Why don’t we study kata bunkai (meanings) in detail as part of the standard syllabus?
Bunkai is a very contentious issue, and it’s virtually impossible to find a consensus on what the meaning of kata is. The martial arts world’s greatest minds have spent decades trying to uncover the true meaning of kata, without definitive success. At the moment, bunkai is occasionally practiced at seminars, or on an arbitrary basis in classes. The problem is, many of the bunkai have been superceded by more effective modern self-defence techniques, so practicing outdated, less effective techniques from katas doesn’t make much sense.
