Heian kata bunkai – 6/28/08 – Saturday Karate class.
Since testing is over for all of us, Sensei Plocharczyk has been showing us more self defense movements. I have memorized the moves for all of my kata’s but I have to admit that I know very little about the bunkai or application of the kata even after four years now.
I am having a very hard time explaining these movements in text but I try my best.
Heian Shodan
Sensei had us partner up and then spread apart and did Heian Shodan. He then had us get back together and had us do the second, third and forth moves of the kata. The idea was to use the downward block (second move) as a pull. We would pull our opponent toward us, then go into the the other downward block (third move) and then pull them up into the hammer fist position and take them down with it. The idea is to whip them around and then take them down by using there energy against them.
Next, Sensei had us do Heian Nidan and then partner up again. I cannot even think of how to explain this one but if I do, I will edit this at a later time.
Heian Sandan
We then did Heian Sandan. For that, we started with the movement where we do the nukite. Our partner grabbed our hand, the one in the nukite position, then we twisted our arm behind us, stepped into a horse stance and took them down over our leg with the backfist movement.
Heian Yondan
Our last bunkai was from Heian Yondan. This was a fairly simple movement but effective. We started with the first move of the kata where our arms come up in front. Our opponent tries to get us in a bear hug. We then moved one arm upward, under their armpit, then with the other hand, we grab behind their head and try to point the top of their head at their knee. This movement makes them roll on to the floor very easily.
Most of these movements use out opponents energy against them so even if our opponent is much larger than us, we can still take them down.
I am sorry if my explanations aren’t the best but I will try to find a way to explain these in more detail going forward.
Kihon but different, adding a cat stance to the movements – 6/26/08 – Thursday Karate class.
Sensei Cieplik had us start with the normal warm up but today, my front kicks were on. When I was kicking, my gi pants were actually making a popping sound. Sensei was walking past and said good while I was kicking so that set the tone for me for the rest of the class.
Same kihon combinations with a cat stance inserted.
We started with our normal combinations doing a downward with a reverse punch. We did a few of these and Sensei said to add a cat stance and block from that movement, then step the rest of the way forward and do the reverse punch. We did the same with rising block, inward block and outward block. With the inward block and rising block he had us add a jab with the blocking hand before we did the reverse punch. The reason behind this was to call more attention to our foot movements and take our attention off the the reverse punch.
The next drill was really hard for me. We moved into a front stance but with our feet in-line. We then shuffled up, threw a front leg roundhouse kick, step down back with feet back in-line again and throw a reverse punch. This was a hip breaker. Doing that movement was all about the hips because it took them from one side to the other and caused a huge stretch of the entire hip area.
Next came some hard movements, get a partner!
Two of the hardest parts of learning Karate is “get a partner” and “line up.”
The first drill with our partner was a kicking drill but on the retraction part not the kick itself. I put my foot on my partners hand, in the strike position of a side snap kick, and then had to retract it as fast as possible. Sensei wanted us to snap our leg back and hit the inside of our leg with enough force to make it pop. This sound pretty simple but getting the popping sound was not easy.
For the next drill, our partner held out their arm, straight to the side and I would side snap kick right under the armpit on the cloth of the gi that was hanging down. For some odd reason, I was able to kick higher with my left leg. Normally my right side works better but for side snap kick, my left leg was flying.
Loosen up those hips.
I am not sure about this but I have a feeling that Sensei was thinking of me when we had us do the next two drills. Or it could also be that many of the students in this class are more worldly then other classes that are normally dominated by younger students.
This is hard to explain but I will try; I faced my partner, she then holds both hands, about shoulder width apart or less, out in front with her palms facing each other. I then raise one leg up to the front and hit my partners opposite hand with the inside edge of my foot and keep it at that level then bring it across and hit my partners other hand with the outside edge of my foot.
We then did a similar movement. Our partners held their hands in the same place but this time, we swung out legs, with control, over their hands. Was started the movement swinging the leg from the outside in then from the inside out. If I am not clear describing this movement, please leave me a comment and I will take a video and put up for you too see.
Some self defense drills…
We start with our partner doing a front punch, we then spin around, under the punch, squat down and then throw a back kick. The idea is to get your body under the punch and then impale them with a back kick. It is okay to put your hands on the ground in front of you if you need to get lower before throwing the kick.
The next movement was similar to some of the movements that we have been working on in Saturday class. It starts with our partner throwing a front snap kick, at the same time, I throw a front snap kick on an angle outside of their kicking leg without extending the lower leg. The I bring that same leg down between their legs, hit them with the hip and take them down with a ridge hand to the throat. When doing the move slowly, it seems fairly simple but at full speed, I assume that timing is the key.
Finish up with kata.
