One glimpse of how a movement in Goju Seienchin (Seiunchin, Seyunchin, etc) kata was applied

from Mabini Kenwa's book on Senenchin Kata

 



 

 Miyagi and Kyoda

 

 

 

 Miyagi teaching

I suspect this was Miyagi teaching Sesan (Seisan) kata.

人体急所図

人体急所図
Pressure point & vital spot

 

 

Chinen Hiroshi

< Weak Points to use in Karate(1) >
#17 Suigetsu is part of the epigastrium of the human body in the Karate.

you can defeat an enemy for a momentary breath by attacking this weak point.

The Bubishi Introduction I wrote in 2008 for then Patrick McCarthy's republication of his book.

Back in 2008 Patrick McCarthy requested I prepare a forward to his then new reissue of his translation of the Bubishi. I had done a bit of translation for him and others from French works and in doing so saw a slightly different vision of the Bubishi. I respected his request and this is what I wrote.

 

The Bubishi

By Victor Smith

 

In you hands lies a contemporary translation of the Bubishi by Patrick McCarthy.

 

Just a short 100 years ago, when even the wildest speculation could barely imagine karate becoming public let alone being exported past the tiny shores of Okinawa, who would have ever considered their copy of the Bubishi becoming a public commodity sold at local bookshops?

 

The karate of era was passed from instructor to student through oral and physical transmission. There were no karate texts and even the unique terminology used by instructors made it difficult for outsiders to understand the inner-workings of what was being imparted. Entrusted to senior instructors, to what extent the role of the Bubishi actually played remains obscure.

 

In 1922, Funakoshi Gichin let the cat out of the bag when he included several articles from the Bubishi in his first publication, “Ryukyu Kenpo Karate-jutsu.” Again, in 1925 with his book, “Karate-jutsu,” and “Karatedo Kyohan,” in 1934, Funakoshi continued to highlight the importance the Bubishi by republishing several of its articles. So too did Mabuni Kenwa see fit to publish Bubishi-related material in his 1934 book, “Seipai No Kata.” As Karate found its way to the four corners of the world, the content of these unique publications became sought after. So it was that the Bubishi first came to be known beyond the tiny shores of Okinawa.

 

When, why and who actually composed the Bubishi remains unknown, however, the application of Occam's Razor is one approach which might offer us the simplest explanation. It seems conceivable that the thirty-two articles, found within the covers of this hand-written document, could simply be the private notes of a Chinese student of the fighting arts? After all, it contains information about the use of medicinal herbs, some history of crane-based quanfa, a description of vital point striking timed to the hour, healing techniques to counter all of those vital point strikes and a description of prescribed responses in defence of various attack scenarios, etc.

 

Written in older style Chinese script, it must have been a difficult task to translate without having access to the original writer or direct lineage-based students to help decipher code-like phrases. Without accompanying commentary or side notes on how the Bubishi articles were meant to be used I am left wondering if the document remained on a shelf it may have never become such a vital key in their research of the fighting arts.

 

Making this information widely available to the general public today has been a very long and difficult journey. Hokama Tetsuhiro, Tokashiki Iken and Ohtsuka Tadahiko represent the three principal sources from which various Japanese analyses and commentaries have been rendered. Tokitsu Kenji and Roland Habersetzer are responsible for different works in French with the later also publishing his comprehensive work in German. Of course, thanks to the independent efforts of researchers Ken Penland and Patrick McCarthy, their separate interpretations of the Bubishi have been widely distributed throughout the English-speaking world. Mr. McCarthy’s work has also been translated into several other languages including Italian, Spanish, Czech and Russian, making the rare document even more widely known.

 

Along with these several translations we get a mixed blessing of sorts as the various works present the Bubishi material differently. As I compared the different translations several questions become evident:

 

1. The separate English translations produced by Patrick McCarthy and Ken Penland seem to be the only ones that present the complete Bubishi text. The French and Japanese translations appear to focus only on the fighting sections of the work.

