Although not common to many, kumite is also kata. You could refer to them as kumite gata. However, there are also sets practised within groups of wadoryu that have called specific sets "kumite gata", this could become confusing. What others might call kumite gata is called Urawaza in our dojo. Then there are people who use kumite no ura. The label is off course of no meaning in relation to actual movement.
There is some stuff that I scanned from magazines. All other work is ours.
torimi and ukemi 捕り身 と 受け身
Credits and thanks to R. Kear sensei from san no ya dojo, Australia, for providing us with his explanation on torimi and ukemi.
In Wado practice of kihon kumite the essence of the practice is in the concept of ko bo ittai. Attack and defense are the same thing. Therefore the terms attacker and defender are incorrect and may mislead the practitioners. I.E. You don’t not take a defensive posture if you step back, rather the posture should always have sente as its motivation. Kihon kumite should be practiced in such a way as to emphasize and promote this. It is advisable at times for both practitioners to step forward or both step back to understand the psychological and emotional effects implicit within body movement. Kihon kumite should be seen as an exchange of techniques for the purpose of understanding the fundamentals of fighting in terms of mind body and spirit rather than a set of exercises to learn a few techniques.
Using the concept of ‘exchange’ the Wado terms of torimi and ukemi become more appropriate.
Tori means ‘to take’ so torimi is ‘taking the attacks’ and converting this into the counter.
Uke means: ‘to receive’ so ukemi is the initial attacker who receives the counter. It is quite possible that the initial transliteration from the Japanese language has often confused tori and uke with, what appears to be an attack and defense exercise and common usage has institutionalized this within western karate. Using western terminology tends to allocate the postures and mindset of defense and attack along with the designation.
In the kihon kumite ipponme for instance: both torimi and ukemi must have the intention to attack as the primary motivation... Even though one are taking a step backwards. Any movement in any direction must be performed with attack in mind and of course body and spirit.
In the final analysis it is only an instructional tool or explanation... The purpose of kihon is to absorb the fundamentals of fighting movement within the mind, body and spirit... So... Even a deaf person can learn this without ever hearing either of the terms torimi or ukemi.
KUMITE 組手