Unlocking Naihanchi Shodan

[Ueshirokarate]

I have learned two versions of Naihanchi Sho/Shodan--one from Shuri-Ryu and one from Shorin-Ryu--and while Shuri-Ryu does have versions of the other two they are considered "black belt kata" and taught at Shodan and Nidan ranks which I have not reached, so I only know the Shorin-Ryu versions of the second and third Naihanchi kata. My views on this kata come from these two styles of karate, tempered with my own study, such as it is at my level. I won't go into a ton of detail--I don't have a ton, after all, since I've only been training for 5 years--but I'll go over some of the staples of Naihanchi as I see it.

Stance

Kiba-dachi in Shuri-Ryu is very low, which turns Naihanchi into a serious exercise in leg conditioning, but this is obviously not a practical position to be in from a bunkai perspective. I feel that this helped my leg strength, my leg flexibility, my balance and my understanding of how to drop my weight. When I transitioned to Shorin-Ryu, however, the kata uses a Motobu-style Naihanchi-dachi/kiba-dachi that is much more natural. What I feel I've gained from this is a better physical understanding of how to move, generate power and root myself to the ground. Between the two I feel most comfortable in the more natural stance but I feel that without the low kiba-dachi-version of Shuri-Ryu my leg conditioning, balance and weight dropping would not be nearly as good, so I feel there is value in running it both ways, not just one or the other.

Leg Techniques

Naihanchi's leg techniques are probably the most often "played with" when it comes to bunkai, as far as I've experienced. It seems that many people see Naihanchi as a linear kata with your back against the wall and neglect the smaller movements of the stances, as well as the concept of entering to attack your opponent with one side forward. The steps where you cross one foot over the other can be knee strikes, stomps or both, but to use them as just a step is an unsound concept unless you intend to spin around, which I have also seen done as another way of practicing Naihanchi. The sweeps and use of your knees to off-balance your opponent by pressing against their legs are probably the most valuable leg techniques for me, personally, because I feel that the judo training I have done compliments these techniques well, and I use them often in free sparring and in self defense drills. That said, I have also seen these used as low side-kicks or stomp-kicks, as well as simply pulling your foot up out of the way of a kick or stomp being thrown at you. I feel that these can also be knee strikes and training to check leg kicks and other strikes to the thigh, however--I see that application especially with the knee-raise in Naihanchi Nidan.

Hand Techniques

I don't think that it is a coincidence that Naihanchi Shodan starts with a fairly long hand technique (the open-handed block, excluding the yoi position) and ends with a fairly long technique (the double-punch) but all of the techniques in between are close-quarters-style strikes, blocks, deflections and grappling techniques. To me, this signifies covering distance, engaging someone in a very close situation and then breaking free of the engagement. That said, I do not feel that this is the only way to use these techniques. I find that the hand techniques of all three Naihanchi kata are very efficient for striking and grappling close to your opponent and compliment the stancing and leg techniques very well. In other words, the kata are very well put together and I feel that they build on one another. A lot of people feel that there is very little of value in Naihanchi Sandan but I think that it introduces the idea of using the techniques from the first two Naihanchi kata in even shorter spaces, in addition to adding the concept of moving off-line of an attack and I like the added grappling concepts of the wrapping arm.

Grappling

I love grappling and I love grappling in karate, so this is a great aspect of Naihanchi both from a practicality perspective and an entertainment perspective. The joint locks, the sweeps, the tie-ups/clinching, the grip-breaking, it's all great and most people agree on it being in the kata. The part that gets people on shaky ground is exactly the idea that Naihanchi contains ground-fighting techniques (forgive the pun). I can see where people get this idea--the stance is reminiscent of having someone in your guard, the steps where your feet cross are similar to half-guard and many of the grappling techniques used standing can be applied just as well or better from the ground. All that said, I believe that the grappling concepts in Naihanchi were intended to be used from a standing position, but I don't see anything wrong with practicing them on the ground, either.

tl;dr - Naihanchi is awesome and deceptively complex

Excellent post. I am curious how your judo experience has influenced your view of katas in general. I am of the mindset that grappling is completly undertrained in karate. I also believe that it was at one time as important to the art as kicks and strikes. It is kind of the direct opposite of what happened to judo.

[sojobo]

Sensei8, You are in good company. Wado's founder, said that Naihunchi Shodan was his favorite kata; not because of his technical understanding of it, but because he felt "something special about it". His student, Shoimitsu Sensei gave a seminar and dedicated several hours on Naihunchi. If I find the time, I will extract and annotate if for those that may be interested. After a long lay off from training when I was a young adult, it was the first kata I was able to recall.

Otsuka said it was "very deep". There is no doubt that during his training time with Motobu Choki - he was exposed to some very important lessons in terms of understanding what was underneath the surface.

In his book, Ohgami sensei says that practicing it developes short powerful movement (as opposed to large techniques that are too slow). It trains the core muscles of the body (some may even say it trains the tanden) - but in this respect its practice delivers far more than technique.

Otsuka trained in Shindo Yoshin Ryu (Koryu Bujutsu) before he trained Karate. The school has solo kata they called Nairiki no Gyo and these are designed to manifest core strength through correct movement and stability etc. I’d put money that Otsuka saw similar potential in Naihanchi kata and perhaps that’s what he means by it being "deep".

