Improving the Art

[gmattson]

When the official bunkai was created, it was for the purpose of testing a student's ability to demonstrate a few of Seisan's many applications. When I left the Island in 1958, the bunkai hadn't even been created!

I was always under the impression that the bunkai was a tool and not a inflexible ritual. When I wrote Uechi-ryu Karate Do, our dojo created our own Konshiwa and Seisan bunkai. In explaining the reason for this action I wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"The bankai for any Kata merely is a series of applications for the movement. There isn't any standard movements that Master Uechi prefers over others. The ones chosen for this book are those that are the most spectacular for demonstrations and can be performed with the greatest speed and realism. Performing the bankai with four students make the movements flow smoothly and quickly, giving the student a realistic feeling of being attacked by more than one adversary.
... Once you have mastered this series of applications, you may come up with your own, based on your understanding of the movements. . "<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

In regards to Seisan bunkai I wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote

". . Kanbun never talked much during class, only demonstrated. He would never explain in detail what he had taught: in this way the student would learn more by considering, by himself, what he was learning. This encouraged him to try and figure out what each movement meant."

Some of my senior student were very upset with my 'tampering' with their cult-like view of Uechi-ryu. I'd often be chastised with statements of "YOU CAN'T DO THAT... IT DIDN'T COME FROM OKINAWA!"

Of course, I never listened. . .

Visit the "Hut" and see many very practical ways of performing the bunkai. Although we still use the Okinawan version for dan tests, we seldom use this version in class.

Instead of jumping back in the last move against a weapon attack, have the attacker try to take out your forward leg with a low crescent kick. Just lift your forward leg and charge with your countermove.


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GEM

[Bill Glasheen]

Mostly I am very proud of Tim for daring to question and being thoughtful.

Yes, I understand what some mean by the phrase "Make it work!" For most students in most situations, this is appropriate. Ninety-eight percent of what first seems impossible or ridiculous turns out only to be so because we don't understand.

But let's face it - the bunkai could be a lot better. It reminds me of the kind of result you get when a college student turns in a half-assed effort just to get the college "C". Now I'm sure I've already offended a whole bunch of people on "the island" (and elsewhere) with that comment, but let's face it - a "C" effort isn't going to save your butt against an "A" opponent. It is under such conditions that I worry little about peoples' feelings.

By the way, Tim's original post was about the entire bunkai. A single elbow strike was given as an example, and many are confusing which one he meant. But the points made are all still valid.

In defense of the bunkai, I will state the following. Many things we do in bunkai are done that way to make it safe:

* The first elbow thrust is a kamikaze effort. There is no way to do that slowly. So we come up with these very contrived ways to isolate certain trainsient postures, using "thingies" to represent an attack. Sometimes the method gets in the way of the desired result.

* As for the seisan jump (really, a stupid application), it can be made to work. I'd still put my money on david with the bat, but I wouldn't face him with no confidence. Remember the admonition "kata is kata, kumite is kumite." To make it work in that situation, you cannot think of moving your center back. It won't work - you can't do it fast enough. Rather, one must think of lifting the leg. One can perform the entire first half of the jump with absolutly no change in the position of the center. This is how I apply it in the bunkai. Then you immediately explode forward with the second jump. It still is inferior to the bat, but you're a bit better off with this type of thinking. And then suddenly you have learned something.

As for the "real" seisan jump application, I believe it to be an answer to "iron broom". As George suggested, consider it a response to leg kicks. That is, after all, something we are all familiar with. And so then this reinforces your point, Tim.

There are many, many other applications in the bunkai that are stiff, contrived, and unreasonable. But...so are many attackers when we first start out. I guess all of this is a good first effort. But a "C" effort at best.

Tim, I believe you are onto something here. I too wish there was a way to create a better medium or venue for our kata study. Wouldn't it be nice if we made people test for dan ranks in pairs; then we could expect them to come up with their own bunkai - and make them work. And I agree - it would be incredible for the style.

Maybe one day.

- Bill

[Mary S]

Bill...respectfully no, it would not be nice. I believe sometimes that familiarity breeds contempt....

At my dan test I went through with a stranger, completely unknown to me. As a result I felt I had to "work a little harder" that day, make sure that my "pairs routine" skills were up to snuff....it made the test more challenging...and I felt like I had truly accomplished something at the end of the day. I had no idea how fast or strong the individual was and had to be prepared for the unknown...it kept me honest.

It is easy to get complacent when you work out with the same person all the time. You get used to their height, speed, strength and ability....much better in my mind to work with a variety...that way one can be prepared for whatever comes along...or at least try to be...

[Tim Ahearn]

One comparison--Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," which introduced the "paradigm shift." For example, everyone used to think the world obeyed Newtonian physics. Einstein showed they were WRONG in ALL cases. But many invested in the old way because it was their lens for viewing the world could not accept relativity, and only tried to take the old way and "make it work" because it had served SO WELL. But it didn't work AS WELL.

Now read Rabesa's "Kumite." He discusses different stances and styles and points out that anything can work if you practice hard enough--but why take a harder path when training is already hard enough?

Why force the jump into working against a sword/bat/anything when 1) there are better ways to approach the weapon as Sensei Van Canna pointed out and 2) there are better things to do with the jump? We are doing the application that way not because we have a reason to do so today but simply because we did it that way yesterday! That's not a reason. One can always find a justification for any approach--they all have SOME merit--but when tradition, and not merit, is guiding our choices, we sacrifice opportunities to learn wonderful techniques. Sure I can practice real stuff on the side... why not make the good stuff primary? Leaping over swords isn't "basic," some prereq for the good stuff, it's just bad stuff, a speedbump, period!

Could individual instructors/students start trying out different techniques for dan tests? They could get feedback from the test board; perhaps we could create a bank of applications from which future bunkai could be cut and pasted. Let's exercise our art like a muscle, test it like a sanchin stance, and watch it grow stronger. I'm compiling a list of ideas for applications by kata I will post at the UVA site at www.student.virginia.edu/~uechi and will post here when it is up for comments and additions from the varied viewpoints and experiences forum members can provide.

[Bill Glasheen]

Mary

You make a good point about the advantages of defined kumite and bunkai. Yes, we should have some of these. I too like the learning that comes from working with many partners of different size, speed, strength, flow, gender, and degree of familiarity.

And it would also be nice to have some bunkai that individual students must make up...even if they choose their favorites from many for "their own."

- Bill