 

2. Comparing the translations it often seems as if they are entirely different works altogether.

            a.The text contains different material and in                                  different order.     

                     b. The 48 two-person drawings are vastly different                         from that produced in Mabuni

Kenwa’s 1934 publication, “Seipai no Kenkyu.” The drawings that appear in Ken Penland’s work are the closest to Mabuni’s version, but are less detailed. The 

remaining drawings are clearly from different Bubishi         texts or are different because of the efforts of the                     individual preparing them. By different I mean that 

the anatomical structures being attacked are not the             same. This causes some confusion with regards to the             original intention of the attack being shown 

portrayed.

 

3.  The translations of the medical-related arts is also very different with the two  translations,   raising questions about how similar or different the original texts used for the translation     are, or even the differences between the research methods employed by the authors.

 

  4.  Both the McCarthy and Penland translations contain additional material not in the original  Bubishi.

            a. The McCarthy text contains a great amount of                         historical information as well as additional material                  on the Chinese meridians and Chi

b. The Penland text contains additional material on the Chinese meridians and Chi.

c. While the actual Bubishi text discusses vital point                 striking, including the times  to strike on a 24-hour                 cycle, there was no direct material on the meridians in          the text.

 

5. The Habersetzer translation contains an extensive commentary how he interprets the 48 two-person self-defence techniques. He also presents the Happoren Kata.

 

6. The Ohtsuka work I observed compares the 48 two-person drawings with another  earlier Chinese work.

 

For me, differing translations, the lack of original commentary on its actual role in the development of the Okinawan arts, and questions about which were the original drawings, present a conflicting picture. Such mysteries are almost never ending. Our challenge seems to be as great as those facing the Okinawan instructors who study this work; do we leave it on the shelf because it’s too difficult to understand, or do we make an effort to discover its true value.

 

Tradition tells us that Chinese documents like the Bubishi were hand-written by brush and reproduced in two ways. The most common way was through senior students entrusted to copy the original for themselves. The other way was by engaging a professional copyist to perform the task. I suppose this is the likely source from which some of variations previously mentioned come. The translator also has plays a role in this passage of information; it hardly seems possible to 

translate from one language into another without one’s own experience bearing some influence upon the final version of any work.

 

From the various translations I am familiar with I believe that McCarthy’s work best represents the entire Bubishi. He also did a wonderful job in presenting the entire Okinawan context that really helps those of us seeking to better understand the cultural landscape in which it was produced. But what does this picture give us except challenges?

 

As if looking back through a time portal the Bubishi reveals an earlier fighting art, which placed as much emphasis upon healing as it did developing defensive and destructive capabilities. Did it actually convey the secrets of defending  against or applying Kyusho-jutsu and which herbal remedies best cured its damage? In turn  do we interpret this text as a call to study the healing arts as part of our own karate?

 

Do we try and find the self-defence applications within kata and techniques? Do we seek out the older Chinese methods, as have some of these researchers done?

 

Ernest Rothrock, a specialist in Eagle Claw quanfa with more than forty years experience, clearly demonstrates that Bubishi-like techniques are, in fact, core techniques in many Chinese Arts. Does this knowledge then enhance our studies, or should we seek out new information?

 

In addition to borrowing liberally from Bubishi-based philosophical and tactical insights for his early publications, Funakoshi Gichin also reproduced a word-forword account of no fewer than three articles from this old document; “Eight Important Phrases,” The Treatise on Ancient Law of Great Strength.” And “Methods of Escape.” Is this yet another lesson of what we should be doing? The Bubishi material on tactical doctrine is of considerable value and goes far beyond the 48 two-person prescribed self-defence drawings.

 

It is very possible the Bubishi and it’s focus on tactical strategy also influenced Okinawan karate pioneer, Kyan Chotoku. Published in Miki Nisaburo and Mutsu Mizuho’s 1930 book entitled, “Kempo Gaisetsu,” Kyan’s advice on the fighting arts rings a bell of Bubishi familiarity. Even more so, is the collection of sayings used by Okinawan fighting arts legend, Motobu Choki, which appear with the English presentation of his book, “My Art of Karate.”

 

While much of Okinawa’s karate history remains undocumented, the tactical commentary of these pioneers reveals important information about basic training in the fighting arts of that era. Most importantly, the influence of the Bubishi is clearly obvious through their comments.

 

Still another example I identified was through the work of the late Karate expert, Sherman Harrill of Carson City, Iowa. Harrill studied the Isshin Ryu Karate of Shimabuku Tatsuo for more than forty years of his life, and spent considerable time focusing on unraveling the mysteries of kata through using the Bubishi. His effort resulted in deepening and broadening our understanding of the tactical strategies used in Isshin Ryu.

