More random thoughts on the development of Tensho

From what I’ve learned about him, I don’t think anything that Miyagi Sensei did was out of ignorance, or without reason.  There’s a very interesting interview with Miyazato Sensei which has recently been translated where he speaks at length about Miyagi Sensei, and the lengths he would go to in order to further his training and understanding.

The attention to detail in Miyagi Sensei’s junbi undo routine is phenominal and a masterpiece in its own right. 

Also its worth considering that Miyagi Sensei was extremely wealthy, apparently very well educated, and was in the enviable position of being able to devote his full attention to the development of his karatedo because he did not have to work.

I’m confident that Miyagi Sensei drew massively from other sources (Gokenki, visits to China, books which he was researching) and tried to mould some of these ideas around the Sanchin framework with a view of providing balance or more depth to his art.

Sanchin I see as a power generating exercise, whether you want to view it as a matter of attaining the best possible body structure, or more esoteric ki gathering/circulation.  Whether we believe it or not, the whole ki idea was something which was very important to people and influenced much of what they did around the time that our arts were in their developmental stages.

Tensho I think takes these ideas further and starts building on some of the ideas already contained within Sanchin. 

Miyagi Sensei’s reasoning behind Tensho?

A question which has been in the back of my mind for a very long time is why did Miyagi Sensei feel the need to create Tensho kata?  What was going through his mind?  What did he feel was missing or needed a different approach in his current system?

There are of course the common theories such as it came from the kata Rokkishu, or it was inspired by a chapter in the bubishi etc, but none of these theories cut it for me.  If it came from Rokkishu, why not just keep Rokkishu, why change it?  I’ve also been told that Rokkishu was never a kata as such, but a short collection of techniques consisting of the wrist strikes/blocks and palm movements contained in tensho and elsewhere in Uechi Ryu. 

In fact I find the whole white crane lineage to goju a little bit tenuous too.  Again there are very similar ideas and principles shared between them, but if goju came exclusively from white crane, why are none of the kata the same?  And why is the execution so different?  In fact even at a extremely basic level, the sanchin stance is completely different in that in Goju the front foot is angled inward, whereas in white crane the back foot is angled outward.  Differences such as this which apply to the very common structure, so important in the Gojuryu lead me to doubt the common held theories into the historical evolution of the system.

I think Miyagi Sensei isn’t given enough credit regarding how much he actually did to further develop his teachers art. 

The $50,000 question is where did the rest of the kata come from (the ones unique to goju which were previously unrecorded in okinawa ie saifa, seiunchin, shisochin?, seipai, kururunfa).

Regarding Tensho again, another theory was that Miyagi Sensei came up with the idea after studying the section of the bubishi relating to different hand forms.  Again I find this a little hard to swallow, for a start there are many of the hand forms completely omitted from the kata.

Again it may seem a bit of a tenuous link but I’ve been finding many similarities between sanchin / tensho with bagua and xingyi.  A lot of the ideas and principles have a massive cross over, and I wonder if Miyagi Sensei introduced Tensho in order to develop some of these ideas.

In order to get some idea of what Miyagi Sensei may have been thinking it’s important to look at what information would have been available to him around the time of the early 1900’s.  No doubt he would have been in contact with other martial artists, including his friend Gokenki and other Chinese from Kumemura.  We also know that he had many books destroyed during WW2, what books would have been available to Miyagi Sensei around the pre-war era? 

We will never be able to tell exactly what Miyagi Sensei had in mind, but if our research leads us to our own discoveries that add further depth to our practice then the effort will be worthwhile.

Merry Christmas

Dear readers,

Just a quick note to wish you all a very merry christmas and a happy new year.

The site is still inside its first year and has already recieved over 10,000 hits which has been a massive suprise to me!  I thank you all for taking the time to visit the site, and hope that you continue to enjoy the articles.

Enjoy the holidays!

Garry

Why train?

I’ve touched on this subject before, but occasionally I like to ramble on and repeat certain things.

I was watching a documentary a while back about a mountineer who had similar trouble explaining to friends his reasons for engaging in such a dangerous activity.  He said that to climb a mountian was dangerous, idiotic, and pretty pointless in that when you get to the top – there is only you and the experience for a brief moment in time.  Then it is over and you have to return to the ground with only your fading memory of that brief moment.

He lived for that moment and was willing to put his life on the line to achieve it.

