Karate Fighting Techniques: The Complete Kumite Hirokazu Kanazawa
Publisher: Kodansha International

That is, knowing how to do something and actually doing it are not the same. I've always been told that the introduction of the ball of foot, snapping mawashi geri to karate kihon (basics) and kumite (sparring - both restricted and free) only occurred in the 1950s - and that this is attributable to Gichin Funakoshi's son, Yoshitaka. To him, the kata he passed on were for this purpose, martial arts-fighting technique. Kata is kumite and kumite is kata! It occurs in every round in every MMA, Muay Thai, kickboxing, Chinese san shou and kyokushinkai "knockdown" karate fight, just as it occurs in non-contact sport karate. Practitioners of Karate-do have no limits. Little do some people know, as many kata as Asai Sensei introduced and engineered, he was actually 'kumite focused'. But principles alone don't win a fight. When doing kata everything must be about the display of effective techniques. Above & beyond training, I am in deep gratitude for the wonderful friendships I have made worldwide, as an instructor, and as an ongoing student of karate. Tournament champions come and go; they have a limited Lifespan. Overall, Karate has been my way of life, and is something I live everyday. Kata is like a living textbook of karate's techniques and their precise execution.