Back in 1979 I
became a black belt in the paradigm that was Tom Lewis’ Isshinryu Karate.
That was a
powerful way of Isshinryu. But within a few short months Charles Murray
returned to the USAF for a career and I was without an instructor anywhere near
me in Isshinryu. I also had no one to train with.
Before Charles
left, he gave me his collection of old karate magazines, some of them going
back to the 1960s. Always a reader, and
with very few resources available to me, I devoured them, and then reread and
reread them.
I noted several
things. Almost every article on a visiting Okinawan Karate Instructor was
accompanied by photographs showing ways to use kata techniques against attacks.
This was not
done in the paradigm of Isshinryu I was taught.
Then there was
an article by Fumio Demura on Jiin Kata which had a small sidebar article on
Kakushite, which he defined as ‘The Hidden Hand’ of his art and accompanying
photos.
Those articles
began my thinking on how my kata technique might be used. But with no
instructor nearby to question, nor partner to work with I realized I needed to find a different
answer.
I began teaching
youth through the Scranton Boys Club, and I attended tournaments to push
myself. At those tournaments I made many friends with the competitors, and
discovered there were many different karate schools within driving distance.
Then there were invitations to visit and train, and I did.
Now I make no
claims I was shown everything, nor that I would expect to be, but none of the
places I began to train with worked kata applications in my presence. Among
them Goju ryu, Shorin Ryu, Shotokan, Wado Ryu and more. The exception was a
dojo of Goshin Jutsu. They did not work on kata applications, but trained in
some Aiki Jutsu tradition (not a classical one).
I also began to
study Yang Tai Chi with Ernest Rothrock, After a time I realized at tournaments
I was called on to judge and some of those competitors were in Chinese styles.
I realized I knew nothing of those styles. I then approached Ernest with a
question, could I learn some Chinese forms so I could become a more knowledgeable judge. I expect he held back laughing, more because he realized I
was really attempting to study Tai Chi. So he turned to a list behind his desk,
one listing maybe 500 forms, then asked me which one I wanted to study. Well I
was flabbergasted and told him I had no idea what to study. After repeating
that a few times, he looked at the list then pointed to a name, telling me
perhaps I could begin there.
It was a
Northern Shaolin form he called ‘Dune De Kuen’. Thus began years of study of
forms from a variety of systems. I was not learning the systems, just the
forms. And while at times he would point out uses for technique I was not
studying applications for those forms, That was not my purpose.
While I was
training everywhere I could, A large amount of time each week was spent in his
schools. Then he began Saturday
afternoon discussions with me. He was asking me questions about my art and
about the places I was training. I now recognize he was focusing my mind on my
training, through those leading questions. Many of which were about how I would
use kata technique. It would be years before I realized the value in those
conversations.
I also began
visiting another competitor, Tristan Sutrisno, and saw many things, some of
those drills for his students I later incorporated for my own students more
advanced training. They were just drills after all. Some karate, some his
Aikido drills, which I much later realized they were incorporating aikido techniques
blended with karate and tjimande, to enter an attack in a variety of ways, and
end that attack.
His students at
that time were all kyu’s in his family version of Shitokan. And none of that
training was specifically focused on karate applications for kata. Not that
drills against attacks were not included, for they were. Later I came to
realize his focus on Kyu instructions was just developing skills to later use
after Dan for much more advanced training.
So I began to
think more and more that the study of kata application could be another
paradigm for karate, and thought about that more and more. After a long time,
still not knowing much one night at a midnight show of a movie “Gorky Park”, it
all came together. A methodology about how a kata technique application could
be used, ‘The Unlocking Principle’. Basically it stated
that for any movement a block/strike could
have a strike following and whichever combination was used resulted in a
downing of the opponent (explosive striking, locking or takedown).
I was so moved I
immediately called Ernie getting him out of bed, to explain what I worked out.
He was then living in Pittsburt and it was 2 am. But all those leading question
started my thinking and I had to share it.
Now armed with a
realization I also had no one to work with, It fit every one of those kata
applications in those old articles, I just did not know how to use that
knowledge.
Privately Tristan
began to mention bunkai and defined it, and
explained it was dan training. Layers of dan training for decades of
study. I later on realized what he described was the way his father structured
training a mature program back in Indonesia.
While following
some of that template, he did not keep exactly to that approach on his own. I
am sure it was to have people to work with for himself. I never got anything
close to the whole program, just glimpses. But glimpses that also worked. I
would never be a student properly trained, and make no pretentions that was the
case.
The definition
of bunkai that he gave to me, I have never ever found anyone else doing
anything remotely the same. As his definition was the first I learned, it was
to be the only definition for bunkai I would ever use. I never would be an adept of the Sutrisno
bunkai but it was extremely useful.
In its design
bunkai for the Sutrisno family art was to be almost a life long dan study, Each
level of Dan having completely different bunkai to learn, Explosive techniques,
most complex and effective for every kata they studied, Each level of dan
requiring a long time to learn and gain skill with, Each layer working an
entirely different theme.
And the dan
haing multitudes of skilled responses on tap, none of them capable of being
intuited from their kata performance, and continually changing, new answers
coming on line. Continually unreadable. A goal to always consider.
