Advanced Applications from Kihon

In the attached video, I combine two basic karate technique in a manner markedly different from the traditional. You may have seen chudan gyaku zuki used to attack the assailant's elbow in a prior article and video.  Here we expand on that.

The arm bar is used to break down the opponent's structure, rendering him in a vulnerable position- weight over the toes, head and shoulders down. With my opponent in a disadvantageous position, I am able to snake my arm below my opponent's and grip the back of his neck. Take note that in the video, I do not wind my opponent's arm to expose the crook of his elbow. This was done to keep my partner's shoulder intact and avoid a certain rotator cuff tear.

It may occur to some of you that this application of enkei gyaku zuki is similar to that of manji uke- arm bar and shoulder lock. I would encourage that kind of thinking. Practice along this line and you are well on your way to making yours a better karate.

Attack The Elbow

In order to understand kata and apply the principles contained therein, one ought to be able to identify what exactly is being depicted in the kata. Simple, provided you accept that everything in kata is about fighting an opponent within arm's length, and in this instance that an adversary's straight arm is an invitation to break it. The cup and saucer pose found throughout kata is a popular and recurring "image" of this principle.

Traditionally, the cup and saucer pose is referred to as a chambering, ostensibly for a backfist and sidekick.  Domingo, my partner in the video below, assures me that if I were to break his nose with a backfist, it might end the fight.  Domingo is too kind.  I spar knockdown karate with Domingo regularly. He's got more muscle and bone mass, and heaps more motivation. A backfist, I'm afraid, would only stoke the hellfire sure to follow such a foolish move.

In the video, I demonstrate an elbow attack from a clinch, such as I might find myself in if Domingo lands a glancing blow and I grab and hold, and a situation where Domingo is raining down punches and I cover-up. Of course, a lapel grab might also be a situation where an elbow attack might be warranted. The art is not memorizing an application for every scenario, but being able to apply the principle to any scenario. 

Note too that a full understanding of the straight arm attack principle is recognizing that anything can act as the fulcrum over which the elbow is destroyed. Future installments are planned to demonstrate this principle. Stay tuned and make yours, a better karate.

Balance, Transitions and Kokken

Some friends and I are practicing knife defenses, sweeps and joint manipulations of SSBD in the video above. It's a bit rough, admittedly, maybe even ugly, and that's the point. When you consider the never ending perfection that karateka seek when they practice kata, what is done in the "air," that is without an adversary except for the one in your mind, the practical takes a back seat to esthetics, and that can be detrimental to your health and safety.

The following is a list of karate technique you will see in the video: juji uke (knife pass and trap); chudan soto uke (arm bar); kake ashi dachi (foot sweep); zenkutsu dachi (foot sweep). In addition you will see a knife held in an ice pick grip used for capturing and controlling. If unarmed, kokken may be used to hook and control the opponent's offending limb.  An expert might appreciate these things, but a beginner needs a partner (and a knowledgeable instructor).

As Uzi, Massimo and I practice the technique, note how we try to disrupt the adversary's balance before sweeping. Arm bars, stabbing, pushing and position are used to displace the opponent to the point that the sweep becomes effortless. Notice too how arm bars soften up the adversary for weapon disarms and chicken wings.

A word on transitions, kake ashi dachi (cross legged stance) and zenkutsu dachi (front leaning stance) I hope you appreciate, by now, are not intermediate steps to a final objective.  If you have any practical fighting experience you understand that there is no tactical reason to ever cross legs (in the case of kake ashi dachi) when transiting sideways unless you wish to give your opponent an advantage. The stance represents a sweep. When Uzi executes a zenkutsu dachi, notice how he uses his torso as a fulcrum in an arm-bar to unbalance me for the sweep. The notion that stances are transitory phases of a body in motion should be put to rest. When combined with the images of what the adversary is experiencing contemporaneously, the dachi (stances) represent takedowns or some other technique of dominance or control. Kake ashi dachi- it only looks like you are crossing your legs, but remember that the other guy is falling. Zenkutsu dachi- it only looks like you've over committed to your lunge, but remember that the other guy has been unbalanced an is about to fall.

