The Wansu Throw

The Wansu Throw

 

 

In the Isshinryu Wansu Kata there is a throw, oft times called the Firemans throw. This throw is found in other Okinawan systems. An example came from the writings of Funakishi Ginchin on karate throwing techniques. As you can see below.

 

 

A good explanation is provided by Richard Pogue Sensei at

Of course this does not show all of the possibilities. From Sherman Harrill we find another dimension for these movements. Sherman once against a left punching attack took the entry into the throw and used the rising right hand as a rising palm strike into the opponents left lower ribs while the rising left arm became an rising open hand deflection to the strike, then the body turning movement allowed the right rising hand to press against their triceps of the striking arm as your left descending palm pressed against the inside of their striking arm. This motion became a sizzors effect trapping their arm in a lock and moving down and up to unbalance them to throw them down.

 

While this can be done as in the kata going forward, An option to to step back as this is performed using the turning of the body to increase the power of the press.

 

Again this does not totally define the possibilities of this movement.

 

 

Wansu Kamae

Wansu Kamae

 

A Kamae is a kata movement where there is ‘no movement’.  Sometimes referred to as a stop point.  One Example would be the Kamae in Wansu kata ½ way through the form,

 

That is a deceptive answer. For these movements can be very destructive in their own right.

 

One answer to the movement potential is as John Kerker demonstrates it, the hands used a descending knife hand strikes atop a striking arm, during an interior line of defense. It is the first example in this video clip, 

  

This would prove painful to say the least. Other alternatives would be a descending strike into the biceps and into the face, of course interior or exterior line of defense.

 

A different answer is also found within the interior line of defense. If the attacker comes swinging a hooking strike with the right arm the answer is just to form the Wansu Kamae as they are striking. Allow their biceps to strike into the Kamae. The harder they strike the more pain. They are striking their own biceps into the formed Kamae. This use incorporates the stillness found in the Kamae as on offensive weapon.

 

I first experienced this from Ernest Rothrock in a different way but the underlying principle remains the same. Then I found this within a striking drill from Tristan Sutrisno’s practice. I discovered three different ways that drill could be used, and then Sherman Harrill showed me a fourth way to use it.

 

Where the opening of the 1^st tjimande juru (2 person drill) where you right descending knife hands into the forearm and bicep against an uppercut to the body, causes increasing pain the harder they strike. My research showed this could be done with descending double leopard paw leading edge fore knuckle strikes, and with descending middle knuckle strikes from two punches into the same spot (this being the more painful option). What Sherman had showed was use of the forearm bone could also accomplish the same thing.

 

You never look at Kamae the same way after this.

 

Other examples of Kamae could be the opening of Chinto kata, where the hands cross into an “X”, or the movement in the beginning of Kusanku Kata where you form a Kamae similar to the one in Wansu Kata. What is a  Kamae is really a choice you make when you perform a kata. How you choose to use it, is also your choice.

 

 

Shimabuku Tatsuo and the Elbow Strike

One of the things I like best is how Shimabuku Tatsuo took the effort to add elbow strikes to Isshinryu in Kata Wansu and SunNuSu.

 

Now other Okinawan systems teach elbow striking. I recall Hiagonna Morio and Oshrio Toshiro videos demonstrating them.

 

The drill shown by Hiagonna was particularily impressive. As I recall the drill went like this

 

Against a left strike

1. Right foot forward right inside horizontal elbow strike toward arm,

2. Right outside horizontal elbow strike into the left arm

3. Right inside horizontal elbow strike into the arm.

4. Right outside descending elbow strike into the arm.

5. Right inside horizontal elbow strike across the arm to the face.

6. Right outside descending elbow strike into the face

7. Left inside horizontal elbow strike to the face

 

At least that is how I remember it. It was a drill not a suggested application.

 

In fact Oshiro Sensei uses the Rising block as a sort of elbow strike.

 

 

 

 

But to by best recollection only Shimabuku Tatsuo took the time to incorporate them in his kata. They were added to his version of Wansu Kata and then incorporated into his version of SunNuSu Kata.

 

I think it safe to say he felt they were important additions to make his karate stronger for his students. There were even elbow techniques in his Kumite.

 

2) Opponent grabs our LH wrist w/2hands and w/thumbs on top.  From

top we grab our own fist and pull up against his thumb.  Then step in LFFand  LH elbow to solar plexus and then bridge to nose.

            ** Variation to above is to just reach over  and grab your finger and pull

            your hand up and out.

 

8) PUNCH DEFENSES   (6:07):  

            ** Sunnusu block with inner elbow (LFF & LH) and backfist

            ** Sunnusu up block, grab wrist, spin and elbow to their back

Here is Uzeu Angi demonstrating some of those techniques.

 

Of course elbow strikes abound in all Okinawan karate.

 

 

Where the ascending block could be use as an ascending, forward or descending elbow strike. Where the outside block could be used as an ascending elbow strike or a descending elbow strike. Where the inside block could be a forward or descending elbow strike. And where the descending block could be a descending elbow strike.

