Nerding Out on Kata Bunkai


How many karate applications have I seen where the instructor holds his pose to demonstrate that the application being demonstrated is indeed part of the kata? Why are there so many instructors who feel pressured to make something look EXACTLY like that kata? Does this strike you as strange?

Ever been to a bowling alley? Ever seen veteran bowlers do a bizzare little wiggle after they let go of the ball to try and 'remote control' it into a strike? LOL. Holding the pose to show kata bunkai is a bit like that, don't you think?

Kata and patterns are a legacy gift, no argument. However, there was a time when I thought they were a complete waste of time. I learned sparring by sparring. I learned throwing by throwing. I hit harder by ... well at the time I thought it was about resistance training, and hitting the bag like a boxer. 

Spending time on kata and patterns? Why would you do that? 

Eventually, Karate bunkai and Taekwondo applications became a huge paradigm shift in my own combative skill acquisition, and worldview. From my current vantage point, our fundamentals were not wrong. We did not start out practising incorrrectly. We just hadn't filled-in-the-blanks sufficiently; that's why it was far easier for me looking at kickboxing, boxing, and other sport-based analogies to progress my early skills.   

As an aside, we have had a lull in our training through COVID and we haven't uploaded many videos. This latest video pertains to Kata Jion, one of the three Temple Kata. In our lineage, we have acquired Sip Soo (or Jitte) as a legacy from our Chung Do Kwan roots. JDK sees this as a starting point to explore the rest of the Temple series, and we are looking forward to bringing you more from our time in R&D. 

More information on this kata and its application in the YouTube caption. 

Just to reiterate, this application is not me teaching the form Jion. Of course, I'm interested in what the form represents. I dedicate a huge amount of time to dissecting it. But this video is not the time for me to nerd out about it. 

See the video on YouTube: Jion Bunkai: Kata Opening CQC Takedown

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