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Wastelander
Wastelander's picture
Kusanku and Wansu Applications, and a Lock/Throw Combo

Hello everyone,

I did some video recording on Saturday, and finally got a few clips edited and uploaded to share. The first is an application for the one-legged turn (a jump, in some styles) in Kusanku/Kanku. The technique is a throw found in Okinawa Shima (a grappling sport in Okinawa that descended from tegumi) and Sambo. This video simply shows the throw in isolation, without setups or distracting strikes, and I set my partner down lightly to avoid injury, so the landing doesn't match the kata like it would if I slammed him.

The second video is for the kata Wansu/Enpi, where you sink into a horse stance and execute a low block, then shift into a front stance and punch. In the version I learned, the punch is done as a keiko-ken-tsuki (Phoenix eye fist punch), and I carried that over into this application. I demonstrate it as a defense against a shirt grab with a punch to the head, although it can be done from the grab before a punch is thrown, and if you sink into the arm enough you can actually turn them enough to prevent the punch. It's hard to see in the video, but I aim my keiko-ken-tsuki for the brachial plexus or vagus nerve, depending on what is available to me.

The last video isn't a kata application, exactly--it is a quick explanation of a "side-step" uchi-mata (inner thigh throw) performed in conjunction with a shoulder lock (which can be found in Naihanchi kata).

Jon Sloan
Jon Sloan's picture

Enjoyed those thanks. Funnily enough I approach the kankudai turn and drop movement in a very similar way. You can use it for throws like hane-goshi, which isn't too far from the version you did in that video, or harai goshi or uchi-mata.

The version of that movement in the way I was taught (shotokan) it also has a small pause and a short drive forwards with the right arm, after the turn. So, I tend to look at that section in isolation too, i.e. the movements after the turn. Giving me lots of gari and gake type throws - o soto gari, ko uchi gari, etc. Or with the high right arm drive being a feint toward the head and the drop you then tackling your opponent.

Lastly, one other way I've looked at the drop part is as a defence against being tackled - so sprawling essentially. With the sharp turn into a low shuto afterwards being a neck crank.

Anyway, lots of fun with this section.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Thanks for posting these! I think video really helps make clear what people are proposing … and I’m fully aware that producing video takes time. Thanks so much for making the effort to share your thoughts and add to our collective knowledge base. Good stuff!

All the best,

Iain

Katharii
Katharii's picture

Thank you for sharing these, I really like them. Simple and effective, the way it should be! :]

Tau
Tau's picture

I like too. Uchi Mata isn't a favoured throw of mine but I know some people find it very effective. It works well in your bunkai

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

Thanks, everyone! One of these days, though, I would like to put together some more details breakdown videos, like the ones Angel Lemus Sensei does with his One Minute Bunkai series. Most of my application videos are recorded hastily between classes :P.

@ Tau - Uchi-mata has never been a throw that I was terribly enamored with, but my judo sensei loved it--he called it "the big gun" and won just about every tournament he competed in by using it. He saw how much I struggled with the classical version against people who bent over at the waist to keep their hips away, so he taught me this "side-step" version for that situation. As it turned out, the "side-step" uchi-mata fits into my karate perfectly, since so much of our tuidi bends our opponent over at the waist. I also find that a front o-soto-gari (o-soto-gari facing the front instead of the rear) works quite well, depending on how the opponent moves.