Thursday, July 06, 2006

Kama Set

This is the first kata with kamas (the sticks with blades). The kamas are fun since they are flashy and easy to handle (unlike those bloody chucks that keep swerving into tender parts of me at strange angles with surprising momentum).

A distinguishing feature of the kata is that it requires a pair of spinning back hook kicks which is a challenge for many brown belts.

OK. Just one more interesting point before we start. All of our weapons are the ones that peasants trained on during a period when they were forbidden to have weapons. So they trained with common farm implements. The kamas are basically scyths or harvesting instruments.



Below are some kama set demos. A newly done one (11/2009) by Mr Mike Sweeny where he performs it slowly. The second one is Jennifer performing at normal speed. The one lowest on the page is an old testing demo. The Kama Set is from Taekwondo as is kama set two. Want more info on how our system blends different martial arts traditions?



Mr Sweeny works from dawn to dusk and sometimes, his voice gets hoarse. Osu Mr. Mike.


This second one is of Jennifer which I found on YouTube, I think it posted by Christine Fingado who is one impressive kohai.

Kamaset Slow Instructional Video by Mr. Vince



Kamaset Full Speed Video by Mr. Vince



KamaSet Write-up

"Kata""Kama set"
Bow "Osu"

Hard bow left - Right hand punchHard bow right- Left hand punch

Circle set

Horse stance left- Both hands in mantis position right hand about shoulder level left hand parallel.
Cross stance- Right hand throat strike, left hand guard
Back leg front kick
Left hand v-cut, right hand v-cut, stomp and lower stance.

Horse stance right- Both hands in mantis position left hand about shoulder level right hand parallel.
Cross stance- Left hand throat strike, right hand guard
Back leg front kick
Right hand v-cut, left hand v-cut, stomp and lower stance.

Horse stance foreward- Both hands in mantis position right hand about shoulder level left hand parallel.
Right hand throat strike, left hand in guard
Back leg front kick, skip front kick, double back stirike (cross stance)

Horse stance back- Right hand in guard, left hand horizontal stab
Right hand throat strike
Back leg front kick, cross step, flying side kick
Plant horse stance, matis position.

Hands come across face to foreward horse stance
Mantis position, slide up round house, spink hook kick
Right hand guard, left hand horizontal stab
Spin hook, drop side kick
Spin up right, sezah one, left hand throat strike right hand guard

Circle set
Hard bow left
"USA!" v-cut foreward with right
Soft bow right
"USA!" v-cut foreward with left (added 2009)
"Black Belt Champions!"
left hand stab, right hand guard
Boot check "Asah!" Double back strike (relax stance)

Circle set,

Bow,

Courtesy.

KamaSet Summarized Writeup

With your kamas pointed down at your side...
kata - kata
kama set - kama set

bow

facing forward - punch left, punch right, circle set, position
turn left - right cut in, right front kick, left cut in/out, right cut/in out with stamp
facing right (do 180) do the same - left cut in, left front kick, right cut in/out, left cut in/out
face forward - right front kick, right skipping front kick finishing on right leg bent, left crossed behind
face backward (do 180) - side kick, two steps, (flying) side kick finishing in horse
face forward (do 180) - left forward side kick, spin clockwise 360 +180 to do a right spinning hook kick forward, finishing on ground, facing back, kicking up
finish by turning another 180

4 comments:

BBat50 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kath said...

Gee, I sure hope that JohnE isn't from my dojo or yours. At our dojo in New York we are told to encourage as we correct; not, for example, to call names.

I would like to see this redone now that you have a better understanding. I couldn't learn the Kata from this, but it is very useful using your description to help me review.

I've been following your blog for a while, as I've been about a year behind you. This summer I experienced a back injury (unrelated to karate) and had to drop out for a couple of months. Now I'm struggling to catch up and prepare for my red belt test and I find this blog very helpful. Thank you!

BBat50 said...

Kath - The JohnE who called the author of this blog a fool, and the blog's author, are the same person...me! It was a self-deprecating comment. In fact, I'm a very supportive teammate who uses some level of sarcasm and reverse psychology on myself. All the same, I deleted the "you fool" comment. thx for the reminder about how this can all get lost when others read it. Where do you train?

Anonymous said...

shouting out USA IN THE KATA VERY GUNHOE