Bunkai.

Everything in Karate is important, however,with the exception of Kata, Bunkai is probably the most important thing you will learn in karate with regard to combat.Kata and Bunkai are symbiotic, one is nothing without the other.It is in Bunkai the jigsaw will start to fit and the picture that is Karate will begin to be seen. You'll see how all the blocks, strikes, punches, kicks, body evasion, chokeholds, suri ashi and everything else you've been practising dovetail into techniques. Lower grades' bunkai will be fairly basic, that does NOT mean they are less effective, if done with purpose. Higher grades are slightly more difficult, but not so much as to make them too complex as to be unworkable, also high grades have the previous bunkai that were learned in their kyu grades to draw on. Sometimes your bunkai may not work in a situation, so always have a "Plan B" or"C" or even "D". In the international organisation that Norton Dojo belongs to, the I.O.G.K.F., all students are taught one "standard bunkai" from the techniques in each kata. Of course other "oyo" or "free" bunkai are taught and there's no reason you can't make your own up, but the "standard bunkai"ensures that students are proficient in at least these chosen bunkai.

The images below try to convey what and where the bunkai comes from in a kata. I look on kata/bunkai as a 3D book. You could never write in words how a Kata or Bunkai is executed, even in the Bubishi, the Bible of Martial Arts, pictures were used. Often the bunkai doesn't look like the technique in the kata, some are blatantly obvious, you can't disguise a punch! As said before on the site, images only show the end result not how the defender got into the position to counter. It must be stressed there are many bunkai to a particular kata techniques, that is why training in traditional karate can be practiced for many years.