On the definition of Bunkai -- the term

Practical kata bunkai from Naihanchi / Tekki Shodan from Iain Abernethy's "Beyond Bunkai" DVD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHaivlqvNA4

Mario McKenna once defined the term 'Bunkai' for me, explaining that Mabuni used the term \in his book on Sanchin and Seiunchin in 1932.

He states: Mabuni uses the term "bunkai setsumei" or "breakdown/apart and explanation".

Mario

 

Once the term entered the current martial arts world it took on many different meanings.

 One time a Japanese English teacher who had studied Shorinji Kempo when he was in college, an art that does not use kata, explained that the average Japanese would not understand how the term was used in Karate. To the average Japanese an example would be if his car broke and he took it to a mechanic, the mechanic would bunkai he car (take it apart to fix it).

Then he further explained that various karate systems changed bunkai's meaning to fit their own needs. Thus just the word itself may have a variety of meanings.

And this was before the word began to be used in American Karate. It then took on other definitions as those groups wished.