Martial Arts Forms Applications

Below is an excerpt from a post that appeared at Applied Methods. It addresses a topic that I find quite interesting.

When teaching an application from a form, is it "the" application, or an example of the principles practiced in the form? Both?

The full post may be read here.

 

Following my recent article on kata applications, a familiar response appeared. The essence of it was simple enough:

“My instructor taught me the bunkai.”

Fair enough.

Before going any further, it’s worth acknowledging that while bunkai technically refers to the process of breaking down and analyzing a movement, most karate practitioners use the term when discussing applications. For the sake of simplicity, that is how I will use it here.

The interesting question is what conclusion should follow from the statement, “My instructor taught me the bunkai.”

When I suggest that kata movements may express principles rather than single fixed applications, some people hear something very different. They assume the argument is that nobody knows the bunkai. That is not what I am saying at all.

A more accurate way of expressing the idea would be this:

Even if we think we know the bunkai, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is the only valid expression of the principle.

That is a very different claim.

The interesting thing is that many practitioners unconsciously equate “I was taught this application” with “this is the application”. That leap is precisely what I like to challenge.

Let us assume for a moment that an esteemed instructor taught a specific application for a kata movement. Fine. That tells us he believed the application represented the movement. It may even be an excellent application. It may have been passed down through several generations of practitioners.

What it does not automatically tell us is that it was the original application, that it was the only application, or that the kata creator intended the movement to be restricted to that one use.

Those are different claims.

If we think about how martial arts are actually taught, the picture becomes even more interesting. Even instructors who believe in a correct bunkai will often demonstrate variations based on height, distance, timing, resistance, or circumstance. The moment that happens, we have already moved beyond a single fixed application and into the realm of principle.

When an instructor tells a student, “If your opponent is taller, change your angle”, or “If they grip you higher, drop your weight”, they are no longer teaching a fixed technique. They are proving the point without even realizing it.

A principle can produce many applications. A technique is only one expression of that principle.

What I suspect is happening is that many people see only two possibilities. Either there is one correct bunkai, or nobody knows anything and we are in to guesswork.

I do not believe the situation is nearly that simple.

A Mixed Martial Art before MMA

Below is a video about Nippon Kempo. A truly mixed martial art before MMA was cool. Enjoy.

 

 

Iaido and Biomechanics

I recently read the book, Biomechanics of Iaido: From Support to Blade by Veronika Rumynina.

Ms Rumynina is dan ranked in to different styles of iaido and actively teaches the art. Having quite an analytic mind, she questioned the basic widespread teaching methodology: the sensei saying "watch me nd copy what I do."

It would be helpful when going into this book to be familiar with both iaido and anatomy terminology, but if you don't have that background, solid explanations are provided in the appendices.

What the author does in this book, is to examine the movements and actions of the muscles and tendons, the fascia and one's breathing throughout the action of an iaido kata. 

She begins with a chapter on the feet and ankles, the moves to to the knee, the pelvis, the torso, shoulders arms, wrists and hands. This is a very thorough, step by step examination of movement.

Just how do the bones align, which muscles contract or relax and when, how does the fascia move? Again and again, these questions are answered as we move from the floor to the end of the blade. 

While this book is explicitly written to help one's iaido practice, I am convinced that the lesson can indeed be applied to the practice of any martial art. I find myself thinking about what I learned from this book as I go about my own practice of taijiquan.

She goes on to describe how this information can be integrated into one's personal practice and then in a classroom environment.

This is a well done examination of how to move in the context of iaido. I  enjoyed this book and I am sure that you will as well.

Biomechanics of Iaido: From Support to Blade is available on Amazon.

 

 

Northern vs Southern Kung Fu Styles Explained

 

Boxing and Martial Arts in the Movies

Budo Journeyman had an entertaining post on boxing and martial arts as portrayed in movies. Below are some excepts. The original may be read here, where there are lot of clips that you may enjoy.

 

Boxing.

