Concerning my paradigm for teaching kata application

 

IMO there are almost an infinite number of paradigms as to how any instructor/school/system approaches use of kata and the concept of bunkai/application of their kata. Each personally believes in their system.

 

Those approaches may be to consciously not teach applications or to teach a formal set of kata applications or to move from teaching formal application studies to more private application studies. There are uncountable answers different instructors use. Each answer being right for the instructor.

 

For myself I came from a blend of different traditions, learning different approaches how to develop students over the range from white belt to ongoing dan instruction.

 

From my beginnings there were no formal kata technique application studies, yet another paradigm. But it was a powerful way to develop karate. Then I saw how different schools used formal wazza studies to develop students, not formal kata application studies. I became aware of approaches used in Chinese systems.

 

I experienced a very powerful system that did not instruct ‘bunkai’ until dan study. That system did not hide the existence of kata technique uses just waited until power, technique and speed had truly developed over kyu studies. Then at dan study the exact bunkai of each kata were studied, One bunkai for each kata movement point during execution, where at that point a string of applications came forth (often having little to do with the kata embusen. And Shodan learn those bunkai for every kata they studied. Then at nidan a different bunkai for every movement point during execution were studied. Again such for every kata. That continued to be the pattern for sandan, yodan and godan. Astaggering number of technique studies, each extremely effective. And that system only had 5 dans, thus it would be a lifetime study.

 

Even more important was what I experienced from Sherman Harrill of Isshinryu who shared with me 800 or so uses for the 8 Isshinryu kata. A true education.

 

Eventually I worked up my own synthesis for my program.

 

I was not teaching self defense, tournament karate, physical education karate, I was simply teaching karate. I had come to realize most students would not reach shodan, And that many shodan would not continue with the study further. Then there were  those who did continue study. Each group had need of effective technique no matter how long they trained. So I made sure we provided what I felt was the best possible training to accomplish that.

 

Then for the serious Shodan the more advanced study that they had begin to be prepare for begun. I began their instruction to work on about 100 application potentials for the first movement series that they were taught.  This was designed to allow them to understand the different principles behind the applications as much as solid execution was needed. More so they would be taking the first steps to realize that there was application potential into the training to make each application realized, a much longer journey.

 

Only at that point would they move into the application potential of their kata movements. But not studied kata by kata, rather experienced by the serendipity of what I was continuing to work on myself. They came to understand those principles they already learned equally applied to all their movements, along with new principles they experienced.

 

This is what karate application came to mean to me.

 

An ongoing step into the infinite well of my own kata studies, Ever learning, ever new,

 

Infinity and beyond.

 

 

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2012/12/bushi-no-te-isshinryu-developmental.html

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/12/bushi-no-te-subsidiary-drills-te-wazza.html

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/12/bushi-no-te-subsidiary-drills-gerri.html

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/12/bushi-no-te-subsidiary-drills-aikido.html

 

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2014/10/brown-belt-and-sho-dan-standards.html

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2015/11/obi-wazza.html

 

What color your Gi?

These were the individuals who tested me for shodan in 1979,

But I believe the photo was  from 1976.

 

When I was a kyu all kyu in Lewis Sensei’s IKC always wore a white Gi. But there seemed to be no rule what black belt holders could wear. They just had to back up wearing them.

 

One time a new student showed up in a newly purchased black gi and was sent home to change after being told kyu students could not wear that.

 

When my black belt exam approached, on a business trip to Philadelphia, I bought myself a black gi. Then after I was promoted, the next class that is what I wore. I learned the hard way that a black gi fades within a few years.

 

At times I would mix it up, say black top and white pants or white top and black pants.

In the long run I learned that I preferred the white gi. and that is what I wore thereafter.

 

However my seniors, who wore white gi most of the time, at different times wore many different gi’s

 

One group of my seniors used to have gray gi’s.

 

One of my seniors, Dennis Lockwood, whose mother was a seamstress who made many gi for him, often creating gi in many colors.  One of which was a black and white striped top to be worn with black bottoms (a referee gi). But my favorite gi for him was the paisley gi she made for him.

 

Charlie Murray used to wear a blue denim gi at times. It was very soft, durable and looked good.

 

But of course it is not the gi that makes the individual, it is the individual who makes the gi.

 

 

The value of open karate tournaments

 

By the time I moved to New Hampshire I worked out what the purpose of the open Karate Tournament was to them.

 

I used to tell my students if you want fairness, you won’t find it by competing in an open karate tournament. Consider if the judges you have are all fools and you take first place, then what it means is that fools liked what you did that day.

 

The real person you are competing against is yourself. The open tournament just offers you a place to perform your karate under pressure,

 

You are competing to work to your best  (at that time) under pressure, no matter what the outcome

A long, long time ago, in a distant land….. All good stories should start that way.

The other day I was reading Mark Tankosich’s paper “Karate Ni Sente Nashi” and was entranced by the story about Choki Motobu.

 

Reading that story triggered a long lost thought of mine about me in another time. 

 When I studied Isshinryu we did not get lessons about Okinawan karate past. There was never enough time for our studies for that. 

Our karate studies were very focused on using our karate with the opponent standing in front of us. 

