Bunkai for the humble "Yoi"

Please check out the new posting and video on my blog, BunkaiJutsu.

 

This one looks at karate bunkai for the humble "Yoi" (or "ready") position.

Tai Chi Course: Open To Martial Artists Of Other Styles

In ancient China, the monks used to learn Kung Fu first, then Tai Chi later.  They would then revise their Kung Fu adding the Tai Chi principles into it.    Paul Mitchell, my Karate Sensei and Tai Chi teacher is holding weekend Tai Chi course on the 27th/28th November.  This is open to martial artists of any style.  Visit the BunkaiJutsu website to find out more about it.

Kevin O'Hagan Masterclass

Kevin O'Hagan will be running a new 6 month Masterclass from early next year.  Kevin is a 7th Dan at Combat JuJutsu and 6th Dan with the British Combat Association.  The people that Kevin has trained with almost like a who's who of reality based martial arts.  This will be a great course for any martial artist of any style. 

 

Find out full details at the BunkaiJutsu blog.

Kata: Training Beyond Technique

I've recently put a posting on my main blog that I think you might like.  It is about the mindset you should have when training kata (or basics for that matter).  Rather than just thinking about the physical side of kata bunkai which is important, kata is also a mental preparation.  So please CLICK HERE to have a look and leave a comment.  It would be nice to get some discussions going.

Karate bunkai for Naihanchi/Tekki

Some very good Karate kata bunkai from my friend Matthew Apsokardu in the US, for Naihanchi/Tekki.  What I like about this video is that as well demonstrating some of the kata bunkai, he then takes it a step further to demonstrate free sparing, using the principles of Naihanchi/Tekki.

 

I've looked at Tekki with my friend who does Wing Chun and we find quite a bit of overlap as Naihanchi/Tekki and Wing Chun both emphasis close quarters fighting.

 

Good example of Karate kata bunkai for Bassai Dai

This as really good example of kata bunkai, and I particularly like the presentation, which is very clear.  I'm also very interested in that it covers Bassai Dai which I have just made a Karate bunkai DVD about.  My only comment is that most of the bunkai demonstrated is defending against Karate straight punches and kicks which would not likely be the case in real life.  That said, they do also include some defensive kata bunkai dealing with grabs and haymakers, particularly at the end.  Overall, very good.

 

Rotary Martial Arts Festival

OK, these videos are not about bunkai, but they are from the Rotary Martial Arts Festival which I helped to organise; so I do have a special interest.  These are excellent displays from the Kenbudo (Japanese swordsmanship) and Aikido.  I think they are brilliant and I hope that you enjoy them.

 

 

 

Regards

 

Charlie

Blog Action Day 2010: Please check this out and support it

Bunkai Jutsu supports Blog Action Day 2010.  Please check this out and sign the petition, it will effect us all.

Matthew Sylvester: Lower Outer Forearm Block

Here's another bunkai video from a Taekwondo perspective from Matthew Sylvester, author of Practical Taekwondo:

Practical TaeKwonDo

Most times I'm posting about Karate bunkai, but this time it's TaeKwonDo's turn.

 

Here's a short video from Matthew Sylvester, the author of Practical Taekwondo

 

Kevin O'Hagan Female Self Protection Course

Not your conventional bunkai course, but Kevin O'Hagan will be hosting a Female Self Protection Course at Horfield Sports Centre, Dorian Road, Bristol, UK; on 14th November 2010, from 1100 to 1400.  With Kevin teaching, any woman who is interested in self protection and is able to make it should really be there.

 

 

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100978843301208

Bunkai for Empi

Some kata bunkai for the kata Empi.  I'll be honest, I'm not convinced with all the bunkai explanations, but there is plenty there that is useful and good to think about.

 

Training of Karate Kata bunkai: History by Patrick McCathy

Patrick McCathy, historian and world leading expert on karate bunkai, explains in this video how and why Karate training changed, adapted and lost much of the original kata bunkai that was for self defence and instead became part of a ritual or sport routine.