Finally, the video closes with a loop of Uzi repeating a key point for head control and the neck crank. Details, details.  I hope you found this interesting and helpful in your quest for a better karate.

My thanks to Maul Mornie, and SSBD brothers Uzi and Massimo.

A Better Juji Uke with Pencak Silat

A seasoned karateka like you might dismiss the juji uke (or cross block) as one of those traditional karate artifacts you can't figure out: why go through the trouble of crossing your arms to block an attack when dodging or stepping away will do? You might even question committing both arms to a defense against what very likely would be a feint before the actual strike.  If you are among the minority of seasoned skeptics, take heart, this video clip is for you.

The ju in juji-uke refers to the number 10, which is rendered as 十 in Japanese. You can see where this is going. The crossed arms in the "block" are represented rather conveniently by 十.  Much confusion arises over how the block is applied. Tradition would have you cross the arms simultaneously as is done in kihon and kata. That tradition, I argue, would have you struck square in the face. A worthy opponent would fake and get you to commit everything, like the Maginot Line, to a defense that is easily circumvented.

Consider what the video clip above offers, a clever defense against a jab-cross combination, that utilizes position, control, and leverage to defeat the attacker. You are not merely waiting for the blows to rain down on you as you cover: you are setting up your opponent to walk into an ambush.  If you are wondering where the crossed arms come in, the defender does cross arms, though not simultaneously. In the basic application, it's the attacker's arms that get crossed. That's art. That's a better juji -uke.

What Your Sensei May Have Not Taught You About Deep Stances (Simbur)

Maybe you've practiced karate for 30 years and teach your own classes, maybe you are an intermediate student already comfortable with low stances like kiba dachi from where you throw countless chudan tsuki. If you are only doing deep and low stances because they challenge your quadriceps, or because they "look" like proper karate, this will challenge your notion of karate. If you are content with your karate situation, click to another blog or watch one of those cute "crazy things that cats do" videos because what follows may disturb your equipoise.

Your balance and low and deep stances mean next to nothing unless your feet are deep into your opponent's personal space. Hold the foot fetish imagery for a second and consider the "why." Surely there must have been a reason for emphasizing deep stances and footwork, even if the old karate masters could not explain why?

In the attached video, chief SSBD instructor Maul Mornie demonstrates a thigh sweep, which might trigger an "a-ha!" moment. In order to perform this technique correctly you must step through your opponent side-on. As you do, your thigh, close to the inguinal crease, clips your opponent's leg and throws him off balance. Like anything, it takes practice.

Maul performs this throw (Simbur) effortlessly, which comes from walking through countless opponents. You cannot develop this skill with thousands of repetitions against your reflection in a mirror. As you watch the video, you might notice that the technique looks a bit like kiba dachi, and at other times, like zenkutsu dachi or kokotsu dachi. That's okay. Naming something is an act of taking possession, but if you do not understand what you are taking hold of, the name hardly matters. Forget the names for a moment and just do.

When you train with Maul, as I do, naturally you become more adept in the art of SSBD, as a side bonus for karateka, it makes your karate better.

Putar Kepala: A better osae uke/mawashi uke

Putar Kepala means to swivel or turn the head. In Silat, it refers a family of takedowns by turning your opponent's head. Representations of this technique can be found in karate (osae uke and mawashi uke). Now there are several versions of osae uke and mawashi uke floating around out there, so be forewarned. The two we are concerned with accomplish the same thing: to apply torsion to the spine of your opponent in order to breakdown his structure. The principle of the technique, like many others, is to bend and twist. In karate you will recognize the technique as up and down pressing blocks (osae uke), or the mawashi uke (with artfully curved pinky and ring fingers and ostentatious ibuki).

