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Andy_R
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Wado Ryu's Kihon Gumite

Hello,

I was wondering if any one has thoughts or ideas on the way the Kihon Gumite's of wado Ryu were created?  The clips of these can be found on youtube.  Below are my ideas of why these may have been created in the way they were:

The defences all start with the defender stepping back into a right side fighting stance before the agressor makes the attack.  The first 7 of these defences start with the defender shuffling slightly backwards and parrying the attacking arm so that it's pushed to the outiside of the defenders body, Kihons 8, 9 and 10 defend with the same backwrds motion but instead off parrying the attacking arm to ouwards they get parried to the inside before stepping back in to complete the technique.

The first 3 all start with a right lead hand punch to the face, could this be the Ohtsuka's way of showing that most people are right handed and therefore there is more chance of being attacked off the right side?

The follow ups to these right handed punches are as follows; Kihon No.1 a reverse punch, Kihon No.2 step with the rear leg and then a side kick off the lead leg, Kihon no.3 a straight kick off the rear leg.  Could this be his way of showing what he believed to be the most likely 'combination' of attacks?

The attacks the change for the next 2 techinques to a left hand lead punch followed by a right reverse punch.

Kihon no:4 the punch is parried with the right arm then as the 2nd punch is delivered the defenders left arm pushes this across their body to 'close off' the attacker and then we step straight in with a strike off our leading right hand.

Kihon No:5 hits the 2nd punch down with the right hand (after first payying the lead hand left punch) then it is controlled with the rear hand, we then strike to the face and ribs before producing an arm lock and takedown.

My opinion of this is that Ohtsuka is showing the importance of getting to the outside of any potential attack - No.4(the parrying on the first 3 defences put you on the outside of the attacker to start) but if this is not possible and we end up on the inside then we need to control the enemy and strike (I believe the arm lock - takedown is saying that you can also do this if the strikes do not finish the attacker).

Kihon No: 6 Starts with a lead left punch followed by a hitch up left lead leg kick then a right reverse punch.  The first 2 attacks are parried and the final punch is pushed across the attackers body as a strike is delivered to the ribs (showing the same principle as no.4 - if you are on the outside close off the attacker and strike)

Kihon No.7 starts with a lead left jab followed by a round kick off the rear leg.  Again the punch is parried as before, as the kick isbeing delivered the defender shuffles in and strike the to the enemy's chest.  Could this potentially be telling us to get indie the effective line of attack and as the opponent is off balance (only one foot is on the floor) strike high to push them back?

The last 3 Kihon's revert back to a similar attack to the first one (lead hand right followed by a left reverse punch) - potentially Ohtsuka my be saying here "Lets concentrate on the most likely attack"??  The defences for these also start the same the defender steps back and parries the attacks so that they are on the inside.

Kihon 8 - defends against the 2nd punch with a Jodan uke / Age uke before stepping back in striking the attcakers centre line and then breaking their balance with the knee.

Kihon 9 - defends against the 2nd punch by stepping in and re-derecting the punch with the back of the right hand whilst striking to the throat with the left.

and finally kihon 10 defends by stepping forwards to jam and control the 2nd punch, strikes to the ribs with the elbow, then strikes the groin before stepping under the attackers arm and throwing them to the floor.  Again this could be showing that if you end up on the inside of the opponents are you need to get in close and strike fast?  I also think that as ohtsuka was a grandmaster in Ju-jitsu he is saying with this final techinque that we do hape the option of throwing the attacker to the ground but only as a last resort (being that it is the last piece of the pairowrk).

I hope I've explained myself (and the techniques in question) properly and look forward to receiving your responses...

Andy