Studying kata at home

When learning kata should I know the principles the kata is trying to convey before I practice the techniques, or should I discover the principles by practising the techniques?

Why not study and practice ? They are not exclusive of each other.

My mistake, when I study kata at home I am also practising the techniques.

To give you the most helpful reply, please tell us what kata are you studying, what is your judo level, and do you know any kata at all.

I am mainly studying the Ju no kata, but also looking at the Kime no kata and Goshin jutsu. I am a 1st kyu with a brief knowledge of the Nage and Katame no kata.

classicschmosby wrote:I am mainly studying the Ju no kata, but also looking at the Kime no kata and Goshin jutsu. I am a 1st kyu with a brief knowledge of the Nage and Katame no kata.

Thats a lot to take in, why not be competent at nnk and knk that in itself is a life time study, work on the others when you have the time, getting your skill set to achieve dan grade should take up most of your time on the mat and mentally working on how best to get there when not on the mat.
Shadow practicing is ok a partner and mat is where you need to be.

I practice at home with a partner and a limited mat area but am not able to throw due to minimal space, I intend to go over the KNK when I get Draegers book on the randori no kata.

classicschmosby wrote:I practice at home with a partner and a limited mat area but am not able to throw due to minimal space, I intend to go over the KNK when I get Draegers book on the randori no kata.

I'm a little lost here why would a 1st kyu not be learning the randori no kata can you give some information as to your clubs background and how you have achieved your brown belt.

I have begun learning the NNK but there is little focus on kata where I train. I am a BJA 1st kyu, the BJA only require the first set of the NNK for 1st kyu and 1st dan so any other kata knowledge is from books/videos and home practice.

classicschmosby wrote:I am mainly studying the Ju no kata, but also looking at the Kime no kata and Goshin jutsu. I am a 1st kyu with a brief knowledge of the Nage and Katame no kata.

Ju-no-kata is very enjoyable. I trained at a dojo in New York where all students would do a few sets of ju-no-kata as part of warm up. It's good if you don't have space to throw.

classicschmosby wrote:I have begun learning the NNK but there is little focus on kata where I train. I am a BJA 1st kyu, the BJA only require the first set of the NNK for 1st kyu and 1st dan so any other kata knowledge is from books/videos and home practice.

Ah right was thinking you home studied and got you 1st kyu from showing a few throws
Where abouts are you in good old blighty may be able to guide you a little.

jkw wrote:

classicschmosby wrote:I am mainly studying the Ju no kata, but also looking at the Kime no kata and Goshin jutsu. I am a 1st kyu with a brief knowledge of the Nage and Katame no kata.

Ju-no-kata is very enjoyable. I trained at a dojo in New York where all students would do a few sets of ju-no-kata as part of warm up. It's good if you don't have space to throw.

Jnk BJA it don't exist only amongst those like the op who wants to explore all of judo.
Its funny though I came across an old BJA syllabus just for women jnk was in the low kyu grades so once upon time someone in the BJA could teach it.

I went on a BJA ju-no-kata course last weekend.

To the OP, kata practice is to improve your judo and with your experience you need to be focusing on the randori-no-kata - nage and katame. Forget about the kime and goshinjutsu for now. Get the book "Judo Formal Techniques" by Otaki and Draeger and read it from cover to cover. It will help your judo no end.

If you like you can use ju-no-kata as a warmup.

medo wrote:

classicschmosby wrote:I have begun learning the NNK but there is little focus on kata where I train. I am a BJA 1st kyu, the BJA only require the first set of the NNK for 1st kyu and 1st dan so any other kata knowledge is from books/videos and home practice.

Ah right  was thinking you home studied and got you 1st kyu from showing a few throws  
Where abouts are you in good old blighty may be able to guide you a little.

I'm in the south-east, I'm planning on occasionally going to a kata class run by two ijf kata judges but will not not be able to do that too regularly.

Jonesy wrote:I went on a BJA ju-no-kata course last weekend.

.

Excellent got to say 5/20 yrs ago when I took my players to BJA clubs and warmed up with jnk everyone wonderer what the hell was going on.

How well was it attended the kata mat at most BJC events tends to be full, Mrs Wyman worth spending time with

classicschmosby wrote:

medo wrote:

classicschmosby wrote:I have begun learning the NNK but there is little focus on kata where I train. I am a BJA 1st kyu, the BJA only require the first set of the NNK for 1st kyu and 1st dan so any other kata knowledge is from books/videos and home practice.

Ah right  was thinking you home studied and got you 1st kyu from showing a few throws  
Where abouts are you in good old blighty may be able to guide you a little.

I'm in the south-east, I'm planning on occasionally going to a kata class run by two ijf kata judges but will not not be able to do that too regularly.

Ok you know where to go its better to be shown by someone who understands whats going on before you pick up bad habits so many experts on youtube and books can be misread or understood.

Every BJA kata course that I have attended (and I have run some of them at our venue with guest instructors) have always been well attended.
The last one we did was Goshin. I am very lucky in that near our area we have 2 very good kata practitioners who have medalled in the World kata champs.
I will be honest though that even as a sandan, I have only dipped my toe into the vast pool that is kime, goshin and go no sen. Never tried ju no.
I have enough on my plate with nnk and knk at the moment.

tafftaz wrote:Every BJA kata course that I have attended (and I have run some of  them at our venue with guest instructors) have always been well attended.
The last one we did was Goshin. I am very lucky in that near our area we have 2 very good kata practitioners who have medalled in the World kata champs.
I will be honest though that even as a sandan, I have only dipped my toe into the vast pool that is kime, goshin and go no sen. Never tried ju no.
I have enough on my plate with nnk and knk at the moment.

Thats the problem I was taught nnk and knk from the age of 13 had to perform all sets as a 2nd kyu junior at 16 for my first senior grading my kata skills and line up wins ment I got my 1st kyu but it took 3yrs to get my dan grade by then I could do jnk without thinking about it.  jnk was popular in our club as a mid session mat return warm up you passed your knowledge onto other members as you and they got warm .
Learning kata fresh at dan grade when your bodies tuned for competition makes for the usual excuse "kata is for when I retire from competition"

In all fairness medo I tend to agree, but I did start too learn nnk and knk when I was a kyu grade. My sensei made sure that I started from early in my senior judo career.
However, unlike yourself I did not learn any kata before I was 15-16 as I was in and out of judo due to trying my hand at rugby and football for a few years.