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.

Uchi Uke/ Gedan Barai and Mnemonics: How can you remember what you haven't learned

You've heard before that kata is the lesson plan, not the lesson (that was from me), and that the movements are incomplete; they point to principles that your instructor must elucidate. Of course, having learned the lesson, the movements in kata become mnemonics for the student, aids to make the lesson stick. What happens when your instructor never learned the lesson? In this instance you get the kind of karate instruction that says after 10,000 repetitions you will know (or not). Today's post is on uchi uke gedan barai.

Perhaps you've been told that this compound "block" found in kata and featured in ido geiko represent simultaneous backfists to groin and face. Do we really need a memory aid for this application?

Here's the lesson. Pay attention at 1:58 as Maul Mornie (SSBD) applies an arm-bar. It flies by so don't miss it. This application of uchi uke gedan barai uses the principle of leverage to flip the opponent behind you. An important part of the lesson is understanding how to get close enough to your opponent to damage him. Adversaries do not normally offer up their limbs for destruction. Notice that the scenario involves a face to face confrontation.

And now for the mnemonic. At around 20 seconds into this video, karateka will charge each other. Notice the karateka running with his hands held in the uchi uke gedan barai pose. Whenever you see karateka running at each other with their arms held low and high, remember Maul Mornie's arm-bar throw. Also, refer back to my article on force couples and artful poses with hidden meaning.

For more information on SSBD: https://www.facebook.com/SilatSuffianWorldwide

Bunkai-Do you see what I see?

There are many in the karate world who will tell you that there are no hidden applications. Unfortunately, there are many in the karate world who will teach you bogus applications and take your money too. What's the average know-nothing karate guy or gal going to do? Let me break it down for you.

If you believe kata is open to free interpretation, and depends on your mood and circumstances, you have wasted your time. You should have been taking up boxing and looking up at cloud formations for inspiration; with boxing, at least you'd be able to punch out anyone who disparages your musings on cloud formations. For the poor karate guy who goes to the school where bunkai is up to you, read on. Performing kata, no matter how many times, will get you no closer to learning applications than the first day you put on a white belt. You've heard, perhaps, insanity defined as repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results. It's crazy to believe some new self-defense application will come to you in the nick of time simply because you marched through the Pinan series for many years.

Don't despair. Unlike clouds, the marbling of beef, or melted cheese on toast, the forms in kata are not random. This needs repeating. The forms in kata are not random. Did you ever notice that certain movements in kata recur pattern like? Did you ever notice that these repeating movements appear not only in different kata, but in different styles of martial arts? No, I'm not just talking Goju-Ryu and Shotokan, but also Judo, Tai Chi, Kuntao Silat, Aikido, etc., etc. No hwaaay?! Way! Here's something to ponder: maybe the guru's telling you there are no hidden applications, only know one way of fighting, or only one martial art.

Let that thought marinate a while and consider the different ranges in a fight. There's long distance, about as far away as you can kick. There's middle distance, about an arm's length away. Finally, there's close distance, close enough to smell the coffee on your opponent's breath, close enough to drive your forehead into his nose. If you belong to the Shotokan school, or a popular derivative, Kyokushin, you are probably most familiar with long and middle distance fighting. Why? Because tournament rules say those are the only approved ways of fighting.

When all you have is a hammer. . .
everything looks like a nail. The same applies to karate folk who are conditioned to fight in the long and middle distances. To them, everything looks like a punch, kick or block, except for the things that don't. These get dumped into the mystery bin of free interpretation. Be wary of the things that don't look like punches, kicks or blocks: they are the most susceptible to faulty interpretation. You will spot faulty interpretation when sensei says with a straight face,"this spinning jump is for when your legs are attacked with a barge pole," or, "now turn and face attacker number three." If kata were meant to help you fight multiple attackers (not that they can't), or barge pole wielding assailants, kata would come with submachine gun applications.

If you want to understand kata, you must dispense with the tournament mentality and consider fighting as comprising long, middle, and especially close distance engagement. You know that mystery bin, I'll bet the funny stances and gestures can all be explained, better yet applied, in a close distance fight.

Next, on the language of kata.