Udundi Techniques

[Wastelander]

I'm a member of some martial arts study groups on Facebook, and occasionally, some unusual and interesting content comes up. Over the weekend, this video was shared:

For those who are unfamiliar, this is a demonstration of udundi techniques. Udundi is a generic term (like "karate") for the martial arts of Okinawan nobility, and is translated as "palace hand." As it shares a common root with karate, I thought it might be of interest to folks here.

[Harkon72]

Wastelander, you may know how I feel about Aikido and other minimal contact martial arts with nice unrealistic attacks and compliant throws and a good soft landing. They let them get up! Sorry, I'm slightly biased towards realism.

[CredoTe]

Great video, great share

Many of the moves shown in the video are very reminiscent of Ti-based Torite/Tuite movements. In my search for Ti, I've come across a lot of Udundi and have often wondered if modern Udundi is a surviving form of older Ti. In fact, when Ti was around before Toudi/Tote, even then, pretty much only the nobility/gentry learned it.

Wastelander, you may know how I feel about Aikido and other minimal contact martial arts with nice unrealistic attacks and compliant throws and a good soft landing. They let them get up! Sorry, I'm slightly biased towards realism.

I agree that when training for real, that compliance and unrealistic attacks aren't good. But, IMHO, I think the video is strictly a demonstration in slow-step fashion to show the movements on camera. In this case, to really glean what they're showing, focus more on the defender's body, hand, and foot movements. Yes, some of the movements don't quite make sense. But, many of the others look almost exactly like what we do in Ti-based karate. Dare I say, IMHO, a few of their moves look like something Choki Motobu would have done...

[Wastelander]

Wastelander, you may know how I feel about Aikido and other minimal contact martial arts with nice unrealistic attacks and compliant throws and a good soft landing. They let them get up! Sorry, I'm slightly biased towards realism.

I've made no secret about my belief that karate should be practical and effective, so I'm totally with you on that--and so was Bushi Matsumura! He supposedly complained about how the nobles made their art ineffective by making it so much like dancing. That said, I'm also of the opinion that you can find combative value in most martial arts, if you look hard enough.

Personally, I believe that it is important to remember that karate is a puzzle whose pieces have been scattered over time. Udundi, despite it's overly compliant nature and dance-like approach, has similar origins to karate, so it can be a useful resource. The trick is separating the wheat from the chaff, as it were, and figuring out which techniques can be made to work under pressure against a resisting opponent. In that video, you can see a mixture of both impractical techniques and very practical techniques. Some of the techniques just work, and that's great! Some of the techniques work, but are shown in improper context. Others work, but not the way they are shown. Others simply don't work, or are the beginnings of techniques that are never finished in the demonstrations. Sorting these things out is all part of putting the puzzle back together. I consider this analysis to be a form of mental training, which I can then take to the mat and work out in a physical sense

[CredoTe]

Wastelander, you may know how I feel about Aikido and other minimal contact martial arts with nice unrealistic attacks and compliant throws and a good soft landing. They let them get up! Sorry, I'm slightly biased towards realism.

I've made no secret about my belief that karate should be practical and effective, so I'm totally with you on that--and so was Bushi Matsumura! He supposedly complained about how the nobles made their art ineffective by making it so much like dancing. That said, I'm also of the opinion that you can find combative value in most martial arts, if you look hard enough.

Personally, I believe that it is important to remember that karate is a puzzle whose pieces have been scattered over time. Udundi, despite it's overly compliant nature and dance-like approach, has similar origins to karate, so it can be a useful resource. The trick is separating the wheat from the chaff, as it were, and figuring out which techniques can be made to work under pressure against a resisting opponent. In that video, you can see a mixture of both impractical techniques and very practical techniques. Some of the techniques just work, and that's great! Some of the techniques work, but are shown in improper context. Others work, but not the way they are shown. Others simply don't work, or are the beginnings of techniques that are never finished in the demonstrations. Sorting these things out is all part of putting the puzzle back together. I consider this analysis to be a form of mental training, which I can then take to the mat and work out in a physical sense

Absolutely...