The striking in modern karate tends to be very linear due to the influence of modern sporting practises. However, when we look at the striking within the traditional kata we do see strikes that arc downward, upward and horizontally. In this video, we look at a downward arcing strike from Passai / Bassai-Dai, and an upward arching strike from Wanshu / Enpi. As with all these videos, this is just a short clip from a much longer training session and therefore the video is inevitably incomplete. I nevertheless hope you find it interesting.

All the best,

Iain

In this short clip we look at a bunkai flow-drill for Naihanchi / Tekki-Shodan. It is a basic drill that focuses on creating and exploiting opportunities for close-range strikes. It should be remembered that this clip shows a few minutes summarising a much longer session. This clip is therefore not instructional in nature and obviously does not cover how such drills fit into the wider training matrix. The methods of the kata need drilled in many other supporting ways. This drill is just one of many.

All the best,

Iain

In this video we look at some applications / bunkai for Jion kata, and then combine them into a flow drill. It should be remembered that flow drills are not a “replication” of a fight (only live practise will suffice), but instead they are a time-efficient way to practise the methods of the kata. The kata, the drills and live practise (where the principles and methods of the kata can be applied freely) combine to form a holistic training matrix.

This videos looks at two flow drills for Wanshu / Enpi kata. The sequences covered are the “shifting knife-hand sequence” and the “double-palm-heels, lower-block, jump sequence”. We then put both flow drills end to end to create a longer flow drill.