On June 1^st and 2^nd the BJA held a National two-day course on Nage No Kata and Katame No Kata led by Kodokan 8^th Dan – Iura Yoshihiko, an acknowledged expert on kata, currently living and working in Iceland.

The course was held at St Albans Judo Club and it is planned to run a similar course in the North of England in January 2020. Iura Yoshihiko likes to be referred to as Yoshi and he is also planning to deliver a Kata course in the Southern Area in November 2019.

The BJA have recently established a new Kata Sub-Group, which is part of the Promotions Commission Chaired by Andrew Haffner. This is the first event since the group comprising of Llyr Jones, Paul Jordan, Duncan Kinnear and Dave Horton-Jones as staff lead, was formed. It was refreshing to see that Yoshi’s approach to Kata was exactly the same as the sub-groups approach to Kata –  aiming to make the techniques more effective and logical.

There was a great turn out for both days with approximately 40 judoka each day. Yoshi was friendly and helpful, encouraging and improving all on the course from the younger contest players to the older coaches.

Dave Horton-Jones, Head of Grading Development and course organiser commented “Everyone really enjoyed the course and it became clear how the judokas knowledge and understanding of the throws, holds, armlocks and strangles had improved, contributing to their judo development and next promotion.”

The next major Kata event in the UK will be the British Kata Championships running at Samurai Judo club in Kidderminster on October 13^th 2019. As with the recent National course, the aim is about development , feedback and improvement so the Championship format has been changed to meet these aims. Details are on the BJA website https://bja.platform81.com/event/british-kata-championships-2019/ .

There is no need to be an expert to enter, just watch the videos on the BJA website, attend the many BJA Kata courses available, download the appropriate free text books and practice. The main aim is for you to enjoy the championships and leave knowing more than you did at the start of the event

http://kodokanjudoinstitute.org/en/docs/Kata%20textbook%20Nage%20no%20Kata%202nd%2020150415.pdf

http://kodokanjudoinstitute.org/en/docs/katame_no_kata.pdf

http://kodokanjudoinstitute.org/en/docs/kime_no_kata.pdf

http://kodokanjudoinstitute.org/en/docs/ju_no_kata.pdf

http://kodokanjudoinstitute.org/en/docs/goshin_jutsu.pdf