Kateda

Kateda is a self defense martial art. Its origins are claimed to be somewhere in the area of South Asia and/or South East Asia and is claimed to date from 1000 BC or even earlier; its teachers say it "was one of many knowledges that existed at that time". Various different stories of its origins exist, but a common theme is that it originated in the Tibetan Himalayas and was then taken to Indonesia.
Kateda was first described in English by Lionel Nasution in his 1984 book Kateda. The book is now extremely rare and laid out sketchy details of various aspects of Central Power. It also laid out the idea of a New World Peace Force. It is unknown whether this book is a translation of the original leather volume found by Tagashi, or to what extent it is an original work.
Kateda was originally used for self-protection against the harsh Himalayan environment and as a basic training for maintaining a natural and healthy lifestyle. The book Kateda says that it is based on seven elements: bravery, challenges, leadership, sacrifices, togetherness, peace, and knowledge.. Keeping this in mind, one could say Kateda, or Kixa training, offers a good solution to living a peaceful life, in a simplistic setting, being able to defend oneself from outside attack, and happy with one's state; this scenario may be considered ideal in more natural conditions to those offered by modern society, although it could be suited to those to whom money is not a concern. This unsuitability, attributed to Kateda's focus on physical self defence and peace of mind, could be made up for if Kateda training incorporated intellectual development in order to deal with modern society. The opening of central halls at various locations incorporates an educational program incorporating such aspects, as well as existing ones, one could see Kateda attaining sustained popularity; however, this sort of approach would have to be initially targeted towards a wide, open minded audience, the likes of which may be found in the third world, and introduced in analogy to introduction of education to wider audiences in England by the advent of public schools in the 1300s.
Training
Training is usually conducted once- or twice-weekly and takes place in a mixed class of all degrees of proficiency, lead by a black belt or higher. Students practice the basic movements, numbered 1 to 10, a series of combination movements, numbered 11 to 20, and Central Power.
Some say they felt a high comparable to those attained by use of hard drugs through the training. This may be caused by the rush of endorphins and sympathetic drive created through such strenuous exercise.
One can only think of the results if one combined weight training with kixa training on the acquired physical strength one may gain.
Sparring and fighting
Although Kateda is a spectacularly aggressive martial art with heavy emphasis on what looks to the newcomer like extreme physical endurance of all forms, fighting plays no part in Kateda Self Defence below black belt. Students of above black belt engage in sparring while delivering Central Power to their limbs. This is done under strict supervision only once the individual has developed a peaceful mentality and demonstrated control over anger and aggression. Only at this point are students permitted to combine Central Power with Self Defence movements.
Grandtraining
Kateda holds an annual "Grandtraining", which is an intensive weekend-long training event. Through this weekend camp, students engage in intensive martial arts and Central Power training. Grade-holders are expected to push themselves to their limits and go without sleep, engaging in deep Central Power training which is used to keep them warm. Conditions are very basic and little food is distributed, as this is meant to go some way in replicating the harsh Tibetan environment in which Kateda was supposedly developed many thousands of years ago.
Controversy
Kateda gained popularity in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, under the Grandmaster Lionel Nasution, which lead to the worldwide headquarters of Kateda being moved to London. Nasution was said to have learned directly from Tagashi. The art grew rapidly and had many hundreds if not thousands of students, but a BBC television programme in the early 1990s made dramatic claims about cultish behaviour, murky financial issues and serious injuries. A great many Kateda classes were run in West London, which was home to many BBC employees; it was predictable that at least one BBC journalist would be attending. Evidence for the documentary's claims came from first-hand testimonies of ex-students and ex-instructors.
Doubt was also cast over students' apparent rapid promotion through the coloured belts, with some being granted a black belt after just one year of training. This was in sharp contrast to arts such as karate, where it can take a decade to reach black belt. Critics viewed Kateda therefore as just a black belt factory and claimed that a Kateda black-belt would offer no defence against an attack from a holder of a far lesser belt of a "more serious" martial art. Whilst this point was never formally tested in an inter-art sparring contest, the spectacular feats of Kateda's students, instructors and masters were never under doubt and the sparring that took place above black belt certainly looked authentic and was frequently captured on video. Additionally, the way in which Masters, the Vice-masters and the Grandmaster sent assailants hurtling on the floor could probably not be faked on such a scale.
