Throughout history, kings have been known to restrict the fighting arts. They had to do this to prevent the peasants and average people from rebelling against their empires. As a result, the peasants developed a practice of the fighting arts that kept their combative applications hidden from anybody who watched them. Doing this was necessary to protect their families. Most of the fighting arts used throughout history consisted of a prearranged kumite between two men who participated in a choreographed fighting routine.

When an individual begins to learn karate, they are taught many combative applications that might seem simple or totally unrelated at first. The beginner is taught how to stand, how to throw a punch and how to block one. The new student is taught how to breath and how to focus. All of these lessons are meant to be the foundation for something bigger.

One of the first things a white belt learns is the kata. Unlike prearranged kumite, a kata is designed for a single person to practice against an invisible opponent. Each level of the fighting arts has a different kata. The basics of that particular rank are put into the form for the student to practice. The very first kata a student learns might be nothing more than how to move in a basic stance and coordinate punches and blocks in different directions. The complexity increases in direct proportion to the rank.

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