Tag Archives: fukyugata ni

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Belleville Seminar 20220908

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Thursday dojo owner/invite class

Started with warmups then both moving and standing basics.

Worked on Fukyugata I, II, Pinan Shodan, Naihanchi shodan katas.

Fukyugata  I bunkai with Art Ishi sensai and Fred Schlesinger sensai.

Practiced various sections of kata with Tony Roberts sensai.

Arakaki sensai stressed blocking with power punching to the opponents center. Make sure to maintain correct posture.

Practiced Fukyugata II less than Fukyugata II.

Arakaki sensai talked about keeping the hands tight to the body on the tomoe zuki  technique. Don’t get too wide, don’t flail.

Pinan Shodan

Show shuto uchi with power. Don’t expose armpit on Jordan uke.

Naihanchi shodan

Arakaki sensai corrected my Haito uchi. I was showing it too tight, said it should be extended more.

Showed application trom opening part – same as in 2018 Germany seminar:
     Attacker punches left, defender smacks down with left and delivers haito uchi to neck over top of attack.
     Defender grabs back of attackers neck and delivers yoko hiji ate to opponents face.
     Defender then sweeps fumi komi ashi with right to opponents left leg. Holds attacker’s left
         arm as he falls, doing arm bar over left leg while pinning with right knee.
     Finishes off attacker with gedan zuki to his head

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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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Danjo Sensai training – day 1

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This year, Danjo Sensai began by talking about how to bow in seiza (kneeling) position. Talked about placing hands in shape of triangle and bowing so that forearms just brush the floor.

He reminded again that when standing up from lotus position, you should do so without using hands for support. Helps to rock to one side and requires some practice. Have found that it works easiest for me if I start with my right leg in front of the left.

After moving basics, did foundation drills from 20 to 60 repetitions. More on kicks and punches. Due to number of people, was hard to do kaiten ushiro-geri.

Leg sweeps in fumi komi-ashi should not go past opposite knee. Danjo sensai’s naihanchi-dachi is very wide.

Paired up to practice a warmup drill from pinan yondan prior to performing kata. Drill was middle section from rest to yoko-hiji-ate.

Kata notes

Fukyugata Ichi

WMKA board has added a second kiai. Occurs on the 3rd chudan-zuki – directly opposite of the original one (on 1st kizami-zuki) in Osensai’s kata.

Fukyugata Ni

Should be no slide on the first gedan yoko-barai-uke. Do slide on the second.

The circular block in tomoe-zuki, can be seen with one hand or two – especially in Okinawa. The two-handed version looks more like wari-uke.
In either case, it should not be hard, pushing the opponent’s arm away. Rather should deflect/pull in opponents punch then follow with punch to the abdomen.

Pinan Nidan

Turn back (left) foot inwards to make turn easier at the end when switching from left to right side delivering gedan shuto-uke.

Pinan Sandan

Created out of moves from Passai, Kusanku, and other now lost kata. During big turn in center section of kata, the right hand should be brought up to block forehead (like in Osensai’s book) The following oi-zuki should be straight.

Pinan Yondan

Mai-geri in middle-end section is to stop an advancing attacker. Kick, plant, then double punch.

Pinan Godan

Feet are parallel in final two moves. See Osensai’s book.

Ended training  by practicing Fukyugata Ⅰ bunkai.

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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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First April Class

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Weapons class led by Zack.

Worked on nunchucku basics and Fukyugata Ⅰ.

Kata/Black belt class led by Sempai.

Worked Fukyugata Ⅰ/Ⅱ, pinan shodan/nidan

Fukyugata Ⅰ – 2nd move -instead of standing up, relax front leg in zenkutsu-dachi to fall forward into following punch
Fukyugata Ⅱ – shuto – condense and expand to generate power
Pinan Shodan – Practice kata with same technique and power that would be required in a real life situation. Work on timing.
Pinan Nidan – Turn your feet to help make the bigger turns
Yakusoku Kumite Ⅰ/Ⅱ

Defense for knife attacks

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Tues 3/31

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Led by Sensai

All Sai kata

Open hand kata through Pinan Sandan

Fuk Ⅰ is often though to be simple,  yet it’s the only basic kata where you move toward the attack while changing directions. Why? Normally beginners move away from an attack. What should we learn from that?