 

All blocks have an elbow component that might be a elbow strike, too.

This depends on how you choose to use the movement potential.

 

Something the student should keep in mind.

 

 

 

On my Walking

 

To be honest when I go walking,

 

 I am not Fast,

 I am not Slow,

 I guess at my best I am half fast.

 

Ok I am slow. Mothers pushing baby carts leave me in their dust.

What is a weapon

The movement is a weapon,

The lack of movement is a weapon,

The act of turning is a weapon,

Spaces between movements are a weapon.

 

You are the weapon

depending how you choose to be.

 

Multiple Striking updated

I have decided to update this post.

 

 

 

One of the Isshinryu basic techniques involves multiple striking, responding to an attack with five punches.

 

This is just basic overload theory, where you throw so many techniques that something can get through to conclude an attacker. The basic version of this involves 5 strikes to the same spot. If the opponent has conditioned themselves to take a strike, use of strike after strike on one spot looks for the time their body response breaks down. I often characterize such striking as layered striking, the use of strikes to break through the bodies outer layers.
 

 

There is another version that can use the five strikes to begin with the head and then move the strikes down the body working the centerline.

As demonstrated by Tom Lewis on Dennis Lockwood.
 

 

Another Multiple Striking approach is where one strike rolls into another strike.

 

I first learned this from Tristan Sutrisno with a series of five strikes flowing from one to the next. Years later I saw Toshihiro Oshiro Uchinadi video’s and he demonstrates a backfist flowing from a punch (the same beginning in the Sutrisno multiple striking series). A natural progression from a strike and then using the pull back to springboard to another technique.

 

A similar multiples strike is shown by Oshiro with the Age Uke

 

 

 

 

This is how I was originally shown multiple striking from Sutrisno Sensei. Sorry for the sideways video.

 demonstrated by Mike Cassidy

 

 

and screen captures of Mike

 

 

My own variations on multiple striking.

 

 

 

 

The Sutrisno series actually is not done that way in defense, but shows how any of it’s technique can move into a following strike, and in its case involves 5 separate strikes.

  

Such techniques are quite in keeping with the kata technique usage discussed by Shiroma Shimpan in Nakasone’s 1938 "Karate-Do Taikan” which I discussed at

 http://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2010/05/itosus-reflections-watson-look-for.html

[Question if you follow my blog and you haven’t availed yourself to buy a copy or Mario McKenna’s translation for sale at Lulu, you’re missing one of the true treasures on karate study.]

 

This is how we introduce members to a simplified version of multiple striking.

 

 

 

From a Chinese tradition Ernest Rothrock’s “Jing Do – short range striking” concepts follow a very similar approach.  This is how we use these drills.

 

 

 

There is no question that directed impact training to develop a strike potential is more important to make strikes work. Multiple striking is a directed back up plan just in case.

 

There is more there, this just scratches the surface of this concept.

 

 As a suggestion you might want to check this out. 

http://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2016/02/it-is-just-side-block.html

Updated 12-13-2016

Sumuchi, Shimabuku Tatsuo

 

 

The other side of the Isshinryu picture is speculation but seems reasonable. Whether in his role as Sumuchi, Shimabuku Tatsuo ever consulted his oracles (books like the I Ching) regarding Isshinryu.

 

This likely originated in China, where his uncle had studied the arts involved. It seems he learned these arts while young Jeff Perkins Sensei shared videos of the books including the I Ching that Shimabuku Sensei did consult in his role as Sumuchi.

 

http://www.isshinkai.net/articles/history07-articles_03.html

 

During different periods of his lifetime, he was a farmer, tax collector, bodyguard, horse and cart teamster, karate instructor and sumuchi (fortune teller).

Prior to his death on May 30, 1975, Tatsuo was still doing fortune telling. Sumuchi is from the Uchinaguchi (Okinawan language) or dialect hogen but fortune tellers are also called sanjinso in Japanese. Sanzinso literally means “three phases of life” or “Three social trends,” which are the past, the present and the future.

Long before Tatsuo studied karate, he was learning to be a sumuchi from his uncle Ganeku Shinko who later would teach the young Shimabuku Shaolin-zi (Shorinji) style of karate that he learned in Fukushu (Foochow) China.

Shimabuku learned to be a sumuchi from his uncle on his mother’s side who lived in Agena village which was near Chan village. Ganeku was a school principle for a school at Isshikawa, a town located in central Okinawa. Years earlier Ganeku had traveled to China and learned to be a fortune teller. In the main Okinawan Shuri and Naha dialect, a fortune teller is called sumuchikuya or sumuchi/shimuchi for short. ‘Su” means book and ‘muchi’ means person so sumuchi is a ‘Book person’ a term used in Okinawa for a fortuneteller.

