returning_wave

Agree strongly with both aefibird and killer miller, every kata move (i mean every, forget 'spiritual moves' and 'opening salutations', they're all combat moves) has an application, and while you could argue there must have been an initial application the kata creator had in mind, as long as the application you are taught or have devised works and is actually applicable in a real situation then it is a 'good bunkai.' of course if the move requires a specific sequence of attacks from your opponent, is performed at unrealistic range or fails to use the entire move it is a 'bad bunkai', but there are many many good bunkai. For example I have seen at least 10-15 'street' applications for shuto-uke.

thats a pretty cool bunkai which i had also not thought of! ive also seen it demonstrated as a pretty effective wrist lock.

if you want to learn tekki's without an instructor, i suggest you stickto shodan (Naihanchi). its easier to learn from a book and teaches the principles of the Wu Shu style Tekki comes from. Tekkis nidan and sandan teach the same principles while omitting the dangerous techniques and were devised later. Also they are harder to learn with no instruction. Tekki is deceptively simple to pick up the moves of, although the applications will take some work.

What punch? I think you reffer to the technique done after the series of shuto uke ... It's NUKITE. Looks like a punch, but it's an open handed technique. So not quite a punch The elbow rests on the left palm which "looks" to the grownd. It's a couple of techniques. A block downwards with the left hand ... forgot the name ... then almost simultaneusly you hit nukite. Don't foget to change stances and kiai. After this you turn CCW on your right foot in kokutsu dachi. Right arm is like in a gedan barai block, but with palm open, protecting your solar plexus. The left palm is near the right ear, with it facing the ear ... From this you use the couple of forces and execute shutouke with the left hand, while the right one is now protecting the plexus. Hope I made my self clear. It's easier to show than describe (in a foreign language ) you're getting confused. the move you describe is from heian nidan (pinan shodan) not heian shodan (pinan nidan). there is no nukite in heian shodan.

to continue a point made earlier, I dont think most thinking Brits consider americans to be gun-runnign trigger happy cowboys, but my perception of the States and guns was somewhat tainted by a message board thread i saw discussing the issue where an American had said it was good that everyone carried guns because then 'any average joe can stop a crime if they need to,' apparently not realising the culture of fear he was describing. I will always remain against guns period although before i get accused about just being an america-basher I intend to move there asap after university. Anyway on the original point, during what little weapon training ive done (two lessons at a rifle range) I was told what soemone already said - aim centre, then you have space to go wide. Of course, havign never shot someone im hardly an expert.

They are suprisingly similar. ive grown up with the Heians and have recently started application work in private using the videos of Iain Abernethy who does the Pinan versions. There are only a few minor versions, and the applications for both are very similar.

agred with everything said so far. Especially true is that a gun is far easier to defend than a knife. agun only has one lthal point - a knife is dangerous in many many ways. You can hold a gun by the barrel - you cant hold a knife by the blade a good contraoling technique fro a handgun is to get a finger (even a pinky) behidn the trigger. This will prevent him firing and is easier than it sounds (after much practice ith a prtner who is tryign to 'fire' before i move in.) If unable to get your figner in grip the barrel tightly, which wont prevent him from firign but it can stop the reloading on a semi-auto.

My personal trademark is the sprained thumb/figner from fist impacts with elbows, knees, other fists. In fact i have a slightly sprained indx figner now

kata all the way! in my opinion kihon and kumite are just extracted from the kata so kata itself wins hands down in my book.

ah good old Osu! its kind of a runnign joke in our club - we find it hilarious and our masters hate it so it is not used - we dont feel the need to shout anything at regualr intervals but if our instructor asks 'do you udnerstand' we would respond with 'Hai, Sensei.' The man who has jsut taken over our style in England is a big Osu-er however - his record is 6 times in one sentence . I have to say it irritiates me and every japanese person ive spoken to says it would be very disrespectul to use it in japan except to a friend of the same rank.

I would recommend a book called simply 'The Martial Arts' by Peter Lewis, which gives a very good overview of all of the martial art styles you are likely to come across, detailing their philosophies, training emphasis and history.

What do you believe is the place of sport within martial arts? Do you believe that sport combat (taken to mean semi-contact with rules) is a vital part of trainign or a dilution of the fighting ways which MA is based on? I think we are stuck with a catch22 situation: I would put forward that the training emphasis on winnign tournament bouts is in danger of destroying the roots of Karate, TKD and Judo as workable street defence systems, and therefore, in my mind, is not somehting we should overly encourage, but removing the sporting aspect would remove much needed publicity for martial arts in the west and could result in forms of MA dying out over here. What are others' opinions on the position of sporting MA and the training towards it in MA today?

exactly. I find it difficult to accept that a 10 or 12 year old would know how to distinguish between the two things. I dont believe the average kid of 10 (or occasionally even younger) has the mental maturity to have the skill and knowledge of a black belt level so I dont think they should be given the black belt itself, as one symbolises the other, both to the practitioner and to opponents. I'm sure there are exceptions (where in life are their not?) but as a general view I would say that kids that young cannot make the distinction between havign the belt and being worthy of the belt.

agreed. learn quick parries - a double parry from the inside can push their arms aside, and can, altohugh simple, make you look ready to defend yourself. Often the pushing, name calling stage is for your bully/attacker/drunk guy to assess, either conciously or not, your ability to defend yourself.

