Bunkai is for Gangsters.

[Harkon72]

This is what a Wado Ryu Sensei told me the other day. He was horrified when I told him that in our Dojo after the age of 16, each Kata is broken down openly for each student, whatever their grade to show its applications. "We only teach Bunkai to 1st Kyu and above" he said "Bunkai is for Gansters". I think it's a way to withhold the style from those that are not in the inner circle of his association. I think also that it is a very out dated view and very blinkered. If you don't know the application, you might as well do aerobics in my way of thinking. Our Bunkai is taught safely and respectfully, we don't hide it from our students. Are there thoughts on this?

[Tkdampbjj]

To me that is rather old school. If kata is the foundation of a system why wouldn't you want to have a deep understanding of its application?

[Wastelander]

Maybe his way works fine for what his student want--if you're just training for the culture/experience of it, or for fitness, or just for fun, then it's not an issue at all. I wouldn't be terribly happy with it, if I were his student, but that's my own opinion--your training should not include anything that is useless, or that has only intangible benefits that can only be applied years down the road, when you are training for self defense. Bad people don't check what rank you are before they assault you to make sure you know how to defend yourself properly.

[Kusotare]

This is what a Wado Ryu Sensei told me the other day. He was horrified when I told him that in our Dojo after the age of 16, each Kata is broken down openly for each student, whatever their grade to show its applications. "We only teach Bunkai to 1st Kyu and above" he said "Bunkai is for Gansters". I think it's a way to withhold the style from those that are not in the inner circle of his association. I think also that it is a very out dated view and very blinkered. If you don't know the application, you might as well do aerobics in my way of thinking. Our Bunkai is taught safely and respectfully, we don't hide it from our students. Are there thoughts on this?

I am a long time practitioner and instructor of Wado-ryu Karate and I have never heard anyone suggest "Bunkai is for Gangsters" lol.

That said, strictly speaking Wado doesn't utilise the "process" of Bunkai in quite the same way as is done in Okinawan karate.

Remember, Wado comes from Shindo Yoshin-ryu (a Japanese Jujutsu) and as such we utilise a plethora of paired kata and techniques to realise our Karate. These are practiced in tandem with our solo kata prety much from the word go.

As a result, the term "Bunkai" isnt one that used very frequently in Wado dojo (or if it is, it refers to a slightly different thing).

I have to go to work now and then I will be teaching in the evening, but I will expand upon this a little more later tonight.

K.

[Harlan]

Wish one could 'like' a post. Nice.

[MasterPain]

This is what a Wado Ryu Sensei told me the other day. He was horrified when I told him that in our Dojo after the age of 16, each Kata is broken down openly for each student, whatever their grade to show its applications. "We only teach Bunkai to 1st Kyu and above" he said "Bunkai is for Gansters". I think it's a way to withhold the style from those that are not in the inner circle of his association. I think also that it is a very out dated view and very blinkered. If you don't know the application, you might as well do aerobics in my way of thinking. Our Bunkai is taught safely and respectfully, we don't hide it from our students. Are there thoughts on this?

Did you manage to keep a straight face?

[Harkon72]

Master Pain, maybe I was a little slow to react, but my flabber hadn't been so gasted! It took me a while after wards to realize what he had just said. I asked my Sensei about this attitude; he called it "Very Strange" and I think he was being very polite.

[brickshooter]

Bunkai is a broad word and have different meanings to different people. They range from basic applications to lethal techniques.

Personally I would share the lethal applications to only people I know extremely well regardless of rank. Lets be honest, we don't do comprehensive background checks on students. They can be paroles or wanted criminals or psychotics for all we know.

BTW there was an infamous American Mobster hitman in the 60-70s who did study Karate in Japan, and frequently put it to use when he returned to the states. And in Japan, it's well rumored that the Japanese Mob has a high number of Karate practitioners. So that may be how the term Ganster and Karate is associated.

[mal103]

Basic applications for Kyu grades but around Brown belt level students will be looking deeper and should be fed with your knowledge and then encouraged to go and explore it for themselves.

I have a deep respect for all Sensei and anyone prepared to pass on the Art (whichever style) but i do feel horrified when you see examples of closed minds.

Too many people give up Karate (and maybe others) because their minds are not fed or they end up doing too much of the same stuff, I regularly take apart a Kata and "show" the potential applications to spark interest and always get great feedback for a great lesson. When people think they have learnt all of it then they will give up or swap styles, they need to have a taste of what is beyond the standard syllabus or the path upto Shodan.

I see the point about not knowing who our students are but your average nut-job won't spend hours marching up and down blocking and punching, they will be drawn to the MMA type schools where they can beat the crap out of each other, if they really wanted to know the hidden lethal applications within the Kata then they would find out anyway.

[MasterPain]

Master Pain, maybe I was a little slow to react, but my flabber hadn't been so gasted! .

HA! New quote.