Kata

Kata is a term that is used in the martial arts to describe a pattern of movements that were handed down from teacher to student.  There are many different karate kata in exhistance just as there are many styles of karate.  Each style of karate may practice the same or variations of the kata used in Shotokan Karate.  In fact, different Shotokan organizations may even practice differrent variations of kata than others.  All kata have gone through an evolution over the years and there is probably no one that practices the original kata, even though they may claim to do so.  It is a mere fact that things change over time.  Most Shotokan practitioners recognize 27 katas as follows: