Some Notes on Gushi's Sanchin

[John Giacoletti]

Dojo seminar 11/10/2006. Instructors and senior students.

On his personal training.

Gushi does Sanchin three times every day. Once strenuous to the point that one Sanchin tires him. Secondly, softly striving for perfection of execution. And thirdly, Sanchin with the Nigeri Gami.

On flexing the traps.

Gushi Sensei flexes his traps prior to lifting the jars in a manner similar to that of Toyama Sensei at the start of his San Sei Ryu.

I asked him why he does this. His answer was simply to "make neck strong."

On opening Sanchin thrust.

The opening movement in Sanchin kata is a double thrust with open palm sword hand.

The bunkai or application is a single hand sword thrust to the genitals.

On the dihote strikes.

One of the senior women asked him what the application was of the three dihote strikes.

He said that the situation was like the double thrust. The movement in Sanchin is two hands thrusting simultaneously. The application is a single hand thrust to the throat with a grab and twisting off-balancing pull of the opponent to you. Presumably your choice of follow-up technique is then unleashed.

On his physique.

He's 67 and still ripped. His skin is healthy looking, very soft and smooth. He removes his gi for Nigeri Gami training.

The most recent issue of Classical Fighing Arts features Master Gushi and one of his students. The photo was taken about two months ago.

[mhosea]

I have Gushi's #2 DVD (basic techniques, kanshiwa, kanshu, and seichin, and yakusoku kumite), and it is an excellent production, IMO. The new OKIKUKAI DVD is great, especially considering the all-star cast, but I don't think their production comes across as being quite as polished and professional as what Tsunami did with Gushi, at least judging from the particular DVD I have. I've been tempted to get the other 3. I do object a little bit to Tsunami splitting it up into so many pieces.

[Bill Glasheen]

Good post, John.

I've had the pleasure of working with Gushi Sensei on a few occasions. He's an interesting guy, and a wonderful human being.

I love listening to his ideas about the kata and their meaning. I don't always see eye-to-eye with him on kata applications. However I have learned some very fascinating interpretations of Uechi kata from Gushi Sensei that nobody else teaches (at least to Americans anyhow...). A few of his ideas are the equivalent of the Rosetta stone for our system. He has one interpretation of a sequence in Seisan kata that makes our bunkai look like they were trying to hide the good stuff from us.

- Bill

[Stryke]

He has one interpretation of a sequence in Seisan kata that makes our bunkai look like they were trying to hide the good stuff from us.

do tell !!!

[Bill Glasheen]

The following sequence is in the middle of Seisan kata.

• Turn, left arm circle, left kick
• Right knee to left palm. Bend over, triple shoken

This is the "official" bunkai.

• Attacker steps forward with left punch. Defender does left (outside) block and left midsection kick.
• In a separate movement, attacker tries to shoot for knees. Defender redirects head, knees the face, and shokens the right temple.

There's nothing wrong with this. Joey Pomfret, a BJJ practitioner, actually likes the second sequence. It works.

However...

This is Gushi Sensei's take on it.

• It matters not whether the attacker attacks or not. What you want to do is do a left circle to the right arm (inside movement) and grab on. Then while holding the person, kick them in the midsection with the left foot. This will cause them to double over. From there, grab the head and knee them in the face. Then push the head down and attack the back of the neck.

Why do I like this? First of all, it has a very different attitude. Your goal is to take the person out - period. THAT is the Fuzhou style that Kanbun studied. You see a BG with an attitude and plenty of starch in his stance. The first few movements help you do what you intended to do in the first place - take him out for good.

There is a sequence in my Fuzhou Suparinpei which reinforces this as the thinking of fighters in that region. You knee the person in the midsection with the left leg. With them doubled over, you knee them in the face with the other leg, and take them down. The shokens follow. When you look at the sequences in the two kata, they seem a bit different. But when you see the intent, you realize it's the exact same thing. The only difference is how close you are when you start the first technique designed to take the starch out of your BG.

Some may quibble that this is a small difference from the original bunkai. I disagree. I have 4 or 5 other sequences I've choreographed in the kata which similarly make a lot more sense, and have the intent of taking the person out.

To me, Seisan is not a sport kata. It is a battlefield or street kata designed to be used against multiple opponents. There are indications of that in several places in the form. And the pattern you see in Seisan is multiple instances of expecting the BG to respond to a technique in a way that sets up a coup de gras. And those "final" techniques are downright nasty.

- Bill

[MikeK]

Gushi's application would seem to be obvious, how do you train people to miss that?

[Bill Glasheen]

how do you train people to miss that?

There are other instances, Mike.

I'm not entirely sure. It's one of several things.

• Those who choreographed the bunkai weren't (yet) that experienced with the kata, so missed out on a lot of the more obvious and practical applications.
• This bunkai was designed to be a "first step" bunkai. They're teaching to the lowest common denominator in a McDojo.
• The bunkai was designed to be more "sport" oriented. Frankly this one I have to negate right off the bat. Virtually all the attacks are "man on the street style" attacks. (Simple variations of HAPV.)
• The Okinawans thought the reality-based methods were just a little too "R" rated to teach in your average Main Street karate dojo.
• The Okinawans didn't want to teach the gaijins the "good stuff."

