Enter the dragon

[Bill Glasheen]

In another thread, I got a chuckle from an innocent comment made by a young student commenting on style in our kata.

Now, one can develop a sort of whipping power but is that Uechi?

Ahh... I am the consummate instructor because I love it when young Uechika leave an opening like this.

Let's think about this statement for a second.

* Is whipping power "Uechi?"

* What the heck is "Uechi" anyhow? Like the French language police (some would use less kind words), is there a group of white-bearded wise men sitting on silk pillows making determinations about what is and what is not "Uechi?" Hmmm...

Of course I had opinions about this statement, but I left it alone for a bit. Then on a lazy Saturday morning, I was watching Steve Irwin's The Crocodile Hunter on TV with my boys.



Usually Steve is at his best trying to get his favorite carnivores to display a little bit of aggressive behavior. On this particular day though his topic was snakes. Here he was working with cobras and pythons in various countries, and...there it was.

Linking to another website, we find...

Snakes do not leap or jump into the air. Instead, those that do strike out coil themselves enough to get a push or strong outward movement designed to snatch prey or inject venom. Different species of snakes strike for different reasons. Most snakes can only strike about one half their total body length! They do not actually leave the ground and are effected (sic) by gravity like all other creatures. They may sometimes be on a slick surface where the inertia in their strike may carry them forward slightly, thus appearing to lunge. They are capable of striking upward or outward at that approximate one half length level, but it usually is enough to get the job done effectively!

- Bayou Bob's Bayos River Rattlesnake Ranch

Funny that our young poster wrote this after her whipping comment.

Also, it may throw one off balance.

Well that's true, if you overextend yourself. Even snakes have that problem. Bayou Bob says

the farther a snake strikes, the more vulnerable it is to attack or injury. A predator may leap upon the snake right at the end of its strike when it is fully outstretched and has played out the full momentum but before the snake can get reset. The pre-strike coil is most often a defensive posture. Usually, a snake takes short quick jabs so as to rapidly ready itself and reposition for a second or third strike if necessary.

Hmmm... sounds like the snake must pay attention to the lessons of sanchin.

And so why did I even bring this up? Well...take a look at the mythical animal that is one of the roots of our style.

- One stop connection

Hmmm... That gets you thinking, doesn't it?

- Bill

[CANDANeh]

Another important factor when considering the spirit of this animal [snake] is to keep the whole body moving and flowing if to be combined with the actions of the other animals. In many cases it is necessary to administer soft circular actions which terminate with focus and a harder action as the technique makes contact.

[Shaolin]

Another important factor when considering the spirit of this animal [snake] is to keep the whole body moving and flowing if to be combined with the actions of the other animals. In many cases it is necessary to administer soft circular actions which terminate with focus and a harder action as the technique makes contact.

Where did this come from? This is very significant. The circle is in fact the yield, the letting go of the opponent's force and the lull before the storm - as indicated the movement is completed by returning and attacking the line - along the original path.

[chef]

Good analogy, Bill. There is so much we can take out of looking at the way animals defend/attack with their body parts.

Good point.

Vicki

[CANDANeh]

The Cheetah in pursuit flexes its spine to help produce speed (also note how they paw sweep the prey in order to bring it down )

Japanese systems most often use straight spine, great posture. Sanchin is most often seen with spine or back straight.
However, is this the most effective posture for delivering power /speed? Rolling the Trapaziods and creating a slight curve in the upper spine before unleashing... i.e. sanchin thrust, and straightening it as the thrust is fired seems to generate more power and speed (much like the Cheetah) . The posture looks a lot like southern mantis "basket" ( almost looks like a basket)
Another analogy could be comparring the spine to a bow, as it straightens it unleashes its force to deliver the arrow.
Can this also be termed "coiling"? Been playing with it and it can be subtle enough to be difficult to notice.

[Bill Glasheen]

The flexing thing can happen via many degrees of freedom.

Flexing the upper part of the spine the way you are talking about (thoracic kyphosis) doesn't do anything for me personally.

However I've been experimenting with a number of different ways to "cock the trigger" or "coil the spring." Here are some of the things I play with...

1) Loosening the hips a bit, so that one starts with butt out a bit (lumbar lordosis), and then snaps the hip under as part of the generation of force. I've seen some of Nakamatsu's protégés do that with their sanchin thrusts (perhaps we can get Dana to talk about this). I have learned to do that as part of my shomen geri, imitating something I've seen Uechi Kanei do in films.

2) Toying with the whole "toe in" (heel out) vs. the opposite. I see a wonderful dynamic going on between the sanchin dachi (front foot in 30 degrees, back foot straight forwards) and renoji dachi (front foot straight forwards, back foot out 30 degrees. If one learns to freely rotate both legs in the hip sockets so that you can go back and forth between sanchin and renoji dachi, then one can ultimately add that as part of the power generation in a shomen geri (along with the "normal" spine vs. pelvic tuck). Good kickers always have a bit of rotation of the support leg (and subsequent adjustment of the extending leg) as part of the kicking motion. So sanchin can be thought of as coiling the spring, so to write.