The justification within Kateda for the rapid progress of students was the somewhat mystical idea that "progress always speeds up just before a new Grandmaster is going to take over". However, there were persistent rumours that instructors were graded on the basis of how many new recruits they got in the door, which if true would explain why high-grade instructors tended to be so charismatic and focused on finding new recruits and encouraging existing recruits to pay up for the Grandtraining weekends. There was regular speculation over which of the Eighth-Graders was going to be stay as Vice-master and perhaps appointed successor; the Grandmaster regularly stripped them of their titles because they were not training "well enough." Critics said that this was just a sham designed to inject integrity into an elaborate con trick. It was also unclear what would happen to the existing Grandmaster when the new one took over since there could only be one Grandmaster at a time; would the old Grandmaster lose his super-duper Grandmasterly abilities, or perhaps die? This point was never addressed satisfactorily by the organisation and students were told not to question the Grandmaster.
Nasution reportedly left England and returned to Indonesia in the immediate wake of the BBC documentary, which did nothing to dispel the atmosphere of suspicion. Certainly the Kateda organisation encouraged its students to socialise at the organisation's headquarters in suburban London although this can hardly be deemed absolute proof of cultist behaviour, or perhaps it was simply a cult of having fun with like-minded people. Perhaps more sinisterly, however, Instructors and Masters were encouraged to drive souped-up black cars, to listen to preprepared tapes of music and spoken words and join the un-publicised Kateda Car Club (KCC). At meetings of the KCC, students allegedly engaged in even more extreme physical tests of Central Power but such stories were kept quiet by those involved. Additionally, the Kateda Book's description of the New World Peace Force only added to the allegations of cultishness.
Related Arts and Present Day
After the BBC exposé on Kateda, the art seemed to go underground. It still survives but offshoots from the original organisation have appeared to have attempted to escape the controversy, under the names of Kixa, Keita and Keinja. Kixa seems to be the largest. A number of apparently related arts are also practiced, such as Sindo and the very obscure Nearu.
Sindo is either identical or almost identical to Kateda. The founder of Sindo, Jimmy Thaibsyah trained with Lionel Nasution between 1972 and 1986 but has said that there are differences between the two arts and that Mount Bromo has no significance to Sindo. It appears that Sindo is therefore an art that developed in parallel to Kateda.
Although many consider Nearu as a fusion of Kateda but actually the grand master of Nearu, Amir Lotfi, learned and practiced Kateda as many other martial arts; such as Karate, Thai-chi, Aikido, Judo and Silat, he studied before registering Nearu.
The story gets more complex with Kixa, however, which employs a schematic log of Mount Bromo that engulfs the word 'Kixa'. This is all-but-identical to the Kateda logo and suggests strongly that Kixa is essentially a "phoenix" organisation.
Notwithstanding Kixa's emergence, Kateda appears to continue to exist in some form but details are sketchy. Both Kateda and Kixa classes are held in London but the extent to which the organisations are related is presently undetermined.
Kixa itself claims on its website to be the "closest art to Shaolin". Since the Shaolin arts were probably brought to the Shaolin Temple in China by a Persian monk, this claim is perhaps at odds with other histories. However, the similarity between Kixa/Kateda and the feats of which practitioners of Qigong and Yiquan are capable and the prevalence of Kuntao arts across the Malaysian peninsula and Indonesian archipelago suggest more than just an obtuse link. However such a link might be seen to loosen Kateda's claims of Tibetan origin, unless of course the Persian monk who arrived in Shaolin himself was a disciple of an earlier Tibetan tradition.
Similarity to yoga
Kateda's intense focus on breathing and muscle techniques is very similar to the exercises of Yoga. Ashtanga yoga in particular shares Kateda's precise synchronisation of breathing and movement. However, Kateda practitioners instruct the release of breath into a movemen whilst Ashtanga teaches the reverse. Additionally, Yoga recognises a series of bandhas, which map directly to the muscle groups involved in the muscle control phase of Central Power. One of the bandhas described in Yoga is located in the solar plexus, upon which Kateda places great emphasis. Another bandha (uddayana bandha) is the same as the "stomach lock" in Kateda. Yoga's use of candles in "tatrika" (eye purification) is exactly parallel to the use of the same props in Kateda's development of "One Direction".

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