Kanchin...Kamei Uechi?

[Dana Sheets]

So I can't read Japanese...but I think this is Kanmei Uechi doing Kanchin.

Second row down, third from the left once you scroll down to all the images of people.

http://www.okinawabbtv.com/culture/kara ... /index.htm#

Third row down, last one on the right is...I think...Mr. Senaga doing Sanseiryu.

And the second one in on the first row is Mr. Shinjo doing Seiryu...and some bonus breaking.

The rest of the page is full of other Okinawan seniors doing kata.

-Dana

[John Giacoletti]

Row 3, Column 3 is Narahiro Shinjo younger brother of Kiyohide.

Seiko Toyama? Isn't that Seiko Yoyama in Row 3, Column 1?

[Bill Glasheen]

Dana

I don't think that's Kanmei. I got a good look at his face. I could be wrong, but... I don't think so.

You know what's interesting? After all these decades of doing Uechi Ryu, to watch a hanshi doing a kata you know and have taught for years, and see things this person does that you don't like. Wierd... I don't like critiquing people's forms online who have not asked for such, so I'll keep it to myself for now.

Too bad about the drop-out in Sanseiryu. I like watching those transitions.

Yep... That's Kiyohide doing Seiryu.

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Row 3, Column 3 is Narahiro Shinjo younger brother of Kiyohide.

I believe you are mistaken. Check your row and column numbers. Row 3 column 3 is Kusanku, which most certainly isn't Uechi. And that isn't Narahiro.

Nice execution of Kusanku though...

Seiko Toyama? Isn't that Seiko Yoyama in Row 3, Column 1?

Sure looks like him... Nice nunchaku form! I wonder if it's his own, or a classical kobudo form. There really aren't that many classic nunchaku kobudo forms, and the ones I've seen aren't that interesting. I've never seen a double weapon form like that being done by an Okinawan hanshi.

- Bill

[mhosea]

You know what's interesting? After all these decades of doing Uechi Ryu, to watch a hanshi doing a kata you know and have taught for years, and see things this person does that you don't like.

So, is your reaction to question yourself, whether these things are as important as you've been making them out to be, or them? Both?

[Glenn]

Searching for the "Karate & Kobudo Exchange Festival" displayed on the banner in the backgraound, I came across this:
http://www.markhammeibukai.com/HOMBU.HTML
"CMGA in Okinawa 2006
Master Yagi Meitetsu, president of the Meibukan Hombu Dojo in Naha City, Okinawa, Japan, recently demonstrated for the Okinawa Goju-Kai and the Uchinanchu Karate & Kobudo Exchange Festival. Master Yagi's demonstration of Seiunchin at the festival best reflected the Meibukan philosophy of power and speed. He was featured as one of Okinawa's top 16 masters for this year's event. His demonstration can be downloaded from here."
The demo link mentioned points to the video from Row 2 Column 1 on Dana's link.

Searching further I found that this event was in October 2006. The demo by the 16 masters was part of a larger event.
http://www.chimugukuru.com/en/modules/t ... age13.html
http://www.chimugukuru.com/
But as of yet I have not found a list of all 16 performers.

[Glenn]

And the second one in on the first row is Mr. Shinjo doing Seiryu...and some bonus breaking.
-Dana

Here is another clip of the breaking of the long board...the true conditioning is not displayed when it breaks but in the repeated attempts before it breaks!
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/359680/ka ... h_big_toe/

[Glenn]

A news article about the festival:
http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=7148

[Bill Glasheen]

So, is your reaction to question yourself, whether these things are as important as you've been making them out to be, or them? Both?

That's an excellent question, Mike. And it's a good way to put the subject on "neutral" territory.

I've been in this business a long time, Mike. I've been to many camps and seminars from virtually all the major lines of Uechi thinking and execution - if only indirectly so for some camps (such as Toyama Sensei's group). I've also cross-trained in "cousin" arts such as Goju (I have a nidan), Wing Chun (I've done their first form), and a few of the pure Chinese arts that come directly from the Fuzhou region. So I have seen quite a bit of variability and preference in practice. That's very helpful for figuring out the "essential core" of what we do.

My first reaction is to kick me out of my "Zen" mind mode and notice that something is really different. With the kata in question, the person shows a good deal of skill performing a couple of moves - the ones that most people screw up (IMO... ). That is mixed in with a couple of moves that on first blush are a bit difficult to watch. I try not to judge too much with these masters. Instead my gut reaction is to look much more closely to see if there's something there which they are doing that I have missed. A good example is watching Uechi Kanei doing a front kick. For years I didn't like the way his body would undulate, his arms would fly out, and his head would duck. But over time I begin to filter out the idiosyncrasies, and I began to see an excellent application of sequential summation of movement. That's a very advanced concept. Not a lot of people "get" that when they do their martial movement.

I also know that I'm delving deep into a few things that I've picked up from a few masters who are taking their Uechi to another level in various directions. So I know that "my Uechi" may look a bit different from someone doing "vanilla" Uechi - if that makes sense.

So I watched the kata performance 3 or 4 more times. I tried to isolate what this person was doing (or in one case NOT doing) that made it look so different.

In the end, I felt comfortable with my opinion that 3 or 4 of the movements in the kata are just plain not right. There's a little room for creativity in our kata. But some things done (or not done) break out of the bounds of what is "correct." Without defining lines of what is acceptable, we have neither form nor function.

