Karate Bunkai

[Drew]

I'm not a karate guy but I have a general interest in the applications of the

various kata in karate. I was hoping that the community here might

contribute their own reasearch resources, regardless of the form of media.

Links to other websites, book titles, or even a text only post describing the

possible bunkai would all be welcome. Sources including pictures or video

are preffered. Thank you in advance for your contributions!

[bushido_man96]

Different Karate stylists tend to have varying opinions on what bunkai is, and how it is interpretted. There are books on the subject, as well as youtube videos; just search Karate Bunkai.

Also, a fellow by the name of Iain Abernethy has a website you could take a look at, although is views on bunkai tend to be different than most others: http://shop.iainabernethy.com/acatalog/DVDs_UK.html?gclid=CPe0o4TD8awCFeQCQAodIXvWIg

[Drew]

I'm sorry, I suppose that I was a bit vague. I've done plently of google searches both in Enlglish and Japanese servers, and have found quite a few interesting things. I was just hoping that the users here might have some little gems that I may have overlooked.

It may help to note that I am particularly interested in the possible grappling disengagements contained within many of the kata, particularly naihanchi/tekki.

[Wastelander]

Bunkai is a little too multi-faceted to explain online, particularly if you don't train and practice the kata being discussed. Ian Abernethy is a great resource, but I have gotten most of my bunkai from instructors I have trained with and through my own practice. As far as naihanchi/tekki bunkai, there is a ton of it out there but consider this--if your hands are pulling or if two of them are moving at once, there is probably a grappling application.

[Dobbersky]

Naihanchi kata IS a grappling kata for both stand up AND ground work. You could spend a lifetime on this kata and still not have found everything. This kata is practised by many styles and each one has a slightly different way of doing it

Have you/Do you study martial arts? As if you are a senior grade you should "see" many of the applications already!!!

Are you writing a book on this or something similar?

[Cayuga Karate]

Wastlander said:

"Bunkai is a little too multi-faceted to explain online, particularly if you don't train and practice the kata being discussed."

I agree that text description of any fighting applications is pretty worthless. However, video is a simple remedy to this problem. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth ten-thousand.

Does anyone want to offer up some video for the request? One of the interesting things about Naihanchi/Tekki, is how many movements are consistent across the more common systems that practice it. So if someone has some good Naihanchi grappling movements, why not share them?

-Cayuga Karate

[bassaiguy]

You might not have seen the book, "Bunkai - Secrets of Karate Kata" by Elmar Schmeisser. It is all baout Tekki/Naihanchi bunkai. It's a bit hard to find sometimes, though.

[Drew]

Have you/Do you study martial arts? As if you are a senior grade you should "see" many of the applications already!!!

Are you writing a book on this or something similar?

Yes, I study Submission Wrestling, I didn't really want to label myself but have updated my profile to reflect this. There are no grades, and I'm not writing a book, I just wanted some people to list some sources, that's all.

Like:

You might not have seen the book, "Bunkai - Secrets of Karate Kata" by Elmar Schmeisser. It is all baout Tekki/Naihanchi bunkai. It's a bit hard to find sometimes, though.

This fellow. Thanks bassaiguy, as it turns out I never have run across that book, thank you.

[Zaine]

It may help to note that I am particularly interested in the possible grappling disengagements contained within many of the kata, particularly naihanchi/tekki.

The Naihanchis happen to be one of my favorite set of katas, it's also probably one of the most wrapped in secret. My teacher was constantly telling me how secretive it was, and revealing new ways things could be used as. Naihanchi two has a particular gruesome move that unfortunately is much to difficult to accurately describe in text. My advice to you is to find a good teacher who has the Naihanchis in their system and train with them.

On a side not, I recently had a Kung Fu teacher tell me something that we incredibly useful to my bunkai training, and he probably didn't mean to. He said if I showed him how I did he, he could show me how he would do it. That is to say, if you find something that works, use it. Any martial art has a beautiful capacity to be open to interpretation, and if you find a way that something in any kata works for you, then it works. Karate is about defense, and if it defends properly, then it isn't wrong, it just isn't the way that someone may have intended it to be.

[sensei8]

My Dai-Soke loved to turn the tables on us quite often...

"You teach me today. Please, you show me. I want to see what you found in your Oyo training...but it must be effective! I don't care the Kata you pick, just be effective."

I'm from the camp of those who believe that Bunkai is based on ones own interpretation, however, it must still be effective.