Then several years went by, I had been reading karate magazines (the internet of that day) and had picked up some information about Okinawan martial history. 

Of course I did not know then what I know better today. 

And in those tender years, I tended to believe everything written in those magazines. (o’ those days of lost innocence.) 

 So what I understood has little to do with the actual Okinawan history, with a huge boost from my imagination. 

I knew there were the current practices of karate, and a foggy idea that there was a karate before that time. I had no idea what the actual history was. 

 I knew Okinawa was conquered by Japan, and some idea karate was preserved for self defense. 

My imagination supplied the rest. I imagined that the conquerors were hanging around everywhere. 

What I worked out is that the best way to make karate work was to look like everyone else. Give out no tells of what you were capable of. Then you could walk past your oppressor not appearing you were going to do anything. This would allow you to strike where they weren’t looking, towards their back. 

For I had worked out the best answer was t strike from behind where they were not looking. 

 This is not far different from what Motobu Choki had done. 

 As time passed and I learned ever so much more about matters martial I never forgot that thought. 

So strikes hardened on the makiwara accompanied with correct alignment, with all the possible force enhancers are among the ways such a strike to the rear could do even more damage. (I have only suggested one answer where there a whole infinity of possible answers. 

 Of course I did not teach this, for I wasn’t interested at creating individuals who would study methods of attack. And what an individual is shown as an answer how a technique should be used, it normally takes great effort so see any other answer for their studies. 

The history was skewered but the inherent principle I worked out remains as sound today as then. Striking below the opponent event horizon.

Old Bando Kukri form

Tradition

Tradition Tradition, tradition! Tradition! Tradition, tradition! Tradition!

Definition of tradition 1a : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (such as a religious practice or a social custom) b : a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable … the bulk of traditions attributed to the Prophet …— J. L. Esposito 2 : the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction 3 : cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions 

 As I was thinking about what Ti/Toudi would have been like as a practice, another thought came to me. And the concept of traditional karate came to mind, thinking about what were the traditions maintained within karate. 

First I must be clear, I am not against tradition within karate, or within your own system(s) of practice. 

I am just trying at a mega level to understand what tradition means in karate. 

The reasons, practices bound to the Bushi of Okinawa within their Ti/Toudi essentially did not fit what karate became. You were not training to then serve your society in a defined function. 

The traditions behind Itosu’s development of what karate could be were for a different reason, Of course the kata and techniques therein were passed along, and in some part perhaps that is the tradition. But the reasons became very different. 

So those first traditions, focused on the school karate, goes back perhaps 100 years. 

20 years later when karate began its export into Japan, other traditions arose to fit in to the Japanese society. 

10 years later the traditions again made changes. 

The kanjin for Karate changed, many other things began to be influenced by Japan. 

Then by the mid 1950’s many of those Japanese traditions became fixed in Okinawan tradition too. Where there just was the instructor, systems defining styles arose. Rank became part of the plan. Uniforms became standardized, and so much more. It can be said that perhaps that was when the bulk of today’s traditions took hold. 

Perhaps a short 70 years ago. And traditions kept evolving. 

They are traditions of course, they just do not have perhaps the same meaning of traditions which go back hundreds of years, if those do exist in Okinawan karate.

I would propose a small exercise in logic.

I would propose a small exercise in logic. 

That of course does not mean it is truth, just what it is a tool to perhaps understand the past.

Let us look back to the time when the practice was named Ti or Toudi. Now a distant past. 

The bushi of Okinawa were in service to the county and the families had what appears to be 5 different roles. One of those glimpses of those traditions came from the book “The Secret Martial Arts of Ryukyu”. 

This is what I found. “ The martial artists (bushi) of the Ryukyu can be divided into five distinct groups. First of all, the Shuri bushi, who were in charge of protecting Shuri Castle. Next, the Tomari bushi, who were in charge of domestic law enforcement. Third ,the Naha bushi, who were in chages of protecting the Chinese envoys (Suppushi) as well as the tribute ships sent from Ryukyu to China. Next were the Udun bushi, who were involved in the politics of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Finally, the bushi of Naha’s Kume Village, who were in the service of Chinese immigrants.” 

 Their study was to enter service of their family. A tool necessary for them to fulfill their role. It was not for physical development nor was it for self defense, though the practices did offer that. It was what they could fall back on in their service for their family. 

The instructors were most likely long term members of those bushi families. Who earned the trust of the families because of their service, because of their proven abilities and because of their proven ability to share what was essential for the members to rely on. Undoubtedly most of them were acquaintances with each other. And their programs were was required to enter service trained with basic skills. 

Further training likely came from other members with the same bushi roles. They were not systems as we think of them today. 

Those instructors likely had only a part of the responsibility in the choosing of who would fill their role for the following generation. 

Instead it was likely they understood the same process to select the next instructor would be used by the same senior members of the Bushi as was done for them. 

The importance of the role was not held by one individual for it affected the future of the entire clan. 

 Now contrast that with what developed for karate over the past 100 years. Slowly that changed, systems formed, instructors were developed by the senior instructor. 

 A very different process from what the original idea probably was.