 

I have only briefly touched on the questions and opportunity the Bubishi presents to us. It’s easiest to place it on your bookshelf to show others you posses a copy.

 

It’s much more work, however, to dig in, find your own values, participate in the larger discussions and make its existence add texture and depth to your own studies. I hope you will not simply place it on your shelf?

 

I specifically want to thank Mr. McCarthy for his great efforts to make this work available for our continued studies. The martial arts world has gained considerable resources from his hard work.

 

Now a decade later I am still much of the same opinion of what I wrote back then. So I decided to share it here. Most of the question I raised I still hold open. I am not in current Bubishi research, just remembering a time I was.

 

Ryukyu Oke Hiden Bujutsu

From an Australian interview of Joe Swift a long time ago in an Australian Karate magazine, INSIGHTS  ONTO MARTIAL ARTS.

 

OVERVIEW of Technical Content of

 

1.      Kihon Taijutsu – Basic Empty Hand techniques

 

Also called Goke (hard fist), this aspect focuses upon punches and kicks. At this level, the kata Mutidi (1 & 2) and Kasshindi (3 & 4) are taught as basic conditioning of the\

Body, hand, and foot motions necessary for the advanced techniques.

 

2.      Buki- jutsu – Weaponry

 

Upon mastering the basic hard-fist techniques the student then moves onto a study of classical weaponry.

The major weapons in the system include a variety of swords, spears halberds, staves of varying lengths, wooden flails, boat oars, wooden handles, iron truncheons and others.

The secrets of Ryukyu Oke Hiden Bujutsu are said to be found in the sword, the pinnacle of which is the Uzumaki No Ken (tornado sword).

 

3.      Tuidi – Grasping Hand

 

Also called juken (soft fist). This is the pinnacle of the art, in which one is able to control an adversary without causing serious injury, by placing him in so much pain that he loses his will to attack. Often used in conjunction with the dance-like movements of Mai no Ti (dance-hand.

 

 

 

Related Videos

 

MotoTe Ichi (Sanchin)

 

Motode Ni

 

合戦手 Kasshindi

 

Kasshinbo - 合戦棒

 

It is the battle hand five that Prof. Kiyoyoshi Uehara taught.

The kick is usually done with a straight kick.

 

稽古終了後の自由稽古

Free practice after the end of the training

Kobudo Choyu Seikichi Uehara Choki Genjyuro Takano

 

 

本部流御殿武術　合戦手五  

Motobu-style palace martial arts battle Hand V

 

 

Ryukyu Oukehiden Motobu Udund demonstration by Motobu Choko Soke and his students by during the 2017 40th all Japan Aikido Kobudo Demonstration at the Nippon Budokan.

 

-- Official presentation by the Kobudo association --

The Motobu Udundi is a martial art that was developed and transmitted down to the current Soke within the royal Motobu family lineage in Okinawa. Studied and taught in secret were techniques with the sword, spear, Naginata, Bo, Jo, short stick, Nunchaku, but also tools that could be used as weapons like paddles or even stones.

During the Taisho era (1912-26) this art spread rapidly and got known even outside Japan.

The techniques were not meant to fight one against one, it was the aim to beat as many opponents as possible at the same time. Therefore, one used as many weapons as possible and kept moving constantly.

-- Practitioners --
Motobu Choko Soke
Nakamiya Makoto
Shinzaki Fumiko
Suzuki Yoshie
Motobu Naoki
Toume Toshimasa
Katayama Osamu
Kato Shinichi
Nakagawa Kagefumi
Thomas Martinez
Katsunuma Yu
Toriumi Makoto
Mori Osamu
Kawata Tatsuya
Shioji Eiichi

 

 

Ryukyu Kobujutsu demonstration by during the 2017 40th all Japan Aikido Kobudo Demonstration at the Nippon Budokan.

