Kururunfa – decoding the singular “hands up” technique

(I hope it is obvious to anybody familiar with Kururunfa which technique I am talking about here. It is the one including and following the ‘hands up’ posture in the middle of the kata).

Usually, in order to decode a technique, one has to consider it in the context of the ‘theme’ of the particular kata. However, this Kururunfa technique is so singular and bizarre the context is not needed (and woudln’t help anyway!). It is a unique puzzle, and one with a surprising solution!

First, some initial consideration:

1)Obviously, the technique begins with the ‘hands up’ movement.
2)The opponent is obviously not in front of us(obviously for the readers of this blog – we do not volunteer to be kicked in the balls)
3)The hand movement is symmetrical; which means two things are probable:
– the opponent is not coming from one side
– the attack is two handed, symmetrical as well

4)2 a 3 together give that the most probable position of the opponent is behind us!
5)From 4, it follows that the defense is against some kind of hold (defenses against punches and kicks from behind are generally not taught in practical SD systems!)

Here, we won’t use the standard way of trying to determine whether the principal destructive movement of the technique is punch/kick/throw/lock; mostly because unlike in other techniques, we cannot yet be sure which movement is the destructive one! We will rather try to determine the exact kind of hold used.

This is one of the instances where the rational analysis (above) doesn’t help by itself; one has to know ‘the context’ too. The question therefore is: ‘Is there a classic self-defense technique – preferably used in Chinese MA too – that matches this Kururunfa movement?’

And the answer – there is! Without further ado, the kururunfa movement perfectly resembles a classic defense against full nelson hold. The technique can be found in self-defense system worldwide – I encountered it in jujutsu, catch wrestling, and also in Chinese Qin-na. (picture from the Qin-na book). Moreover, the nature of full nelson (hold from the rear) matches our analysis perfectly.

The principle is as follows: The opponent tries to trap me in a full nelson. Before the hold is completed, I lift both arms above my head, and then, lowering my center, bring both my elbows down onto opponent’s arms, breaking the hold and trapping his arms in my armpits.

Note how you push your head back while driving the arms down to break the hold; which some people confuse with a ‘backward headbutt’.

(If you want to see a video of the nelson escape technique, this gentleman does good job on demonstrating it.)

Now you can see that this explains all the ‘bizarre’ characteristics of the movement of Kururunfa. That’s it: We defend against full nelson from the rear. The movement looks bizarre because of the nature of this applications.

Ok, so we neutralized the full nelson. Yet, we still have to neutralize the opponent himself – every technique in a kata has a decisive finish.

After the nelson breaker, there is a peculiar movement of the hands; first they thrust forward, then they spread and swing behind the back while stepping forward.
No wonder people come up with all sorts of nonsense bunkai for this – without the nelson break, it makes zero sense. However, not even with it is it easy to decode.
(Initially, I considered the following movement of  ‘upper X block’ a part of this technique; because I couldn’t imagine the “arm spread” movement alone doing something. However, the X block is a part of another technique).
Again, analysis of the arm movement:

1)Must be a finishing technique
2)Symmetrical movement; probably having symmetrical effect on opponent
3)Opponent stays behind us; yet, we somehow still manage to control/manipulate him!

These facts made me suspicious at first; there are not that many (reliable!) things you can do to an opponent that is behind your back! (Well, there is the catch wrestling double wristlock; but this is obviously not the case). In the end, I believe I decoded the original application for the movement. It is based on an clever trick of body mechanics; I will let you be the judge on how reliable it is.

Opponent having his arms under your armpits is the key here. You grab his wrists and in the thrusting movement, pull him forward. This makes him bend over forward and lean against your upper back.

But what about the following spreading of the arms to the sides and behind the back?

While trying the movement out, I discovered an interesting mechanical fact: The arms are a part of your opponent’s balance. If you just keep pulling them forward, he is still having his balance; he can use his body to struggle against your pulling: pushing with his chest against your back, pulling with the arms,struggling to get back. However!

If you take his arms and pull them forward, then spread them down and to the sides and back, this breaks his balance toward the front. Now, he will fall flat on his face, unable to resist the pull! In effect, the ‘spreading arms’ movement make him anchored onto your upper back,off balance. (Note: This is one of the techniques that must be tried to be believed.)

Note: This figure serves only to explain  the principle; in the kata, you spread your arms while moving forward, so the opponent falls not onto your back, but directly forward,onto your….(stay tuned).

