Kata have long been used as a method of examining Karate students for their next belt. Often the emphasis in practice has been on the performance of the art rather than on what the moves are actually used for. A prime exampple of this is found in the kata Bassai Dai , which is often used for students to obtain the Black Belt rank. Translated as to storm a fortress, major version , this kata is usually misunderstood. Author John Burke takes us through the kata and shows some of the things normally taught, and why they won’t work, and then gives realistic and practical alternatives to make sure that students of real self defence get value from and have a use for their kata.