Friday, June 7, 2019

Naifanchi – Fighting with your back against the Castle or Fighting in the Rice Paddies

It’s obvious the lateral movement of the form Naifanchi first suggests the attackers are only coming from 3 sides. Suggesting this would be of use to a castle defender has a certain compelling logic to it.

 

Kata is not a static training tool, except when you first learn to follow it’s movements. In practice you can shift in any direction against attacks coming from those directions and still utilize the kata techniques.

 

More telling is to take the time and first look at an Okinawan castle such as the following.

 

 
Katsuren Castle Okinawa

 

At least from this view it doesn’t seem likely to have many defenders with their backs against the castle. And for any castle the purpose of the walls are to help the defenders, who are staying inside, fight off an attack from the outside. Of course this is just one castle.

 

I would not use the defense of a Castle explanation, but what about the one with rice paddies.

For one thing what most of us think of as rice paddies are not the way rice is farmed on Okinawa.

So we first look at an Okinawa field of rice.

 


rice on Okinawa


Ok, so maybe not stepping over rows of rice in rice paddies, but you still could be fighting stepping over rows of rice in a field.

 

Thankfully I don’t think we have many actual stories about actual Okinawan rice fights do draw upon. But I could update the story to use Naifanchi stepping to fight at a construction site on floor with mats rice before a floor pour. While you can walk across the mats of rebar, if you were fighting that could be dangerous by sliding off the rebar. But you could step across the rebar into the open spaces.

 

Still I wouldn’t teach Naifanchi for that purpose.

 

What the stepping across the rows of rice paddies does is help the student understand the stepping movement that I want them to use in executing the kata. I want them to set as if they were having to step over those rows of rice. Using that image to help shape the technique to come.


Of course this segments into my next kata story.

 

But first a plug for developing correct kata execution. While the technique applications of Naifanchi are powerful I do not believe they should receive any precedence over any other kata technique. I see that correct execution of any technique should be able to stop any attack, and training to develop the technique and the means of entering any attack to use it is the true study.

 

Of even more bizarre practice years ago I had a tree felled and cut up, the trunk into 1 foot thick sections. I piled a group of them across the bottom of my driveway, and they were never level but were in play if you walked on them. I used to use them for Naifanchi kata practice, helps develop more precise footwork.

 

On the other hand I see Naifanchi kata as being critical to develop one’s body to more correctly perform the Spinning low strike section of Chinto kata. The development of one’s center from correct Naifanchi (as of course I define it in my system) makes more powerful movement in Chinto, and one’s center requires more precise development of the lower body, correct chambering and correctly timed knee release I technique execution.

 

Here are some of my students doing Naifanchi kata a different way.


 

 

2 comments:

Victor Smith said...

I never really taught the legends, but they in part did inspire some of the training I used. I remember when moving into the Derry Boys and Girls Club, someone had donated a low balance beam to them, it was not being used. It was right on the floor. More that a few times I had students on Naifanchi on that beam. Just another memory.

Victor Smith said...

When I trained with Carl Long in the early 1980's he once showed me a version with 180 degree turns in the middle of each 1/2 if the kata, which made 2 turns in the kata. That opens additional application suggestions. He also had is students do the kata as a speed drill, using minimal power, they used to hold kata races to see who could do it fasters, Always showing correct technique even with minimal p;ower. I remember him showing me his form at under 10 seconds.