Category Archives: Bunkai

Sochin Bunkai

Bunkai,

This is a summary of some of the practical and effective applications within the kata Sochin. Kata is alway more interesting to practice when you actually know some realistic applications behind the techniques. We hope you can use these ideas in your own training and teaching and please subscribe to this channel for more exciting karate educational videos in the future.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

When karate was introduced from Okinawa to mainland Japan, its curriculum was modified to be more suitable for teaching in large group settings. In the case of kata, explanation of the brutal self-defense applications behind the movements were mostly removed from the teaching. These applications have remained largely a secret to most karateka for nearly a century. To this day, most karateka have little or poor knowledge of the application of the kata they practice every week. In the last few decades, many dedicated karateka have begun to search deeper to understand these techniques and bring them back to the teaching curriculum. We owe these diligent individuals our gratitude for their hard work and perseverance in making this exciting and valuable knowledge available to the public.

Demonstration Unsu

Bunkai

Unsu (雲手), literally “cloud hands”, is the most advanced kata found in the Shotokan, Shito-Ryu and karate styles and is generally taught to karateka at the 3rd to 4th Dan. It contains many intricate hand techniques, such as the ippon-nukite (one finger strike) in the opening sequence. Unsu also contains a 360-degree spinning double-kick with a double-leg take down at the same time, landing on the floor face-down before continuing.

Unsu was created by Seisho Arakaki sometime around 1860-1870. Arakaki was a Japanese and Chinese language interpreter to the Shuri court, and a master of monk fist and white crane styles. It is somewhat a condensation of other katas (e.g., Bassai, Kanku, Jion, Empi, Jitte and Gankaku), hence it is essential to have mastered these before practicing Unsu.

Bubishi 36 sensitive vital Points

Bunkai,

Presented by Helumt Kogel, 6. Dan Shotokan Renshi, 5. Dan Kobudo, 2. Dan Jujutsu. 36 effective sensitive points are described in Bubishi, the “Bible of Karate”.

Results on these points cause different effects. The points correspond to acupuncture points of Chinese medicine. From Bubishi exist different handwritten copies, mainly from Okinawa.

Omote, Ura, Honto

Bunkai

Karate Bunkai: 3 Levels of Kata Application called Omote, Ura and Honto.

The true meaning of many kata have been lost in Okinawa history, but through understanding the principles of self-defense we can better use kata in a real fight. In this video you will learn 3 types of bunkai: Omote (suitable for beginners), Ura (intermediate) and Honto (the real application).

These concepts can be applied to all martial arts that have forms, including Taekwondo, Kung Fu and Tang Soo Do. Presented by sensei Jesse Enkamp.

Heian Yondan Bunkai 2

Bunkai

From video serie of Kuro-obi world by sensei Naka. He shows four sequences of bunkai out of the heian yonand (pinan yondan) kata with the actor Joey Tee. Very simple an direct application for real self defense use.

Tekki Shodan Demo

Bunkai, Demonstration

Sensei Emanuele Marcon with Sensei Enrico Pavan showing their interpretation of the kata Tekki Shodan. It shows clearly how different and flexible the possibilities can be of this kata, depending on the experiences of the participants.

Deep Dive into Naihanchi/Tekki fo Shorin Ryu Karate

Juji Uke

Bunkai

One Minute Bunkai: Juji uke (X block) has many bunkai (applications), this example shows a defense against a straight punch to the face. The evasion is a simple body shifting to the side (Tai Sabaki) and the actions of the hands are going directly into the trapping motion. There really is no blocking in this technique. The overhand strike into the arm must be done in perfect timing with the catching-trapping hand from below.

Continue reading Juji Uke →