The reason these fortunetellers are called sumuchi is because they use books such as the I Ching, Chinese Almanac, Chinese books on Astrology and Feng shui.

http://www.free-definition.com/I-Ching.html

A sumuchi is well versed these ancient books and the "I Ching" (The Book of Changes), a classic Chinese book of divination, is used to consult to advise their clients in the proper course of action to take in certain phases of their lives. Okinawan Sumuchi are held in high esteem and are respected for their knowledge of old customs, history, traditions and events. This knowledge is passed from Sumuchi to apprentice and Tatsuo learned from Ganeku.

Sumuchi are also called sanjinso or sanzinso which literally means “Three phases of life” or “Three social trends,” which are the past, the present and the future. Sumuchikuya/ sumuchi/shimuchi and Sanjinso are all in reference to fortunetelling. Another subject Sumuchi perform is Feng shui.
http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/001/004-e/index.html

Fungshi (literally "wind" and "water") in Okinawan hogen and Feng Shui in Chinese is the ancient art of placement which addresses environmental energy imbalances of yin and yang. Fungshi which originated in China aims to promote balance and harmony between one’s living and one’s working environments. It can be described as the study of the relationship between humanity and earth and Fungshi is still deeply rooted in Okinawan life. The ancient Shuri Castle layout was based on Fungshi .
http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/001/004-e/002_01.html

The interview continued and focused on Tatsuo Shimabuku’s first martial arts teacher, his Mother’s bother, Ganeku. Ganeku taught Tatsuo Shimabuku to be a sanjinsoo or sumuchi (fortune teller). “Sumuchi” is the term used in Uchinaguchi (Okinawan dialect). Cisco unvealed the Sumuchi books used in his Father’s practice as he did for us in 1994. As explained in 1994,  Cisco stated that the books were over 100 years old and are written in kanji (Chinese characters), which few today on Okinawa can read. He made reference that a “college boy” could not read these books but that he could, as taught by his Father. He explained how these books are very rare and even in his Father’s day, only a few could understand them. 

Ciso stated that his Great Uncle Ganeku spent two years in China where he was taught Sumuchi and Shorinji (Shaolin Temple Boxing) by two individuals “Kushi” and “Mushi” (Okinawan hogen pronunciation, “Koshi” and “Moshi” in Japanese). He says Ganiku was a High School principal by profession in Ishikawa Village but lived in Agena. Ciso produced sticks and a compass that are used in the Sumuchi process. He explains that the compass is used for the planning of tombs and houses (the direction of the entrances of houses and tombs are very important. A Sumuchi was usually consulted before construction). We left Cisco early, not wanting to push his health, to return on another day before we left the Island.

http://www.olemiss.edu/orgs/karate/okinawa2.html

he asked Cisco about Tatsuo Sensei's sumuchi books. Cisco talked to us about learning fortune telling from his father and his father learning from Ganeku who was Tatsuo's uncle on his mother's side

 

Shimabuku Cisco demonstrating how his father would meditate.

Of course this does not explain much of what the sumuchi role involved.

So I first began by searching for ‘Sumuchi’ on the internet, however all I found was the role associated with Shimabuku sensei, and no other explanations. So the perhaps the term ‘sumuchi’ was Okinawan and as everyone uses Japanese on Okinawa today I thought to try the Japanese term ‘Sanjinso’ combined with Okinawa. I did find this.

http://okinawa.com/research/religion/religion

Playing a lesser role than the kaminchu and yuta in Okinawan shamanism, the sanjinso is a fortuneteller or diviner who determines personal fortunes. Men have exclusively held this profession. Unlike the yuta who possesses supernatural powers, the sanjinso makes his prognosis from the lunar almanac, I Ching, and other books on Chinese occult lore. The sanjinso is consulted when selecting auspicious days for engagements, marriages, funerals, buying and selling houses, moving, and traveling.

Which does not offer much more information.

Nor do we have any writings from Shimabuku Sensei about his role as ‘Sumuchi’.

Perhaps a clue can be found in his use of the I Ching. It is a famous long lived Chinese tradition, as a means to interpret change as it occurs. I studied it a bit as a hobby in University, as it interested me.

 

 

The I Ching Hexagrams

The I Ching does not tell the future. It is a collection of observations made over a very long time about change, using various means to gather information on change as it happens. It’s roots go back as far as 1,000 B C. Very old indeed. It represents long term observations on Change.

The individual interpreting those changes, uses a large text with possible interpretations of the changes made. It is then from their observations on those interpretations in the I Ching that they offer opinions about what they find. So change, recorded observations of change, interpretation about what those interpretations offer. This is what happens when the I Ching is used.

I speculate whatever other texts  are used might be in a similar fashion to answer the questions posed. Skill understanding change, that increases with time.

If his observations prove successful to others, then his reputation increases. Apparently people found his answers most useful.

Of course this opens thought on whether he did the same about the changes he participated in with his karate too.

Unfortunately this can only be speculation.

However it was not magic, IMO. Rather gained skill at understanding that the nature of change is the reality of the universe.