Bunkai Jutsu
applied karate kata for self
defence....
Most modern karate syllabus view 'kata' as a separate training
method to the real business of 'Kumite' or sport sparring. This
however, couldn't be further from the truth. Kata were
originally created to record the self defence methods of various
karate masters as a mnemonic as opposed to writing or
illustrations. The advantage of this would be that, unless you
were privy to what the moves were describing, that they would
just look like a 'martial dance'
Unfortunately over time the actual meanings of the movements
have been lost to time (or still remain secret to a wise old
master somewhere) This has led to modern karate exponents to
'reverse engineer' the movements from the kata by looking
at modern self defence systems and other combat styles to
rediscover practical applications for the moves and thus,
breathing life back into kata
People like 'George Dillman' and 'Vince Morris' started the ball
rolling with 'pressure point' applications of the kata, but more
recently it has been the pioneering work of 'Iain Abernethy' who
has really lifted the lid off 'Applied kata' and has made his
work accessible to the world wide karate fraternity.
I spent 25 years in karate prior to 2000 until I decided to try
pastures new. So my own thrust of training for the last 10 years
has been Kickboxing, Boxing, BJJ and more recently Judo. You
will note that they are all non-compliant systems that can be
applied full contact, albeit with a limited pallet of moves so
as to avoid serious injury. But during this time I have also
studied 'Abernethy' style Bunkai Jutsu as I feel his pragmatic
approach is the most realistic.
I now feel now is the time step back out in the Karate world and
am looking for like minded karateka that would be interested in
exploring 'Bunkai Jutsu' and bring it out of the woodwork for
prosperity. This would preferably be a dan grade endeavour but
anybody that knows a few kata and an interest in the subject
would be welcome.