 

Below is an interesting interview with Patrick McCarthy who is a leader in the field of interputing kata bunkai and respected karate historian.  He is interviewed here by Matt Apsokardus on Matt's Ikigaiway blog.  Matt himself is a very good teacher and interpruter of Karate bunkai.

 

Interview: Patrick McCarthy, Author and Founder Koryu Uchinadi (Part 1)

October 7, 2010 | Author: Matthew | Filed under: Interviews,Kata,Martial Arts,karate,kobudo,modern arts,self defense

It's an honor to present this interview with Patrick McCarthy, 8th Dan and founder of Koryu Uchinadi.

McCarthy Sensei is one of the world's leading investigators in classical martial arts. He has traveled to many countries and for decades has acquired knowledge and information from some of the top instructors in various classical arts, putting together an innovative system known as Koryu Uchinadi (ko=ancient, ryu=style, uchina=okinawan people, di=hand).

McCarthy Sensei is a noted practitioner of Okinawan Kobudo and Karate but is also a cross trainer, integrating modern ideas and techniques into his personal skillset. He has proven himself in the realm of competitive kickboxing as well as traditional tournaments.

The following interview grants us a peek into some of McCarthy Sensei's ideas behind martial training, as well as some of the insights granted to him by his highly skilled instructors.

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Q&A:

MA: McCarthy Sensei, what got you into martial arts in the first place and how old were you when you first started studying seriously?

PM: When I was nine years old a highly motivational documentary film was shown at my primary school. Produced by Josef Reeve, for the National Film Board of Canada, it was entitled, "Road to the Olympics," and highlighted Canadian Judo Champion, and silver medalist, Doug Rogers. I joined the Saint John Judo club immediately after that.

MA: Could you provide a brief overview of your training history and main instructors?

PM: I have learned from many teachers over the years but I think those who most influenced me taught me to learn for myself; John Grosdanoff [high school wrestling coach], Tiger Thompson [boxing coach], Wally Slocki [kumite coach], Sensei Richard Kim [principal karate teacher], Prof. Wally Jay [jujutsu instructor], Donn Draeger [Budo culture], Sugino Yoshio [Japanese swordsmanship], Takada Nobuhiko [shoot fighting], and Kinjo Hiroshi [karate teacher]. If you're interested, here is a Facebook link to some of the many sources I came into contact with during the Japan years. [Note: To learn more about McCarthy Sensei's background, visit his biography page here.]

MA: What was study like under Kinjo Hiroshi Sensei? Was his focus on sparring/kata/application/etc?

PM: Keeping in mind that I was already a 5th dan and 31 years old when I met O-sensei (who was then in his late sixties), learning under him could be likened to being a university student; the lecturer delivered the target lesson and it was up to me to do the required study (training) in order to achieve the required outcome. Following this, O-sensei would check my progress from time to time and make corrections as required. His focus was always upon technique, application and contextual premise.

MA: It is said that Kinjo Sensei is a great repository of karate knowledge. Has he spoken often of karate before the integration into Okinawan school systems? What were the major difference pre/post war, in his mind?

PM: O-sensei is always a great repository of karate knowledge (now nearly 92 years old). In fact, in addition to the many books he's written, he's currently in the process of writing yet another! To tell you the truth, all O-sensei ever talks about is karate; he's still very sharp mentally and remarkably fit, especially for a man so advanced in age.

He always talks about karate in general and has spoken much about the old-days, the "old ways" and many of the authorities with whom he's come into contact with along the way. Also, my wife Yuriko and I have had the opportunity to translate many articles, either by or about O-sensei. All of this has been quite insightful. He learned directly under Hanashiro Chomo, Gusukuma Shimpan, Oshiro Chojo and Tokuda Ambun. As these men were also the senior students of Itosu Ankoh, and the principal instructors to first teach karate in Okinawa's school system, O-sensei has a lot of interesting stories about the old-ways. As I have also spent a lot of time studying the past, with a special emphasis upon the old-ways, I can tell you that this is one topic we've discussed many times over the years.