Something that gives credence to either of the last two items is a technique Itokazu originally choreographed in Seichin kata. The technique was removed because folks allegedly were using it inappropriately in the dojo and hurting practitioners' shoulders. (I don't even consider the arm to be the primary target.) But I think that's a pretty lame reason to pull something out that frankly is a brilliant application of a simple circle. And it works along the lines of the bunkai sequence (above) that Gushi Sensei teaches.

Dana and I both teach a varation of Seichin that re-incorporates this "missing" move. We had to add in an extra wrist movement to balance things out, but it now works and looks good. So far, no lightning bolts from Kanbun Sensei...

- Bill

[CANDANeh]

As the attacker BEGINS to bend you attack and help his head continue the downward incline as you are moving forward. The head (his hopefully) will turn slightly so he is looking up at you head sideways as the knee strikes lower base of skull (just below ear). The intention is to break the neck therefore avoiding teeth going into your knee,
I was shown this by a very able individual

[Bill Glasheen]

Interesting variation, Leo.

I teach people that you don't have to worry so much about exactly what you hit with a strike of this power. You can't always control what the person is going to do, but then you're hitting the head with the power of a sledgehammer. I've never thought the teeth to be too much of a problem because of the angle and because you're hitting with the broad side of your thigh. But... what you portray here works.

Rory had a nice seminar at camp (a few summers ago) which was "everything you need to know about joint locks." He taught it based upon principles, and had people discover their own applications based on this. Anyhow... If you want to put a hurt on the neck, ideally you want to apply Rory's concept of "stacking." For kote gaeshi, it means supination and flexion of the wrist works better than either alone. For the neck, a tilt and a twist works better than either one alone. Understanding this makes it easier for me to see formidable kata applications.

My thought about your target is that it may be better as a KO than as a neck destroyer. That's "triple warmer" territory.

- Bill

[MikeK]

Could be any or a combination of 'em Bill.

Here's a few more ways to "break" a kata.
(FWIW in my world breaking a kata means removing obvious intended meaning, that's different than a variation of a move in a kata.

A very good local master who I trained under likes his kata to look good. So during a sequence that entails a not so pretty low kick to bend the other fellow over into your waiting hand to receive a elbow to the head, changed the kick to be a beautiful high side kick. This little change makes the elbow difficult to apply if not damn near impossible as usually someone kicked high won't be folding forward but backwards. And wouldn't you know he did it to other kata too, because he liked the way higher kicks look he's ended up turning the follow up moves of several important kata into nonsense.

Something I always ask myself is what does a body do when hit with technique X, and how does that effect the follow up technique(s) in the kata. It's amazing how even a very basic knowledge of body mechanics can make somethings obvious. But of course you know that already.

[mhosea]

Dana and I both teach a varation of Seichin that re-incorporates this "missing" move. We had to add in an extra wrist movement to balance things out, but it now works and looks good. So far, no lightning bolts from Kanbun Sensei...

Probably you've discussed this before, but would you describe it?

[Bill Glasheen]

It's simple, but yet might be difficult to describe, Mike. I'll do my best.

First, think in terms of the theme we just discussed in the Seisan sequence.

Next... Two techniques were removed just after the beginning hajiki uke hiraken tsuki sequences, and just before the wrist movement. They are identical techniques, but one on each side.

You have a left circle and a right kick to the left diagonal, and a right circle and left kick to the right diagonal. Now think in terms of the circle and kick in Seisan. These can be used to double someone over, right? Great. Now what?

The removed move is elegantly simple, but takes a bit to get the body mechanics just so. It is done on both sides. I'll describe just one.

• Left circle
• Right kick
• Do another left circle that goes all the way down like the circle movements in Seiryu (origin in Sanseiryu). Once you bring the circle down in front of you to the level of the waist, then pivot 90-degrees to the right and bring that left arm up into Sanchin.

I don't want to take the fun out of the discovery process. Play with a partner. See what you come up with. Do this move up close and personal.

Yes, this also can be used on the arm. There are similar movements in FMA, where you do elbow locks or remove the stick from the other guy.

It's not a move unique to Uechi. It's just that we Uechika are supposed to be masters of the circle, and masters of moving back into Sanchin. It just takes a little bit of imagination to see all the fun stuff you can do with that.

- Bill

[mhosea]

nm

[Stryke]

A very good local master who I trained under likes his kata to look good. So during a sequence that entails a not so pretty low kick to bend the other fellow over into your waiting hand to receive a elbow to the head, changed the kick to be a beautiful high side kick. This little change makes the elbow difficult to apply if not damn near impossible as usually someone kicked high won't be folding forward but backwards. And wouldn't you know he did it to other kata too, because he liked the way higher kicks look he's ended up turning the follow up moves of several important kata into nonsense.

you live near Yoshitika (Gigo) Funakoshi !!!!

sorry karate nerd joke eh !!

[MikeK]

Good one!