Kata Competition

All styles of karate have kata but some emphasize its practice more than others. Although kata differs from style in most of the traditional karate styles, the katas have a lot of similarity because they originate from Okinawan karate masters. Although recently the practice of kata has been on the decline, its practice is still important, especially in the Japanese and Okinawan karate systems.

Another major form of karate competition is kata competition. Here contestants perform a chosen kata and are graded by 5 or 6 judges on a scale of 0 to 10. Each judge awards a score and usually the top and bottom scores are deleted. The remainder is added together to form an overall score for the contestant. After everyone has competed, the highest scoring kata competitor is declared the winner.

Kata is usually judged on good form, appropriate speed and power, correct breath control and correct direction of movement. In the US, kata competition is often divided into soft style, hard style and weapons. Recently a new innovation, musical kata, has come into prominence. Here contestants perform kata music and are judged not just on form but on showmanship and how well the music and kata coincide.