"Wait a minute, these are two totally different technique," you are thinking. Think again. With this application of Putar Kepala your opponent's head is down (torso bent at the waist) and one of his arms is up in the air. The curved little fingers of mawashi uke are a clue that you are grasping your opponent in some fashion. In fact, you are grasping him behind the neck and by the elbow. Using the principle of the force couple (equal and opposing forces on a parallel path) you cause your opponent to twist and thereby lose his balance. Osae uke is representative of the force couple principle. Mawashi uke is a descriptive representation of what is going on (rotation).

Take a look at Lorenzo Bagnai putting Putar Kepala in action. Notice the use of forearm strikes to the neck, elbow strikes to the face, and knee kicks to the body to get the opponent into position. By advancing, retreating, or moving to one side or the other, he is able to direct his opponent in a variety of directions.

Where is the threat?

If you have been assiduously practicing your kata, you might be under the impression that the greatest threat came from the left hand side, particularly when four toughs block your path.  Yeesh!  In my previous blog, I ranted about the insanity of the multi person attack scenario.  Now, I ask you to prove it to yourself.  How would you fight four attackers?

While you are cogitating on that, let me say that apart from avoiding dark places where four baddies can sneak up on you, you can really only deal with one person at a time.  So, either find a way to line up the four assailants that you might take them on sequentially, or prepare to take a beating.  You see, it doesn't work.  While your mind is fixated on fighting four men, you miss out on the important kata lesson of dealing with the most dangerous threat, and that is the single attacker in front of you.

The right and left hand symmetry of  kata is not to emphasize multiple attackers, rather it is to demonstrate that the man in front of you may present you with an attack from either side.  Your responses, then, is to move off-line to a side which is advantageous to you.

If you dispense with the multi-person attack scenario, and think of only one attacker, it will be easier to see how a combination of moves set-up complex technique.  You will see that kata is intricate and at the same time conservatively simple.  If the strike to the face does not immediately have the desired effect, follow-up by wrapping your arm around the back of his head, and turn whilst simultaneously dropping your center of gravity.  Which kata did this application appear in?  (Hint, it is the one where you were told to elbow the guy in front of you in the chin at the same time as you elbow the guy behind you in the gut.)

That's crazy. Me, Tarzan.

Happy New Year!  Sorry for the scarcity in posts.  Between natural disasters and personal upheavals there was no time to ponder the deep meaning of Karate.   With a little time to breathe and since I am out of practice, allow me to rant  about the shallow stuff.  In a chat with fellow karate geeks, one of the pillars of a system I am fond of  was quoted (I'll paraphrase for you), "kata is not only a fight with multiple opponents but it teaches you the main technique of karate."  I would like to take this moment to argue that no kata ever demonstrated how to effectively deal with a group of attackers.  If fighting multiple attackers is the premise of all kata, karate ought to be dismissed as outright foolishness.

Think about the Heian/Pinan series of kata for example.  If you were surrounded on four sides, you are seconds from getting pounded into a grease stain, so forget about turning to the left.  It is hard enough fighting one attacker, if you want to take on four you had better have a firearm and standoff distance, so let just deal with one attacker m'kay.  Let's place that attacker squarely in front of you, what would you do?  I would step off line, maybe to the left, maybe to the right, to get a better angle on my opponent.  Maybe I would stay in place, occupy his center.  It would depend on what attack I am countering, but it would always be against the person directly in front of me.

"But, but, but," you start to object, "what about all those turns?"  Oh, you mean the embusen, the pattern of lines your feet trace on the floor as you purportedly meet attackers who ambush you in the capital letter "I" formation, or something similar to the Nazca drawings.  Recognize that patterns exist in kata, just as they exist in poetry and song.  They exist to make the message memorable, but they are not the message.  I don't know how many times I read, ". . .his armor clanged upon him, as darkness clouded his eyes," every time a soldier died in one of Homer's epic poems.  Mnemonics.

The embusen, helps you remember a theme, elbow joint destruction at the bottom of the "I" and punches in the vertical part.  Also, kata have complicated embusen so as to accomodate turns, not for the purpose of meeting multiple opponents.  The turns are the  most important part of the kata as they contain the most destructive technique.  Grab hold of the guy you are tussling with, turn suddenly and drop your center of gravity.  Depending on what part of your opponent you grabbed, you either snapped a limb or threw him to the floor.  Kata is that simple and that complex.  But fighting multiple opponents? That's crazy.  It is not that fighting a gang of toughs is impossible, it is simply not the primary, not even the tertiary lesson.

