Bunkai

[Zorba]

How many of you out there do bunkai in your clubs. It is a pretty big part of our club, and i feel that it is very important in understanding the art.

 

My Sensai has shown us that every move in a kata, regardless of what it is, can be used in a combat situation.

[cathal]

We like to do bunkai every class, but if not, we'll do it every other class. I agree, its an important aspect of learning physical applications and variations/adaptation.

[returning_wave]

Hardly ever and when we did it was pathetic "This blocks a chudan maegari, followed by three stepping-backwards punches, then you turn away without any kind of counterattack" style bunkai. hence my recent departure. bunkai is vital and the most important aspect of karate.

[TangSooGuy]

If you do forms without studying the application, you are totally missing the point.

 

...and the longer you've practiced a particular form, the more applications you should have for each move.

 

I've also seen many martial artists that claim to study the bunkai of kata, but then never actually try to make the applications work, which is another huge mistake.

 

I try to force my students to think of multiple applications for every technique they do, in forms, drill, or any other time. I then ask them if they can make it work. If they can make it work, I ask them if they can make it work for people of different sizes, strengths, etc.

 

Bottom line, if you aren't studying bunkai, you really aren't studying your technique at all, in my opinion

Edited June 8, 2004 by TangSooGuy

[cathal]

here, here

[aefibird]

We study the bunkai regularly. Sensei sets us tasks to think of the bunkai for a particular section of a certain kata. We go away & think about it then get back together and try it out.

 

Practicing applications is very important - if you can't make the techniques work then there's not a lot of point in studying the bunkai in the first place.

[Pacificshore]

I like to teach the bunkai of our katas as I see it helping out my students have a better understanding of our forms. However, as I was learning the katas, I was rarely shown the bunkai. Fortunately I've taken an interest in the kata applications myself, and have trained long enough to recognize what the bunkai may be. It is also my opinion that the bunkai in any form may have more than one application .

[Killer Miller]

We would study bunkai, then work variations of one or two bunkai (as the concept of the night) with everything we did that night - including kumite, timing training, warm-down, during kata, etc... By the end of the night, you knew the bunkai not by mind, but by muscle memory (the sub conscious).

 

Secondly, there is never "one" bunkai. If you get caught going down the road of only one bunkai in a kata, you may not be able to properly interpret the true meaning of the kata. Bunkai is an "inside" feeling, not an "outside" application of techniques. Once you understand that, it becomes easier to interpret and naturally vision the bunkai as if you truly were defending yourself against one or more opponents...

 

- Killer -

[Zorba]

We generally do the bunkai of about 4 different parts of a kata, but we do many variations on the one park.

 

example, the block and release from heane sho dan we do about 3 or 4 different things.

[krunchyfrogg]

Kata without bunkai is exactly what many people are complaining about when they don't like kata.

 

If you don't know why you're doing what you're doing, you're basically just dancing a set of moves.