We’re excited to announce that Rohai Dojo’s 24th Annual/1st Online Kata Tournament, originally scheduled for Saturday, April 18th, is going to go forward!
- The entry date has been pushed back to April 26th
- We have reduced the entry fee (if you can’t afford the reduced fee, please let us know; we want you to take part!)
- The tournament will take place online, via submitted videos (see details below)
- Judging will be by panels of black belts, just as it would have been in person
- Winners and runners-up will be announced by teleconference, and awards will be distributed by mail or other appropriate means, based on the state of affairs in our community in May.
Who shoul
d take part? Everyone should take part! Our tournament is a friendly competition, suitable for all ages and ranks. We have divisions by belt level and age. In addition to our Traditional Kata competition, we have divisions for Open Kata (a form you create yourself), Weapons Kata (for higher ranks who practice a weapon), Family Team Kata (your family members need not be current students; you can teach them their parts!), and this year only (we hope), a special Creative Home Training Division for creative use of a home training space while performing a kata.
What if I’m new, or very young, and haven’t learned a kata yet? No problem. You have two good options: Create your 
own kata using a series of your best karate moves, and enter the Open Kata division for your age group; or learn and practice one of the beginner katas on video that Senseis John and Didi will upload for you.
Will judging be fair, if some people have better video equipment than others, or more practice making videos? Yes, it will be fair. Our black belt judges will follow guidelines to help them judge the quality of the performance, not the quality of the video itself. Judging a kata competition is difficult even under normal circumstances, and our judges always do their best to be fair. We’ll also be sending out tips for taking better videos.
Why are we doing this? Because practicing for the kata tournament makes you a better student in a hundred ways – and we don’t want you to miss that opportunity. It would have been easy just to cancel the tournament, or postpone it indefinitely. But every year, we see how much students improve their training when they focus in to prepare for competition. The greatest value is in the preparation; the competition itself is icing on the cake.
It won’t be quite the same, since you won’t have to put yourself on the spot, standing up in front of a panel of black belt judges. You can take as many tries as you need to make your best video. But that’s a different way of putting yourself on the spot – with its own set of challenges and benefits. We think it will be a great opportunity for all!
Here’s what you need to do, step by step.
- Decide which division(s) you plan to enter: Traditional Kata, Open Kata, Weapons (if eligible), Family Team, Special Creative Open division.
- Register online by clicking here. After you register, you will receive instructions on how and where to upload your competition video(s).
- Practice your kata(s), and practice having someone in your family help you take videos.
- When your competition video(s) are ready, upload them per the instructions you received. They will be categorized by age and division, and submitted to the judging panels.
**All videos must be uploaded by Sunday, April 26 at midnight Pacific Time.**
Please don’t hesitate to email us with questions. We look forward to hearing from you!
Rohai Dojo 