Can think of Fuk Ⅱ also in vertical terms – moving  from high to low or low to high. Also think  of the third move  as blocking down but standing your ground. Don’t lean away.  Then you don’t have to cheat to stand up in to the next jodan-uke.

Beginning of Pinan Nidan doesn’t move from low to high, but stays on one level.  Movement is horizontal  – in and out.

Pinan Shodan is the first kata where you really start to see koshi and how the hips can generate power in the blocks and attacks.

Worked on Pinan Sandan for rest of class.  Worked on bunkai oyo with Sensai Palmer.  Ways to use the first part – chudan uke/ morote uke. Also the 360 deg turn, turn before the hiji-ate section and the elbow blocks themselves.

Black belt class worked on Pinan yondan including repeating the sase hiji-ate drills from last Sat. Talked about the knee attack section. Think of digging the index fingers behind the collarbone and pulling down.  The knee attack could also be a kick to the groin. The preceding morote uke could be inside or outside and could also be changed to a simultanous block and strike.

The really deadly attacks are not punches, but open hand strikes,  strikes with finger tips, elbows , and toe kicks.

 

 

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Saturday 3/14

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Class was led by Sensai

Did a drill where we tried using big motions to both block and get outside gyaku-zuki and front/side/roundhouse kicks to illustrate how much hard that is than to use the smaller and tighter moves we’ve been practicing the last two Saturdays.

Especially for mawashi-geri it takes a lot of energy to block this way. It’s much easier to move forward and block using morote-uke.

Comments from Sensai

Kiai

Compare to Tai-chi, which means flowing energy.

Ki  (chi) means energy. Ai means concentration

Kiai occur in places in the kata where it’s advantageous to release focused energy. Should practice kiai just like practicing kata.

Fukyugata Ni

Cover your center before striking with shuto-uke. Can also think of this in terms of hazushi-uke if you were being grabbed from behind by a second attacker.

Pinan Sandan

Through the entire middle Uraken section, make sure to step straight and then turn.  At the end, step forward before turning and sliding back and left to punch over the shoulder.

Wankan

Need to make sure  my down blocks are complete. Seems I’m only blocking 3/4 of the way down

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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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Opening Workout

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Class led by Taira sensai. Akamine sensai and Behr sensai helped and watched.

Started with stretching and kiso tanren – 25+ over and back (50 or so total). Was tiring but gave the opportunity to focus on the execution of the technique and pay attention to breathing. Taira sensai reminded the class to do the technique and then relax.

Fukyugata Ⅰ – practiced the turns and gedan uke. Keep blocking elbow in tight to chest durning turn, plant foot and deliver block with twist at hip to provide power.

Fukyugata Ⅱ – practiced the the kick/elbow attack by stopping during the kick and balancing with the knee up, than planting and delivering hiji-ate. Akamine sensai corrected my technique during the warmup hazushi-uke drill and again here. Also worked repeatedly on the final two attacks. Taira sensai talked about the block before the double punch as an inside chest block. One application is to do it softly to block an attack, then come over with a poke to the eyes, or palm-heel attack to the chest or head.

Pinan Shodan – In the opening part, the second upper block should come from where the previous technique ended. Don’t drop arm only to raise it again. The first kosa-dachi should begin with only a small step to the left. Too much will affect your balance and delivery of the ensuing kick.
Behr sensai said to slow down my Pinan Shodan and execute every technique distinctly. He said that O Sensai said each technique should bring something back with it. That provides an avenue for seeing different possibilities in the technique.

Pinan Nidan – The first move is a grab to draw in the attacker’s arm. The following hammer-fist should be delivered with snap.

Pinan Sandan – The second move should have a cross first and twist to power the double block. Also, the elbow blocks should be followed by uraken over top of the attacker’s punch. But when Taira sensai demonstrated, the uraken appeared similar to a chest block. The final strikes over the shoulder should be close into the body. Look first and deliver the punch. Work on extension.

Ended with one Pinan Godan. It was halfway over before I figured out which kata and caught up with where we were. Also another Fukyugata Ⅰ and some more stretching.

Taira sensai said he was happy with the effort made by all.