9 Throws of Funakoshi

Hi Andrew,

If I remember right, of the six throws in “Karate-Jutsu”, five of them become part of the nine throws he shows in “Karate-Do Kyohan” (the one where he catches the kick and grabs the throat is gone). English translations of the nine throws would be:

To topple a folding screen

Spinning top

Neck ring

Swallow returns

Shoulder wheel (not the Judo throw of the same name)

Valley drop (again, not the Judo throw of the same name)

Spearing through

Leg ring

Upside down hammer

By far and away the best translation of Karate-Do Kyohan, and to my knowledge the only one that has the original pictures of Funakoshi himself doing the throws, is the one by Neptune Publications. Just been online as I was going to link to their website, but it is down so perhaps they have now sold out? If you can get a copy it is worth every penny. I hope that helps?

All the best,

Iain

Hi Andrew,

there are actually 11 throws that Funakoshi shows in his three books Ryukyu Kempo Karate, Rentan Goshin Tode Jutsu and Karate Do Kyohan.

The 9 throws from Karate Do Kyohan are:

Byobu Daoshi, Katawa Guruma, Koma Nage, Kubi Wa, Saka Zuchi, Tani Otoshi, Tsubame Gaeshi, Ude Wa, Yari Dama.

From Ryukyu Kempo Karate is the Ude Daoshi and the Nodo Osae.

Funakoshi changed the names of the throws a view times, so be careful with the names. For example in Ryukyu Kempo Karate and Rentan Goshin Tode Jutsu he shows a throw which he refers to as Tani Otoshi. In Karate Do Kyohan the same throw is called Zaka Zuchi and the Tani Otoshi in Karate Do Kyohan is a new throw. So don't get confused.

Hope that helps. By the way the translations are sometimes a bit poor. For example Katawa Guruma is often translated as "half wheel" but the kanji used for katawa actually mean "cripple".

Regards Holger

Hi all,

if somebody is interested in the pictures of the throws you can download scans of Rentan Goshin Tode Jutsu an Karate Do Kyohan here: http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/okinawa/digital_archives/karate_museum.html

Regards Holger

Interesting he shows throws/ grappling with the other teqniques and I also find it quite interesting how short and high his stances are in this book compared to the shotokan  that I was taught! 

Hey Iain, I bet they have sold out, I bought a copy in February and they only had four left. Great book, thanks for the recommendation and link.

Aaron Craft wrote:

Hey Iain, I bet they have sold out, I bought a copy in February and they only had four left. Great book, thanks for the recommendation and link.

You did well to get one. It is a great book and I knew their was a limited run. One of my students got one last year and he was told numbers were dwindling then. Good to know they are out of stock so I can avoid recommending it to people just to disappoint them.

All the best,

Iain

Just had a quick look at the Rentan pdf from the Hawaiian Uni site. And this might be better on a separate thread - but it's funny how un-"shotokan" Funakoshi looks. By modern standards of course.

Plus, his punch and kick angles in the pics suggest he was delivering techniques off his centre line, or at least off the embusen line slightly - error in photography or was that the way it was done then?

Thanks for all the help lads. Too bad about that Neptune publication sold out! aargh.

Holger that is a great resource of which I was previously unaware.  Thanks for sharing!

Jon Sloan wrote:

Plus, his punch and kick angles in the pics suggest he was delivering techniques off his centre line, or at least off the embusen line slightly - error in photography or was that the way it was done then?

Jon, in some Okinawan styles, the kihon is still as it is shown in the book. Techniques are commonly executed to the front, in line with the shoulder or hip and not to the center of the body. Maybe what we often see as modern Shotokan is just representative of the growth of the style to this point? This suggests that Funakoshi was still developing his art when the pictures were taken.

We certainly deploy our technique in line with our hip rather than the centre line.

It is central to our change body/off line strategy. We also beleive it is structurally sounder than working in line with our own centre or indeed shoulder.

Here are two very interesting links where we can see Funakoshi's throws

... in videos:

... and in animated gifs:

http://seishin.dojo.free.fr/PAGES/LEXIQUE/nage-waza.html

What is amazing is that, once you've seen these throws, it really helps to find the applications of some moves of some katas that otherwise are very difficult to understand !

Thanks very much for this !!

You're right though, I can see bits of Kata straight away in these.

Totally agree.

There's so much in the kata, why was it never taught until the 3rd and 4th Generation Shihans are coming through and are Asking the questions of the what why when and how?

If the was a way to give you an "add to REP" on here I would

I recognize this gym..This is in CalTech in Pasadena...Every year, ShotoKan Practitioners usually have a open seminar for audience to see them perform........I can definetely see Kata application(Bunkais) alive and well in this vid,

Thanks for sharing =)

The 9 throws have been listed here:

http://www.karatebyjesse.com/funakoshi-9-throws-shotokan-karate/