Zen Ha Kenpo Ryu Jujitsu Katas

In Zen Ha Kenpo Ryu Jujitsu, we teach several open-hand (karate) katas: The Naihanchi & Seiuchin Kata. We feel that katas are a very important aspect of martial arts training. Kata teaches us many things: form, posture & body movement while also serving as a method of exercise and meditation. Appearing, to the untrained eye, as purely a sequence of moves that look like blocking and striking techniques alone; katas contain hundreds of techniques that can be done standing, sitting or even lying down! We believe it is a useless effort learning 20 to 30 kata as movements are overlooked and your kata will be learnt as a dance; not a martial art database.

We teach 2 katas (including applications), to a comprehensive level where many of our student have acquired a new-found fascination to how these short simple katas have hundreds of hidden techniques and even map out anatomical weak points on the body. We also encourage students to look for movements in the kata when they're training, further expanding the knowledge of the katas and their training.

Other Katas

There are also some techniques (most notably stances and breakfalls), which are taught in kata form. This is to aid memory through repetition and can make learning some basic techniques enjoyable with apparent traditional discipline.