And before that, Greece. As you say, there are 'hidden' techniques in Greece Hand () katas. Actually hidden is probably the wrong word, but the point is you have to study the moves in depth to understand them. The masters of old developed kata as their legacy, or the legacy or their instructor: they contaiend their entire fighting style. They did not want an enemy, havign watched the kata performed, to know how to defeat them, so the true applications were closely guarded secrets. The moves themselves do not change, but the point is the applications are far more complex than meets the eye. Gichin Funokoshi did not spend a decade studying Tekki and only Tekki because it was a religious dance, or because its point was obvious.

This is why I tend to go for some form of cat stance - although by no means a perfectly defensible stacne (as people ahve said no stacne is perfect) the weight is on the back leg, away from the opponent, meanign there is not an obvious sweepign target thrust in the opponents face. Front stance (zenkutso dachi) has limited left and right stability, as the original poster has discovered, and for this and other reasons I would not reccomend it for sparring. Cat stance and back stane (kokutso-dachi) have more stability to a sweeper in front of you but you couldnt stand there and expect to be defended - as someone said its movement not the solid stane which is the best sweeping defense.

I get sick of the exact opposite - The TMA guys who say they can just do technique X to stop a grappler, but then can't back it up. I get sick of the TMA who piggyback off of their ancestor's rep. Just because Chang Tung Sheng, Sun Lu Tang, Wah lun Choi, etc. was a great fighter, that doesn't mean that you are by default. I think that is the very attitude Treebranch was reffering to. I think the Gracies are very good martial artists and I have the utmost respect for grapplers. They may be given a little too much status occasionally but MA needs the publicity.

heavy - five footer, 30kg

in our style gloves, gum shield and box are mandatory. head guards and chest protectors are mandatory for 8yr olds and under. I dislike the gloves intensely - they're strapped-up boxing style gloves which all but prevent open-hand techniques.

Hig guys I'm lookign for some home workout tips with a punchbag. I just bought one, and its gonna be very useful as a means of hitting somehting other than thin air. But I was wodnerign what oithers use their bags for if they have them?

Yeh id go with local small businesses. our amateur group which trains intermitently used iron-on-transfers for T-shirts as a test and they've performed well, even on a trainign t-shirt. cheap and effective! but for somehting more professional id go as others have reccomended.

Yeh I learnt the basics from a friend who does Wing Chun. I have used it largely to do shotokan katas in dynamic strength. very knackering, its certainly improved my endurance. Id reccomend it.

I agree that the prinicples are the most important thing in the kata, but the moves themselves are combat applications, as they stand. I have found it quite astonishing the thigns you can actually do with a move straight out of a kata. For example, the move from Kanku-dai i mentioend earlier, although almost always, as many of you have said, taught as a spiratual move or a focusign symbol, can be used as a grab defense as it stands, movign teh hands up and round, guiding the arms over and down, then grabbign one of the arms and perforimgn the knife-hand strike to the head as in the kata. You may wish to consider other applications for the move. This was my exact sentiments until about 6 months ago, when I really began to reasearch applicatiosn away from the very kumite-esque unrealistic applications which I was taught in the dojo. I dont obviously know the kata you are referrign to but there is a very similar move at the start of shotokan's Tekki kata which is atributed similar 'groin-block' significance, which in fact is a very effective grab release. As i can sense a flame war just below the surface in this thread I should say it is not remotly my intention to insult you, your opinions or your instructor. I have been taught for some years under a very 'my way or the highway' instructor and I know what its like to feel lectured. Just carryign on a debate.

Mixing is a good thing in my opinion, but probably best to stick with the same philosophy. If you try and mix internal chinese with external japanses for example youre gonna get conflict (pardon the pun).

I am strongly against black belts under 15 years old. I feel that a black belt, as well as being something which shows technical proficiency, should symbolise a fighting ability and mental conditioning which I personally believe come with amturity as a person outside of the MA field. There are a numebr of extraordinarily young black belts in my style, and this creates a numebr of problems, including a) they are not sufficiently mentally mature and are therefore cocky and arrogant, b) they are unable to advance further (our nidan minimum age is 18) and so become bored, c) they generally do not have the fighting skills which should accompany the rank, so they are a danger to themselves when goign agaisnt others of their grade I realise this is a very generalised statement but I do honestly believe that it is very easy to be too young for the higher grades. Ive encoutnered far too many 8 yr olds sportign black belts and 1st kyu grades who couldnt defeat an untrained 15 yr old. The problem lies in that they think they could.