Creating A Flux In Kata Pinan Five
[I:http://www.uniquearticlewizard.com/extras/pics/bowzerimage39.jpg] Many people generally believe that the Karate Shotokan Kata, we are talking forms pinan shodan through pinan five, contain the true art. Interestingly, while there is much art in the shotokan forms, there have also been some deviations from the true art. Let me cover a couple of points, and offer a specific example to backup my statement.
The pinans, or heians, as they are referred to in the Japanese, are often thought to be put together by Ankoh Itosu. There may be some other fellows who helped, but Sensei Itosu is generally considere as the father of modern karate. You will find his forms in shito ryu kata, isshin ryu kata, and in arts throughout the world.
The problem with the Japanese version of karate is that the Japanese teachers altered the kata towards power, and left out certain subtle distinctions. These distinctions enable one to develop different types of power in the karate art. Indeed, if one could trace the evolution of karate one would find gung fu.
Returning to gung fu roots might be good and it might be bad, depending on where a person wants his art to go. But, that said, the theory that there is only straight power, that the forms must be done only for this type of straight power, is rather limited. One does not often create a masterpiece by using only black and white.
To examine that one technique that will illustrate what I am saying here, let’s take a technique from pinan 5. The move is halfway through the form, and you assume a side stance, swing the right hand across the body to block the left side, then shoot a left fist out to the left side. This is a very combat efficient karate technique, and it really exudes power.
The intent, in shotokan, is to explode form the tan tien, always explode from the tan tien, and just power through your opponent. When you do the older versions of the form, however, you will find that the moving of the right hand across the body sets up a ’swirl of energy’ in the body. Thus, you swirl the energy around, and then shoot it out your arm.
When doing this move one is going to get the pivot of the hips, the weight drop, the stability of stance, and all the other things which make for truly effective karate. But, one will also, by swirling the energy inside the body, find all sorts of energetical feelings that are not available in a more simplistic, version of the art. Indeed, I am sure that a ten year study of the art would teach a student this, and I am sure that this is the kind of thing that sensei Funakoshi had in mind when he recommended doing a single kata for ten years.
Now, I am sure many karate students have come across the type of energy manifestation that I am describing here, and I have chosen it for my example because it is easy to see. The point, however, is that there are countless movements in the classic forms, pre-shotokan, which build and develop this kind of karate energy flux. The question, therefore, becomes…can you relax your strict upbringing in the art and create such a flux in all the moves of kata pinan five, and in every other technique in all your forms?
Eleven forms with TONS OF APPLICATIONS, including single finger takedowns, is available at Monster Martial Arts. They are available on the Temple Karate DVD course. 2
