First Bunkai Workbook
Mat Manual companion guide to "What Is Kata For?" Print it, keep it with your training notes, and bring it to class. This workbook covers the five Heian kata. It does not teach applications to practice alone. It gives y…
| Art | Shotokan Karate |
|---|---|
| Family | Karate |
| Level | beginner |
| Format | playbook |
| Topics | forms, fundamentals |
Mat Manual companion guide to "What Is Kata For?" Print it, keep it with your training notes, and bring it to class. This workbook covers the five Heian kata. It does not teach applications to practice alone. It gives you a place to record the readings your instructor shows, class drills for each reading, and a journal for what you learn from working them with a partner.
How This Workbook Works
Every reading in this book is labeled a reading. That word matters. A reading is an interpretation an instructor teaches for a kata movement. It is not a recovered secret and it is not the only answer the movement can hold. Your instructor's reading is the one you learn first, because it is the one your school tests. When a reading here differs, write your instructor's version in the journal. Your instructor wins in your own book.
Each kata section has three parts, in the same order every time:
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Movement groups and readings | The kata in blocks, with the commonly shown reading for each block and the principle it teaches |
| Class drills | One drill per reading, written for instructor led class work, with the attack, the response, the distance, the control rules, and the reps |
| Reading journal | Blank tables for your instructor's reading in your words, the principle, what you felt in the drill, and your questions |
How to fill the journal. One row per movement group, in pencil, in class or right after. Write the reading the way you would explain it to a student one belt below you. If you cannot write it plainly, you do not own it yet.
First Bunkai Workbook
Mat Manual companion guide to "What Is Kata For?" Print it, keep it with your training notes, and bring it to class. This workbook covers the five Heian kata. It does not teach applications to practice alone. It gives you a place to record the readings your instructor shows, class drills for each reading, and a journal for what you learn from working them with a partner.
What's Inside
- How This Workbook Works
- Safety and Class Rules
- The Three Principles, as a Working Reference
- Heian Shodan: Readings and Drills
- Heian Nidan: Readings and Drills
- Heian Sandan: Readings and Drills
- …and 5 more sections
The full guide is a paid Mat Manual product. Checkout is not connected yet — no payment is taken on this page.
Free companion article: What Is Kata For? — the full article, free in full.