Blindfolded Kata, can you see the purpose?

This is a old training method that it is great for students to try and do as well as practice some doing especially if we are talking about weapons training. Even some of your simpler self-defense techniques you should be able to do with your eyes closed or blind-folded rather than relying on your sight and I would practice them all the time along with rolling with people and jujitsu.

There are several benefits to this and training some like this which is why it was done and still is today by those that want to reach that next higher level of execution, knowledge, and ability. First of all when you instead rely on your sight all the time then that is a fraction slower in execution for things usually. This is because visually your mind and brain is using that which it visually sees and then transmitting messages back to those muscles that you are using in executing something. Being able to do it by feel without relying on your sight cuts that fraction of a second out.

You will find this especially true with weapons training and with a bo, nunchucku, and kama if I try to rely on my sight and use that I have to slow things down that I am doing with those weapons. Instead by not watching and relying on my sight and instead using the feel of the weapon and knowing where it is by the weight of it and the pressure of it in my hands I can do things much quicker.

Another aspect to this as it pertains to kata is that doing your kata or form with your eyes closed will quickly tell you if you are inconsistent in your stances and turns. With basic kata and forms especially you should end up back at that place you started facing the same direction. Your instructor sees those inconsistencies when he tests you as well. I ask students which stance and/or turn is right then? The same stance and/or turn can't be right if the stance or turn is done repeatedly but yet is different-some of them have to be off or wrong.

Lastly there are those situations and techniques which you have to know and do by feel. Street situations for instance don't always happen in well lit areas and I have had to restrain and subdue someone in a situation where there was almost no light. Look at some of your techniques in MMA or Judo and jujitsu or BJJ and how many times a fighter or person can't actually see that which they are doing and instead have to rely on touch and feel. When someone has your back for instance and you defending that is a good example I think. Many of your throws rely on you not seeing directly what you are doing but instead estimating things and knowing and feeling things rather than actually being able to see them as you do them.

Developing your technique, skill, and understanding of things to a point where you don't have to rely on sight all the time will help push you to that next level of skill and ability with those things; especially those things that rely more on feel and touch rather than you actually being able to visually see them.

On a basic level, kata contains the catalog of techniques in a given system. The main disconnect is that the vast majority can't adequately explain what those techniques really are. As a result, many students are taught that such-and-such a move is a block, when that was not the original intention, for example. On another level, kata can be great forms of exercise. The tempo is similar to that of a real fight, with lots of movement throughout. If you keep up the intensity, it's one step closer to preparing for a self-defense situation. I think that kata can be a great training tool if used correctly. That being said, I have never trained kata in a way that I felt was ideal, though I've seen other teachers do a much better job of making kata training realistic.

Yes I've done it. Yes we currently do this. There are a variety of reason to do this. I'll give a few.

Many students look down at their feet. Blindfolding will prevent this.

Many students look at others when doing kata. They don't know the kata or they don't have confidence in what they know.

Blindfolding student will help develop more muscle memory over relying on what you can see.

Not only do we blindfold we use other methods. If a student only does kata facing the front of the class they will have a difficult time the first time you have them do the kata facing in a different direction.They will make an adjustment based on what they are seeing. Therefore we have them do kata facing north, east, south, and west. It can be done on any angle as a starting point. Also when doing kata you should end back up in the spot that you started.

We also will mix things up. Every student starts the kata together, but the person next to you is facing a different direction when they begin the kata. If you try it you will be amazed at how many will not end the kata where they are supposed to end. Some will end up facing the same direction as the person next to them. Others will not know where to end or when to end. Eventually these student will learn not to rely on seeing he person next to them or mimicking the kata based upon the direction they are facing.

Even in judo we had to fight blindfolded. Then we had to rely on sensitivity instead of our eyes. We learn to feel our opponents movements and position.

I also coach basketball. To show them the importance of muscle memory and doing the same thing the same way each time I teach my team to shoot free throws the same exact way. Of course everyone wants to do it their own way. Then I demonstrate me shooting free throws blindfolded. I make a shot. They can't believe it. I make a few more now they are starting to buy in. Then I move to another spot and still make it. I have everyone's attention and they want to shoot like me because it works.

