Okinawan Kenpo

[Sauzin]

Speaking of specifics, at Sankyu you should have many if not all of the following kata:

 

Naihachi Shodan

 

Naihachi Nidan

 

Naihachi Sandan

 

 

Wansu

 

Ananku

 

Sesan

 

and maybe Niseishi

 

I find it hard to believe that your Sensei could have taught you these kata in terms of just blocks, punches, and kicks. For example. What does he call the movement in Wansu just after you do the simultaneous front kick and chest punch about two-thirds through the kata? You know the part where you grab low then step back around with one hand in the air and throw down. I don’t think a more obvious throw exists in a kata. Or how about the part where you slap your foot in Seisan? Or the part in Naihachi Nidan where you stick one arm out with a fist, then lift a leg, then elbow? I can’t think of an application of that movement where the guy doesn’t fall on his rear end. How can you say these techniques are just basic punches, blocks, or kicks?

[mattys]

At the moment I have Naihanchi Shodan, Nidan, and Sandan, Ananku, Kenpo (I think my sensei made that form up), Pinan Shodan, Pinan Nidan, Pinan Sandan, and Kusanku. Over the past week or so I've been working on Seisan with the other highbelts in my class. We don't actually have Wansu in our system. If you stay on for about 10 more minutes I'm currently uploading clips of myself doing Kusanku and Pinan Shodan for you to look at.

[mattys]

Reading the rest of your post there I can say that there are a few things that we have done bunkai for that are obviously not blocks, punches, or kicks.

[mattys]

Thank you very much for your time. I've just recorded myself doing Kusanku and Pinan Shodan, however, the greatest differences are in Kusanku, so I recomend you take a look at that first.. The comparisons that I've made are to the clips found at http://www.traditional-karate.com/students/student.htm

 

The recordings I have made are found at:

 

http://hamlet.artorg.co.uk/kata

[Sauzin]

First of all I want to compliment you on your kata. Not half bad for a brown belt. Heck in most circles here in the states, not half bad for a black belt.

 

First my take on the Shorin-ryu demo:

 

Now that’s some pretty darn good focus and clean technique. A little choppy, but something tells me that’s what he was going for. Their Kusanku has a huge amount of cat stances. There’s like maybe 2 or 3 fronts and a couple of dozen cats. That guy even shuffles around in his cat. Depth wise his kata is ok, but like I said, he’s a bit choppy. Which means some of the throws and more intricate manipulations aren’t really there. That’s the thing about performing a kata as though it was technique – step – technique – change stance – technique – technique. You miss some of the whole body applications that are in-between that way. Still it looked good and I sure as heck wouldn’t want to get hit by some of that.

 

Which brings me to your kata. Some of the same choppiness. Which may be what your sensei is looking for. If you’ve ever seen a tape of Odo though you’d know what I’m talking about when I say “fluid”. Rather then focusing on getting that “snap” in each technique he really flowed from one technique to the next. Because of this there was a lot of depth. For example a knife hand block is just a knife hand block (or maybe a strike) when done hard and fast. But done fluidly and you can do a four corner throw, a head break, a leg catch and throw, or even a wrist lock and take down.

 

Your sensei also seems to have modified your front stances a lot. The back leg isn’t straight in your kata. And since you were consistent, I’m assuming this is on purpose. Odo’s leg was straight in his front stance. Also every time he assumed a front stance he would adjust his back leg forward and out at the last second. This created kind of a shuffle effect that was a signature of his. I don’t see it in your kata. Aside from that it seems your knife hands aren’t quite as high as is standard. They normally should be fingertips at eye level and you’ve got yours about at nose level. You have a tendency to look down when you do a low technique. You don’t cross your hands over in your blocks. You don’t keep your non extending hand chambered at your hip in your kicks. And your upper cuts are really high. I mean like you are trying to give an 8 ft giant a nose bleed. But from a depth perspective you got all the basics. There are plenty of throws to be had all you need to work on is the transitions and they are there. Every time you turn, every time you step. I really don’t see, when compared to the Shorin-ryu kata, any real difference in terms of complication of the technique. All that complicated stuff is in how you do the simple stuff. Maybe you could point out a few specific techniques that you feel are lacking or missing in your version.

[mattys]

My real question is in why my kata looks so different. I mean the basic techniques and all are the same, but my Kusanku and his seem to be two totally different kata.

[Sauzin]

Oh and that hands behind the head thing at the begining was definitely not something Odo taught him. Odo did it more similar to the Shorin-ryu way. Also he used leaning stances after the punches at the beginning as well. I’m not sure where your sensei got some of those things, but the rest of the pattern is darn near dead on. With a few exceptions that I mentioned above.

[Sauzin]

Well mattys, even within Shorin-ryu there is variation in kata to some degree. Some guys do a high puch where others do a chest level and stuff like that. Also there are a couple of versions of Kusanku out there. The one Odo did was the dai version but who knows what other Shorin-ryu stylists from different backgrounds are doing. I mean have you seen the Shorin-ryu lineage tree? It’s huge with all kinds of different branches. Almost as many as ours. Even the most standarized systems have some variance. Shorin-ryu being as big as it is, has more then most. Certainly you have to expect like variance from kata derived from that system.

[mattys]

Well I decided to ask my sensei about the differences. Mainly being the leaning reverse punch/block in the beginning and the front kick instead of the side kick. He told me that we study Master Maehara's karatedo, and that what I was describing was how Master Odo did it.

[P.A.L]

that matsubayshi ryu kusanku is chatan yara no kusanku, your kusanku is itosu kusanku dai originally but there are some blocks and turns you do different, check this one https://www.wonder-okinawa.jp there is a kusanku dai from itosu lineage.