dominant side and this kind of training could help in balancing things out. Do any of you train/have trained this way, what do you feel about this?

One of my early Karate teachers had us try it a bit. If there is a unique sequence only practiced on one side, you can always practice it in isolation on the other side, work it on the other side with a partner, etc.  It's an interesting thing to do in solo training every now and then, there are some really nice sequences in Goju kata that are only done on one side, and it's good to have experience of both.

I think it's exactly the kind of thing that people can pursue in their solo training, so I wouldn't do it in a class. It's not particularly important (in my opinion of course) but is an interesting exercise for your brain.

Elmar
Elmar's picture

I do all 4 version of the heians with my students just to force them back into actually thinking about each movement - so obverse, inverse, reverse and contrapositive.  Or normal (on the right hand), on the left hand (mirrored), in reverse (backwards from the last move, normal side), and backwards mirrored (which really messes them up).  IT also highlights how much they depend on muscle memory to do the kata, i.e. become almost brainless with it.

- Elmar

krian_89
krian_89's picture

Yep, Seems to be an exciting exercise. As Elmar pointed out, muscle memory is very important when we perform these movements and messing around with the wiring might lead to confusion in practice, this seems to be a double-edged sword of sorts. Guess, it's not wise for beginners then.