One of the biggest things that separate the past from the present, according to grandmaster, is method, organization and systematization. In the old days karate training was very personalized and never as stylized or as commercial as it is today. Also, most of the local Okinawan instructors were all friends of each other and frequently enjoyed "cross-training," and social gatherings. Little emphasis was ever placed on competition whereas today it's virtually the opposite; competition is everything! The idea of kihon [learning strikes, blocks, kicks, punches, and postures] separately before learning kata was unheard of; this was a new concept developed in the 1920's and 1930's. Old-school training, prior to karate being introduced into the school system was all about private/personal training, two-person drills and kata.

MA: One of the trademarks of Koryu Uchinadi is it's two-person tegumi drills. Can you talk a bit about how you came to establish these drills and why you chose to name them in honor of Okinawan Tegumi? In what ways do you suspect they are similar/dissimilar to the ancient version?

PM: I first came across the term, "Tegumi," while I was still residing in Japan and working on the Nagamine Shoshin book translation "Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters" for Tuttle publications. The term is made up of two separate ideograms; Te – meaning hand or hands, and gumi/kumi, which holds several meanings, such as braid, construct, assemble, unite, cooperate and grapple. More interesting was identifying that the term was also kumite written backwards! Learning this I remembered that as a young kungfu student*, my sifu used the term, "crossing hands," in the same way that swordsmen used the term, "crossing swords," as a way to describe fighting.

Asking Master Nagamine about it, he told me that the original, and far more brutal practice of Tegumi had fallen quietly dormant during the end of Okinawa's old Ryukyu Kingdom Period [c.1879]. Following it's demise, a modified rule-bound version of stand-up clinch wrestling ascended from it called Okinawan Sumo. In spite of several efforts to popularize the more modified version, the new cultural recreation fell short of gaining widespread recognition.

Considering myself more than a novice history buff, and having spent considerable time in Okinawa, I was surprised that I'd never come across the term "Tegumi" anywhere before. One only need look around at the publications of that era to clearly see that the term "Tegumi" was not in use anywhere within the karate community. As I was also occupied with searching out the origins of various two-person strength and conditioning exercises**, used in old-school karate practices, you can probably now imagine why I liked the dormant term straight away. Having traveled to Fujian in search of what southern kungfu styles used these two-person hand practices, I'd learned a wide range of drills and was searching for a user-friendly name under which to deliver them to others. What better name for such two-person hand practices than Tegumi?

MA: You often suggest that kata are mnemonic templates that are "geometrically choreographed" to elicit understanding of techniques that can be used against habitual acts of physical violence (HAPV). Can you break that down a little more and explain what that means?

PM: As karate is a defensive tradition, what could be more important than learning to identify which acts of physical violence it was developed to defend against? Wouldn't the ability to defend oneself be left entirely to chance otherwise? Only a naïve mindset imagines that all "fighting" is about standing toe-to-toe with an opponent! Even then, this approach concludes one has the luxury of facing their attacker! The KU approach varies drastically.

The original idea that karate is a defensive art presupposes that if an "opponent" was facing you, irrespective of whatever threatening gestures and verbal taunts were being made, unless you were literally set upon, the better (wiser) person also learned to evade the potential threat, hence preventing the need to harm someone. As such, the need to actually defend oneself arose only if and when an attacker actually seized a hold of you.

In civil/domestic circumstances***, "one against one, empty-handed unwarranted acts of physical violence" (HAPV) represents the contextual premise upon which the art of self-defense was originally forged. My research revealed that pioneers developed various engagement scenarios****, so that novice students could safely rehearse prescribed application practices. In KU TPAD [Koryu Uchinadi Two Person Application Drills], aggressive resistance serves as the catalytic mechanism through which learners are able to achieve functional competency. By bringing together various prescribed application practices into solo routines, something greater than the sum total of their individual parts appears; kata! In KU, this is how we see kata as mnemonic; i.e., a practice that culminates the lesson already learned in TPAD. Moreover, as creative mechanisms through which to express individual prowess, kata also serve a popular means of strengthening one's overall mental, physical and holistic conditioning.