-- Official presentation by the Kobudo association --
This Kobudo comes from the Ryukyu islands (Okinawa Prefecture) and the earliest recorded history goes back about 700 yers ago. Together with the "empty handed techniques", that became well known and were spread as the Okinawa Karate, there was also a large catalog of weapon techniques developed. Those became later known as the Ryukyu Kobujutsu, evolving around the Bo, Sai, Tonfa, Nunchaku, Kama, Tekko , Tinbe and Surujin. To revive, preserve and also promote them, a catalog of over 40 weapons Kata has been put together and were taught by Taira Shinken (1897-1970).

-- Practionners --
Inoue Kisho (President of the Ryukyu/Okinawan Kobjutsu organization)
Ohkawa Masaharu
Okabayashi Toshio

 

Motobu Udundi demonstration at the Ryukyu Ninja Show

 

本部御殿手　合戦手五

 

本部御殿手舞の手 

(Motobu Udundi Mai no Te)

The secret technique that has been transmitted by one child to protect the Ryukyu Dynasty The first film that systematically introduces the martial arts of the Motobu-style palace

本部御殿手

 

Окинавское Айкидо - Система Ти      

Okinavskoe Aikido-System you

 

Mai no Te (Dance-ti) and its bunkai 

performed by Uehara Seikichi, 

Okinawa Times Hall, March 30th, 1980.

 

 

 

There are many more YouTube videos on this topic.

 

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2017/11/from-ryuku-oke-hiden-bujutsr-karate.html

 

Wizzers II

When you experience something that works with great effect. When I took a course in wrestling at college, it was explained a wizzer was a well practiced technique of escape and reversal. Something unexpected but incredible at the same time. I want to continue with some other examples of times that such a technique made special for me.

 

8.         I recognized that taking kata techniques and making them structured wazza studies was nothing like using kata sections in reality. At the same time I realized it was a valid way to develop skills inserting the technique in a space created by an attack. It also was a tool to help individuals learn what was possible. Far from a perfect answer but still you have to start somewhere. The detractors choose not to understand that one must start to develop skill.

 

            So one evening in the early 1990s a possible application came to me. Then I chose someone to start a standard wazza attack and I showed the group what I saw. I demonstrated it a dozen times, even in very slow motion with explanations. Then I asked them to do it. Now I had students accomplished with maybe 15 years training with me. In almost every case they did something else. It wasn’t a question that their response would not work, for what they did would also conclude the attack, It was that facing the very slight pressure of the standard attack, they did not trust what I showed them and every time they chose to do something they had greater faith in. Of course had that been a real attack I would have been quite satisfied with what they did. But that wasn’t the case, this was a study, one they did not  continue. And what I was trying to show was not what  they understood.

 

            That made me think. The kata technique I was using was one they all were well versed in performing. I came up with the idea on the spot and made it work. I clearly demonstrated what to do. What was missing?

 

            The answer came to me, it was I was in tune with the Spirit of the kata. I not only knew it I trusted it and made it work. While they knew the move, when facing slight pressure, they did not really trust what they knew and so did something else. They were missing the Spirit behind the move. That proved to be a much larger issue.

 

            Another time I was working with Doc. He was attacking, I just moved forward, without thought of selecting a kata section. I just did one while moving in. It happened so quickly that I just did it, and struck him in the face. Of course that was not my intent and I apologized. Then I attempted the same thing again, and struck Doc again in slower motion. Of course he got mad, and I couldn’t blame him. I began to realize that when moving on on an opponent just using a kata section happened so suddenly they could not respond and it would work.

 

            Again and again I kept finding the same thing. When at my Tai Chi group I decided to attempt a very slight movement I was never shown how to use, and when I did so almost caved in Dennis’ ribs.

 

            Or another time after tai chi group I pulled John aside to attack me, for I had a new idea how to use the opening of Chinto kata that came to me. I was going slow and I dropped him. Again apologizing (that became a constant) I again attempted it even slower and once again he was dropped. I eventually worked out why, quite simple really, just never had used it that way before.

 

            I began to realize the key had to be in developing the Spirit of my students Isshinryu. Body, Mind and Spirit.

 

9.         One night I had a group of friends join the adult group. One of them a skilled brown belt in 5 different styles. His family kept moving and then he moved to college, accounting for his studies. They were having fun together.

 

            So one class I explained how an aikido flow strike to the throat would work, slowly demonstrating how that was done against a grabbing attack And as most beginners in one ear and out the other ear. They really had no idea what they were shown.

