Tag Archives: bunkai

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Soke Memorial Training

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Warmup, Basics

Sensai related how on Soke’s last trip in 2011, he had the dojo practice basics for 2 hours.

Fukyugata I, II, Passai

Performed Fukyugata  I bunkai worked on oyo bunkai from Fukyugata I and II with Jeff P,  Alewyn ad Griffin M.

Oyo bunkai from opening part of Fukyugata I as leg catch, or simply deflect kick, move to outside and counter attack.

Seems to me that Fukyugata II could be seen as a vehicle for understanding and applying circle blocks.

Interpret jodan uke as rounded block. Deflect with rear hand, bring the blocking hand over and around attacker’s punching arm and trap. Counter attack same time.

Oyo bunkai from opening part of Fukyugata II:

Attacker punches with right hand, block left side jodan uke.

Attacker punches left, block uchi-uke also with left hand.

Grab attackers left arm, step back attack arm/elbow with right elbow, come over top of arm and attack head/body with gedan yoko-barai.

Attacker punches with right upper cut. Move forward and to off to left, changing directions. Push attacking arm away with both hands. attack to finish. Can also push away attack with left while maintaining control of opponents left arm. This leaves their arms crossed and open to any finishing attack/take down.

Jeff P.,  Bill P. and Tyrone performed Passai bunkai with direction from Sensai.

Three oyo bunkai from first move of Passai.

1. moving to outside of attack, deflect punch with both hands

2. deflect punch on inside, grab with opposite hand and attack with uraken. Similar to Pinan IV.

3. Escape from same-side wrist grab. Step back to pull opponent in, then forward to kosa dachi turning over attacker’s hand.

I noticed during class how much more engaged  and focused Jacob is now. He looks and acts like he’s a part of the dojo and seems to enjoy class now. He has a connection with the people, esp. Katelynn and Jeff P.

After class Sensai said that Tony Gibson had planned to come down for the weekend but cancelled last minute. Also, Danjo Sensai’s visit this summer is now in doubt.

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Canada Seminar 2015 Day 1 Morning

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Worked out at Sensai Trombley’s Dojo in Mississauga

Light stretching and warmup. Was somewhat difficult due to the number of people in a room no bigger than the one we train in back home.

Worked on Fukyugata Ⅰ kata and bunkai. Later on Fukyugata Ⅱ bunkai as well.

Arikaki Sensai talked about paying attention to your punches – punch to the center of the forehead, sternum, or groin. Also, it’s important to block and counter quickly to end the confrontation. Keep movements compact and stay close. Don’t move too far when avoiding an attack. Just enough to evade leaves you correctly positioned to finish.

Partnered with Sensai Baehr

Think about the initial block in Fuk 1 as a grab at or above the attacker’s knee. Esp. grab and pinch the inner thigh. Then step forward and finish.

Fuk 2 first block needs to be fast. It’s also OK to raise both hands to block the punch to the face. You should chamber the right quickly though to prepare it for a counterattack.

Circular block can also be a grab at the elbow. Then pull back to trap and secure in your armpit and double punch to the ribs/solar plexus.

Sensai Trombley stressed the grab/pull to disrupt the attacker’s balance.

 

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Kata class

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Maybe it’s me and things are continuing to come together at this point in my karate development. Or maybe it’s that as a group, the higher level belts are at a point where Sensai can teach technique at a higher level.  Could even be that since Soke’s gone, Sensai is thinking more about passing on what he’s learned.

Whatever the reason, I noticed a difference in the depth and quality of what we practice throughout the class. Everything from ways to understand basic nunchucku technique, to

Reasons for practicing/ ways to look at kubudo

develop strength, dexterity and coordination

improve open hand technique

as an extension of our body

Nunchaku

Use of nunchaku as weapon gets lost in the flash of swinging and flipping it over and around the body. It can also be used effectively for offense and defense by striking or poking while holding one or both sticks in each hand.

Worked on timing using the weapon to block. In a real fight it is more effective to block by striking the opponent’s hand than the weapon he’s holding in it. Can also cross the sticks to block a strike, slide forward, wrap and trap the opponent’s wrist. Gives you full control to turn under the opponent’s arm and throw, break, etc.

In a real world situation, the same principles of manipulating the weapon could be used with only one stick to augment a block.

Practiced the uchi-uke drill from last Saturday. Also practiced quickly striking under the opponents arm after the block – same as a drill from the 2014 Canada seminar. Look for ways to apply within kata (ex. third/sixth move of Fukyugata Ⅱ)

Kata notes

Fukyugata Ⅱ

When you go low into zenkutsu-dachi in the final moves, the circular blocks need to be high to catch the oncoming punch.

Pinan Yondan

Keep the elbows in on the hiji-ate. Don’t raise the hands too high – only shoulder height. Sweep the hands down and slightly to the outside to clear.

Pinan Godan

The windup to the kosa-uchi in move nine should not be too fast but should include koshi which will open and close the block.

Naihanchi Shodan

Try to think of this like a tide. Parts of this (opening move) should be smooth and relatively slow (ebb) before exploding into haito-uke attack (flow). Look for this rhythm throughout the kata. Finding an internal rhythm is something Zack talked about earlier this year.

Bunkai

Worked on performing Fukyugata Ⅰ bunkai in a straight line in one direction. I actually found the attacking part easier than the kata.

 

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Tues 2/24

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Class led by Zack.

Tonfa basics  and Fuykugata Ⅰ in weapons portion of class. It’s OK  to double block with tonfa, particularly jodan and gedan-uke.

After light stretching,  practiced kata renzoku through Pinan Ⅲ

Worked on Pinan Ⅴ in smaller group led by Noah.