As such we believe that the HAPV premise crosses the boundaries of time, culture, and gender and therefore are as valuable now here in the West as they ever were in the beginning.

MA: One of your primary methods of exploring bunkai is reverse engineering using HAPV. Do you suspect that karateka of generations past spent far less time exploring bunkai because the applications were introduced first, with the kata then coming after to reinforce those already established lessons?

PM: I do, in fact. With few if any of the distractions, as exampled in today's highly commercial-based traditions, old-school training methods focused much more upon prescribed application practices.

That said, tradition was never meant to be about blindly following in the footsteps of the old masters, or even preserving their ashes for that matter. In principle, tradition has always been about keeping the flame of their spirit alive, and continuing to seek out what they originally sought. This timeless message is how practices are kept functional, and it is why tradition should inspire learners, not inhibit them!

MA: When exploring bunkai do you have personal checks and balances to determine if you've let your creativity veer too far away from the core concept of the kata? How do you keep your imagination inline with the kata's intent?

PM: Aggressive resistance is one "check" that helps keep us within the boundaries of reality. Another is simplicity; methods that require cognitive thought in the midst of unpredictability and all hell breaking loose, tend to be time-consuming and have little place in practical application. Finally, if and when the prescribed practice meets these criteria, its solo representation MUST still resemble the kata mnemonic. There's a cute little saying we use in KU about ambiguity; "If it has feathers, quacks and flies, it's a duck!" So too, if the said prescribed template (i.e., a group of self-defense techniques from the kata) meets the criteria, and looks exactly like what's in the kata, then until someone is able to show me/us something "more functional," I/we consider this, "the application!"

Incidentally, this does not suggest that the said template cannot be used in another context exactly the same way, only that the premise doesn't have to be the same!

MA: Do you still practice kata in your personal training? What value do you derive from it these days?

PM: Oh, yes! I love kata…it is the true art of karate and I am very much inspired by its continued study.

FAST Defence Course For Kids (6 to 12)

I've felt for a long time that there are 2 main areas missing from a lot (but not all) of martial arts training.  One is realistic interprutations of the kata and movements and the other is dealing with the emotional response to the pre-fight build up and/or freezing when attacked instead of fighting back.

 

My blog deals with the interputations (bunkai) side of things.

 

As for the pre-fight tension, how to be assertive to avoid being attacked and not freezing when attacked, FAST Defence is a good option.

 

Below from their website are details of a course in the Bath, England that is for kids:

 

Charlie

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the latest dates for our award winning kids course.

Date:   24th November 2010, 6pm - 7.30pm
Venue: Willet Hall, King Edward's School, North Road, Bath, BA2 6HU
Courses available: Kid's Stop Bullies FAST (for 6 - 12 year olds)
Cost:   £20 per person

This course will cover:

• Undestanding adrenaline and fear;
• Passive, aggressive and assertive behaviour;
• How our reaction influences others;
• Listening to your very own 'Spider Sense' to avoid trouble;
• Using your voice and your body language to build a fence around you;
• Using that fence to deter attackers (verbal and physical);
• Real practice against the instructors playing attackers;
• Click HERE for a youtube video of Stop Bullies FAST.

If you'd like to sign up, please go to this PAGE where you'll be able to reserve your place and pay with a credit card.  We use the secure paypal system.  You don't need to have a paypal account, just click the paynow button and follow the instructions.
Please note: you need to pre-register and pay for your place as soon as possible as spaces are very limited. 
Once you've paid, I'll send you full course details.

