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Dear Mr. Henriksson:

As Mr. Robison indicated, we are very fortunate to be getting an article with comments by the eminent Inoue Sensei. I will refrain from any comment of my own and and wait with great expectation to hearing Inoue Sensei's discourse.

Concerning Mr. Henriksson's direct quesiton about percent of time spent on kata study. Even here in Japan, very few will pick up and start practice of kata on their own.

In my own club, the greater portion of members are beginners, so I spend our valuable time on basic excercises. Once, the mean level rises, I intend that we will practice kata as a quarter of our time.

In four other practices I normally attend, people usually only practice prior to promotion tests. Here in Japan, there are usually promotion tests going on a couple times a year, with the different dan-groups at different times, including some at differing locations. Such being the case, someone is usually preparing for his/her test 4, 5, 6 times a year. Whenever anyone is practicing, I join in to their practice. Each period consisting of several weeks, with 4-6 periods per year provides a good deal of practice. Add to this, three or 4 seminars per year, kata represents a good deal of my practice time.

It might be worthwhile to survey the nature and extent of kata practice around the world. What are your experiences?

MK