Shotokanplanet.org

This is a log of my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond.

Kata in every which way – 7/15/08 – Tuesday Karate class.

by Leave a Comment

Sensei Noia gave us another interesting class tonight.

He started class with a tough warm up. We jogged, shuffled, shifted and low walked across the gym more times than I want to remember.

Kata: Forward, backward, mirror image and more…

Sensei had us start with Hiean Shodan the normal way. Next we did it from last move to first move, which was really a challenge. After that, we did it mirror image. Doing mirror image was much easier than going backward for me. Next, Sensei had us do the kata again but instead of pivoting on the back leg and moving the front leg when do each move, he had us pivot on the front leg and move the back leg.

We spent about half the class doing those same but different kata’s and the best part was that Sensei Noia did them with us. He actually had all of those movements memorized and was able to do them just as strong and as fast as if he was doing Heian Shodan the normal way.

He had us finish up doing two kata’s of our choice. I ended up doing Heian Yondan since I really like that kata.

One-step with kata bunkai…

Sensei had us pair up and work on some one-step sparring but instead of doing the normal blocks and countered, he had us work on block and counters from our kata’s.

For example, my partner grabbed my gi with both hands at my chest, I then raised both arms up above my head, forming a diamond shape for lack of better description, then brought them down around the outside of my partners raised arms and stuck my partners ribs. This movement is from Bassai Dai where your break the hold, strike the ribs and then step forward and punch twice. Being so close after striking the ribs, I didn’t have to execute the punches.

Next, after attacking with a chudan front punch, my wife ended up doing a movement where she grabbed my punching hand, pulled it toward her and threw a low side thrust kick to my thigh, also from Bassai Dai. Had she of used any power, I would have been in trouble.

We ended up trading a few more movements and in what seemed like no time at all, class was already over.

Heian kata bunkai – 6/28/08 – Saturday Karate class.

by Leave a Comment

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.

Roundhouse kick warm up and kata bunkai – Saturday Karate class – 6/21/08

by Leave a Comment

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.