If you'd like to forward this email to friends, please feel free.  There are links on the right that will allow you to do it easily.  Remember ANYONE is able to come to FAST Defence.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Dik Chance
European Director
FAST Defence
07968 190360

Bunkai Jutsu Newsletter

I have just started up a new Newsletter on the BunkaiJutsu blog.  This is to keep people updated on what's new on the blog, courses that are coming up, DVD releases and general articles of interest and so on.  You can sign up for the Newsletter here.

 

If you have any relevant items of interest that you want to share, you can contact me on the blog and ask me to add them to the next Newsletter.

 

Charlie

Bunkai and Kicking Tips DVD Reviews

Having released a new DVD called Inside Bassai Dai, which covers a brief history of the kata followed by the kata bunkai, the DVD has been reviewed by Bob Paterson on the Blog Critics website.  This is a powerful blog which gets about 100,000 hits per day and for those who understand Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it is a PR7 domain.  For those that don't understand SEO, it means that it is very highly rated by Google :)

 

Anyway, Inside Bassai Dai received a very positive and open review which can see here:  http://blogcritics.org/video/article/dvd-review-inside-bassai-dai/

 

Along with Inside Bassai Dai, I am (for a while) also giving away a free DVD called 10 Kicking Tips.  This is not about teaching techniques from scratch, it is more about the principles behind the kicks.  Once you understand the principles then you can apply them to all your kicks (and in some cases, to your hand techniques too).  10 Kicking Tips has also been reviewed on Blog Critics here:  http://blogcritics.org/video/article/dvd-review-10-kicking-tips1/

 

You can find out more about the DVD's and how to purchase them at the BunkaiJutsu Store page.

 

As for Bob Paterson, who did the reviews for BlogCritics, he has his own martial arts website called Striking Thoughts.

Charlie Wildish

Inside Bassai Dai Review

Our new DVD on the kata Bassai Dai and its bunkai, called Inside Bassai Dai, has been given a very a good review by Bob Patterson on BlogCritics.org.  This is quite significant as BlogCritics is PR7 site that gets about 100,000 visits per day.  To see the review, CLICK HERE.

Geoff Thompson Endorses New Kata Bunkai DVD : INSIDE BASSAI DAI

Geoff Thompson has just given the following endorsment to our new DVD, called Inside Bassai Dai:

"Shotokan has always been my base system, so it was fascinating for me to watch the Charlie Wildish DVD on Bassai Dai, and I come away with so much new information about this powerful kata and its origins.  I particularly like the historical element about Sokon Matsumura (who created the kata) and how, when & why he created the "grappling kata".  I got a lot from this DVD and highly recommend it".

For a limited time, if you buy Inside Bassai Dai, you will also receive a free DVD, called 10 Kicking Tips.  Geoff had this to say about the 10 Kicking Tips DVD:

"I thought your kicking DVD was very good too.  You presented well and the info was strong".

You can find out more about these DVD's or buy them from our On-Line Store.

 

 

About Geoff Thompson:

Co-founder of the British Combat Association and a pioneer for reality based martial arts training.  His experiences as a martial artist (now 6th Dan)  and working as a bouncer gave him a great insight into what does and does not really work when under pressure.  He put this experience into his own teachings and was polled as the number one self defense instructor in the world by Black Belt magazine USA.  From there he has become the author of thirty-four books, five multi-award-winning films (two BAFTA nominated, one BAFTA winning), two stage plays and hundreds of published articles.

New Martial Arts Newsletter

At www.BunkaiJutsu.com, we now have a new newsletter to bring you up to date on what we've been up to, future courses and promoting practicality in traditional martial arts. 

 

Please click here to join the newsletter

 

Please spread the word to any other martial artists that you know.

Choy Lee Fut applications

Although the Chinese styles don't tend to call it "bunkai" here are some applications from Choi Lee Fut master, Doc Fai Wong:

 

Shorin Ryu bunkai

Here is some kata bunkai from the Okinawan style of Shorin Ryu, upon which Shotokan is based