Training in budo is similar in that there is no real tangible reason to pursue it, other than you like the feelings that come with it.  That daily challenge of saying to yourself ‘just one more, just one more’.  That is what builds character, and what molds people into leaders rather than followers who take the easiest route at the first indication that things are about to become difficult.

Karatedo is not for everyone.

It is common that a student will begin training and will be enthusiastic to the point of training daily for many hours at a time.  This will continue for 6 months or so, and then they will become frustrated at the thought of how far they’ve still yet to travel.  The prospect is too daunting for them and they become discouraged and leave.  How do you explain to them that its the journey that is important?  What is important to the new student is the destination.  They want improvement and are unable to see how they’ve progressed because at that stage of their training they will always be comparing themselves to the people they are following.

It takes a long time to learn how to start learning.

kuro obi release date

For those of you (and I know there are many) who are eagerly awaiting the release of the movie Kuro Obi, the following website is currenlty accepting pre-orders for the DVD which is to be released on 25/03/2008.

 http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BCBJ-3215

Merry christmas everyone!

observation on kururunfa

A commonly used translation of the kanji for kururunfa is ‘come, stay the waves’.  Not being particularly skilled in deciphering complex kanji I’m unable to comment on the validity of this translation, so for the purpose of this post I’ll assume that this translation is an accurate one.

The translation ‘come, stay the waves’ is particularly criptic and does not on the surface, offer much to insight into the individual character or fighting strategies of this kata.

However the section of the kata where you perform the otoshi uke, kizami tsuki, mae geri & empi combination does actually bear a striking resemblence to the movements of a wave.

Drawing back slightly, sinking low and bearing your weight down onto the opponent to disrupt his balance with the otoshi uke, you draw him down and in toward you.

Surging forward and rising from your low position you advance toward the opponent, clearing whatever lies in your path with one arm whilst the second arm immediately follows with the punch with the whole weight of your body rising behind it.

The wave crests at its highest point as you continue to pursue the opponent and strike mae geri, before dropping your entire bodyweight into the elbow strike like a wave crashing down onto the shoreline.

Smothering the opponent and preventing escape you then withdraw into tenchi no kamae, immobilising the opponent and pulling him toward you to offbalance, like the wave then returning back out to sea.

The overall strategy is that you draw the opponent in before then drowning him with combinations of multi level strikes in order to offer him no opportunity for escape or counter attack.  The mentality could be likened to that of a tidal wave surging through and destroying whatever lies in its path.

The timing of this section also relates to the above analogy and is very important in relation to the effectiveness of the techniques…..

Keep things simple

It’s becoming increasingly common these days to see very elaborate bunkai for kata techniques that really do not need to be that elaborate.  The main reason for this that I can see is to get peoples interest,  so that the demonstrator can then sell more DVD’s or get more bookings for their seminar tours.

The fighting techniques contained in the kata are short, to the point, with no wasted movement, and ultimately  should finish with you in a position of control (ie you still being in good health and your opponent not so much!).

I now regularly see bunkai which will flow through a number of different wrist locks, arm locks, throw to the ground, then some ne waza, and finish with a submission technique.  This is not in keeping with the principles of Goju Ryu.

Ultimately the idea of karatedo as budo is that fighting is to be avoided at all costs, but if there is no alternative and you are forced to defend yourself, your actions must be decisive and end the altercation immediately.

By over-complicating things for the sake of selling a few DVD’s, some people are heading in a different path from that which was intended, and potentially placing their students in a place of danger by giving them false confidence in techniques which have no basis in reality, and little hope of working under the unpredictable circumstances of a real confrontation.

The more you have to do, the higher the chance that it will go wrong.  Keep things simple and aim to become very good at simple things!

Miyazato Sensei interview

I thought the following DVD might be of interest to some of you http://www.okinawadirect.com/productview.asp?productid=90

It is a rare interview with Miyazato Eiichi Sensei which has been nicely translated into English.  Speaking as a person who has only known Miyazato Sensei through stories relayed to me by my sensei, it was nice to be able to gain a better insight into the type of man that Miyazato Sensei was, and hear his views on a variety of different subjects ranging from his memories of Miyagi Chojun Sensei, breathing, the bubishi, and his thoughts on modern karate.

The DVD is of very high quality, and the content is certain to be of interest to all dedicated practitioners of Okinawan Karatedo.