Detail of the anchor:

If you only pull opponent forward and down, he can still struggle to get free by pulling back.

BUT if you then spread his hands to the sides and down, he is, in effect, falling forward; so he can’t  struggle.

Now, if you do the above while stepping forward into zenkutsu dachi (as in Kururunfa), the above maneuver will make the opponent fall forward with his face onto the top of your hear; which  will be thus driven into his nose. You pull his face onto your head, not vice versa. That is the finish of this technique.

I still haven’t decided whether this technique is crazy or crazy enough to work. However, I am firmly convinced this is the original application of this Kururunfa movement; the one the creator had in mind when he fashioned it.

It gives a definite purpose to the ‘arm spread’ movement; it is just part of a headbutt. If also makes the above application more probable – without the spread, the headbutt would not work. It is not the usual ‘why the hell did he put it here?’ but totally rational thing to do.

As usual, note how in the kata, the opponent is never struck in a haphazard way; he is always controlled – after the mechanical advantage is gained, the strike is done. Also note how this particular technique of Kururunfa makes use of a clever trick of body mechanics to control the opponent (even when he is behind your back!).

The headbutt is not just ‘throwing your head around’ (backward, in this case); instead your body is stationary and the opponent is pulled face first onto your head, with his weight and your pull driving the strike.

(It’s ironic that the so called ‘backward headbutt’ in this technique is just part of the nelson escape; while in the real headbutt the head is held still and the body does the work).

(I apologize for the quick sketches; but I feel I have more control over them than over photos).

Θ

PS: When searching the web for a nice picture to put as the heading of this article, I found this explanation of the same movement (allegedly coming from Kenwa Mabuni):

While the technique is not that bad when compared with other explanations (it has the full nelson part right!), as for the final takedown – I am not impressed. It conveniently lacks the forward thrust of the arms (preceding the backward swing); but more importantly – it is so dangerous it hurts to watch!

What do you think is the first thing the (uncontrolled!) opponent does when you grab his knees and try to push against his chest with your head? He will try to grab onto something! And you made sure he has plenty to grab on! You hair, your neck, your face are all but defenseless in this ‘takedown’. The least of your worries should be that he pulls your on the ground with him (which he will, I promise). He will probably also choke you or wreck your face. That the force application posture is very flimsy (so you might not succeed in taking your opponent down at all or fall down on your own) is just a bonus.

Sorry, Mr.Mabuni. This takedown is stupid and mechanically unsound. Never try it at home, folks. (Compare it with the anchor&headbutt, where you still have a correct posture when striking; you don’t have to lean back).

Decodin’ Shisochin(1)

I decided to try to decode the real techniques of Shisochin,to ‘find the real meaning of Shisochin code’. Shisochin is not a part of my focus area; therefore I never had a go at decoding it before. That is why I want to try my decoding method on it, to test it on a fresh specimen, so to speak.

First, some important principles you have to know:

The “from start to finish” principle
First, one important postulate: each application contains a WHOLE technique from start (neutralizing opponent’s attack, usually a hold) to finish (incapacitating opponent so he can’t fight back). Only a fool (or a modern karate expert) would put a technique without finish into his training form, if he could as well put it there (and train it) completely. The corollary is that you are not supposed to subtract, add, modify etc. the movements of kata to find the application. It has to fit well as it is(see also the part on Communication)

Basic principle of identification
In order to know what a thing is, we have know what it is not.

Corrolary: In order to show you why something is a good interpretation, I would have to should you all the other wrong ones. That is not always possible for space and time reasons;but I will try to show some of the wrong applications together with the reason they are wrong.

Communication
Today, in the era of ‘postmodernism’ (irrationality), there is a big confusion about the transmission of information. In an age where even certain educated persons believe that ‘one can read the book as he wants and find his own meaning”, it is no wonder the meaning of ‘meaning’ is unclear (of course,even the previous short sentence suffices to reveal the absurdity of the situation – if it would be true that ‘everyone has his own meaning’, then certainly that sentence itself could have no meaning, because it would differ for everybody. Therefore it contradicts itself.)

However, from a rational point of view, the problem is clear: ‘Communication’ means and had always meant ‘using symbols or words to transmit ideas from the mind of their author(productor) to another’s mind as completely and vividly as possible‘. That applies for books, paintings, even kata: They succeed as a medium of communication if the ideas(information) in the mind of the consumer are the same as in the mind of the productor.