Below is a list of the main themes encountered in boxing movies. But bear in mind that boxing on film has probably the longest history in cinema. Ideal for the silent era, because language is not needed to explain the drama (very early documentary movies feature famous boxing matches).

First theme:

The Underdog.

Pitched against the injustices of society, whether it’s race or class, or the wrong side of the tracks; the ‘zero to hero’ story always has appeal; it offers hope to even the most downtrodden.

Notice how many boxing movies come out of America, clearly it taps into the myth of the American Dream. You could start with Rocky (Stallone) and carry all the way through to the ‘Cinderella Man’ (Russell Crowe), a biopic where the underdog theme is really larded on.

Probably the most famous non-boxing scene from a boxing movie, every line quotable. Great acting ‘On the Waterfront’ 1954, Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger in the back of a taxi.

Second theme:

Obsessions and consequences.

Tragic individuals and catastrophic results.

Probably the most gritty story rendered on to screen is that of Jake LaMotta in the movie ‘Raging Bull’, artfully told by Martin Scorcese. A true-life story of how LaMotta’s urge to make a success of his life and career, results in human carnage, in terms of relationships and family.

LaMotta played by De Niro; strong stuff, not pleasant.

We also need to consider how neither LaMotta nor the fictional Rocky Balboa are blessed with high intelligence; but that seems okay in boxing movies, where philosophy never really gets a look in (unlike martial arts movies). You don’t need deep thinking to understand a boxing match.

Theme three:

Violence packaged for the public in the name of sport.

Naturally, everyone pretty much understands the rules and objectives of a boxing match. Consider also how the contest and the drama is all conveniently contained in a small space; no need for long rolling tracking shots to follow the action. Compared to other action movies, this makes things so much easier to manage.

Also, the narrative on every boxing movie is split into two zones; inside the ring and outside the ring. The viewer unconsciously understands this, and accepts it unconditionally.

We also tolerate the brutality of the ring, no matter how graphic. Example; ‘Raging Bull’ was a movie shot almost entirely in black and white, but it didn’t lessen the gore-factor. In fact, it enhanced it.

The next theme:

Masculinity, and, a place for women?.

There are women’s boxing movies, but they are quite rare (think of Clint Eastwood’s ‘Million Dollar Baby’). Decades ago, the idea was totally unthinkable. There have been combat sports movies with women as the central protagonists; recently ‘Tatami’ 2023, a judo movie which is worth watching, for many reasons, cerebral, cultural and political, and then there’s the judo.

From the male perspective there are often very positive themes of honour, duty and responsibility, as well as sportsmanship (there is also pressure against corruption).

A quick mention of bare-knuckle, whether historical or not. (But, let’s put aside anything with Brad Pitt in it).

My go-to examples for historical bare knuckles fighting are; the short section in Robert Downey Jnr’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’.

And, the not very successful, ‘Prizefighter, The Life of Jem Belcher’, 2022. The Americans don’t seem to have an interest in these stories, leaving it up to the Europeans, despite having their own pantheon of fighters from the bare-knuckles age. I suspect that across the Atlantic everything has to hook on the myth of the, previously mentioned, ‘Great American Dream’. Europe and the UK tend to be more historically nuanced.

Comparison with martial arts movies.

Now, on to my main objective.

The common ground:

· Discipline and grind (Rocky chasing chickens and Shaolin types carrying buckets up steps).

· Underdog tales in both genres. It taps into something fundamentally human.

· Final climactic showdown. Think ‘hall of mirrors’ in ‘Enter the Dragon’ and any Rocky movie.

All of the above are found in martial arts and boxing movies, but…

The real differences:

· Martial arts movies don’t go for the same grit as boxing movies. They are more about grace and aesthetics.

· Superhuman potential is really ramped-up in martial arts tales. The bar is set really high. With boxing it tends to be grind and muscle, and, dare I say it; more realism?

· Endurance versus self-actualisation and philosophy. Eastern religions and disciplines very much guide the martial arts storylines. While in the world of boxing, it tends to be just doggedly staying in the fight and clawing your way out of poverty etc.

