“Kata is Karate.” – Naonobu Ahagon 10th Dan Okinawa Shorin-Ryu Karate & Kobudo, holder of the Okinawa Prefecture Cultural Merit Award.
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Kata is a library of self-protection techniques in karate. Each kata creator encoded their specific knowledge into each movement of the kata they made. Kata are not simply a record of techniques; rather each and every kata is designed to record the key principles and strategies of a complete style of fighting.
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The concept of principles over techniques can be a difficult one to grasp. For a kata to become a fighting system it must be correctly studied and practiced. It is here that we find one of modern karate’s biggest failings, in that the kata are rarely studied sufficiently, and the kata today are mostly seen as a way to pass the next belt level, or used to perform in a competition or tournament.
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Memorization alone is not enough. Walking through kata, drills and techniques is not enough….. Why? Because karate, is based upon concepts and principles, not on techniques.
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Recorded within the kata you will find the fighting principles of its creator. The techniques are important, but not as important as the principles of combat behind the techniques. It is an understanding of these principles that will allow you freely and effectively express and use the kata in combat.
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Today, individuals and inexperienced instructors, jump from one art to the next trying to complete their martial arts training, adding more and more techniques.
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If it is self protection, then you should focus on learning correct self-defense principles, rather than techniques alone. Principles may save your life, techniques alone could get you into serious difficulty if applied incorrectly. 
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