Learn to perform one kata well rather than three badly

Because we place a lot of importance upon your ability to perform kata well, many students think that this means that knowing more kata makes them better students. The only problem is, in their quest to learn lots of kata, they simply learn the basic steps and hand movements, without real understanding of the bunkai, or the finer points of execution. It's only as I really begin to know some of the kata well, that I realise just how much can be missing from a kata that may look pretty good to a novice.

I was judging at a recent tournament and I saw a lot of students attempting to perform kata well above their grade. Not once did such a student win - not because we (the judges) were biased, but because the kata were badly executed. However, on a rare occasion, I saw students perform kata below their grade (saifa for a red belt, for instance), and the kata were impressive. The students preferred to spend the time mastering the kata they had to know, rather than racing ahead and becoming novices at lots of kata. It impressed me all the more because these students had the confidence in their karate not to feel the need to show off what kata they knew.