The Psychology behind Kata

Practitioners of traditional Japanese martial arts are all too familiar with "kata", the various series of techniques that must be learned, memorized, and practiced until they can be performed to perfection. The concept actually also applies to other non-martial art activities like flower arrangement or the famous tea ceremony.

One hypothesis (that will need some heavy fact checking):

It mainly has to do with Japanese society being under a brutal, samurai-enforced, military dictatorship for nearly 700 years. Under Shogun rule, non-conformity and standing out could mean instant death by the sword.

The quasi-solution? Keep your head down and quietly perform your duties. Do so to such an extreme that every step of your daily life is perfectly rehearsed and performed exactly in a way that will keep the ruling samurai from getting pissed off and decapitating you and everyone you associate with. Therefore, perform a kata daily to perfection or die.

Something for you martial artists to think about the next time you're trying to "perfect" your kata.