Saturday, November 28, 2015

Obi - Wazza


Isshinryu Obi-Waza, now that’s something I haven ‘t heard of in almost 40 years.

 

First, as such, they were not part of my instruction from Mr, Lewis or Mr. Murray.

 

The only time I’ve seen mention of them was in a Black Belt issue in 1974 about Steve Armstrong. There was a side-bar article mentioning obi-waza and he was photographed performing a grab and strike on his son,

 

 That next year I met him, I was a yellow belt, at the Sunnyside Garden “Tournament for a Master” in  1975, it would be our only meeting. I remembered that article and asked him about the Isshinryu Obi-Waza, but he said he didn’t remember the article.

 

He then proceeded to demonstrate how the obi held between two hands could be used to parry a strike and then wrap around an attackers neck to throw them to the ground.

 

Nothing is found on the internet. That of course dosen’t mean it is not a collection of real techniques. Just that it hasn’t been shared as such.

 

I did find one reference on inter net The San Francisco Isshinryu Karate Community describes the movement from Wansu kata as “Wansu also introduces the “Obi Waza” where the opponent is pulled by the belt with your left hand at the same time you are side stepping and punching with your right hand.”

 

A while ago, a friend, Tim Schutte, suggested these possible answers:

 
Like Victor, I haven't heard the term 'obi-waza' in a long time.

There are four techniques in kata that could be obi-waza.

1. The first is in the beginning section of Seiunchin, where, after blocking a punch with a kakie-uke, the defender grabs his attacker and pulls him into an inverted nukite.

2. In the very beginning of Chinto, after the jodan juji-uke, the defender deflects the overhead attack to the side, then thrusts into the attacker's midsection with a right inverted nukite, then grabs the obi (or maybe the floating ribs) and strikes with a left back-fist or hammer-fist.

3. In Kusanku, after the flying crescent kick, kneeling avoidances and chudan-uke, two punches combination, one turns, performs a left open-hand sweeping block downward, thrusts underneath it with a right inverted nukite, grabs the obi and spins.

4. In Sunsu, after the elbow combinations, one turns, performs a left open-hand sweeping block--this time horizontally--followed by an inverted nukite, grab, and a 360-degree spin to throw the opponent to the ground.


Certainly reasonable suggestions.

My search goes back more than a few years, so I began again today.

The term Obi wazza had no  matches. The closest I could find was the

Judo Obi-otoshi 
 
 
 
Obi Otoshi (帯落?) is one of the preserved throwing techniques, or Habukareta Waza, of Judo. the 1895 Gokyo no Waza lists. A related technique with the same name is also on the Shinyo no Maki list of Danzan Ryu Jujitsu[1] It is categorized as a hand technique, Te-waza.

More research and study is called for.


The obi-wazza section from the Steve Armstrong article mentioned above.

 

 

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