I've never seen Shinto Muso Ryu or Hontai Yoshin Ryu kata. But I searched youtube and watched some videos. Again, I saw nothing but dead movements. Can you point me to some good videos?
Have you actually taken any martial arts classes? I suspect not. But of course, could be wrong.
Any movement performed in martial arts can be very dead or very alive, and that can either be seen by an observer, or felt by the performer, and sometimes both (but not always).
A simple punch can be anything from throwing your hand out, to a perfect movement that not only places your hand in contact with the target (real or imaginary), but also has your body movements all perfectly being at the right place/right angle/right time, to make it the most effective punch your capable of delivering. When you get that perfect combination, you feel it. When your foot placement, hip movement, shoulder movement, arm/hand movement all hit the correct point at the correct time, it's a beautiful thing
But trying to impart that feeling is, I would imagine, about the same as an NBA star describing the feeling of hitting a 3/4 court shot, while spinning in the air, and hitting nothing but net, to someone that never played basketball. The difference being that you can see the results of the basketball shot, but not necessarily the perfect punch.
A perfect kata (if one has ever been performed) would be a series of perfect punches/kicks/blocks and related movements performed in the correct order, while moving around the floor (for those that have more than one step). You start and end at the exact same point (in most), you don't bounce up and down, but have a constant head level (should be able to perform it with a board just above your head, and never open or close the distance between your head and the board, unless of course there are jumps or something
). No wasted movements. And should be done as if there were opponents against you, not just like your doing a dance, though the result might look somewhat like a dance.
I would suggest that if you haven't, you might consider finding a local school, and try a few months of lessons. If time permits, go to a few of the schools and observe a lesson or two. If they won't let you observe, you probably don't want anything to do with them. Some offer a two week intro course. That isn't bad to get an idea of whether or not you would like to try it, but it's not enough to actually learn anything. I'd suggest trying the intro, see if it's something you'd like, then try to get a 6 month contract. 6 months should give you a good idea of what it's about. After that, you'd be in a better position to decide if a 12 month contract would be a good or bad thing for you
If there are less than two lessons a week, I'd walk out and check another school. My first dojo had two (or three) classes a week for each of 4 (maybe 5) levels. Once you advanced to the third level classes you could attend the class above or below your level at no additional cost. There were a few months I was taking about 8 classes a week. Two a night on some nights, plus a couple open classes we had on the weekends. Classes should be at least 2 hours (at least after the intro).
I think most styles, if taught correctly, are equally as good at both physical conditioning, and self defense. I'm partial to the Japanese arts, because that was what I started with. WADO used to be a very well rounded style, in my opinion. I'm not sure where it stands now though. I do know that when Master Otsuka passed away there was a break up. His son Jiro took over, and made some changes away from the original style as created by the Master. Suzuki, I've been lead to believe, broke off and stayed more with what the Master had taught. I'm not sure what names are used to distinguish the two systems. But I'm sure either would give a well rounded training regimen.
Korean, Chinese, or other arts I'm sure are generally as good, if not better (just to appease practitioners of those styles
). My brother achieved a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and has really enjoyed that style over the years. While in the military, I worked out with folks from several different styles (Kung Fu, some Okinawan, and a few others) and from my somewhat limited direct exposure, I enjoyed what I saw. I've had pleasant experiences with (Don't laugh!) Chuck Norris' schools and David Deaton (a local chain of schools). I think by and large, it's the performer more than the particular style, that makes the difference. I'm sure there are exceptions (maybe we'll get some other points of view here
).
If your a master of some style, I apologize for my assumption that your not well trained in "the arts". But I also suspect that if you were well trained in any of the martial arts, you'd have a better understanding of what Kata are good for
(Just previewed what I wrote! Sorry for being so "wordy". But not sure what I'd cut out, so leaving it all in. Hope something there helps someone
)
