A Nerd Post: My mental model for Kata

I recently read an old article by Ian Abernethy:

https://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/article/pinan-heian-series-fighting-system-part-one

That led me, along with the Shorin Ryu interpretation of Naihanchi, to a mental model of Kata that ran:

"Kata are the forms handed down that contain the intended muscle memory that we need to develop to fight. A series of kata represent a complete fighting system when unpacked. The first kata of a series is the base kata on which the rest are built. Bunkai is the unpackaging of the Kata into applicable form"

I posted this to a group in Facebook that I am a member of (Katate Nerds) to see whether this was a reasonably valid interpretation of things.  With the help of a number of responses there, especially Mike Flanagan along with Andrew Carr-Locke:

https://www.facebook.com/mike.flanagan.9083
https://www.facebook.com/andrew.carrlocke

I adjusted this to "Kata are the forms handed down to contain the intended muscle memory we need to develop to fight.  In some cases, a series of Kata (Naihanchi, Sanchin <one Kata, sometimes presented as two> , Pinan) represent a complete fighting system when unpacked.  Where this is the case the first Kata is the foundation on which the rest are built.  Bunkai is the unpackaging of the Kata into applicable form, and circumstances form the control as to which elements are applied."

This I represent for my own purposes in the following way:

This is my current understanding, but is still very much a "work in progress" 😊