Should every martial arts style be more unified or have more individuality to them?

Is it better to have say kempo or TKD have an overall organization that sets the uniformed standards of all ranks and their teaching information leaving it up to the teachers to teach it their way but all schools doing it the same way, or is it better to have styles as they are today mostly individual where kata may vary slightly from one school to another yet you are both say TKD or Kempo? As a judge for tournaments I find it sometimes hard to judge Kata or forms when you see say Hion Shodan done say three slightly differant ways, how do you say which is correct and which is not or if the student is just making a mistake or was taught that way? Some form of Unity should exist i think, but I would not want to lose what makes some schools better than others and that is its Individuality and style of teaching. What do you all think?

Should every martial arts style be more unified or have more individuality to them?
Good question. I am a former competitor and have been in many diffeerant leagues with of course many differant sets of rules. I often find myself being judged by those who are lower rank than I being a Sandan, I should not have a Shodan judging my form IMO.





I think a better formity within styles is a good idea like all members of the JKA follow one set of rules with Shotokan, but not all Shotokan schools are JKA so the uniformity exists only within that small structure. It would be great to have all Shotokan artists perform their kata the same way as taught by Master Funokoshi taught.





So my advice is when you are judging, for I have done that as well as be a competitor, I would look for the bests quility in their form in accordance to their rank. YOu cannot expect a yelow belt to perform as well as a Brown belt so you have to set your standards for each rank you judge. If a move looks differant than what you know so long as it looks properly executed and not sloppy then dont count it as a negative, look at the execution of the form itself and how they perform each move even if some differ from what you may know.





Thats the best short answer I can give without getting into a thesis.





I hope that helps.





I think all the advice given so far is good and you should take a bit from what we are all saying for advice to think about.
Reply:As it happens there's no really good answer for your question.


With respect to combative use, the forms evolve over time, and different practitioners/teachers adapt a given form to their own preferences, attributes, talents, and influences. If they're getting the most out of the form, they'll also consciously practice it different ways at different times (short, long, low, high, as percussion, as grappling, etc.) That's a good thing, and even if it weren't, it's inevitable.





But for tourney judging, you have to work against some sort of standard, and practically speaking, there isn't one. Ideally, the tournament rules should specify the tolerance level for deviations from a given standard, so that you're deducting for the student's deviations from the form as he learned it, and not that whole school's deviations from the form as you learned it.


BUT -- most tourney rules don't specify this sort of thing; they just assume that if you made black belt you're qualified to judge blue belt forms, or whatever they happen to need judges for that hour. And truth be known, the situation as it now stands may be the best solution. The kenpo community in particular is, well, let's say 'known for being a little fractured.' Trying to develop and impose a set of standards would step on people's toes and introduce further controversy into a community that already has too much.
Reply:The problem is in how one takes or mixes up standards.





For some, standard of performance is a FORM and SHAPE to follow (whereas it is a qualification standard), for others the standard is a DYNAMIC PATTERN to follow.





So, martial arts Performance should be judged on HOW (powerful, "goalful", effective, synergic, integrated, interactive, etc.) they deliver a punch, a kick, a block or any other functional technic, not the FORM/SHAPE to copy. Here the term jing (impulse, wave, inerta, whip wave) will make things clear.





I believe, this approach will lead to specific dynamic standards to regard and resolve your dilemma. Of course only good masters are able to do and judge that. For me there is no dilemma. Styles can be whatever they want, but judgement should be closer to the greatest judge of all - the fight. And here, styles would not matter, but the degree to which martial artists can go to apply their skills. Want to kick friend's asses, wrestlig is good, want to survive, the kungfu.





Say, you want to judge a man on a rope in the circus. What standards would you impose for his/her evaluation? How would you know one's level, no matter of his past training?





There are qualification "standards", or rather requirements for different belt level QUALIFICATION evaluation. But at the contest Performance ALL shall be judged no matter what rank, experience, weight, height, sex, and all. Because it is martial art, eventually, one may oppose any kind of opponent and in grater number!





Additional message to Anastasya,





Still sounds like the dilemma is whether to evaluate a Copy of a Form or a Performance within the Form? Even super masters PERFORM one and the same Form differently, so judgement should be on the DYNAMICS when evaluating black-belts or any contestants, and on FORM when evaluating color-belts qualification for a specific school. Thus they will qualify for your School style (believes), not Martial arts exactly.
Reply:interesting question and i'm sure you wont get two answers the same.and i'm not 100% sure i can give a complete answer,not without putting a bit more thought into it anyway.and not here either.


if your asking should all ma combine and have 1 ma? no


or should 1 particular style teach everything the same? yes.thats how it should be anyway.


it doesn't matter what style you do it's always a problem with students being taught differently.if you get a new student from another dojo within your style and they do things different all you can do is correct them,their not wrong it's theyv'e been taught wrong,as for judging and grading i think they should be judged on the level their at and if it,s wrong it,s thier instructor that needs to be spoken to.and if theyv'e been taught wrong same thing and so on up the line.if everyone from the top down is taught exactly the same way everything should be the same all the way down to the newest white belt.and it shouldn't matter what part of the world they are.what do you reckon the chances of that are?when i mentioned they should be judged on the level their at i meant if say a green belt is doing say sanchin kata well they should be judged on the level you would expect a green belt to be.but if a black belt is doing sanchin kata it should be flawless.thats just one example.


katas and techniques etc should be the same throught out the same system it's the experience and aggression and things like that of the individual senseis that set one dojo apart from another.


at the end of the day you must realise that ppl are taught differently and make allowances for that.obviously thiers a lot more to it but it's a bit hard to give a complete answer here.i think


i understood the basis of your question?anyway i hope i covered it even though it was a basic answer.
Reply:Greater unity %26amp; consistance would be a good thing, but I don't see it happening, especially in the US. There are no universally recognized governing bodies so any one can (%26amp; many do) form their own organizations %26amp; award themselves high rank.
Reply:Water is formless and shapeless. If we practice the martial science and the art of expressing it-standardizing martial arts will stifle it. To me its all about the individual and what works best for him or her.
Reply:Martial arts should evolve not with either goal in mind, they should focus on what is effective and throw the rest of the stuff out because if it isn't effective or serve a purpose (such as body conditioning) then it is crap.





Why strive to be like everyone else when you have your own way of doing things that is effective or more effective?





Why strive to be different to find something else that works just to find something different.





The focus should be on finding something that is effective, and if it works and is similar then fine, if it works and is different then fine.





The focus should be on quality not aesthetics.





How does this apply to organizations?





Well organizations will inevitably base thier decisions and "unity" on who is the best kiss ***. There will be a stagnation and effort not to recognize new things and evolve, but an effort to keep things the same as they are in the style, that doesn't promote new concepts or modifications or interpretations of old concepts.


This will also create a "favoritism" or political agenda on behalf of certain people, promoting and supporting those who don't deserve support.





Truthfully I think bullshido.net has the right Idea, a uniform organization that goes around exposing frauds and bs artists with live video footage as proof. And certain safeguards so it can't be interfered with. Kind of like a "better business bearau of martial arts". There could be a database of bad schools and a uniform and checked system of intependant school reviews.
Reply:I'd love to see that, but I'm not holding my breath. There are no universally recognized governing bodies in the US, %26amp; egos will always prevent unification.