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Naihanchi Crash and Crank (video)

This video looks at the opening motion of Naihanchi kata (and quite a few others) where the hands come up and pivot down. The first arm motion represents a “cover and crash” to be applied if the initiative has been lost and the enemy is raining down strikes. We then clinch so that the enemy’s ability to rotate, and hence generate power, is limited. This buys us a moment to get back into the fight and regain the initiative.

The first option the kata then gives us is to apply a neck crank in order to escape (the downward arm motion). In some versions of the kata this movement is followed by the head turning right then left. This represents an option should the crank fail: we can grind the head left or right to stop potential head-butts or bites. Sometimes the kata is telling us to do “A” and “B”; other times it is telling us to do “A” or “B”. In this case we have an “or” and not an “and”.

This video is a short clip from a seminar in Meckenheim, Germany in May 2016. As with all such clips, it can’t cover all of what was covered, or how this short clip fits into the wider training methodology. I nevertheless hope you find it interesting.

All the best,

Iain

The YouTube link can be found HERE

Practical Kata Bunkai: Naihanchi Crash and Crank