On kata teaching the main karate technique, yeah, sorry, not really.  Teachers teach karate.  If you are ever told to repeat kata many times until you understand, then your teacher, and his teacher before him failed.  This kind of karate frustrates me to no end.  It is the same as expecting the illiterate to learn to read by tracing words from a book.  I know of one illiterate autodidact who taught himself to read.  His name is Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

haito uchi + mawaru + kiba dachi = takedown

One of these days I'll have to start recording my own videos to demonstrate what I'm rattling on about.  Fortunately for me, and you, there's lots of good video already out there.  This brings me to the thought for the day: haito uchi (ridge hand strike), mawaru (turn), and kiba dachi (horse back riding stance) combined yield a quite effective takedown.  Alvin Guinanao demonstrates.

Note:  If you are re-reading this and notice a change in the title, it is my fault.  Originally, I had zenkutsu dachi in the title, but on reviewing Alvin's video, I noticed that the zenkutsu dachi is not there, though kiba dachi is obvious.  Rather than search all over for the video I had in mind (it's out there) I left it at kiba dachi.  If any of you show up at the NYC seminar this year, or get to meet me, ask me about the zenkutsu dachi and I'll be happy to demonstrate.

gedan barai reconsidered

In karate kihon and ido geiko we practice gedan barai, usually as a block against an attack to our abdomen (presumably a kick-shudders- or perhaps punch).  Another application I have seen advocated, by myself as well, is as a wrist grab release technique.  In both uses, the "blocking" hand is chambered near the collar bone and brought down smartly in a diagonal motion and stopping abruptly just before the elbow is fully extended.   The problem with how karate kihon, ido geiko and kata are practiced is that these movements are often done without a partner and under the assumed operating environment of kumite.  Karateka chop down with their forearm as they perform gedan barai, and much is lost.

The term "barai" implies a sweeping motion not a chop. Consider the sweeping motion of the strong arm in this video of Maul Mornie demonstrating knife defenses.  The lead hand deflects the strike, the strong/rear hand sweeps down and across, and traps the attacker's hand against his body.  Conventional karate wisdom holds that the lead hand is extended so that one might retract it forcefully and thereby speed up the blocking action.  What is evident in Maul's video is that the lead hand is playing an active role in deflecting(passing) and checking an attack, rather than simply acting as a reciprocating limb.  I would argue the Maul's downward pass, parry, trap and check is the proper gedan bari, where both arms have equal and important roles.

Done this way, a proper gedan barai accomplishes three things: it allows the defender to gain an advantageous position; it prevents the attacker from utilizing his lead arm; it allows the defender to sense through proprioception the attacker's next move.  It is necessary, therefore that besides sweeping the strong arm down and across, the defender must push forward maintaining contact with the attacker's arm.  The defender then checks the attacker's arm with his lead hand, freeing the strong arm to counter.

Is this too much gedan bari?  Is the simpler version better?  Personally, I think it makes for better karate.

The Underutilized Shuto Uke

Pity the poor shuto uke (shuto mawashi uke, double knife hand block).  When does it ever get put to use except in kata practice?  Forget about fighting, right?  It seems traditional martial artists only use it for getting into a fighting stance.  They'll wave their hands in the air and Presto!  I'm a karate guy!  But there's so much more to it.

I like to think of the technique as a multi functional tool.  You parry and trap your opponent's strike.  Equally important, if not more so, while parrying and trapping you to cut an angle on your opponent to get into a safe position while leaving your opponent vulnerable.  If karate is a fighting system of multiple distances, shuto mawashi uke is the technique that enables you to close the distance.  Those familiar with Wing Chun, JKD, Silat will recognize what I'm talking about.

