What does 'kata' mean?
Find out what kata means. Kata is explained by Sadie S Forsythe - author of The Weeping Empress
kata
detailed, choreographed patterns of movements practiced either solo or in pairsSearch result for 'kata' in The Weeping Empress
Chapter 2:
Chapter 2
"...Chiyo looked over the two samurai, as she had decided to call them. It seemed to fit. Certainly their weaponry was that of the East, or what she knew of it. Their blades were closer to katana than broadswords. They wore loose-fitting, silk clothing instead of leather or armor. They seemed to share the tenet of bujutsu that valued silence as an estimable quality. They certainly weren’t knights in shining armor, and Camelot wouldn’t have invited them to the table.
..."
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Chapter 4:
Chapter 4
"...Returning to her side Muhjah demonstrated a basic kata, sliding his front foot back into a catlike stance while bringing his sword high over his head and then stepping forward while slicing downward in a basic strike. He did it a number of times and then observed and corrected Chiyo until she had decently replicated it.
..."
"...He looked at her for a long time. She seemed calm. Certainly her form had improved. She rarely needed correction in her kata anymore. She could flow from one strike to another with apparent ease. At Senka’s insistence she hadn’t used any of her practice with an opponent, however. He had said, if she couldn’t make the transition from skill to practice unassisted, she wouldn’t be able to learn enough this late ..."
"...It would have been better to remain in the meadow; the forest wasn’t particularly conducive to pitched sword fights. Both Muhjah and Senka carried wakizashi for such situations. Being shorter—twenty inches compared to the katana’s twenty-four to twenty-nine inches—they allowed for greater movement. But Chiyo had no such weapon. Hers was too long for the confined space. Yet again she felt herself a hindrance to them. Senka silently traded blades with her. He made a sour face a he deftly tested its weight and ..."
118.
"... balance.
Chiyo gasped at the weight of the weapon she had been handed. It was significantly heavier than the pilfered katana she had been using and heavier than Muhjah’s own wakizashi that she used outside of Danbire. That Senka wielded it with such ease was surely miraculous.
The three ..."
"...Senka flowed behind her, always at her back. He struck low, keeping Chiyo’s katana below the branches and aiming primarily for the femoral artery. Chiyo vaguely noticed that his normal grand dancing style faded as he adjusted his movements to be small and tight and avoid entanglement. His attacks looked almost like beestings that left their victims lightheaded and confused at their sudden ..."
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Chapter 5:
Chapter 5
"...Chiyo had never seen their penchant for violence cross paths with one for sex. It endeared them in her eyes and increased her own sense of deviance and guilt. In order to drive this and everything else away, she practiced kata every day, becoming strong and skilled. She challenged Muhjah regularly and Senka occasionally—whenever she saw the rare signs that he would be willing. Senka was strict and unforgiving as ever, but Chiyo never lacked a sense of profound accomplishment at the end.
..."
"...fingers. She couldn’t make sense of its presence, and she simply gaped at the beautifully embroidered complex patterns weaving in and out of themselves. The colors were deep, and the figures vivid. It was strikingly out of place in the warriors’ small camp. Senka removed his sageo, laying his katana gently aside, and used it as a tasuki—tieing her sleeves back.
..."
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Chapter 6:
Chapter 6
"...The two spent the evening discussing the details. Guibniu had acquired his reputation by making high-quality, dependable weapons, tools for bringing death, but he had made his fortune making ceremonial daisho that probably never saw battle. Swords that never left their katana kake were useless in Guibniu’s eyes. Their steel might remain firm, but their soul died.
..."
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Chapter 7:
Chapter 7
"...each exhale, making it feel foggier that it was. Just short of freezing, the dew hung heavy on the leaves overhead and challenged the wax waterproofing of leather-clad feet on the grass. Filat watched Chiyo from the shadows as she finished the last slow, laborious stage of a complex kata. Her sleeves were rolled up despite the chill and her cheeks were flushed. She looks tired, he thought. I don’t think she’ll give us too much trouble.
..."
"...he was twelve, he presented himself to Nukpana and asked to be properly trained. He had been rebuffed and sent away. However, he and Senka, who was four years younger, seemed to develop a quiet understanding. In the evenings Muhjah snuck onto the lot, and he and Senka practiced kata together. After six weeks, Nukpana had accepted Muhjah as a student on the condition that he and Senka remained together. Muhjah had functioned as a chaperone of sorts. It had been the closest thing to a friend Nukpana had ever seen Senka develop, not that he cared about Senka’s ..."
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Chapter 12:
Chapter 12
"...Knuckles white, she gripped the katana, looking for someone on whom to release her wrath. She looked around and saw that all of her enemies were dead. She screamed and bellowed like a lioness that had been denied her kill at the end of a long hunt. She swung the blade back and forth desperately. ..."