From that follows that the role of kata as a transmission device of information can be only one: to transmit the ideas of its creator to other mind as faithfully as possible. Ie, it’s not a improvisation exercise, it’s not ‘everybody interprets it differently’ exercise etc. In short, we have to find out what the creator of the kata was thinking, otherwise we have failed.

Am I always right?
Of course there is no guarantee that I am always right. Ultimately, there is only of way to find out whether something is true or not: to use your own reason to understand it. BUT at the same time, I claim the there IS the right way, there IS the truth (not ‘yours’ or ‘mine’, but the information that corresponds to reality as closely as possible).

Therefore, I don’t claim that I am always right, but I claim I will always do everything I can to be as right as possible.

Note:
The texts on this blog are released under the Creative commons license: State the author and don’t modify the article.

Themes of kata

Being able to decode the real techniques of karate kata let me appreciate their real beauty, that of a fighting skill. But I was also amazed by another thing:

In majority of kata, the kata has one ‘theme’ to it – a principle its creator probably found very important, so it is used in all techniques of kata.

For example, the theme of Goju-ryu Seisan is to use opponents own weight to damage his joints and other body systems. What is fascinating is that both other variations of Seisan, Uechi-ryu seisan and Shorin-ryu seisan, don’t use this principle at all(neither do most other kata)! They use the same techniques (BTW this was another satisfactory finding for me – despite their apparent dissimilarity at the movement level, all seisans contain the same techniques) – but they finish them differently! So it seems this ‘theme’ of Seisan was the quirk of the author (modificator) of Goju Seisan.

Other significant theme in some kata is their concentration on neck manipulations (chokes,neck cranks). Today, when some people see every punch as ‘istambul twist’ (BS),it doesn’t seem that exceptional; but in reality, locking the neck is an art, and it is not found in most kata (most kata use mostly armlock,throws and bumps). Generally, the higher katas in the curriculum of a karate school center on teaching the neck locking techniques (I believe it might be because of the potential lethality, but I can’t know that).

Some of the really nasty kata focus 90-100% on necklocks; so that’s another theme.

There is a kata that uses similar kind of lock all over it etc.

In my study of kata, I concentrated on a handful of them, mostly of shorei school; I’m sure there are other ‘themes’ to be found in the kata world.

This internal consistency is what makes kata research so fascinating and the kata so beautiful. However, of course you can’t enjoy that if you only ever see kihon (or “random techniques”) in kata…

Bunkai-jutsu: The art of finding BS in kata

I wrote this article several years ago; however it is still very actual. 

One of my pet peeves is the “bunkai” – the applications people supposedly discover in their kata. Allow me not to beat around the bush and hit you right over the head with it – most, if not all of the “bunkai” people present are absolute bullshit. There are two main principles that explain why; if you do not want to discover yet another BS bunkai, you should burn these into your neocortex:

1)The principle of deserted island

When people show me their made-up techniques that are tying their opponents (and themselves) into complicated knots, I usually ask them: “Do you think this technique you just shown me is practical? Would you use it?”

And they usually answer: “Well, not really…I certainly wouldn’t do it like that…but it is in the kata!”

WHAT? This technique is NOT in the kata, you just made it up on the spot! The problem is not the kata, it is your made-up BS bunkai!  Do you think the creators of kata were idiots? Because according to your reasoning, they have built impractical techniques into the kata just for the hell of it, while you personally would choose something more practical? What are you, braindead?

So the first principle of bunkai analysis is: The people who made kata were skilled fighters. The techniques they put into kata were their testament; their message to the next generations;their training method. Certainly, they placed only their best and most practical techniques in there!

So, next time when you “discover” some exotic technique in the kata, ask yourself – if I went to a deserted island (with some violent natives perhaps), and could choose only a handful of techniques to take with me, would I take the technique I just discovered?

If your answer is no, then toss that “bunkai” to the trashcan right away! Because kata ARE (or should be) the techniques you would choose to take with you on a deserted island. If they aren’t something is wrong – and that something is probably your bunkai!