Foot work

  •  Same side foot pulls along with punch to accelerate kaku-zuki.
  • Only the right foot moves from jigotai-dachi to naname zenkutsu-dachi after the wari-uke.

Pulling/pushing rhythm  from the augmented gedan-uke through kosa-uke and first front punch.

Worked on Naihanchi Ⅲ in another breakout group.

Split into groups and worked on Pinan Ⅲ bunkai

In black belt portion, worked on Wankan and after that Wankan bunkai.

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Snowy Wednesday

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Class led by Zack.

Lots of excercise – pushups, situps laps around the dojo. Kicks to the bag and punching the makiwara.

Aggressive stretching.

Worked on yakusoku kumite Ⅰ-Ⅴ with Tom.

Worked on Fukyugata Ⅰ/Ⅱ bunkai

Finished up with kihon bo kata.

After class, practiced Hanagushiku-no-sai with Zack and Alvin.

Notes:

In the first two moves, the palm of the front hand is down. Think of the move as searching (could also be hooking).

 

 

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Sat 1/24

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Class led by Sensai.

Worked on footwork Ⅰ-Ⅲ

All should be performed on one level.  In Ⅰ , the hips should be facing forward. For Ⅱand Ⅲ though, you should turn somewhat to the side and face the opponent.

Partner drills moving across the floor slides then slide-step incorporating footwork Ⅲ at the end to trap a leg or arm.

Kata through Pinan Yondan

In Pinan Shodan, the turn from Nukite-zuki to Chudan soto shuto-uke should be tight. The blocking knife hand should be high enough to block the oncoming punch with the side of the hand or wrist. Definitely not with the fingers which would happen if the block is too low.

Pinan Shodan bunkai

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First class of 2015

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First class of the new year led by Zack. Practice over the break seems to have kept my kata fresh for the most part. Weapons class focused on sai basics as well as Sai-dai-ichi. The balance of the class was spent working on all open-hand kata from Fukyugata Ⅰ through Wankan except for Naihanchi. Also practiced Fukyugata Ⅰ bunkai and in the black belt class, the middle part of Pinan Ⅴ bunkai from the otoshi-uke to the wari-uke.

Some things to consider from tonight:

Sai-dai-ichi

Jessan performs the double strike more as a flip. I think I’m exagerating the motion and dropping my hands too much. When executing the jodan-uchi moves at the end, keep the sai tight against the forearm. The upper blocking arm should be at a 45 angle and hand should be near the forehead. The other arm blocks down in the middle. Perhaps protecting from an attack to groin?

When performing chudan morote soe-uke (augmented chest block) in Pinan Ⅰ, Ⅳ, Ⅴ, there should be some twisting in the augmenting fist as well as the blocking one to drive the technique.

I need to work on Pinan Ⅲ as well as Wankan. The turn and elbow blocks in the former felt awkward, and I messed up direction of the second turn from the end as well as slide punces in the latter. On the plus side, Pinan Ⅳ and Ⅴ were good even with little practice – I just let them flow without thinking too much. Zack complemented the energy in my perfomance of Ananku.

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First Tuesday class in a while

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Worked on sai tonight starting with moving drills:

One drill was moving forward in zenkutsu-dachi, blocking down, striking down, blocking down again and following with gyaku-zuki. Repeat the routine on the other side.

Another was stepping forward into jodan-uchi, followed by an around-the-head strike, then around-the-world strike and z-block. Finally, another gyaku-zuki before stepping forward and repeating on the opposite side.

Last was to step forward left into zenkutsu-dachi and punch up with both hands. Then step forward with the right (facing left) into jigotai-dachi and sweep around and down to the right. Then step forward with the left (facing right) into jigotai-dachi and strike across the body up to the left and then the same to the right. Finally turn back left into zenkutsu-dachi and repeat the routine starting with the double strike.

Practiced Fukyugata Ⅰ with sai as a group before breaking out to work on Hanagushiku-no-sai. Sensai pointed out that the last strike should be up and forward like a motion in Rohai. When stepping out of the kosa-dachi to the left, the right foot should slide over so you are upright rather than in jigotai-dachi.

Practiced ido kihon and kihon undo. Dan ranks are expected to know the order of these exercises. Following that, partnered with Dave to work on yakusoku kumite Ⅰ-Ⅳ from both right and left sides. Next we broke into a groups (me, Dave and Zack) with each member selecting and performing one basic, one intermediate and one advanced kata for the others. I chose Pinan Shodan, Naihanchi Nidan and Ananku. Dave commented that he’d like to have my chudan shuto-uke. In Ananku, I need to work on keeping the wari-uke out in front of me. I seem to be crossing my arms drawing my fists in toward my body before throwing them back out forward.

In the last part of class, performed Shiromatsu-no-kon. I need to continue to work on it, but I have the basic routine mostly down.
Also worked on Pinan Sandan bunkai (write down the order)

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Last Class Before Canada

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Class led by Sensai.

Worked on Naihanchi Ⅰ-Ⅲ and Pinan Godan.

I have a tendency to rush through the Naihanchi kata – need to work on slowing down and emphasizing the technique.

The middle section of Naihanchi Ⅱ has a yoko-shuto-uke.

In Naihanchi Ⅲ, the second move is a kizame-zuki followed by uchi-uke. The block should be distinct, don’t hurry through this part.

Bo training

Practiced Shiromatsu-no-kon

basic attack/defense bo routines

In the black belt class, reviewed Fukyugata Ⅰ/Ⅱ and Pinan Shodan/Nidan Bunkai. Still need a ton of work here.

Sensai finished with a quick explanation of Pinan Sandan bunkai. Middle section through the end features mostly right handed attacks.