· With boxing, the themes tend towards Western individualism, while the Eastern traditions lean heavily into collectivism, even heritage or ancestor worship.

· Technical aesthetics: In boxing it’s the close-up toughness of the brawl. While in martial arts movies we find the viewpoint is pulled back away from the action, so we can appreciate the artistry and the flair of the fighters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Different Ways of Teaching the Art

There was an interest post at Applied Methods regarding the teaching karate formally in a school, and also outside of a commercial school. An excerpt is below. The full post may be read here.

When I first arrived in the United States, I was struck by the sheer scale of the martial arts landscape. Coming from the UK, my formative years of training and teaching were spent in the tradition of the rented hall instructor. We packed our gear into the boots of our cars and drove to drafty church halls, local sports centers, and sometimes schools. We set up, we trained, we packed up, and we went home. A permanent, dedicated facility was a rare luxury.

When I eventually became part of a storefront dojo here in the US, it felt like a significant milestone. In a culture that often values a commercial footprint as a visible marker of achievement, having a permanent mat and a sign on the window felt like validation that I had finally “arrived”.

A few years later, the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic forced a total re-evaluation. Like many instructors, the financial realities of that period eventually led me to close our doors. Today, my teaching happens on a much smaller scale - with a number of dedicated students training in a home garden dojo.

It is easy to view a shift like that through a negative lens. When you look around and see thriving commercial schools on every other street corner, modern metrics can quietly trick us into measuring our worth as educators by square footage, student rosters, and profit margins.

But as the dust settled, I began to see the transition differently. Losing the storefront did not diminish the transmission of the art. If anything, it returned the training to something closer to its historical roots.

 

The Cradle of Karate

 Below is an interesting documentary on the history and development of karate on Okinawa.

 

 

Japanese Sword Documentary

Below is an excerpt from a post at The Budo Journeyman, which is a review of a 2024 documentary about Japanese swords and the West, entitled The Sun's Shadow. The full post may be read here.

This is certainly not like the usual documentaries about culture and heritage based in Japan, e.g. the ones that National Geographic produce. Neither is it a bite-sized piece in a travelogue episode by a celebrity who happens to be visiting Japan. This is what makes it so intriguing.

With ‘The Sun’s Shadow’, over three episodes, we are introduced to a range of enthusiasts who have pitched their all into their particular shared obsession – the Japanese sword.

What is surprising is that contemporary Japanese sword makers barely feature, these are all Americans. I know that Europeans will raise a quizzical eyebrow at anything the Americans throw themselves into with their body and soul…. I certainly did; but even half way through episode one, I was totally convinced they’d got it right.

Admittedly, this series ticked many of my boxes; not only traditional Japanese martial arts, but Japanese culture, history and the world of crafted bespoke artefacts. I found myself salivating at the lingering shots of antique and contemporary Nihonto, beautiful understated sword furniture and wrappings, yes, sword porn.

But the characters… including grizzled elderly craftsmen, working away in backwoods forges, enthusing about types of steel, temperatures, carbon content and quenching, totally captivating. They were pushing beyond the boundaries that historical Japanese swordsmiths were struggling to reach, even seeming to recreate techniques the Japanese thought had died out centuries ago.

However, this was not approached with Western arrogance, but more with reverence and full respect for what these earlier smiths had achieved.

Two other aspects came over strongly:

Cultural understanding.

The American swordsmiths were not just focussed on the sweat and grind of the forge; they were all clear in their own heads that Japanese culture has a depth that must be really worked at for Westerners to get a grasp of what the real background is.

Swords as practical objects.

Although we are no longer in the age where people swing swords at each other, either one-to-one or in massed armed conflict, a sword loses its identity and status if it is just considered as a decorative artefact, or a historical curiosity. (or even an investment antique). By including in the documentary those individuals who, for various reasons, feel they are custodians of an uninterrupted tradition that includes the art of swordsmanship, this adds real value to the enterprise. It tightly ties the craftsmen of the forge to the craftsmen of the Dojo, in a line that stretches back into history.

 

 

 

 

The Great Hammers of Xingyiquan