Kyokushin karateka who remember pinan sono ichi, might wonder about the different angled shuto mawashi uke at the end of the kata.  No, they are not intended to allow you to meet additional opponents coming from different directions.  They are meant to reinforce the idea of approaching your opponent form an angle instead of straight on.

Above, Alvin Guinanao, of Open Circle Silat, demonstrates how to get close to an opponent and take him down.  Pay attention to the hand movement starting at 0:10.  Notice how he's close and outside.  For karateka, imagine what moves follow shuto mawashi uke in kata.  They are very likely close-in fighting technique.

Moves like Jagger

I have been quietly (ok, maybe not so quietly) bemoaning a development in karate I find disturbing: musical kata.  The state of kata is bad enough, what with the narrow understanding of bunkai, adding music pushes the martial arts to the glittery side of art and rendering the martial unrecognizable.  Is there a way out of this death spiral?  I would argue in the affirmative.  Understanding is the key.  The truth is easy to recognize, even if disguised by music and dance.

Take the kembangan (flower dances) of Silat.  I've asked Alvin Guinanao to provide me with a vid of his moves which you will find above.  Notice the fluidity and balance.  Note the delicate hand gestures and intricate footwork that belie truly powerful and destructive self-defense technique.  "Well that's all nice," you might say. "But where is the powerful and destructive self-defense technique?"

Here's a view of Alvin's ground fighting class.  It doesn't look so dance like anymore.  Some of it vaguely resembles certain Judo throws (osoto gari, kosoto gari, kosoto gake).   You might remember my post on stances, or heard me in conversation refer to karate's funny ways of standing as takedowns.  Compare Alvin's flower dance to his ground fighting.  Now think about kata and how you might reinterpret it.

As for Alvin's delicate hand gestures while performing a kembangan, check out his class on blocking technique.

Why Silat?

When it comes to kata bunkai, it helps to view it from a distance, and I don't mean from the nose-bleed section of the bleachers.  I mean view it from the perspective of South East Asian martial arts like Silat. For the past few months I've been training with Duane. D., the US representative of Maul Mornie's  Silat Suffian Bela Diri and I must say that the experience is like hitching a ride on the long journey to understanding bunkai.  If you look at the some of the video's in Maul Mornie's YouTube Channel, you'll get a glimpse of the type of applications to be found in this rich and varied system.

Today, I had the good fortune to have met and trained with Grant S., SSBD's group leader of Germany, who happened to be visiting.  With Duane, I had been practicing basic knife and open hand fighting drills.  From Grant's perspective, the most advanced technique is simple technique.  In two hours, Grant taught a progression of simple knife passing and blocking technique, culminating in wicked joint destruction technique.  Duane and Grant assure me that what I have been exposed to is just a hint.  Maul Mornie's seminars are the main courses to the appetizers I've been given.  Maul Mornie is coming to NYC in October and I plan on being there.

While training with Duane, I was driven to find out what else is available in the world of Silat.  I contacted Alvin Guinanao of Silat Buka Lingkaran to see if he gave any seminars in my area.  Alvin teaches a comprehensive fighting system which includes weapons, standing and ground fighting, as well as locks, chokes and grabs, or pretty much what I think Karate could be if more folks understood the kata.  I became familiar with Alvin's work while researching all things Silat.  I am fascinated by the way he turns what looks like a dance into a full-blown deadly martial art.  Karate's kata always seems to fall short in this regard.  For some reason, karate's proponents focused on the individual and lost sight of the opponent.

Anyway,  I asked Alvin if he would consider giving a seminar in NYC and he has agreed.  I am very excited about this.  My karate buddy, Joe C. is helping me put this seminar together.  If you are in the NY tri-state area and want to experience Silat, or are more than mildly curious about making your karate a better karate, you have got to participate in these seminars.

Thought Experiment: the history

Last time, I suggested we try a thought experiment: assume something is wrong with our fundamental understanding of kata. How would we know and how would we fix it? If you remember the joke, in which a misunderstanding of basic principles becomes unquestioned "truth," the misunderstanding is resolved by going back to the source.

