Kenwa Mabuni, the founder of Shitō-ryū, wrote the following in his book 攻防自在護身拳法 空手道入門 / Kōbō jizai goshin kenpō Karate-Dō Nyūmon (1938):
“Kata and directions
The meaning of the directions in kata is not well understood, and often mistakes are made in the interpretation of kata movements. In extreme cases, sometimes we hear that ‘this kata moves in eight directions, so it is designed for fighting eight people’ or some such nonsense. I’d like to specifically address this issue now.
Looking at the 平安 二段 / Pinan Nidan [ Heian Shodan ] enbusen, you can see that the kata moves in all directions, forward and back, left and right. When interpreting the kata, you must not get too cought up in these directions. For example, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that just because a kata begins to the left, the opponent is always attacking from the left. There are two ways of looking at this:
(1) the kata is defending against an attack from the left ❌
(2) [ you ] move angularly to the left [ relative to the opponent ] against a frontal attack ✅
At first glance, both seem fine. However, looking at only interpretation (1), the meaning of the kata becomes narrow [ 狭, i.e. limited ], and the substance of the kata [ 型の内容, i.e. the application content ] becomes very poor [ 貧弱, i.e. scanty and inconsistent ].
Looking at an actual example, the five Pinan kata all start to the left and then repeat the same series of techniques to the right. Looking at interpretation (1), the opponent must always attack from the left, and while fighting that opponent, another opponent comes from behind, so the defender turns to fight that opponent. This type of interpretation is highly unreasonable. Looking at interpretation (2), however, the five Pinan kata show us that against an attack from the front, you can evade either left or right to put yourself in the most advantageous position to defend yourself.“
Mabuni’s words might sound blasphemous to some people’s ears and cause hives. Yet, according to the master’s words (which I agree with 100%), the contextual premise on which many schools base their study of kata, i.e. “kata is a fight against multiple opponents simultaneously in various directions”, is clearly misleading according to the text. Taking into account various aspects related to Japanese culture, when a master such as Mabuni uses the words “highly unreasonable”, speaking of what other practitioners propose, he actually meant that “it is total nonsense”.
Mabuni was recognized by everyone as a true kata expert, Funakoshi himself spent truly significant words of appreciation towards the master: “It is no exaggeration to say that Mabuni is the most knowledgeable Karate-jutsu teacher” (攻防自在護身術空手拳法 / Kōbō jizai goshin-jutsu Karate kenpō, 1934). All this is also demonstrated by the beautiful cover photo, dating back to the 1930s, in which appear (from left): Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957), Nakasone Genwa (1895-1878), (unknown), Yasuhiro Konishi (1893-1983) and Kenei Mabuni (1918-2015, son of Kenwa). Kenwa Mabuni (1889-1952) is seated in the center. There is a twenty-one year difference between Gichin and Kenwa, but in the photo it is not the “old” master who is sitting, but Mabuni. This, in non-verbal language, means that “I (Gichin) and others are here to learn from Mabuni”.
It’s time to go beyond the myth: there are no multiple opponents, the application of kata presupposes a non-sporting (i.e. deregulated) context against an opponent. The opponent is not to our left, nor to our right nor behind us: he is in front of us.
Let’s move on to what master Funakoshi wrote about the use of hikite.
From Ryūkyū Kenpō: Karate, 1922:
“You can use hikite [ 引手, literally “pulling hand” ] to catch [ つかまへ = 掴まえる / tsukameru, i.e. capture ] the enemy’s thrust [ 敵の入れて来る手 / teki no irete kuru te, literally “enemy’s incoming hand/arm” ] and pull his hand towards us while striking him at the same time. If the pulling action is also combined with a twisting action [ 捻る / nejiru ], the enemy will lean out [ 靠れる = もたれる / motareru, literally “to lean” ] practically on his own toward us [ i.e. he will be more unbalanced on us, almost to the point of leaning on our body ].“
From Karate-Dō Kyōhan, 1935:
“Hikite: in blocking the opponent’s (fist) attack, you grab his arm and counterattack at the same time by pulling him towards you. His balance will be compromised and the effectiveness of his attack will be nullified. A pulling action coupled with a twist action is much more effective in this context than a simple direct pull.”
Again in his 1922 book, master Funakoshi expresses another fundamental concept:
“In Karate-justu [ 唐手術 ], the hand that is used to receive is called shinite [ 死手 / dying hand ], or mete [ 雌手 / female hand ] or Yō [ 陽 / yang ]; the other hand, used to attack, is called ikite [ 活手 / living hand], or ote [ 雄手 / male hand ] or In [ 陰 / yin ]. Some refer to the combined use of the two hands [ defensive and offensive ] together with the term kisei [ 奇正, the kanji 奇 / ki means strange, bizarre, unconventional; the kanji 正 / sei means correct, right, conventional ]. A saying goes that ‘the battle takes place within the kisei and he who controls the kisei controls the victory’. Since ancient times it has been said that the peculiarity [ 妙 / myō, literally “mystery”, “secret” ] of Karate lies in knowing how to contract and expand [ 伸縮 / shinshuku ] both hands [arms] together and, in fact, the kisei and In/Yō are the true value [ the term 妙諦 / myōtei is used which means true value, cardinal principle, key to understanding ] of Karate-jutsu.”