 

            When class concluded they started playing around. The skilled one was coming in on his friends with skilled jumping spinning crescent kicks and each time they would move away being new students themselves.

 

            So I went over and explained that what he was doing was a perfect application for what I had shown them that night. Of course they didn’t believe me especially the one doing the kicking. So I offered to show them how easy it was to stop him.

 

            He took the challenge and began his pass throwing multiple jumping spinning crescent kicks directly towards me.

 

            As he began his 2^nd kick which would have struck me, instead I moved forward and using my left aikido flow strike, my fingers flowed directly into his throat. I did not ‘strike’ his throat, instead his throat struck my extended fingers.

 

            And as I was shown, his body threw itself back from my fingers. Back 20 feet slamming into the dojo wall. And all I did was exactly what I had shown them.

 

 

10.       Next up would be meeting Sherman Harrill. In reality there were over a thousand wizzers I could select. But I choose to keep it just to one.

 

            I believe it was the 2^nd time I attended a clinic with him. One up at Garry Gerossie’s clinic. One of the moves he used was just stepping in with a single strike. Something straight out of the first basic, and also found in many kata.

        What he did was just select a different target for the strike. Where he placed his strike was straight into the leg bone of the thigh, and that caused his opponent to collapse. While several of my students were able to attend, Young could not be there.

 

            Not fully believing it would work, Young was there at the beginning of my next class. I asked him to step in and strike toward me. He did so as I stepped in toward him and struck into the thigh bone of his rear leg. Just a light strike from my hip. It hit and he dropped like a rock. It worked of course.

 

            What the strike does is make the leg develop an instant cramp where struck, and the opponent falls.

 

11.       The first time I met Sherman’s senior student, John Kerker, something Sherman said many times made perfect sense at last. Sherman always said he was always holding back at his many seminars for many reasons, Main among they because he had not trained them. I had never been able to visit his school and so never fully understood what he meant.

 

            That time I saw exactly what Sherman meant, and only that time, for in later years he was using a different gentler approach to what  he was presenting.

 

            John was literally showing how he was taught to use kata technique. Doing so he was striking his partner harder that I have ever seen anyone strike another. And even more impressive was the gentleman being struck got up after each strike and continued to attack John again and again and again.

 

            Later John would explain that in the dojo, if you chose to undergo training at that level, which meant you did a lot more than just show up for class, Sherman would strike you repeatedly showing how movements would work. As John put it, there was no square inch of the dojo floor where he had not been dropped on repeatedly. Then after you got up, Sherman expected you to do the same to him too.

 

            I would suggest John got full transmission of what Sherman had to offer.

 

12.       Over the years I would be asked to give clinics at various schools. They were never Isshinryu schools so what I showed was from many of the other traditions I studied with. Isshinryu is just too personal for me to share with anyone who was not a direct student of mine.

 

            But I was always giving them something interesting, something that worked.

 

            One of the things I confirmed was something I had gotten from Tris Sutrisno when he described his fathers methodology for giving clinics.

 

            “Pick the largest person there, and use one of your best techniques on them. Literally drop them. That establishes in everyone’s mind in the group attending, that you can drop them. After that things are very easy.’

 

            I found the same thing was true.

 

            Then one time I was showing a showboat move that was fun at a school. A female black belt there maintained that could not work. So requested her to strike towards me. Exactly as I was demonstrating I moved outside of her attack, parried her striking arm down in an arc, placing it between her legs.

            As I did that I move forward and with my left hand grabbed her arm at the wrist and lifted it up suddenly. She did not expect that (though that was exactly was I demonstrated to ‘walk’ the opponent away) instead this time when feeling her arm being lifted into her groin, she just flipped over. Mission accomplished in all the watchers minds.

 

            Another time another clinic. Not that I gave many, maybe one a year. I was showing a very basic interior line of defense from Sutrisno basics. The largest attacker attacked, and was spun down with what I refer to as a layered takedown. After I did so I asked if anyone else wanted to experience it. A line of 50 black belts formed before me.

 

            I went through the group with that move. Over and over until I was getting dizzy. When I was finished I saw all 50 of them were spun down all over their dojo floor.

 

            When a plan comes together it is a thing of beauty.

 

There are so many more examples.

The thing is the Wizzer is something that works very well.