So let's go back to old Okinawa.  From the 11th century until 1477, when the king of Okinawa, Sho Shin, banned the private ownership of weapons, Okinawa enjoyed a burgeoning martial arts culture due to a political alliance with China (1377) and a rich trade with the neighboring peoples of South East Asia and of course Japan.  The banning of the private ownership of weapons in 1477, and a second ban on weapons ownership in 1609, when Japan took possession of Okinawa, forced the development of karate along a peculiar path.  These events created a motivation for unarmed fighting.  They created a reason for maintaining secrecy.

Billy Blanks, creator of Tae Bo, wasn't the first to market a wildly popular, albeit watered down, fighting system as exercise.  In 1901, Anko Itosu introduces such an exercise program to the Okinawan school system as part of its physical education curriculum.  In order to make the practice suitable for children many of the martial applications were deleted or obscured.  A few decades later, in 1931, Gichin Funakoshi, a student of Itosu,  introduces "karate" to the Japanese school system.  Again, like the prior introduction of martial arts to public education in Okinawa, there is a winnowing out of martial technique.  In addition, there was a deliberate obscuration of Chinese and other influences in karate, and a move towards sport.  If there were a great book of karate/kata, it should be clear by this brief history that many chapters were redacted.  So, when critics of bunkai say that there are no hidden technique in kata, they are partially correct.  It is no wonder that many karateka who have devoted years of practice and study know little of it.  How could they?

Returning to the joke that inspired this thought experiment, we are the monks who upon opening the sacred texts in the vault, find them to be neither original nor complete.  What to do?  Can we remain content with reduced content?  If your answer is in the affirmative to this last question, read no further.  You'll probably get upset.

Thought experiment

The story goes that what we know today as Karate we owe to intrepid Okinawans who travelled to China to pick the brains of Chinese masters. Later generations of karate masters based their authority and expertise on how close their relationship was to the original travelers to China, which brings me to a joke told to me by my friend, Bob the chef.

It goes something like this:

A new monk, let's call him Brother Al, is assigned the task of copying ancient manuscripts by hand. The original manuscripts, too valuable to be handled by the monks, are kept in a vault where they've been stored for ages. Only copies are available to the monks in the copy room. Brother Al, being a sharp guy, his joining a monastery not withstanding, asks Abbot Bud, most senior of monks,"Abbot Bud, how can we ensure the accuracy of our work if we only copy from copies?"

Abbot Bud ponders the question as Brother Al looks on. Alarm builds in Brother Al as Abbot Bud's demeanor changes from beatific calm to wide-eyed concern. "Good question, Brother Al, mind the other brothers while I run down to the vault." And with that, Abbot Bud hikes up his robes and sprints as fast as his sandaled feet can carry him across the stone floor. Hours pass, no Abbot Bud.

A concerned Brother Al and two other monks, Josephus and Reggy, make their way to the manuscript vault and find a distraught Abbot Bud. A page of illuminated vellum is crumpled in his tight fist. "It was never ib, it was never ib, it was never i frickin b" Abbot Bud repeats, his eyes swollen with tears. Josephus and Reggy steady Abbot Bud while Brother Al smoothes the wrinkled page. "He's right, my brothers," Al reads, "it's e b r, the word is supposed to be celebrate."

I often think kata can be like ancient manuscripts with transposed or missing letters, even missing pages. Here's a thought experiment-if the first transcription of the kata "manuscript" was flawed, how would you know?

Omote, ura and the poetry of kata

The art in kata is not in the visual appeal of it's dance like moves, nor in the simple kinesthetic appeal of moving. For me, good kata is very much like good poetry, where instead of a few words we have a few gestures communicating volumes. It's the economy that I appreciate.

Misunderstanding kata is like expecting poetry to read like prose. Kata is not prescriptive-if attacker does "x" you respond with "y." The newer, so called fighting kata, attempt this. The traditional kata are a bit more complex. An appreciation of symbolism, pattern and structure is requisite. There is a reason beginning readers start out with "Fun with Dick and Jane" books instead of say the words of Robert Frost. First get command of the language, then develop an understanding of its nuances.

