Karate Q&A 8: Seiuchin Kata Analysis
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- We were asked to brainstorm applications for Seiuchin kata and discuss our philosophy on applying kata in combat.
We are a group on a mission to return Karate to its roots through the use of Kata as self-defense.
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Hey guys this is what is needed. Your humility is refreshing also. So often people get caught up in the "right and wrong" interpretation, when there are various ways to apply a technique based upon what you are dealing with. It is said that many older Okinawan masters may have worked on one or two katas most of their lives. This does not mean they only knew one or two but they focused on the techniques and various applications within them.
This is what I see you guys doing. Keep up the good work.
I appreciate the Okinawan approach (Chinese influences). I am a Okinawan Shuri-Ryu stylist and will consider your principles. Thanks.
thank you, we had a really open minded instructor that really showed up the importance of concepts rather than a singular way of thinking. That helped us see the similarities in all styles so we appreciate it all, thanks for the comment!
Another great video! I've practiced Goju ryu but later in life I took up and now teach Matsubayashi ryu. I really appreciate you guys interpretation of the leg hook which is so similar to our Nianhanchi katas. As well I appreciate your interpretation of the reinforced blocks. so many non practitioners look at these as puzzling movements and question their effectiveness. I really liked the high\low blocking interpretation. I knew you guys had a wrestling background. Lol. And your statement regarding katas was spot on. Nagamine Sensei summed up katas as a series of offensive and defensive maneuvers conducted against one or more imaginary opponents. Hanshi Grant best summed it up by saying Kata was not intended to teach you to fight, it's intended to teach you how to move. A.K.A. a system to remember a vast series of fighting combinations. I love the use of this medium to further an ancient art. And I'm thankful you guys are bringing this traditional art to a whole new audience. Keep up the good work. I wish I had the ability to make these interpretations to my students. I really hope you guys will do a seminar somewhere in the southeast one day. MUCH RESPECT
thank you so much for the kind words, it sounds like you are really experienced so it's humbling to get such praise from another practitioner. We'll definitely keep the southeast on our radar, don't worry we're just beginning! thanks again!
As a goju ryu practitioner i have never even consired of doing seiunchin like that! You guys blew my mind
So glad you got something from it, goju-ryu is a great art! thanks!
The paradigm that kata is a showcase...or menagerie...of smaller sequences that collectively teach a specific tactical principle (or two) is a classical Okinawan interpretation of the Southern Shaolin (classical) katas. The notion that they are a choreographed, integrated fight scene is a pretty Western concept. But let's face it, Okinawan karate has been heavily influenced by Western influences for the past six decades.
One more thought on the classical interpretation of kata (bunkai):
While the short sequences train tactics into reflexive responses, the transitions from one sequence to the next teach us tai sabaki (how to best position our bodies in relationship to the opponent). These two elements are sort of the macro and the micro: how do we get there, and then, what do we do now that we're here? Superior tactics demands dominant positioning. About 90% of the time, I see instructors (and students) focusing on the minute details of the discreet techniques when they should be focused on the proper range, timing, and execution of the tai sabaki. Here's why: if your position (gross motor) is correct, you have a lot of "wiggle room" for your technique (complex or even fine motor) to be imprecise. Experience teaches us that these complex and fine motor executions will OFTEN be imprecise in their application in a real fight due to the chaos of actual violence. But if you have taken superior position and broken your opponent's structure as a result, you will have time to either a) adjust, or b) try something else before he can regain his own balance (which he must do before he can hope to regain the initiative).
The classical masters were far more obsessed with maai (the gap...the distance between opponents) than we tend to be today. This is because they were steeped in the antiquity of mortal combat in their pursuit of the art while we tend to be steeped in the art for aesthetic reasons. You do not tangle with a katana-wielding samurai with a gap between you. He will slice you to ribbons! You collapse the gap and stick to him until he is subdued to negate his advantage of the long, heavy, razor-sharp blade he wields primarily with two handed grips. And his armor made him even more subject to unbalancing, while it made him far more difficult to damage with strikes. It was in this existential context that the defining characteristics of Okinawan karate developed - that which made it Okinawan instead of Shaolin-su (aka Shorinji).
thanks for the words of wisdom!
Thank you, gentlemen, I am studying this kata right now so for me the timing is great. Wonderful ideas to a vastly different interpreted kata.
Hey Karate culture awesome vid. I just wanted to say that i have used many katas on the streets to defend myself and this particular kata saved my life. You missed some pretty hardcore stuff but i would also say you touched on new technique principles too. But karate will never see it nor train it but kee going, all the best
Old school thought, current street and bouncer philosophy- end it in 3 or less. Most series of moves in each kata are over by the 3rd or the 4th move and follows this principle. So you are right. A kata is not a continuous fight. However, you often see specific principles highlighted as a group in each kata. Hence the idea that a single kata can contain a fighting style within it. And why some kata fit certain body types better than others.
Excellent Video and ideas. Thanks Gents.
thanks sir!
Can you guys please make a video on the applications of bassai dai kata (shito ryu system ). anyway its good to see you guys once again . awesome video.
We'll add it to the list, thanks for the suggestion!
Great one. Love it!!! :))
thanks!
Great video.
thanks!
Seeing that bag made me think, it would be cool to see how you guys approach bag work with karate.
We'll add it to the list of recommendation, we do alot of bag stuff that seems "non-traditional" thanks for the suggestion!
Cool no problem. Keep up the good work.
Can you do suparinpei and enpi bunkai analysis?
Do you guys have a dojo you teach at?
hey guys like how you guys are trying to take the art into a digital age! Do you guys have any concerns about ppl looking at these videos and thinking they don't need a great Sensei or other teacher?
Well, most of this stuff can be learned in non traditional martial arts studio, so there is nothing new to the public. This kind of video is part of a movement to rescue old martial arts, so they try to reread kata and forget most of what they learned from sport kumite. I have seen people doing this in dojos since 2004, as far as I remember, and some people have written on the internet even before 2000.
You always need an instructor, so you do not hurt yourself or others.
A legitimate instructor is good to refocus your training and provide a 3rd person view of your mistakes and add more detail to your movements. Eventually, your opinions might diverge but that is after karate forms to your body and becomes you. We would say these videos are more of a sneak peak into the possibilities of karate. But if you don't have a physical instructor that is reinforcing these concepts on a daily basis then that will show through your training. It might be possible to have an online program where the instructor can critique through skype or other programs but that would have to be very strict and regulated, thanks for the question!
Can you do the GSP kyokushin high kick? thanks
Seyunchin has no high kicks. In fact, there is no high kicks in any of goju ryu kata. It is considered too risky to the kicker.
Would you like a breakdown of it or a video of where to apply it? thanks for the suggestion
Good point, on the list of safe moves to do, a high kick is pretty low! haha but they are pretty at least and can be surprising enough to work sometimes
Karate Culture breakdown of it! sorry about the later reply. The thai switch kick takes a whole step, but GSP kind of does a half step. Thanks again!