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 Secret Bunkai
Unveiling Shorin-Ryu Karate’s Hidden Moves
by Terry L. Wilson
For centuries, the martial arts were cloaked in mystery and folklore. The deadly techniques used by masters of karate were frequently hidden inside choreographed sequences called kata. The movements—blocks, strikes and kicks strung together by various steps and turns—were the creative property of the experts who handed them down from generation to generation.
These secret techniques, known as bunkai, were never divulged lightly. They were usually reserved for family members only. Even as karate made its way to America in the late 1950s and early ’60s, Okinawan masters were still secretive when it came to teaching. In fact, according to Mike Hancock, chief instructor of the International Okinawan Budo-Kai, very few American karateka truly understand the origins of their forms.
“About 90 percent of those practicing karate in the United States know little, if anything, about their art other than the physical aspects,” he says. “Those of us in the Okinawa Shorin-Ryu Matsumura Seito Karate and Kobudo Association have a burning desire to learn the history and origins of our art. To a certain degree, the veil of secrecy still exists. This, coupled with a lack of written records, has created a void of information on the early years of Ryukyu martial arts. What information we have has been passed down to us from my teacher, Master Fusei Kise, the founder of kenshin kan shorin-ryu.”
Hancock relates a story that exemplifies the traditional thought process that often caused masters to keep the bunkai of their kata secret. It happened on a summer’s evening in the mid-’80s. Kise was on Hancock’s porch teaching a kata when a passing car slowed down and began watching the workout. Kise immediately ended his demonstration, he said, because he thought the car contained students from another school out to steal his techniques.
After years of traveling between Okinawa and the United States, Kise finally decided to loosen centuries of restrictions surrounding kenshin kan shorin-ryu karate. He gave Black Belt express permission to publish this article and the accompanying photographs so select bunkai from his art could be made public.
Pinan Kata
Kise’s style of shorin-ryu contains 23 empty-hand kata, along with a potpourri of weapons forms and white-crane forms. The kata pinan yondan is taught as an introduction to the white crane.
“The first move in pinan yondan is an open-hand block that represents the wings of a crane,” Hancock explains. “It appears that the hand above the head is used to stop a punch to the head, while the outstretched arm is used to block an upper-body punch. This is how we teach it to the lower ranks.
“Once you step up in grade, we teach the bunkai. In reality, we’re stepping backward as the attacker moves forward, trapping his punching hand with a crane block while striking his throat with a fingertip strike. This is one of the unseen moves in the form.”
Another bunkai in the kata involves stepping backward with a reinforced block that’s really used more to strengthen the defender’s ki than to physically block an attack. You grab the attacker’s punching hand, angling it downward to expose a nerve on the radial bone, which you then attack with a back-knuckle strike. It’s important to note that the wrist is bent to give maximum emphasis to the knuckles.
Change of Body
Matt Molineux is a ninth-degree black belt, a major in the Air Force and a senior student of Hancock’s. He explains the importance of kata in modern-day karate:
“We take the forms and apply the bunkai when we fight. A lot of systems do their kata, then fight a different way. We do not. How many times at a tournament have you seen kata performed beautifully, each one unique and defined, yet when [the karateka] fight, everybody looks the same? They’re not employing the techniques they’ve learned in their forms. We don’t play that game. Our style uses ‘change of body’ and applies the bunkai of the kata.”
Change of body, called tai sabaki in Japanese, is a basic concept used to evade an attack. Simply put, it holds that if you move out of the way, you won’t get hit. However, this fundamental concept can take decades to master. That’s why change-of-body techniques are incorporated into the bunkai of many of Matsumura’s kata. Learning them requires diligent training and an inherent understanding of hidden techniques.
“The whole concept of our style is built around change of body,” Molineux says. “We try never to step back in a straight line; we always step at angles. So change of body is actually angle-stepping. Not being there when the punch or kick arrives is what we [strive to do] through our kata.”
Additional Sources
The ananku kata is designed specifically for street fighting. There are no preparatory moves; it proceeds from one movement directly to another. But even this straightforward form contains hidden techniques that Hancock teaches only after he’s deemed the student ready for such knowledge.
“In ananku, we’re slipping a kick while doing a back knuckle and vertical punch against the attacker’s leg,” he says. “At the same time, we’re executing a toe kick into the muscle of his back leg. We also use a single-bone block and a double-bone block, which allows us to slip a punch right into the attacker’s chin. The crane movement in the form allows us to slip the attacker’s punch while sliding under his arm and delivering a lethal fingertip strike to the throat.”
The naihanchi kata are considered by many to have been designed for fighting with one’s back against a wall or on the dike of a rice paddy. According to Hancock, the old Okinawan masters spread this misinformation to protect the secrets of the sequences.
“Naihanchi is frequently seen being performed in a straight line,” Hancock says. “Our sensei said that was a ruse put out by the Okinawans to cover up the proper bunkai. In naihanchi, we step cross-legged, then stop for a second. During this pause, we can determine from which direction the attack is coming. In naihanchi two, Master Kise actually steps out to the side and blocks two people. Allowing others to believe the kata were designed with only one purpose in mind gave the Okinawans an edge because their hidden techniques were never shown to outsiders.”
Concealed Techniques
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Practical Karate Kicking
Unlike the Korean art of taekwondo and some Japanese styles of karate, kenshin kan shorin-ryu doesn’t advocate kicking above the waist. “I say if you can whip a roundhouse kick with speed and power high enough to kick a man in the head, just imagine what you can do with a low kick,” Matt Molineux says. “If you want to kick a person in the head, first bend him to your waist using a low kick, and then after he’s bent over, kick him in the head.”
Old-school karate masters in Okinawa were frequently seen kicking with their big toes. Covered with rock-hard calluses, their digits endured decades of being slammed against makiwara boards and other toe-toughing surfaces. And while it’s true that such toes could break ribs, most students nowadays don’t take their training to such an extreme.
However, for those who choose to use their toes as a weapon, there’s another hidden technique to be learned. “You don’t really kick with the tip of the big toe,” Molineux says. “A toe kick is executed with the side of the big toe.”
Despite the fact that a grandmaster’s toe “will break any bone you have to offer,” it’s best to use a toe kick against soft tissue rather than a hard surface, he says.
—TLW |
It’s widely recognized that throws, joint locks and chokes are integral components of judo and jujutsu, but few martial artists know that many such techniques are also found in the bunkai of karate kata. The secrecy with which they’ve existed for so many years attests to the brainpower of those who hid them, it would seem.
“After watching Master Kise execute a technique that put his opponent on the floor using a wrist lock, I said, ‘I’ve seen that technique before—it’s jujutsu,’ ” Molineux says.
“No, no!” Kise replied. “Not jujutsu, just karate.”
Beginners must build a solid foundation before they undertake the learning of advanced bunkai involving such standing-grappling maneuvers. One proven method for perfecting the basics is ippon kumite, or one-step sparring.
“Ippon kumite allows students to use various punches, blocks and kicks in a preset manner against another student,” Molineux says. “Essentially, these are short kata. We practice them to learn the fundamental concepts individually. Once these maneuvers are mastered, students will be able to blend them together when they do kumite.
“As students rise in rank, the one-steps become more defined, adding change-of-body [techniques]. When they achieve the rank of brown belt, they start using open-hand techniques, which add softness. Once that’s perfected, they don’t even have to block an attack. Using change of body, they avoid the attack, then counter it using the advanced bunkai that had its beginnings with one-step sparring.”
About the author: Terry L. Wilson is a free-lance writer and martial arts practitioner based in San Diego.
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