Back to martial arts. Blindfolding is not a huge part of what we do, but we do use it sparingly. I use the other methods more frequently. I have noticed too that some students will be off balance the first time you blindfold them and they try to turn.

I've not only hear fo it but i have done it. But the benefits (as far as I'm concerned) don't justify spending a lot of time on doing it.

What I do recommend is doing your Kata starting facing a different direction. My second Sensei, back in the late 1960's and early 1970's would always have us practice Kata facing the same way. but during testing for rank promotion, he would have us face a different direction. Many students had trouble doing a Kata they thought they knew well, when asked to start it facing a direction that was different from the way they were used to doing it.

For a while I experimented with this and found that we tend to associate various moves in the Kata with what our eyes are seeing at the time. no a subconscious level we become confused if we see things that are different than what our subconscious is used to.

So I tell my students to learn a Kata and practice it facing one direction. Then when they think they are good at it they should change the direction they face often as they practice it.

We have five senses. what we forget is we are taking in and consciously and unconsciously processing the information they give us. We will then without even knowing it come to feel things are not right when things are not all the same.

I suggest anyone that is used to doing they Kata/forms in the same place and facing the same direction change that and see how it effects your Kata/form.

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Yes, blindfolds remove visual cues. Ideally, all students perform kata identically. Blindfolds can be used as a tool to encourage proper kata performance.

Yes, but the only real benefit is augmenting your sense of balance. For most people, their sense of balanced is very reliant on visual clues.

Here is a simple demonstration: stand up and raise one of your leg slowly, then do the same thing with your eyes closed. Unless you have an unusual highly developed sense of balance, you will notice some difficulties such as a wobble in your stance and that is just from a static posture.

One of the things I like to do is my forms in low light conditions or darkness. It adds a level of difficulty that forces me to listen to the other senses beside sight. The point as in all other training in martial art is to let your body and mind learn to overcome a steady increasing degrees of difficulties much as a bodybuilder start out with low weights and gradually increase it over time so his body become more and more acclimated to high resistance.

Here is another thought for your consideration: have you ever done your forms in mirror image?

Yes! I do this as a drill from time to time. It is a valid training exercise. I do it with students who are comfortable doing the form, and attempt to distract them in a number of ways, so that they focus on what they're doing, and are not relying on the environment for queues. Often, we perform forms facing in the same directions, and when we change directions we get disoriented and cannot perform the form. This happens when students compete in forms, and this exercise is good to help them not to rely on what they're used to seeing.

along the blindfolded eyes, I will play loud distracting music - rock, hiphop, and everyone's favorite opera. Also, I'll toss pillows or focus mats at them, and during the summer, we'll shoot them with water guns and in the winter we shoot with nerf guns. And kids standing on the side will make burp and fart sounds, and other sounds deemed funny (who can't resist laughing at that?)

It's a good way to deviate from the tedious monotony that doing forms can bring on. As long as a proper lesson can be justified. I've seen instructors have students perform the forms backwards, I have trouble justifying this. But they are nevertheless training exercises to help perfect the thing that is in of itself a training exercise.

I know at least one purpose it serves is fighting in the dark. Combat, be it war or otherwise can take place in arenas where things are pitch black. I know for night land nav I've had to walk through a forest and a desert-like region and I could barely see a few feet in front of me if that. In the real world, I can only imagine if you're doing a movement to contact and all of the sudden you're within arms reach of your opponent.

...scary stuff...

It teaches body control. When you are blindfolded, you cannot use visual cues for foot placement. Doing the form blindfolded will train you to place your body in the correct position even though you cannot see what you are doing.

In Hapkido we not only do forms blindfolded, but we also do drills blindfolded as well. It's about adaptation of the senses. You learn to "feel" and focus on self awareness to depend on and abandon eyesight all together. We actually do this quite regularly, but only us senior practitioner do it in a randori like fashion. For the rest of them, including us seniors as well still, it's practiced in stand alone drills to train not only awareness, but fear and confidence as well.