* TSW KATA PROJECT - PLEASE READ *

[Shaun]

TSW is launching a brand new research project. It requires member participation, and will hopefully unravel some telling and interesting ideas about the concept of evolution and change in karate.

The TSW team are going to design a BRAND NEW KATA, based on the information and feedback from members. You will tell us what you want included, and debate will emerge from this. Then based on this info, we are going to put together a new kata.

THEN:
1. A video, will be presented of this BRAND NEW KATA designed by the TSW team and its followers.
2. A written and pictorial break down will be provided, providing key details about this new kata.
3. Bunkai will be included for ALL sequences.

THEN:
1. Members will be encouraged to study, and learn this new kata, so much so that it is as much a part of their repertoire as the standard shotokan kata.
2. Then members who wish to participate will film their kata and have it presented on TSW, and write a little about the experience and their findings.

OBJECTIVE:
1. To see how this BRAND NEW KATA changes from person to person.
2. To see how personal interpretation, and personal karate background taints and influences their execution of the kata.
3. To provide explanation as to why such changes they make are relevant

The Shotokan kata we practice today…how many versions of interpretation do we have? How many interpretations has it gone through before getting to us? How far away are any of us from their original concepts? Hopefully, this interactive project will help reveal some very interesting findings on this.

Before we progress any further, could all TSW Forum Members who are seriously interested in getting involved with this project by providing video footage of yourself later in the project make yourself known to me, either below or by email mail@theshotokanway.com .If you have any suggestions might I add, please feel free to share them!!

This will only work, if YOU get involved…so let’s see.

Thanks all!!

[kylefunakoshi]

TSW shodan sounds interesting. Will think of some techniques and get back to the forum.

[Shaun]

Thank you Kyle,

I look forward to your contribution.

Would you be interested in doing some filming later in the project to examine the evolution of the kata?

Thanks Kyle!

[kylefunakoshi]

Sure thing. Sounds like it'll be a humorous and educational project!

[Tom O'Brien]

Yeah, the humorous part will be if you get to see me do it. I want some mawashi geri, kake geri (hook kicks) & some roll-outs across the floor like in ukemi waza.

Thanks,
Tom

[kylefunakoshi]

Tom, thanks for volunteering! That sounds like the most advanced TSW kata.

[Tom O'Brien]

Whoa hey wait - volunteer, hmm - I didn't realize I volunteered . With my luck that probably means being the uki for the bunkai .

Thanks a lot ,
Tom

[Shaun]

Ok,

Many thanks to everyone who has started discussion here already, and those who have been in touch via email. Please do try and contribute here to try and promote discussion and development of this project.

Ok, so what content should the kata have?

Let's throw about some ideas?

Mine are:

1. Use of more inside-tension stances, reflecting perhaps a closer proximity of appliction.

2. Soft blocks, rather than bruising blocks.

3. Gedan kicks to joints and the groin

Sure there'll be ideas, but to kick start discussion, these are a few ideas.

[kylefunakoshi]

Shaun,

Sounds good because it is unique to Shotokan. I can envision it incorporating hangetsu dachi with circular blocks found in nijushiho, along with short snappy mae and mawashi geris towards groin and legs. Some sliding blocks like nagashi followed by a mawashi uchi would be nice.

[Paul Bedard]

We can incorporate trapping as an obvious technique rather than hidden as a pressing block. I like the idea of hangetsu dachi right leg forward, right uchi ude uke, use tsugi ashi shifting using the left arm to press/ trap about chudan ( opponents right arm to his body), hold the left trapping arm & deliver a tate kazami tsuki jodan with the right fist, or use a right uraken. This is similar to a Bruce Lee move in enter the dragon. Using hangetsu or sanchin dachi this works well as described. Also a break fall, such as landing on your back & absorbing the impact with your arms as you are kicking up towards the opponents midsection. Be nice to see some obvious bunkai, rather than too much hidden..
Sounds like a good project, hope to be a part of it...
Osu
Paul B

[Shaun]

I love some of the ideas emerging here.

Are we all agreed that there should be less focussed on the more recognisable shotokan stances, ie Zenkutsu, Kokutsu, Kiba?

Love the trapping idea and floor work!

Regarding the concept of having obvious bunkai, what does everyone feel about this? Do we not think we should have content that requires study. analysis and personal interpretation? Just a thought?