3) Rotating about the spine. Rather than thinking of the spine as a rod that is to be flexed and snapped back in a thrust, think of it as a spring that can be coiled (the way you wind the spring of a clock) and released. When you chamber in sanchin, bring the shoulder back just a bit, mostly with a leg/hip movement. Then when it's time to thrust, first snap the hips forward. Let that motion spread like a wave up the spine to the shoulders, where it comes out the arm to the hand. This is difficult to understand until you do it. However any good baseball pitcher does this. Just watch someone throw a baseball pitch in slow motion - frame by frame. Same thing for throwing a javelin. Good mechanics are good mechanics, no matter what the venue.

4) Yes, one can play with the upper body spine (straight thorax to thoracic kyphosis) a bit. But I see this more with striking motions (like an overhand shuto) than thrusting motions. And I see this as a final release of lower body coiling/releasing rather than a source of energy. To get preoccupied with this motion is to be too upper-body oriented - a big no-no in martial arts. The power should almost always start with muscles in the legs, hips, and around the center of gravity.

- Bill

[Van Canna]

Rotating about the spine. Rather than thinking of the spine as a rod that is to be flexed and snapped back in a thrust, think of it as a spring that can be coiled (the way you wind the spring of a clock) and released. When you chamber in sanchin, bring the shoulder back just a bit, mostly with a leg/hip movement. Then when it's time to thrust, first snap the hips forward. Let that motion spread like a wave up the spine to the shoulders, where it comes out the arm to the hand.

The power should almost always start with muscles in the legs, hips, and around the center of gravity.

Excellent. Bill and I determined that we think alike on this.

He is describing almost to a T _ my TC method.

Watching bill’s students in the recent Dan test was a sight to behold. Crisp power in kata and sparring, especially from positions they find “jostled” into as you would in a real fight.

Of all the methods I researched, I found this to be the best, as the most “natural” and the quickest to implement in the chaos of a fight needing to summons torque and whipping power along with body mass__ on a “DIME”

The methods requiring flexion of the limbs/joints, as good as they are, absent stress, don’t seem to work well when caught in the chemical cocktail, and that’s the real test i.e., does your kata mechanical work translate into reality on the streets, or do you go back to “primal flail” ?

I am sure Bill does the same, but in TC I add a strong “KIME” at target pass-through and not at first contact, an important distinction.

And I teach these mechanics in the strike as well as the blocks, that to me are attacks in “disguise”
Meaning in the “push” and in the “pull” for effective opponent control.

Yes, one can play with the upper body spine (straight thorax to thoracic kyphosis) a bit. But I see this more with striking motions (like an overhand shuto) than thrusting motions.

True. A good example of this, for anyone who understands such things, is Maloney’s performance.

His movements are more “pouncing” than anything else, and they are deadly never the less.

I wouldn’t wish a Maloney “hit” on anyone.

He dropped a biker coming at him with a knife, who went down like he had been shot by a gun.

[newguy]

3) Rotating about the spine. Rather than thinking of the spine as a rod that is to be flexed and snapped back in a thrust, think of it as a spring that can be coiled (the way you wind the spring of a clock) and released. When you chamber in sanchin, bring the shoulder back just a bit, mostly with a leg/hip movement. Then when it's time to thrust, first snap the hips forward. Let that motion spread like a wave up the spine to the shoulders, where it comes out the arm to the hand.

I've been taught to do Sanchin thrusts with a similar (though not indentical) movement. As the striking arm is chambered, the hip is 'cocked' forward. It remains cocked forward until the elbow of the striking arm clears the body - at which point the hip snaps back to 'neutral', creating a whipping motion of the arm.

[KerryM]

smiling:

you've all given examples of the "physical" whipping. What about the "whipping" motion maybe being part of the "spiritual" end. Granted the example at first was referring to the art of a whipping motion- but maybe in Uechi- the whipping is elsewhere.

whip up your anger to fuel the fire/power/strength

The electricl force running through the body- some referr to as "chi" maybe be used to add a "whip like force" maybe to a balanced kick/punch...

What do you all think? Just a thought-

K

[Bill Glasheen]

I think the dragon can be thought of in many ways - just like a really good technique in a kata. Your book gets into the dragon as spirit metaphor. There's also the dragon as master of footwork (undulating stepping).

- Bill

[KerryM]

Yes- balance too- It's kind of difficult to tag one animal- to any particuliar part of Uechi as they all can contrtibute say for instance anger and it's management could be a tiger trait as well as a dragon- same with crane and dragon and tiger to balance... ya know- but I tend to view the dragon with that part which we can not see, those parts which are more spiritual and emotional, being that not many of us have ever actual physically seen a dragon persay- lol (cept those of us dealing with spousal anger lol)

LOL
K