My understanding that by practising performance of kata alone then it is of little use in self defence.

But karate is much more than that isnt it, applciation drills and conditioning come to mind,

amongst other things - use these training methods with the tool of kata practise and we have a different animal.

outside of the historical transmition of karate, the body/mind/spirit excersise value in kata performance and the introduction of techniques leading to understanding of core principles I view it at about 5% significance in karate practise, everything else is drills, fixed then non fixed using the common methods of assault as defence scenarios, ho many karateka train accordingly??????

kata makes what we do karate, and that is important to me. I no longer use the term performance, I prefer the term 'study' and ultimatly thats about application practise, this is sure to change as I get older and deeper into the art.