In this short paragraph Funakoshi always uses the term Karate-jutsu, precisely to emphasize that the concept explained has a very practical value. He uses complex constructions to express an idea that is actually really simple: in real applications, it makes no practical sense to have a hand waiting, passively at your hips or suspended in the air. This is not true Karate-jutsu, according to the master’s words.
Beyond the myth: kata applications involve both hands “always doing something”, there should be no idle or waiting hands/arms.
Before some readers turn up their noses or take it out on me, I would like to remind you “not to shoot the messenger”, everyone is fully free to reject the passages extracted from the works cited and the concepts that masters Funakoshi and Mabuni have presented therein. Other masters have also expressed the same ideas (Miyagi Chōjun, Motobu Chōki, just to name a few), so it would be useful to take them into strong consideration when dissecting kata application.
Moreover, even Itosu Ankō Sensei (of whom the aforementioned Funakoshi, Mabuni and Motobu were students), in his sixth precept, tells us that in the kata there are elusive, reception and release techniques; joint manipulation techniques and much more:
“The kata should be practiced extensively and the meaning of each technique should be investigated and studied. Additionally, each movement should be practiced with a partner to confirm its use in real combat. In carrying out this study, one must be aware that there are techniques of 入 / iri, 受 / uke, はずし / hazushi and 取手 / tuiti, which are often taught orally, because they cannot be inferred from the repetitive practice of the kata alone.”
The kata represents to a karateka what a textbook represents to a student. Repeating by heart the statement of the Pythagorean theorem, reading it from the textbook, is useless; the student will not be able to understand or apply the theorem in question. It will be the teacher, through examples and exercises of increasing difficulty, in which it will be necessary to apply the theorem, to make the student understand the true postulate meaning. Only at this point, by rereading the statement of the theorem, will the student be aware of what he is reading and its meaning. From that point on, he will be free to apply the theorem according to his own needs.
Likewise, practicing the solo sequence of a kata endlessly will not help to “use” that kata, since the kata itself does not teach how to fight.
It will be the Sensei, through a series of examples and exercises in pairs (with relative variations), who will make the student understand the meaning of the various subsequences of the kata. This process is called bunkai (分解, literally “to disassemble”, “to decompose”; each of the two kanji refers to the verb わかる / wakaru which means “to understand”, “to comprehend“; therefore the bunkai is a “disassemble to understand”) and has the aim of making students understand, through examples, the application principles and strategies that the kata incorporates: the applications with their variations are only a means, not the end. Using scientific terminology, bunkai corresponds to the process of ANALYSIS.
Having reached this point (“one kata in three years” remind you of anything?), by repeating the solo sequence of the kata, the student will now be able to visualize and give meaning to what he is doing and, trust me, even to the eyes of an observer the technique will seem “full” and consistent. From that moment on, as needed, the student should be able to put together (assemble) the application principles that he has internalized through paired applications, and guess what? In the Japanese language, the verb that expresses the actions of “put together”, “assemble”, “connect”, is 組む / kumu. The term 手 / te, in addition to the meaning of hand/arm, in the martial context takes on the meaning of “technique” and “skill”. Therefore the word 組手 / kumite can be explained as “connecting, freely putting together the techniques and skills” learned during the dissection of the kata. Kumite therefore becomes the free expression of kata; in scientific terminology it corresponds to the process of SYNTHESIS.
Japanese language | English language | Scientific terminology |
分解 / bunkai | Disassemble to understand (the kata) | ANALYSIS |
組手 / kumite | Put together to apply (the kata) | SYNTHESIS |
Kata have always represented the karateka’s textbooks, the teaching tool par excellence of the masters of this wonderful martial art. In order to study them and reach them deeply, it becomes essential to dispel some myths and beliefs that have consolidated over time and, unfortunately, are retransmitted in various schools even nowadays. But for many practitioners this “disintegration” process could be tiring and painful, as it risks undermining and questioning dogmas that have been propagated and accepted by faith; and not everyone would be ready and able to accept it.
The concept is masterfully expressed in a calligraphic work that Funakoshi had the honor of including in one of his books.
The work reads 抜雲尋道 / Hatsuun Jindō, or ”Parting the clouds, seeking the way”. It was painted by 床次竹二郎 / Tokonami Takejirō (1867-1935) for Funakoshi’s first book, Ryūkyū Kenpō: Karate, 1922 (note that Tokonami was Japan’s minister of Home Affairs when Funakoshi arrived in Tōkyō in spring of 1922).
Hatsuun Jindō is a proverb about being able to find the way after having navigated and overcome ambiguity (martial, cultural, emotional): one is truly free to plumb and probe (尋 / jin) the way (道 / dō) only after unraveling (抜 / hatsu) the clouds (雲 / un), that is, only after removing all the ambiguities, myths and false legends that impede our progress in the art.
It is not my intention to glorify or offend any school or practitioner, rather, I hope that these reflections can help turn on some light bulbs and instill a healthy curiosity in readers. I want to close by launching one last myth to dispel: hikite is not meant to generate striking power, but it takes on a forcefully active and strategic role in kata applications.
Profitable and sincere keiko / 稽古 to everyone.
© 2024, Matteo Muratori. All rights reserved – @karatejutsu.official