Empi Jump...Help Needed

[kkennedy219]

Hi, everyone,

I am currently working on the kata Empi (Enpi...seen it spelled both ways and not sure which is correct), and I can't seem to get the 360 jump to save my life.

I can do a 270 and land in back stance just fine, but when I go for the 360...I always fall off balance and end up crashing into the wall, twisting my ankle etc...it's just a bad scene.

Does anyone have any tips that might help me stay on balance? Are there any video tutorials out there?

Thanks for any advice. This is so frustrating.

[Shizentai]

Enpi's jump is quite difficult to learn, isn't it? It took me a long time to figure out how to land facing exactly the right way (a good 5 years to really make it solid). Ironically though I had the opposite problem. I kept turning an extra 45 degrees past where I was supposed to be, and I had a tendency to travel too far in my jump, which caused me to end up behind my finishing mark.

As it turns out, my problem was caused by pushing off into the jump too hard with my right leg, and keeping my knees lifted for too long towards the end, which gave me excess rotation and distance. Perhaps if you are having trouble turning far enough, these are two things you could try to emphasize.

But first, though I know it is counter intuitive, I find that many (like myself) learn well from repeated practice of doing the kata without the jump, at least initially. If you're worried about twisting an ankle in the landing, then practice the jump lifting only one leg off the ground at a time. Follow the same motion as you would in the jump, but instead of focusing on catching air, concentrate on making the last motion (setting your left leg into back stance) as smooth as possible. The more confidence you have in the landing and the less you stomp, the easier it should be on your ankles when you put the jump back in.

Best of luck with this terrific kata!

Ossu!

[todome]

I hate the fricking heel bruise you have to wear learning this thing.

Remember karate is about controlling the tanden so no matter how much messing around you do it's eventually going to add up to "how am I generating force from my centre of gravity". What this means is ultimately what's important is finding your axis of rotation and applying controlled positive energy around it. What's going on with the legs is, by definition, peripheral.

Try to forget about how hard you're pushing with your pivot leg once in a while and think about the turn in terms of force to the ground using hip rotation.

Remember all movements from stance to stance can be broken into two uninterrupted phases. Contraction and Expansion. This means preparing to push off is a gathering of the entire body towards your centre of gravity. The corollary of this is your free leg should cross the body with the thighs close together, not swing around as if its primary purpose is to give momentum to the turn.

With good contraction by the time you've reached the peak of the turn your right leg is already targeted towards the front so landing in the right direction is a matter of controlling the body from the tanden and driving everything aggressively into position. Actually when I'm doing it right I can sense the path the foot of the free leg will be traveling is set and under control BEFORE I leave the ground. That NEVER happens if I let things swing wide.

and cheat by landing toes first for a while. Those heal bruises are killer.

[Wolfman08]

OK, so it took me a few minutes of repetition to remember what I was taught about how to do this. This may not help you since you may have already been told this, or this might just be the Cuong Nhu way to do this movement, but it might get the wheels turning, if nothing else.

So, you're in your forward stance with your arms forward (in Cuong Nhu it's a low spearhand and a high tiger mouth strike, I'm not positive if this is the case with Shotokan). To start, slowly turn your upper body, slowly transitioning to the load for the next movement. Keep both of your feet on the ground while you turn until your upper body is facing your 6 o'clock. Right now, you should be facing your 6, in a modified forward stance with your feet in line, and your hands in the load for the next strike. Now, hop. Your (current) back leg is going to land slightly in front of your (current) front leg. This basically makes the whole movement a sort of 180 degree turn while advancing towards the rear of the room.

[sensei8]

There's quite a lot of excellent tips/advice here already. Hopefully I can add something of value to this discussion.

I've a little question first...What jump?

This particular movement has been improperly labeled by the masses for quite a long time as a jump; it’s, imho, not a jump at all! In performing this exacting act, your hips don’t go up; therefore, the knees go up, albeit the hips go down.

It’s for sure that Empi is a hard kata to master in and of itself, and in that, it should be understood that this kata should never be rushed; timing and rhythm are essential if one is to even begin to understand Empi.

When you jump, don't go for distance just jump in a small circle...short and sharp; as you spring up, kick your heels up like you are trying to kick your backside; both feet should land onto the floor at the same exact time in as near a perfect back stance as you can do, and your knife-hand should exactly coincide with that landing...everything happens at once. When landing, try to think "sit" so that you drop your center when you land; completely unmoving.

Good luck and enjoy it.