Let me give you an example:

On this page, Sensei Donelly demonstrates the gooseneck wristlock as a bunkai for a technique in Seisan. Now I don’t have anything personal against Sensei Donnelly, but WTF? Do you think this is a valuable technique for self-defence? Would you take THIS on a island populated by thugs? Would you teach this your to teenage son to defend himself against bullies? HELL NO! (If you said yes, you are beyond saving. Please proceed further down the hallway).

So WHY would somebody LITTER Seisan with such a useless technique? Don’t you think people had better things to do with their lives than study STUPID USELESS techniques? Well I think they certainly had. The problem is, this is not the case now. Today the students of karate have the luxury of not having to apply the techniques they “discover” (make-up) as an application of their kata, so they can get away with the most exotic, useless CRAP as bunkai (again, see Sensei Donelly).

So without stretching it needlessly: Kata contains techniques you’d WANT to take to a deserted island. Your bunkai should reflect that.

2)Karate is NOT kickboxing.

For some reason that escapes me, people think that techniques in kata are responses to punches and kicks. Actually, it doesn’t really escape me. Blame goes to Hollywood, which pictures fights as glorious exchanges of punches and kicks. So people think the kata should follow suit.

GIVE ME A BREAK???!? Okinawan peasants didn’t go to movies!

If people would take at least a cursory glance on other self-defense arts (jujutsu, judo, krav maga, ww2 combatives etc.) they would see that these arts spend a considerable portion of their training time learning how to get out of holds – the standard lapel grabs, bear hugs, headlock and the like. Now wouldn’t you suspect that the creators of the kata, as their interest was self-defense, would place defenses against such in their kata too?

Naaaah. If somebody grabs me I will just hit him hard!

So without further ado, second principle is this: Majority of the techniques in kata are defenses against different kinds of grabs in nature.

If kata were striking defenses against strikes, a man doing kata would look like a boxer practicing punching on a heavy bag. But instead, you see all these firm, rooted stances and exotic hand movements. Why?

Because you are grappling, that’s why! And your are defending against a person who is trying to grapple you. In fact, about 80-100% of techniques in any kata are defenses against grabs, and only the meager 20% teaches  you how to defend punches. In fact, you probably already know how to do that: You block or evade. A kata teaching you that would be a waste of time.

So if your bunkai does not follow the about 80% grappling attacks:20% striking attacks, think again.

Appendix:
For the amusement of savvy reader, let me list the offenses people commit when creating nonsensical bunkai;
1)Techniques that don’t match the movement in the kata (adding, subtracting and modifying movements)
2)Unpractical or just plain BS techniques
3)Silly attacks like karate punches or kicks
4)Opponent committing such abysmal attacks and then standing still, letting the defender mutilate him.

If you look at the youtube for the bunkai people regularly do, you usually see them committing  most of these crimes.

Introduction

There are few things more misunderstood than kata in contemporary karate. Vast majority of people today don’t understand what the movements of kata mean, or they have some non-sensical, made up meaning (which they nevertheless treasure greatly as ‘wisdom of the old masters’). But they keep doing the kata anyway, in the usual cargo-cult fashion – not understanding the purpose of the movements they make, but naively expecting that some results will come out of it.
In the last 15 years, there has been some ‘hunt for bunkai’ – people trying to uncover the real meaning behind the kata movements. Some efforts of people like Javier Martinez or Patrick McCarthy brought us closer to the truth; however, other efforts only served to further the confusion about what kata are or should be.

This blog will center on my efforts to uncover some of the reality hidden behind the facade of traditional kata.

What kata are NOT:
– kata is not an “encyclopedia” of basic techniques (kihon)
– kata doesn’t teach you to fight 4-6 opponents, attacking you from all sides
– kata is not made for you to ‘reverse engineer’ any meaning you can find on top of the movements, no matter how stupid, just suffices that ‘it works’
– kata is not a science-fiction book or a martial ballet, containing multi-movement or fantasy techniques
– kata doesn’t teach you defences against straight punches,kicks and sword attacks
– in most kata, there are no blocks (most “blocks” in kata aren’t)

However, what kata DO:

– they teach you how to defend against various ‘habitual acts of physical violence’ (which mostly means getting out of holds) using simple, brutal techniques
– one kata usually contains 4-10 these techniques

In order to research and understand the kata, you must:
– have the most original version of it
– have alternative versions for comparisons
– know the historical context
– know the locking and self-defence principles and techniques used in Chinese martial arts of that period

Otherwise, you are bound to produce more and more bunkai-scifi.