[Paul Bedard]

This is getting fun. Even if there out in left field lets get some ideas happening. I think that self study & analysis will be something that most of us will just do, as that is what we are used to. For example, when we step forward in either hangetsu or sanchin dachi, are we just closing in or are we using the circular step to hook in behind the opponents leg to help us facilitate a throw, or maybe it`s just to strike his leg in the knee area & destabilize his stance. Or maybe it`s to position my leg so that as I do a pivot turn, I`m now beside him & not in front of him but still close, or maybe
Osu
Paul B

[Fish Of Doom]

Sup guys, first post here (joined to participate in the project). shito-ryu guy with two years of training in a SKIF dojo.

As I told Shaun via e-mail, I'd want to see a greater amount of unusual waza, maybe including (but not limited to):

Ippon ken (personal preference is for straight thrusts), nakadaka ken (ditto but for circular blows with the arm supinated), hiraken, kumade (i prefer kumade as a "swinging" jodan uchi, hitting the ears with the knuckles and the base of the jaw with the palm heel), hira basami (as in jitte) and other techniques which seem underused in shotokan kata (ura zuki, straight teisho, etc).

I would also suggest, if you guys are comfortable with using less-common stances such as sanchin and hangetsu, possibly incorporating shiko dachi (should you perhaps want to, I can provide clear instructions on how to do shiko dachi properly if you're used to shotokan stances), or alternatively looking at kata movements that employ shiko dachi and adapting them to kokutsu (which is the most similar stance to shiko in shotokan).

Regarding obvious bunkai, i think the key is that the kihon movements themselves are so abstract as to merit themselves to multiple interpretation, plus further deviation if one alters the footwork slightly. See for example this video i shot some time ago with two applications for the opening of naihanchi shodan (also applicable to tekki): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ5vKAWoO-U (i'm the small one)

As you can see, one uses the direction change of the gedan barai and kagi zuki as arm manipulation, the other uses a step to deliver the elbow at the same time as a knee to the leg, then using the gedan barai as a takedown over the thigh, with the kagi zuki usable either as a groin punch or as a leg lift if the opponent doesn't want to fall. Both applications have kakushi-waza in that you can add face, hair or ear pulls after the initial movement, and occasionally knees as you're yanking the opponent around (knees are fun ).

In any case, good luck! I'll be following (and hopefully participating in) this project with great gusto

Regards from Argentina
Osu!

Diego

[Paul Bedard]

Hello Diego & good to have you on board. I like the idea of throwing in different stances than what we normally use, but are however still in the arsenal & therefore should be studied. Question: you mentioned that shiko dachi is closest to kokutsu dachi. How is that From what I see, it is closest to kiba dachi ( horse stance ), which is also a straddle leg stance. With the feet going out & knees going out, one can go deeper into shiko than kiba dachi. Also the weight didtribution I`m sure is still 50-50, unlike kokutsu wich is 70-30. Not trying to be smart, just wondering if I`m missing something. I like the idea of using shiko, just don`t want to be confused
Osu
Paul B

[Fish Of Doom]

Hey Paul

While kiba and shiko are both straddle stances, and have similar general posture, there are details both in the static posture (spine alignment, and foot, knee and hip position, for example) and in the way you move into the stance which make them two distinct entities.

I compared both of them over at MAP forums here and at dan djurdjevic's forum here, so I'll just link the posts for the sake of efficiency.

Structural differences aside, movement and application is also different, since to move into kiba-dachi you must rotate your whole body towards your front (which makes it awesome for kneeing people in the hamstrings and them taking them down with waist rotation, for example), whereas in shiko you rotate the other way (to expand), which gives it stupidly high amounts of sideways strength, but less rotation potential than kiba, counter-balanced with sinking potential due to the leg posture. They are both more or less equally mobile, but where kiba is good for applying force on the spot (prime example, turn into kiba for soto uke, then yoko empi; or the previous knee and takedown example), I feel shiko dachi is better for applying force while on the move (oi zuki, particularly low to the hara, or irimi waza, are very strong from shiko dachi, as is "bridging" for tai sabaki. an equivalent takedown would involve making a scissor motion with your arm and waist against your thigh and hips, similar to Enoeda sensei's famous kuzushi technique).

Kokutsu dachi, in this respect, has similar biomechanics to shiko dachi, in that you keep your center of gravity more towards your belly, without straightening the lumbar spine too much, and the rotation when doing it is towards your back, since your feet rotate to the outside, with the main difference being where your weight falls towards (diagonally towards your back heel in kokutsu, straight down between your arches in shiko). This makes it so that most movements in shiko dachi can be reproduced in shotokan's kokutsu with little or no adaptation. In fact, odds are that if you stand in kokutsu-dachi, and rotate your feet (with accompanying shifting of your center of gravity), so that your "support polygon", so to speak, is a roughly equilateral triangle instead of a rectangled triangle.

Sorry for the thread drift, guys, I'm prone to wall-of-text-ing when explaining stuff :p

Osu!