Symbols? A punch is a punch, a kick is a kick. This is true if your karate is merely kick boxing in pajamas. At first, I thought the problem in understanding kata lay in the Japanese concept of omote, what is out front and observable, and ura, what is behind and unseen. This suggests perhaps a conscious effort by early karate masters to conceal secrets. Maybe in the old days, today I believe it's analogous to a failure to appreciate poetry. It is difficult to understand metaphor and simile with a limited vocabulary. There's no spark of recognition.

My prescription, increase your martial arts vocabulary by cross-training. Then go back to your kata and see if that has not made all the difference.

Te Waza: Nukite is not a spearhand

The opposable thumb and a big brain enabled our ancestors to survive in the wild. Key to their survival was tool building. It went from fire hardened wooden points to stone tools and eventually through the various metal ages. The progression was always towards better efficiency. In some styles of Karate, we see a regression rather than a progression in the use of hand technique, te waza. Of course, our understanding of karate is that it is an art of unarmed combat; however, this is no reason to believe that through effort and a casual disregard for physics and material science we can transform our bodies and hands into shields and spear points. This kind of thinking, to me, suggests a misunderstanding of kata bunkai.

The nukite in Pinan sono ni is often explained as a spearhand strike to soft body parts of the attacker: eyes and throat. First I would ask, what is the significance of teaching eye jabs? The Three Stooges, if you are familiar with these exemplars of slapstick comedy, demonstrate the simplicity of the eye jab with only two fingers and no training, and yet we have karate masters stabbing pots of gravel, bundles of bamboo and other targets all in an effort to transform multi-jointed fingers into a stabbing tool. Neanderthal man might ask, "why not just use a pointy stick?" A pencil is handy enough. Also, if empty hands are the only tools you have, why run the risk of jamming your fingers if you miss a soft body part and hit something hard?

I am pretty certain that in most cases spearhand strikes are not strikes at all. Jab an eye if you must, but stabbing pots of gravel in preparation is overkill. In the case of Pinan sono ni, the nukite is preceded by an open-handed block. The movement is strikingly similar to the Kyokushin's mawashi uke. So what's the point of the nukite in Pinan sono ni? My suggestion, an entry technique. The downward blocking hand parry's or slaps down the opponent's outstretched arm (presumably a punch or grab), the "nukite" traps, controls, grabs whatever it can. The open hand is open to whatever tactical opportunities present themselves, and not, I would argue, so that the finger tips can stab. In Pinan sono ni, the nukite is immediately followed by a turn of the body. Pay attention to turns in every kata. To me, they suggests throws, particularly when you consider what the hands are doing in the kata immediately prior to and after the turn.

Coincidentally, Te Waza in the Judo world refers to throws precipitated by hand motion. My favorites include ippon seioi nage and tai otoshi. There are many other throws in Judo, all involve turning, precise hand and foot placement, lowered centers of gravity, kinda like kata, only the emphasis is on optimal leverage rather than esthetics. Striking? That's the simple stuff in kata that hardly need elaboration.

From Tachi Waza to Ashi Waza

My 7th grade teacher, Miss B, was fond of saying, "Keep things for 7 years before throwing them out." That's not a bad rule. My sock drawer could use a little of this discipline. The point is reducing clutter, getting rid of the useless. If Miss B took a look at a typical karate lesson plan I just know there would be a number of things she'd love to trundle off to the dumpster. Take the tachi waza, stances: kiba dachi, zenkutsu dachi, sanchin dachi, kake ashi dachi. Like sweater vests, how many do you really need? What are they doing in the syllabus except to have students stand in funny ways while developing leg strength and preserving tradition? Miss B would have gotten rid of them all. I am all for reducing clutter, especially as springtime approaches. Before we fill the dustbin with seldom used and appreciated karate technique, let's see what can be put to good use.