While I was not
acquiring anything like a complete study, taken together all of them were
teaching me how to apply technique.
It was at this
time Seiryu Oyata hit the magazines, and much was not revealed that manner
either.I do not recall that he called what he did as bunkai, but I only have
memory to go on. But it started thought.
I also
have an early handout from Oyata Sensei’s applications of naifanchi seminars, a
friend gave me. Nowhere is bunkai as a term mentioned, rather terms like tuite
and nerve point manipulation were used. But at the Oyata family’s request I
will not share that.
I remember when
George Dillman was bring Oyata in for a clinic, at his tournament he approached
Tristan to ask him if he would attend to learn. While I was there with Tristan
I was not asked, to low lever a dan to consider.
Tristan was not
interested, part of the reason that week he had begon to share training he
called “Holy Hands’ from his art. Suffice it to say he had enough on his plate.
As difficult it is for some to realize.
Then several
years later I believe George broke from Oyata, to do his own version of what
Oyata was doing.
Around that time
the term bunkai began to be used by the magazines, where earlier articles of
Okinawan instructors showing kata applications did not use the term.
At that time it
was in reference to Japanese styles the term began to be used. Then more and
more started talking about bunkai. I even recall one article describint how the
term traveled from Japan to the States, then Americans returning to Okinawa
started asking about bunkai, and the Okinawan instructors in those stories did
not understand the question, but soon they began using the term too.
Regarding
Bunkai (written about 2000) as a term: A Japanese English teacher and author of English/Japanese
dictionaries in Japan (for students) explained to me in Japan most people would
not know what you were talking about, as the term is most used in the context
of a mechanic would bunkai a car to determine what was wrong. Using bunkai in a
very different context. I had to explain the term to him, and while he studied
Shorinji Ryu in college, they did not do 'bukai'. He further explained it was a
specialized term used by specific karate systems.\
Originally
Mabuni Sensei shared the concept of bunkai in his first work on Karate in the
1930. When Mabuni expressed the idea of bunkai for his book containing his kata
Seiunchin he used the term ‘bunkai’ to mean
Both I
and McKenna Sensei have done translations. Mine from a French edition, and his
from the Mabuni original. I questioned Mario McKenna Sensei about the use of
the term ‘bunkai’ in ‘Goshin Karate Kempo’ and he described it’a use as
"breakdown/apart and explanation" from his translation efforts on
Mabuni’s book.
Then about 1987
of 1988 I began to move to action.
I had developed
my own adult students, and after almost a decade training with many one night
at a class on my driveway during the summer I had an idea where to begin.
I decided to
select the weakest, most useless appearing technique from a wide variety
of forms and see if I could make them
work against an attack, And it turned out I could do so. None of them had I
been trained in how to use them.
A summer camp I
attended and taught at (both Ernest and Tristan would be there). I decided to
have some fun. I would teach those few techniques, and give then unique names,
creating a little form using them then calling the system I created Smith Te. I
even crated a manual for all of it, to give to the people there.
This is what I showed. Smith Te Studies
1. the eagle
retreats (da lu)
2. the eagle
swoops down (goju saifa)
3. the ghost
departs (tenjua ashi ghost techniques)
4. the bear
wipes it’s claws (tai chi brush knee)
The bear wipes it’s nose (tai chi fair
lady)
5. the whirling
winds (goju/isshinryu mawashi uke)
I had fun with
it, opening a few eyes who thought I was crazy. But then a 6’6” marine questioned
a move. I used him for a demonstration how the whirling winds could stop an
attack. And I showed it also contained a snake strike in its movements, which I
had mentioned earlier. When he attacked he was quite surprised that I used the
whole movement, the snake strike involving placing my fingertips just before
his eyes, which totally stopped him, the completing the rest of the movement
immobilizing him. I made my point, that my minimalist system worked.
Then returning
to Derry the next year I went further adding other studies.
Smith
Te Studies
1. the eagle
retreats (da lu)
2. the eagle
swoops down (goju saifa)
3. the ghost
departs (tenjua ashi ghost techniques)
4. the bear
wipes it’s claws (tai chi brush knee)
The bear wipes it’s nose (tai chi fair
lady)
5. the whirling
winds (goju/isshinryu mawashi uke)
6. the ascending/descending palm (seisan kata)
7. x-man x-woman
– x-shild
8. etude in empi
9. the hammers
of doom
10. the breaking
arm
11. flower
arrangements (based on what were explained to me as Chinese flowers)
I am not going
to detail them, Nor did I formally teach them, but did not hide what I was
doing from my students either. I definitely began to see a wider picture.
At that time I
began to focus on my Isshinryu kata. My first choice was Kusanku. The concept
that it could prove useful for low level situations, guided my thought. I was
not ignoring the movements could be used in any condition, just working up one
application possibility.
Again I worked
up a complete night fighting version of Kusanku kata applications. As useful as
this was, it was not part of my students training, though some if slipped in.
From Tristan I
came to value that Dan was more appropriate a time for bunkai study.
That was the beginning
of my work that would lead to understand kata application potential then the work
to move toward kata application realization. But that is an much longer story.
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