Some Thoughts on Bunkai

When I was in university much of my study was concerning linguistic philosophy as it applied to rhetoric. Studies in Wittgenstein and his language games, in Korzybski an his General Semantics, or the writings of Whorpf on the Hopi and their language made me more sensitive how misunderstanding how words were used, especially from different cultures often lead to misunderstandings. I realize this is not an interest of those reading this, but in the course of this analysis it will  I hope become clearer.

As I have remarked before ‘bunkai’ does not seem to be an Okinawan term. It was borrowed from the Japanese daily use to use an explanation for what karate kata technique could be used for.

 Of course then as ‘bunkai’ was developed in Japanese karate, in today’s world the term traveled, as to America and then back to Okinawa, where it was then used as an explanation for kata application.

 But words have meanings as to how they are used and ‘bunkai’ came to mean many different things to different people.

Personally before the mid 1980s I had not heard the word used anywhere I trained with one exception.That was by Tris Sutrisno, and the way he used it was extremely different from how any others around the world use it. Then again after 10 years training with him, his answer which had very specific and deep use in his family system of Shotokan. As that seem a very private individual use of the term, and while it is the only definition of ‘bunkai’ as I was trained to use, that is not the purpose of this memory.

Then back about 2000 a student of Oyata Sensei explained how he learned the term was used in Oyata training. To be specific while I saved his explaination, I am not a student of Oyata Sensei nor have ever met him, this is just what I saved as his explaination.

“The distinction between bunkai and fighting applications, Oyata Sensei draws a similar distinction.”

“What you refer to as ‘bunkai’ he refers to as explorations.”

“In the kata, the opponent kicks and you sweep of avoid his leg, then block his punch, jab.

Oyata Sensei calls this an explanation of what is happening in the kata.”

“He defines bunkai… as breaking down the moments to their most basic units and then recombining them to form usable techniques appropriate for different situations.”

 

“The movement forms more than ones kata can be combined to form a single technique.”

I do not put a spin on those words, but it is a different way of martial thinking as the use of ‘bunkai’ seems to have become used.

Now a very different experience learning how Isshinryu kata technique might be applied from the too short time I was able to learn from Sherman Harrill. Probably the simplest answer was he continually found new ways to enter an attack with kata technique and what was involved to make that work. It appeared to me he never turned his brain off, always searching for other ways to use what was there.

The reality is that what I received was only a small part of his teachings. But they were so dense in meaning I could never find the time to get to all of them. Truthfully they led me to further studies of my own. But a decade was too short a time and then he was gone.

 Five years later I was so fortunate to train a little with John Kerker. One of his students that clearly received full transmission of Sherman’s teachings. (I aim not to offend Sherman’s other students I just have not met them, much travel was not an option.)  Sherman always explained to me at his clinics he had to hold so much back. First they really were not his students and he did not know what they could take. Second there simply was never enough time to share everything. When I saw John that first time he was working at close to 100% as anyone I had ever seen. He continually was striking his uke harder than I had seen anyone strike anybody. And the uke took it always getting up to attack John again and again.

I only saw John for a few hours a year, but he explained so much that Sherman had only mentioned slightly. I was never John’s student but seeing what he did, hearing why he did it explained so much to me. And even more importantly over the years I saw John evolve what he taught as well as how he taught it. So much Sherman there, and growing into how John expressed it. He was very much his own man.

My own studies never ceased, both discovering new things and being able to share them with my students.

Did I ever reach the endpoint? Not really, time was simply too short. But I have done my best to allow my students to perhaps take a further step in this way.

And all from understanding ‘Bunkai’ is not always anything like the same ‘Bunkai’.

The use of my linguistic philosophy studies to try and reach clearer understanding.

And as I kept seeing so many examples of ‘bunkai’ in different definitions, I returned to my linguistic studies to realize that the use of ‘bunkai’ simply means so many different things to many people, and that the use was inhibiting communication between people.

Not being a Japanese or Okinawan speaker, and knowing a definition of bunkai that no one but students of Tris Sutrisno would know, I thought something better was needed.

So for me the act of finding a new use for a kata technique became Application Potential. Of course that was just the first part of the study. And when taught slowly led to misunderstanding what the process was. Because for the beginner mind, slowness is necessary to understand how to enter and use the space surrounding an attack. One has to shart someplace.

But the next step and more difficult one was to take the Application Potential and work faster against harder attacks. Only once that was done could Application Realization be reached.

Then there was always further study, to examine how to use that Application Realization against any attack and make it work every time. An Application Effectiveness. The point where every technique you know could work against any attack successfully.

 

 Just a teaser from another friend.  In Okinawan would be Bunki uchushii which means "describe analysis". But as I don’t know  Okinawan, I just filed that away for future understanding.