In my previous post I spoke of neko ashi dachi, the cat stance, as a counter or defense to leg attacks. The unweighted leg is immune to sweeps, trips and reaps. These leg attacks are found in sanchin dachi (ouchi gari) and kake ashi dachi, the cross legged stance. Kake ashi dachi can be interpreted as almost any of the ashi waza in Judo (deashi baria, kouchi gake, kouchi gari, hiza guruma, sase tsurikomigoshi). Note, I am not implying that Judo is the source of this bunkai. Throwing and leg attacks are found in many martial arts older and contemporaneous with Karate and Judo, Shaolin Kung Fu most importantly. However, Judo is the most refined of martial arts when it comes to throwing and provides handy terminology.

So now we have a great bundle of ashi waza instead of funny ways to stand. Throw them away? I think not. Try out a few of these ashi waza. Your tachi waza will never be the same. Sorry Miss B, I'm keeping my tachi err ashi waza.

Sweep the leg!

If you are a martial artist of a certain age, the movie line, "Sweep the leg," should conjure up images of the original Karate Kid struggling to win a match and the girl. The Karate Kid was your standard morality play: overmatched good-guy versus technically excellent, but heart-in-the-wrong-place, bad guy(s). The karate matches themselves, and in particular, the tactical use of neko ashi dachi, tsuru ashi dachi (might as well include kokotsu dachi) illustrate the disconnect between the real physics of fighting and fantasy.

In the real world, Daniel-san would have been creamed by opponents who actually trained fighting skills. All that wood finishing and auto maintenance would have little transfer, sad to say, to fighting . Ironically, the neko ashi dachi Daniel-san is forced to adopt because of a damaged knee is the perfect defense against a leg attack such as the dreaded foot sweep. With most of the body-weight on the rear leg, the front is pretty much immune from sweeps. And that's about all neko ashi dachi is good for, avoiding sweeps and trips. Close-in, Daniel-san would would have been able to avoid all the leg attacks utilizing neko ashi dachi.

As a fighting stance? Come on! Neko ashi dachi limits your mobility. I struggle to suppress a laugh when I see opponents face-off a long distance from each other in neko ashi dachi. Neko ashi dachi also fails as a base from launching strikes; there's no way to put your weight behind the strike. You'd be flailing, which is pretty much what Daniel-san was doing. Try throwing a power shot at the heavy bag from neko ashi dachi. You can't. With most of the weight on your back foot, when you made contact with the bag, more than likely you fell over. If you didn't fall over, ask yourself whether there was any knockdown power in that strike.

But, but, but, "What about the crane kick?" you ask. It is after all a front kick launched from a completely committed neko ashi dachi (that is all of the body-weight rests on the rear leg). Yeah, that's Hollywood. If do right, no can defense. I would have fallen to the ground laughing and ceded the match.

Next: What leg attacks?

The BS Bunkai Test

Some people wanna fill the world with silly bunkai. . . My good buddy J shared a Hein nidan (Pinan sono ni among the Kyokushin karate crowd) bunkai video he had found online. While we both had a laugh at the instructor's expense, deep down it alarmed me. I checked out some other interpretations of this kata on the net. Poor Heian nidan. Sadly, this particular kata is a magnet for very shakey, logic defying interpretation. If your BS detector isn't sounding off, it's time for re-calibration.

The first hint of fishy bunkai is an elaborate response to such a simple attack as a punch to the face (from that pesky guy standing to your left). One doesn't need any special training to respond to a punch to the face. If one is accustomed to sparring, a parry followed by a counter work well. If one is inexperienced, stepping back, covering up, running away work too. So what gives? It seems to me that some folks are offering up hokey cures for non-existing ailments. And another thing, if you were getting punched in the face and you tried doing the "suggested" arm-twisty maneuver, it's a sure bet you'd get a few more shots in the face. Try it. Reality is the best cure for fishy bunkai syndrome.

The test:

Walk into any boxing or Muay Thai gym. Put on head gear and a mouthguard and ask an obliging partner if he or she wouldn't mind throwing punches at your face. Tell your training partner that it is your aim to catch the first punch and turn it into victory. Get back to me with the results.