Kanchin

[Van Canna]

This is beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28VUiY7idGM

[Bill Glasheen]

That's a very clean kata, isn't it?

My dear friend Van... I find this kata remarkable both for what he is doing *and* for what he is not doing.

On one of my company "off sites", we went into downtown Louisville to a place which teaches people how to paint. The assignment was to paint a fleur-de-lis - a somewhat universal symbol, obviously of French origin. This happens to be the symbol of the city of Louisville.



There was a point to the exercise. We were/are a highly educated group of analysts and scientists, charged with monitoring, predicting, and changing the course of healthcare. I am *almost* in the minority having English as a first language. Both India and myriad parts of greater China are heavily represented. We're all tasked with observing, reporting, advising, and explaining. But we each come to the table with a unique perspective.

As for the fleur-de-lis, well there is this ...



... and there is this ...



... and there is this ...



and so on.

..... Exotic Fleur-de-Lis

You get the idea. At the end of the day, we each had painted an unmistakable symbol, but no two were alike. To the degree that the symbols were artfully painted, each showed something about the person who painted it.

And so it is with a classic form like kanchin.

There's something to be said for a decade-long, introspective journey away from a vanilla world of martial arts. Movement in myriad venues is experienced. Bodies are conditioned. Principles are studied. Application is considered.

And then like Musashi or Benedict coming out of the woods, something unique is expressed. And if the journey was a good one, what's there is something that unmistakably belongs to the skeleton.

Or we witness the best damned "vanilla" kata we've ever seen.

- Bill

[Van Canna]

Hi Bill...I think the video shows a woman doing the kata. You wrote

My dear friend Van... I find this kata remarkable both for what he is doing *and* for what he is not doing.

I'd be interested in your observations here.

Always a student.

[Bill Glasheen]

Hi Bill...I think the video shows a woman doing the kata.

Wow... I was so focused on the kata that I didn't look. You're right.

I'd be interested in your observations here.

Always a student.

Aren't we all?

*Extremely* clean and precise kata.

I have been working a *lot* as of late on the mochi (Japanese rice cake metaphor for body whip) of Sanseiryu/Kanchin. Look at the shoken sukuiage uke sequence. Do you see any mochi? Look at the core. Look at the body. When you consider some of the best self-defense uses of that sequence (not necessarily a leg you are "scooping"), I'd be wanting to put a lot of body English (an American colloquialism) in that scoop-and-throw.

I'd take her as a student any day of the year. Even without the core I'd like to see in key movements, she's masterful in her intent and execution.

- Bill

[Van Canna]

Good point Bill, and I agree.