2022-03-17

2022-03-17, Thursday

Subbing for ISKF Tempe at the Tempe Family YMCA.

Tonight we had a great class with six students: four dan grades and four kyu grades. After warming up, we went straight into kata, spending almost the entire class working through Heian Sandan and applications. It’s funny, we get so accustomed to practicing kata as a solo form that we freeze up and lose our minds as soon as there’s a warm body standing in front of us. I kept finding myself saying, “Just do the kata!” and “What where would you do next if there wasn’t someone standing in front of you?” Yes, kata are solo forms, but we have to remember that kata are the record of karate’s underlying principles, expressed through a particular set of techniques.

Oftentimes a block is just a block and a punch is just a punch, but sometimes it’s good to examine the less “percussive” applications of the kata. Heian Sandan is rich with applications to counter different types of grabs. At least four are cross-arm grab escapes, but that’s intentional - it’s a scenario that comes up pretty often. The kata also includes defenses against same-side and two-handed lapel grabs, tackling, and a rear bear hug.

Towards the end of class we went through Sochin a couple of times. It was challenging for the kyu grades to keep up, but it’s good to keep students outside their comfort zone for a portion of each class. After all, if you’re not stretching your boundaries you’re not growing, right? Besides, the point wasn’t for them to memorize the kata - it was just to get them familiar with the first sequence (up through the first turn into manji-gamae) so we could examine one possible application.

I see this sequence as a defense against an attacker’s left-side punch to the head. The initial raise of the right hand isn’t just preparation for the downward block, it taps the punch towards the left age-uke, before falling into gedan tettsui-uchi, resulting in Sochin’s signature muso-gamae. Switching feet to adjust distance, you pull the attacker’s left arm to your waist with hikite while extending your right palm into his face to destroy his structure. From here, two rapid punches to the head either end things entirely, or significantly blunt the attacker’s resolve. Either way, you can pivot counter-clockwise into manji-gamae, with your left (lower) hand controlling his neck and your right (upper) hand still controlling his left arm, then step forward to affect a throw very similar to Aikido’s mune-tsuki kaitenage.