A kick is just a kick

Now we all know the front kick, having done a million of them.  Nothing different there, Then watching the older Seisan Bunkai video of Morio Hiagonna, what happened caught my eye.

First, the older video of Morio Hiagolnna performing Seisan Kata. Toward the end of the kata you will view what appears to be a front kick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1CBWNI63SY
 

 

 

Then viewing the older Morio Hiagonna Seisan Bunkai video I saw some subtlety with the kick. To me it seemed that after the front kick penetration the kick turned into a heel thrust and stomp in a downward direction.
 

There was something unusual going on with that front kick.  Watching how it was applied made that even more apparent.

Then looking more closely at the bunkai for the movement by screen prints, I became more sure of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r1EoSXjKfI
 

Thee is some subtlety there. Okinawan arts are hiding something in plain sight. Something to fast for most to register.

It makes more sense to me for in the transmission of my Isshinryu a kick in SunNuSu (Sunsu) kata is very similar. Of course there are manyh transmissions in Isshinryu, I cannot speak for them and the way they do the kick.

There are more things in All Okinawan Karate than there are stars in the sky.


For many who do not study Goju, it probably has not been noticed. I find it interesting because of the similarity to one of my own kicking techniques in my Isshinryu.
 

 

This is Charles Murray in 2013 performing that kick from SunNuSu kata.

Angel Lemus
In the tradition of the Shobukan (Masanobu Shinjo) front kicka are performed with the heel.

In my experience I was taught by T. Oshiro Sensei that you can kick with the toes to the lower abdominal area, so picture your foot with the toes straight out penetrating in, and right after that kick you can swivel the heel down and into the upper leg thus further disrupting your opponents stance.

This kick will knock you down. It is a two-fer (two kicks for one) a thing of beauty.

Ed Summer  7-15-2024
When I first started learning Seisan, I was told that the final kick was unique.  The Oyo assumes that the opponent has caught your leg, and the idea is to pull them down with your leg to open their head to attack.  So it kind of becomes a stomp at the end.  Been doing it that way since....  😀