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Wastelander
Wastelander's picture
Pinan Yondan/Kusanku Bunkai from Seminar

Hello, everyone,

My Sensei and I just got back from teaching a weekend of seminars in California, and we filmed a quick Waza Wednesday while we were there, with our host as the guest uke. Since the theme of the bunkai session was the Pinan kata, we decided to share one of the techniques we covered, which looks at a sequence of movements from Pinan Yondan, which are also present in Kusanku--the simultaneous high cover/inward chop, followed by a kick, then the chudan-uke or backfist, depending on your style. We show the technique against a haymaker, but of course it can be applied in a variety of scenarios.

Les Bubka
Les Bubka's picture

Hi Wastelander

Nice and simple, we do it very similar.

Kind regards 

Les

Mark B
Mark B's picture

An obvious application of that sequence which is a good thing. Simple and effective with each element targeting anatomically vulnerable areas (miss one & you'll hit another), absolutely essential if we're talking about stopping a determined and aggressive attack. Incidentally, this exact sequence can be seen in a version of the Jitte kata. The fact that we see this identical sequence in different forms, all created at different times, in different areas and by different people points to it's potential effectiveness.

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

It is certainly simple, and seemingly obvious--although you would be surprised how many people only see the backfist and not the dropping elbow, or still use it as a "middle block." This is a go-to self defense technique for us, and as Mark points out, the fact that it is so common suggests that we aren't the only ones ;)

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Very nice! Good to see Geoff on camera too. A really nice guy.

Wastelander wrote:
you would be surprised how many people only see the backfist and not the dropping elbow, or still use it as a "middle block."

As soon as you attach a label to a motion, many folks can’t see beyond it.

I can’t recall which master it was, but in Mark Bishop’s book, “Okinawan Karate: Teachers, Styles and Secret Techniques” one of the master’s interviewed states that deliberately mislabelling techniques was a tactic employed to obscure applications from those not fully trusted. The example given is mislabelling elbows as back fists :-)

All the best,

Iain

Marc
Marc's picture

Good, straight forward application. The one I teach is very similar.

In the Shotokan version that I practice, after the kick, we have an additional intermediate movement wherein the left hand (that was in front of the forehead) is pressing downwards while the right hand (that was the hitting knife hand) is pulled up in front of the forehead, before in the end the left hand is pulled back to the hip and the right arm comes down into the final position.

In my view this intermediate movement exaggerates the idea of shooting your elbow down onto the opponent. The left hand even acts as an index hand, making sure you feel where your target is, and controlling him (of course it could also be another slap on his neck).  

Jr cook
Jr cook's picture

Marc wrote:
 The left hand even acts as an index hand, making sure you feel where your target is, and controlling him (of course it could also be another slap on his neck).

My intermretation is similar to this, as is our variation of the kata. We perform the movement with a "rolling" left hand motion that presses down and the "backfist" circles over before coming to the final position. It's the same in our Kusanku as well.

I like to sue this as a press to locate and control the target or in some cases I have found it to make a nice shoulder lock that serves the same purpose. With your left hand on top of Uke's right shoulder and your left arm lifting their right forearm it holds the shape of the kata movement and adds a little bonus to your control.