While my weapons perspective is limited to one style, my empty-hand training spans three styles and thirty-seven years. Though I can only claim depth of knowledge in my current style of Goju, I spent enough time at Tae Kwon Do (old style, Shorin Ryu derived) and Ishin Ryu to have a good sense of both systems. My transition to Goju Ryu was due to the lack of specific application definition within the other systems kata. Looking back across the three, I can now see that the structure of the lower level, basic kata is largely to blame. It seems that the application paradigm used to construct the, much younger, basic kata also got applied, analytically, to the older, classical kata as well. This overlay renders some troubling inconsistencies in technique when applied to the classical kata and leads me to conclude that the classical kata were constructed from a very different perspective. This inconsistency is what drives the generally accepted view that the techniques in kata have no specific definition and can be construed in any way one sees fit. What hubris to think that the authors of the classical kata were so inept that they would construct non-specific kata. Why be specific when it's just your life on the line?
My bet is that the specificity of the imbedded applications within the classical kata got lost along the way (over time). The movement was retained and the meaning became generic through the loss of the original application intent. That loss of definition led to the construction of the basic kata as a means to satisfy our need for definition and understanding. This is grossly evident in the many publications and practitioners that promote "any" interpretation of kata as valid and in the theatrical performance methodologies that are now accepted and validated through artistic competitions.
The same problem seems to exist in Okinawan weapons styles today. It's obvious, from performance methodologies, that the application concepts imbedded in the basic kata also get applied to the classical kata. So much so that the major application training is from the basic kata and the classical kata are then rendered through the same looking-glass.
Dispensing with the basic kata and concentrating on the classical kata can lead to a much different application paradigm that doesn't stretch the credibility of the movement through simplicity of thought. Give those folks some credit, they weren't engaged in an artistic pursuit, they were training for actual combat.
