Dani_001 Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Hey KF'ers,Just wanna know if anyone has any information regarding Enshin Karate. Today whilst walking on the beach, they had a gashuku. Their style is quite unorthodox from what I've seen and it spurred me on checking their kata on Wikipedia. Their kata looks completely different to what I've seen and I don't wanna judge, but how does their system work?Thanks. Uphold the Budo spirit and nothing will overcome you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR 137 Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Enshin was founded by Joko Ninomiya. Ninomiya was a Kyokushin legend. His teacher, Ashihara, left Kyokushin; Ninomiya followed Ashihara. Ninomiya then left Ashihara.It is and isn't unorthodox. It's Kyokushin with Judo throws and takedowns. They're very big on tai sabaki - circular fighting rather than straight forward and back.The unorthodox part is Ninomiya eliminated traditional kata and replaced it with "fighting kata," which looks a lot like shadow kickboxing to me. Ashihara did the same, and I've heard the kata of both schools are similar. I haven't looked too deeply into them.If you have an Enshin school around, check it out. From everything I've seen, it's a fantastic system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dani_001 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 Thanks JR. So would you call this "fighting Karate" rather than traditional? I would like to see how their bunkai is applied. Uphold the Budo spirit and nothing will overcome you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR 137 Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 Interesting question. Their website slogan says (or at one point said) "Traditional Karate. Evolved."Bunkai? Not that I know of if you're referring to something along the lines of Iain Abernathy. Mas Oyama reportedly didn't teach much, if any bunkai. If he didn't, Ashihara most likely didn't, and I haven't seen anything indicating Ninomiya does either.I'd imagine Enshin kata bunkai would be more along the lines of kickboxing than what's commonly thought of as Karate kata bunkai.Kyokushin and offshoots' practitioners doing bunkai is quite rare, from what I've seen. Howard Collins has some videos that are pretty deep compared to anything else Kyokushin I've seen. But if you're one of the people who loves kata bunkai, he's nothing special.*Howard Collins is one of the old-school Kyokushin guys. He was a top Kyokushin competitor in the 70s.Edit: I forgot to mention in my first post - Check out some Sabaki Challenge videos online. That's Enshin's big competition. It'll give you a sense of what they do. Not a complete picture, but a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dani_001 Posted April 2, 2017 Author Share Posted April 2, 2017 Thanks JR. I'm going to check a class out in the week. Would be nice to do a fighting karate and traditional karate. I had a look at the videos. And the grandmaster of Enshin seems like a sincere man. He seems a lot like Kenji Midori and Tadashi Nakamura. He also reminds me of Ip Man funny enough. Constantly evolving and perfecting technique. Uphold the Budo spirit and nothing will overcome you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR 137 Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 Ninomiya is a legend. No other way to put it. I've honestly contemplated taking a vacation to Denver just to visit his dojo.I don't think there's an inherent difference between "fighting karate" and "traditional karate" as you put it. I think the difference is application and training methods. Ninomiya isn't doing anything new; the difference is his approach. There's only so many ways to kick, punch, throw, etc. What separates most systems is the when, from where, and why IMO.And I'm a huge Nakamura fan. I did join his organization:). Midori is a phenomenal MAists as well. I'd add Shigeru Oyama to your list to complete my trifecta.That generation of Kyokushin guys was just unreal; completely on another level IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sensei8 Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 I wholeheartedly concur with everything that JR has said!! I've had the honor of training with many Enshin practitioners for a long time, and an even more honor of training with Nakamura and his son!! **Proof is on the floor!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR 137 Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 I wholeheartedly concur with everything that JR has said!! I've had the honor of training with many Enshin practitioners for a long time, and an even more honor of training with Nakamura and his son!! Details, please??!!! I'd love to hear about your experience with Nakamura and his son! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulltahr Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 I wholeheartedly concur with everything that JR has said!! I've had the honor of training with many Enshin practitioners for a long time, and an even more honor of training with Nakamura and his son!! Details, please??!!! I'd love to hear about your experience with Nakamura and his son!Me also please sensei! "We don't have any money, so we will have to think" - Ernest Rutherford Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sensei8 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 What would you like to know?? There's really not much to tell, imho. I've trained with two living legends, in Enshin's Ninomiya, once, and Seido's Nakamura...twice. **Proof is on the floor!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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