We finished class with two Heian shodan’s. Sensie Cieplik told us that we need to do our kata, no matter what kata, with the skills that we have learned. His point is to do Heian Shodan like the rank you are at with the skills that you have learned, even though it is the first kata that we learned a as beginner.
I feel that their is an underlying message here and that, no matter what rank we obtain, we should still do our lower rank kata’s. Some people feel that the lower tank kata’s are just that where as, I feel that those kata’s take on a new meaning as my skills and abilities improve.
Defending against knife attacks and sparring drills – Tuesday Karate class – 6/24/08
Summertime sparring and lots of it.
We started out with some simple sparring drills. Sensei Noia told us to get a partner and had us work on our kicks first. We shuffled up to our partner and threw a chudan, front leg roundhouse kick and then shuffled out. Next we did the same thing but the kick was to Jodan. My kick wasn’t jodan but that’s another story. Next, we shuffled up and threw a fake roundhouse and immediately followed the fake with a reverse punch.
The idea of this drill was to get our partner to create an opening from our fake so that we could attack the area where their guard was down. In order to make this work, the fake had to be extremely fast, the same speed as if you were really throwing the kick so that our partner could react and create the opening that we were looking for.
The next drill we worked on was getting in for the attack and getting out even faster. Some of us have the tendancey to throw an attack and just stay there instead of getting out of way. We moved down the line to a new partner for each attack, while they blocked, if they could, and countered only. Some people were really fast on the counter attacks but I was able to move out of the way faster than usual.
Our next drill was more like free sparring. We went back to our original partner and worked on our fakes and attacks while our partner worked on blocks and counters, then we switched.
I feel that my time away from sparring has really helped me forgot many of the bad habbits that I picked up before. I certainly feel that I can get out of the way much faster than I was able to in the past.
Defending against knife attacks
I saved the best for last here. This was the first time that I was in a class where Sensei Noia showed me these movements.
As always, Sensei Noia explained that if some puts a knife in your face, run and run fast if you have the option. It’s okay to be a hero but you don’t want to be a dead hero so get out of there if you can. If you cannot run away, there are few options but the outcome depends on the skill of your attacker and your own skills. I cannot stress enough, if you can run away, do it.
I started out with a partner and she held the rubber knife to my throat. I then raised my arms as if to say, I give up. From that postion, I quickly moved to the outside, while pushing my partners arm that was holding the knife awayfrom me. The movement that I did next was a jodan punch to the neck while still holding my partners arm.
We also did the same move to the inside which seemed a litte more complex to me. When I moved to the inside, I had to push my partners arm away and grab it with my other hand, from that position I was able to throw an elbow strike, much what seemed like the second from the last move in Jion. From that point I could easily have gotten my shoulder under my partners arm and bent the elbow in the direction it shouldn’t bend.
Sensei Noia had a few different disarms that he demonstarted but I was just amazed at how quickly and effortlessly he could execute them. No matter what knife attack his partner threw at him, he was able to respond and get out of the way of the blade. Of course, it is easier when the blade is rubber but the way he moved was almost as if it was second nature. I hope that someday, I can move with 10% of his speed and precision.
Roundhouse kick warm up and kata bunkai – Saturday Karate class – 6/21/08
Sensei Plocharczyk gave us a very interesting class today. He had us do some things that we never did before both during our warm up and in class.
A very different warm up – Horse stance, shuffle and roundhouse kick.
We ran around the gym for a few laps and then Sensei had us line up on one side of the gym. He then said get into a horse stance, shuffle up to the right, throw a low side thrust kick (around knee height) across the gym to the first line about a quarter distance of the gym and back. Then, we did the same move but threw the kick to thigh level but to the halfway line across the gym and back. Next, the same move again but to belt level height to the three quarter line and back. We then did one more drill all the way across the gym, throwing kicks or trying to throw them to jodan level. This warm up sound really simple but it gave my hips an excellent warm up. I plan on doing this drill at home to help improve my hip mobility and kicking ability.
Kata bunkai…
I am calling this kata bunkai, not because it was all parts of one kata but because it was various parts of a few different kata’s.
We stood face to face with our partner. My partner was my wife this time, She grabbed the top of my gi near the top of my chest below my neck with her right hand and threw a wide hay maker punch with her left hand. I stopped the punch using my left hand with an edge hand strike to her right bicep and grabbed her arm, near the bicep with my left hand. I then moved my right foot behind her left leg and did the dropping strike from Jion to her right arm, to break her grip where she was holding my gi. I then slid behind her, into a horse stance with still holding her right arm, threw an elbow strike with my right arm and took her down to the floor by pushing my right hip into hers and twisting as I executed the elbow strike.
Using the edge hand strike could be from many of that kata’s where a knife hand block is used, except this movement was a strike and not a block. The arm grab with the downward dropping strike is from Jion and Sensei said that it can be done both with the right foot on the floor like a step or brining the knee up just like in the kata. The elbow strike while holding her is the second from the last move in Jion.
