The silence is deafening. Methinks nobody in Uechi likes to boogie!
In years past, my martial used to feed my partner dancing, and vice versa. It's all the same. In both endeavors, you're in command of and controlling where your partner goes.
(Not that I'm saying anything anybody hasn't heard before.)
I think it is vastly preferable to turn the axis of the gap (mae) through footwork so that when I connect, my hips (centerline) face through my opponent's open gates, meaning where they don't have feet, instead of facing the opponent head-on.
Sometimes, life happens and you're going to end up face-to-face and toe-to-toe; however, the tenshin footwork exists to try and get you out of that very dangerous position.
The basic tenshin exercise in Master Kanei Uechi's hojo-undo shows 90-180 degrees of movement depending on how you train it. But the exercise is representative of all 8 directions in all 360 degrees of movement.
Think of Master Shinjo's favorite sparring sweep--it works because you're on one of the 8 planes of the octogon with your hips facing away from your opponent's centerline and then quickly turning back toward the centerline to sweep.
Think of Master Wharton's slipping steps forward to delivery off-angle backfists.
Think of Master Gushi's entry into the knee strike in seisan.
Think of the first movement of kanshiwa bunkai, yakosuko kumite dai ichi from OKK, #2 from the Kenyukai, #1 from Kanei Uechi's Dan kumite, etc.
Ippon kumite lines you up in the worst of all possible positions and then you work to make the best of it.
Tenshin makes the best of it. The funny thing is, the only kata that dramatically show the tenshin movement are Konchin and Sanseiryu. In the rest of the forms the continuous nature of using tenshin is more implicit.
the only kata that dramatically show the tenshin movement are Konchin and Sanseiryu. In the rest of the forms the continuous nature of using tenshin is more implicit.
I challenge your assertion, Ms. Dana. Bear with me.
Mr. Tomoyose himself once said that the secrets in the kata were often in the movements in-between the movements. In other words... you change direction in ANY kata not necessarily because you ran out of room and want to go fight in another direction, but rather you're initiating contact while facing the first direction and then turning and/or shifting while in contact.
I'm feeling like I'm mostly just IN the exercises/kata/kumite at this stage of learning....and don't always spend the time to consider the *concepts* behind the mechanics behind the action. However, I just took the time to open up the links at the beginning of this thread, and more than anything else I noticed the commonality of the concepts.
I remember the first time that I stepped diagonally back instead of straight back for the first defense in kumite one. It felt different, but good...useful, in a different way. I think that was the first time I applied this concept....the first time I took advantage of a different angle of attack/defense, and it was actually memorable.
Thanks for nudging me to understand things on a different level.
