Van wrote:
Why is Satoshi-san performing a different type of elbow strike in seisan?
I had to go through Dana's link to find out what you were talking about.
My favorite saying - It is what it is.
What we have is the lateral elbow movement (as opposed to rising elbow) mixed with the front stance. In addition to changing the angle at which the elbow comes to the finishing point, it also completely disposes of the classic hiraken hand posture.
No blood, no foul I guess. God won't strike him down with lightning for creating a new combination of upper and lower body Uechi parts. It's original.
My only problem with it would be if he completely disposed of that original elbow technique with the hiraken hand. That's a Uechi classic. Some of you folks may have seen a video clip I did where I was punching holes in mats with that hiraken hand (a.k.a. cobra strikes). It's one of Uechi Ryu's precious hidden weapons.
Maybe it's just the student and that performance, Van. Who knows?? For all we know, his teacher could be cringing.
The kata performances in general in that video didn't look like competition variety. The filmmaker shows people doing these in "count" fashion like drills rather than the kind of spirited kata Kanbun taught. Coffee without the caffeine. Again, it is what it is. That kind of training serves a purpose in a short window of time.
The kids' sparring wasn't bad.
- Bill