Like Ueshirokarate, I don't, and never have, bought the "back against the wall” theory - I think it’s one of those urban myths that has been developed mostly by us here in the west.

Sojobo

Edited July 27, 2011 by sojobo

[Wastelander]

Excellent post. I am curious how your judo experience has influenced your view of katas in general. I am of the mindset that grappling is completly undertrained in karate. I also believe that it was at one time as important to the art as kicks and strikes. It is kind of the direct opposite of what happened to judo.

I agree that it is largely under-trained in karate, but there are still many who incorporate it. My personal belief, and I could be wrong--I certainly don't have documentation to back it up--is that martial arts developed on Okinawa much the same way they did in ancient Greece. What I mean by that is that they fought each other with whatever grappling and striking skills they knew and as those skills got more refined over time they were split into separate arts (this is how boxing and wrestling we created, as I understand it) and only a few people continued to incorporate both concepts in full while most chose to favor one over the other. This is how tegumi and te came about (again, this is just my belief) as they are separate striking and grappling arts. I feel that over time the practitioners of te, as they began incorporating concepts and techniques from Chinese arts, started to train grappling concepts more and more until the cycle started over again and some people started going the way of grappling-only or striking-only training with a little dabbling between the two. It seems to me that this cycle just keeps going because people tend to have a preference and will typically practice and teach to their preferences.

All that is just my belief based on other arts and trends, but I could most certainly be wrong. I, admittedly, don't know enough about the origins of tegumi and te prior to the transition between te and Todi to be certain, nor do I have any documentation to prove my point.

[Ueshirokarate]

Excellent post. I am curious how your judo experience has influenced your view of katas in general. I am of the mindset that grappling is completly undertrained in karate. I also believe that it was at one time as important to the art as kicks and strikes. It is kind of the direct opposite of what happened to judo.

I agree that it is largely under-trained in karate, but there are still many who incorporate it. My personal belief, and I could be wrong--I certainly don't have documentation to back it up--is that martial arts developed on Okinawa much the same way they did in ancient Greece. What I mean by that is that they fought each other with whatever grappling and striking skills they knew and as those skills got more refined over time they were split into separate arts (this is how boxing and wrestling we created, as I understand it) and only a few people continued to incorporate both concepts in full while most chose to favor one over the other. This is how tegumi and te came about (again, this is just my belief) as they are separate striking and grappling arts. I feel that over time the practitioners of te, as they began incorporating concepts and techniques from Chinese arts, started to train grappling concepts more and more until the cycle started over again and some people started going the way of grappling-only or striking-only training with a little dabbling between the two. It seems to me that this cycle just keeps going because people tend to have a preference and will typically practice and teach to their preferences.

All that is just my belief based on other arts and trends, but I could most certainly be wrong. I, admittedly, don't know enough about the origins of tegumi and te prior to the transition between te and Todi to be certain, nor do I have any documentation to prove my point.

My impression was that karate was adopted into the school systems as more a sport and much of the grappling was removed for that purpose. But to me, every kata I know has a heavy element of grappling in it, especially throws and I wish that we trained them like judoka.

[bushido_man96]

To save the length of my post, and if I continue, it would be a long post, so let me just say this about the Niahanchi series....OH WHAT A RUSH!!

Perhaps when you come down, Bob, you can show me this kata. In TKD, we do a form that seems to have a "back to the wall" theme, called Po Eun. We do it at 2nd degree black, though. I do think Choi might have pulled some of Niahanchi for it.

[sojobo]

To save the length of my post, and if I continue, it would be a long post, so let me just say this about the Niahanchi series....OH WHAT A RUSH!!

Perhaps when you come down, Bob, you can show me this kata. In TKD, we do a form that seems to have a "back to the wall" theme, called Po Eun. We do it at 2nd degree black, though. I do think Choi might have pulled some of Niahanchi for it.

If you're ever in blighty, I'll teach the the Wado-ryu version also.

sojobo

[DWx]

To save the length of my post, and if I continue, it would be a long post, so let me just say this about the Niahanchi series....OH WHAT A RUSH!!

Perhaps when you come down, Bob, you can show me this kata. In TKD, we do a form that seems to have a "back to the wall" theme, called Po Eun. We do it at 2nd degree black, though. I do think Choi might have pulled some of Niahanchi for it.

Most likely he did. Also Yoo-Sin seems to copy some of it.

[sensei8]

To save the length of my post, and if I continue, it would be a long post, so let me just say this about the Niahanchi series....OH WHAT A RUSH!!

Perhaps when you come down, Bob, you can show me this kata. In TKD, we do a form that seems to have a "back to the wall" theme, called Po Eun. We do it at 2nd degree black, though. I do think Choi might have pulled some of Niahanchi for it.

You got it...it'll be my honor.

[honoluludesktop]

My understanding of "bunkai" is that it is meant to be an analysis of the kata. Accordingly, there is no right or wrong bunkai.

[sensei8]

My understanding of "bunkai" is that it is meant to be an analysis of the kata. Accordingly, there is no right or wrong bunkai.

True...for that moment. Effectiveness through Interpretation is a fragile vehicle to drive. What's effective today, might not hold the same tomorrow!!