Cambridge Karate Club

English - Bright Mirror

The name of this kata is said to derive from the opening hand movements, which resemble polishing or looking in a mirror. It seems to have derived from an ancient kata called Rohai, which had several versions.

This is another kata in which there is variation in the way in which it is performed. In our club, we use a gedan-barai in the first time through the blocking and punching sequence, an uchi-uke the second time through and an age-uke the third time. This is the way in which Sensei Kanazawa performs the kata. Other clubs and associations use gedan-barai the first two times, and uchi-uke the third time.

Video links

Videos from YouTube.

Sensei Kanazawa

Fast and then slow. As noted above, he performs this kata as we do in the Cambridge club.

Sensei Ohta

A powerful performance, but with the alternative sequence of blocks.