We normally do not spend a lot of time on kata application but Sensei mentioned that during the summer months, he hopes to work on some more of these types of movements. With the exception of lying on the floor looking up, I really like it.
Thursday Karate class – 6/19/08 – Time for some Bassai Dai.
Today started a new session and there we some new faces in class. A few more black belts and a couple of brown belts. Another one of our friends from our other classes signed up after we told her how much we get out of taking Sensei Cieplik’s class.
A little extra warm up.
It was a little cold in the dojo even though it was warm outside. Because of this, Sensei had us do extra kicking drills for our warm up. We started with front snap kicks, then moved to front snap kick followed with back kick.
Next was front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, roundhouse kick, side thrust kick to the front and another front snap kick. Sensei Cieplik likes to use this particular group of kicks because is forces the hips to be used in many different positions. I am usually panting like dog and dripping with sweat after just a few of these and tonight was no different.
We finished our warm up with a drill that I am never sure if I explained correctly. We start in a front stance with our reverse hand out in front, we then throw a rear leg front snap kick, set our leg back behind us, in the position it started in and then throw a reverse punch. If I understand it correctly, we do this drill to see if we can get connected with our back leg, for the reverse punch, after throwing the front snap kick. When I do this movement the correct way, it feels so strong, it is hard to describe without doing and feeling it yourself.
The hard workout begins…
Sensei had us spent some extra time on our moving forward front snap kick with front punch movement. Sensei had us do a few moves the normal way and then he added a twist. Sensei had us add a cat stance to the movement right after the front snap kick. Instead of just falling into a front stance and punching, we had to focus on putting our foot down in front, in the cat stance, and then pushing our leg forward before we threw the punch. He has often told us to scare our opponent with our knee and adding the cat stance to this movement certainly does just that. Because we a not just dropping into the front stance, it makes for a better grounded connection with the back leg and back foot. The punch almost becomes automatic since most of the focus in on the knee strike.
Back stance, no hands!
We also spent some time working on our back stances. Sensei said “back stance assume” and with the exception of very few people, my son being one of them, everyone moved into a back stance with knife hand block. He let us do about three or four moves before he told 98% of the class that we were doing the movement the wrong way.
The reason for doing the back stance without the hands is to make the movement smoother and lighter. When we move with our hands, our shoulders and arms help us through the movement but doing it without any upper body assistance, it makes the movement much harder. I really need to work on this movement outside of class because it didn’t feel good at all. I felt like my feet were glued to the because I could not use my hands to help me move.
Rising block, more like rising strike.
Sensei had us spent some time working on our rising block. One of the habits when doing a rising block is that some people raise their arms parallel to the floor. This is good for blocking a punch and pushing it above the head but if you raise your arm in a vertical position and turn it less than parallel at the top, the movement becomes a powerful strike. Another key part of this movement is to twist your wrist at the end. When I say twist the wrist, picture how to twist your fist right at the end of a punch but instead you do it when you block. This makes the movement feel extremely powerful and I am sure that it can be used to break bones in an opponents arm if executed properly. He also made the point of using two hands with our blocks, which I think I have been doing from almost the start and crossing the arms into an “X” when doing the rising block. He also says to twist the body to get the upper back muscles into the movement instead of using just the shoulder muscles like many students often do.
Time for kata…
We started off with some Heian Shodan. I never get tired of this kata even after doing it for almost four years now.
Next we did Tekki Shodan three times. We have a student testing this weekend and Sensei wanted to watch him closely and give him advice if needed.
We then did Jion. My Jion felt a little better than before. Now that my exam is over, I feel that I am more relaxed and I felt that my Jion flowed better than in the past. It was strong but it felt much more fluid and not tensed like before.
We finished up with Bassai Dai. This was one of the first times that I did the entire. Thanks to Ira, one of our high ranking black belts who helped me get through all the moves, I was able to finish the kata. I am not sure what to think of it yet. I am able to do the hip movements easier that I thought I would be able to do them but there is just so much to remember. It really seems like a long kata so I am going to have to spend a lot of time working on remember all the moves.
Sensei gave us some good advice as we were leaving class. He suggested that we hit pads outside of class. Hitting the pads with help allow us to focus the point of impact instead of just pushing when we strike. Punching in the air never allows for feedback on if a punch or kick was focused or not and the pad work should help us develop the focus that I feel I am lacking.
Sensei also suggested drill where we use a stick to make sure the hips are working correctly. Hopefully I can explain this in text here. Get into a left leg forward front stance, put the stick on the right hip in front and throw a reverse punch. The stick should move forward and not out to the side if the move is done correctly.
Excellent advice and class as always.
