Applications – Outside deflection with rear throw

 

Mario McKenna  May 24, 2020

 

Taira Shinken (R) demonstrating soto uke and ura nage on Mabuni Kenwa (L)

From Nakasone G & Mabuni K (1938) Kobo Kenpo Karatedo Nyumon

 

I rarely talk about specific applications of techniques from kata in this blog mostly because I feel they need to be practiced in the dojo over and over again under the watchful eyes of a good teacher. That said since I’ve been translating “Kobo Kenpo Karatedo Nyumon” so I don’t think I’m giving anything away by showing this photo of the application of “soto uke, ura nage” or “outside deflection, rear throw” (外受裏投) from the same book.

Figure 142 – Ura Nage

 

The technique appears on page 202, figure 142 and has the following explanation,

 

(A) does a right outside block and at the same time uses his left hand to spring-up (B)’s right arm strongly from below. (A) cuts down on the back of (B)’s right knee with his left leg. Using his right fist (A) punches (B) in the solar plexus and executes a rear throw (backwards). This technique is done to a three beat rhythm. (Rear throw can be used with any combination such as side block and sword hand strike).

 

This is essentially the same technique as “neko ashi dachi, mawashi uke” or “cat stance and circle parry” (猫足立ち、回し受け) that is found in so many of the Nahate kata (think Goju-ryu Sesan, Kururunfa, Suparempei, Uechi-ryu Sanseiru) that it begs the student to research this technique more.

Interestingly you can see the exact same technique in this YouTube video of the late Uehara Sekichi sensei of Motobu-ryu at the 30 second mark.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GecamAs4Kg&feature=emb_logo 

Unfortunately this video is no longer on You Tube but here is a screen print of the technique being discussed.

 

If you have access to a floor that is padded, then I would highly recommend (with proper supervision) practicing this technique to completion (i.e.) as a take-down or throw. So many Karatedo techniques have fallen into disuse because of the shift to a modern dojo floor which precludes the practice of these sorts of techniques.

 

Now back to translating Mabuni and Nakasone…..did I mention how much I hate their run-on sentences?….