One example is that a circle is done off the "wrong" side after a 90-degree turn. A principle of our system is for the circles always to be done on the side of the direction you are turning so that your arm can take advantage of the rotation of your core. If you violate that principle, then your core movement can actually cancel out the power of your arm movement. It's like the Doppler Effect you see with an advancing hurricane. On one side of the storm you get speed of storm rotation plus translational speed of storm, and on the other side you get speed of storm rotation minus translational speed of storm. Not surprisingly, a nasty "hesitation" (a hiccup of intra-body timing) happens right after that odd move. I think he realized he goofed.

The Uechi kata - and most martial forms for that matter - start to "do themselves" when you figure out how to get the core to drive your periphery. You begin to see a grammar of movement (so to speak) that comes from how form is driven by function. The more you tap into the core for your power, the less you have to remember what block or thrust is done off of what foot because it becomes a purely logical extension of the flow of your energy. After my students get their shodan, I demand they begin to do their movements with more flow. Without that, they never have "caffeine" in the movement, and they have to "think" too much. Our karate should have tremendous power that comes from our large muscle groups, and it should be done with as little conscious thought as possible.

There was another issue that may have to do with the fact that he has an injury he's compensating for. I can't tell for sure.

People can have bad days. People can also be suffering from athletic injuries or infirmities, such as a badly arthritic hip. And everyone can have a "brain fart" which makes them hesitate or goof when on camera. I've seen the highest ranking masters skip a part of Seisan when performing it in public, and completely lose it (zanshin out the window) when they realized what they did. And the camera can be sooo cruel. So I'll just give this fellow the benefit of the doubt and assume there were "other issues" involved on the day of that performance.

[mhosea]

Bill,

Speaking of injuries, my left wrist is in bad shape and it's hard to type, but i wanted to thank you for the reply. I spend a fair amount of time analyzing videos of kata performances by higher ranks, myself, so I think of these issues often, although I didn't realize you were referring in part to anything as obvious as doing something with the wrong arm, i.e. a simple goof.

[Bill Glasheen]

I didn't realize you were referring in part to anything as obvious as doing something with the wrong arm

Mike

I'd love to show that kata to 100 black belts, and see how many of them picked up the "goof." I'm willing to bet most would miss it.

I find this happening all the time. I'll watch a kata being performed during a test. Then when someone makes an error like that, I'll poll my judging panel. Very often all but one judge will miss it - on a good day. I had a case on a test a few weeks ago where I had the student repeat the erroneous sequence in front of the judges - many times - and they still didn't see the "goof."

Creativity is one thing. I don't get upset when for instance Dana has dug up some "dropped" move from early versions of Seichin, and decides to teach it. She actually had to add in an extra move to make it all flow right. But the move (from early versions of Itokazu's form) is so brilliant and so devastating in its application that it makes being "unique" a positive rather than a pejorative.

But this is different. This fellow did a variation that is biomechanically unsound. It's not a matter of ambivalence as to which arm you use to perform a circle when rotating about your center. If you don't do it right, you kill your energy. It's a bit akin to trying to punch someone while stepping backwards (NOT after). It just plain doesn't work.

The reason why I "see" more and more of this stuff now is not because I have a good memory. Actually my memory *****. It has to do with learning the principles behind the movement, which begin to dictate how they should be done. It's like knowing music so well that it's obvious how to jam with the fellow who is playing by you, even though you don't particularly know where he's going with his own music. There are bounds to music so that it is "musical", and there are bounds to movement so that it is "effective."

Fun stuff...

- Bill

[Dana Sheets]

Yep - on another viewing that is probably not Kanmei Uechi. I don't recognize him. Master Senaga moves very similarly to how he did in the DVD GEM sells.

I do not think the nunchaku kata is Mr. Toyama. That fellow, while he has the same beard shape, is about twice as round as Mr. Toyama and much stockier. And moves very differently than how I remember him moving. I'll ask Seizan to drop by and watch...perhaps he can also identify that other fellow who isn't Kanmei Uechi.

I took the text that pops up with the viewing window over to babelfish...most of the text talks about the name of the kata, then the beauty of the Uechi system as it combines circles and straight lines, and the long time it takes to master the whole body something or other...not really much help.

[tigereye]

So I can't read Japanese...but I think this is Kanmei Uechi doing Kanchin.
http://www.okinawabbtv.com/culture/kara ... /index.htm#

I guess the man on the video is not Kanmei Uechi. He is a very small peorson,his nose is different and it seems that on the left side he has more hair loss...
Look at the picture!

[spitkick]

No, that is not Toyama Sensei.

Regards;
Scott Taylor

[Bill Glasheen]

I agree with both of you about Toyama Sensei. Toyama is much more trim in the midsection.



This Sensei appears to be carrying a little more girth. It does appear however that they go to the same hair stylist.

FWIW, they also move very differently. Here's a clip of Toyama Sensei that shows him doing sections of Sanseiryu.

http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/023/eng/009/002/001.html

I do like that nunchaku form... I like the execution as much (if not more) than the actual choreography. Any thoughts from anyone whether this is traditional, contemporary, or a blend? The name given is nicho nunchaku jutsu, which really doesn't tell me a thing. Basically that translates to double nunchaku technique. There are a few different nicho nunchaku jutsu out there. An example would be Toji no nicho nunchaku jutsu, which translates as Toji's double nunchaku. I'm wondering whose choreography this is.

- Bill