Those who hate these exercises and sometimes bash them with junior-level representations of their execution will immediately "get" what I mean about that particular variation. Indeed I spend lots of time not teaching people to back up, but rather teaching them to manipulate and/or orient themselves around the lines of force. It becomes a vehicle to experiment with ideas, and not a fight per se. Once you take those kinds of steps, the sky's the limit.
And with that in mind...
My #6 sequence is a LOT more involved than the way most people do it. I understand how it starts with a loose interpretation of a Sanseiryu sequence (hawk chases sparrow, pivot to left into Sanchin dachi, pivot back to right in a double boshiken "take down" technique). But the thing is... the more folks try to get literal with the interpretation of kata, the more ridiculous it gets. However the more a rational fighter starts to ad lib and give both people votes in the outcome, the more this sequence can get very intricate.
For instance... One principle I have in Dan Kumite is that I DO NOT ALLOW either partner to just take a final blow. So you're dumped on the ground, eh? BFD!! Life doesn't end when you're on your back; for a BJJ practitioner, the fun just begins. So the dumpee uses leg postures from the Seisan jump crane position (leg slant) to allow them calmly to parry kicks coming at their groin from ANY angle. Stalemate. Now what? Once that stalemate has been established, I implore my students to "flip the pancake" and try to get at the dumpee's back. However... person on ground subsequently sets up for a leg takedown. If the standing individual does not respond, they get dumped. If they do via a simple crane leg lift, then it's a matter of person on ground presenting a further threat (difficult to explain this kick) to clear the area. Once the distance is established, I expect dumpee smoothly to get back up on their feet.
So just last Tuesday I was getting a little ticked that my standing partner was backing off every time they flipped my leg over. WTF??? I just let him throw me and back up. I stayed on the ground like a helpless victim. Oh... I'm supposed to keep the fight going? Yeeaaaa!!!! You must respond to my threat, and not simply back out.
To make a long story short... By the time I showed this person what I expected, it suddenly dawned on me that their response was a piecemeal Seisan jump back. First lift one leg, and then the next. Meanwhile the person on ground was protecting their leg and setting up for the take-down using the one-legged crane posture in that jump - only on their back.
It has taken 20 years for me to realize that I was stealing moves right out of Seisan kata. But there it was... or rather there it is.
This is the kind of stuff I keep trying to show to the style Nazis. With time, these kata are talking to me in ways that the Okinawans - teaching a simple set of routines - hadn't at all communicated to us. But the lessons were there right in the kata - for the USERS to figure out.
And that's the way it SHOULD be!
Off of soap box.
- Bill
