Kururunfa Bunkai for Goju Ryu

[@markfisher2683]

Most excellent “ Segue with Che”, btw. It’s THOSE seemingly “little “ nuanced observations regarding, respecting, but also putting into pointed perspective the reasons as to why we continue to train kata, bunkai, and their over all benefits. Fair and even perspective like this is a necessity to remind us to keep searching for those civilian defense ( some TRULY creative;) possibilities. And that’s why I continue to happily watch your channel. Thanks as always.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thanks For the comments mark, it keeps us working to try produce more Che

[@Burvedys]

Oh, my favorite show on BBC (Brian-Breaking Channel)! Looking forward to more seasons.

[@danielehrhardt5504]

Simply great :) I had a good laugh.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

I wonder if we rework a bbc logo it it will work

[@nickyjohnson3618]

Awesome video, Sensei Ché. I also like the idea of teaching / learning bunkai first or in between learning Kata to enhance understanding as to why we are doing what we are doing. I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate your videos. They are very helpful.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Glad it resonates Hope to see you in the dojo sooner than later

[@chejagger1]

Rather late than never Thanks to Brian , he who speaks in sub titles And Zoe Sensei who has made magic Lots of work still on our side

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

We just keep on at it

[@markfisher2683]

Greetings, Sensei (plural;)! I don’t believe I ever thought to ask this before, or have seen others ask, but do you have a few “ test runs” for these “ bunkai breakdown” videos? It seems quite “off the cuff”(not a bad thing;)…..but I was just curious. And a Hardy congratulations to you ( your Dojo;) for the 15K milestone-btw! Wonderful to see all your hard work, and honest no nonsense dedication to this channel continue to get rewarded;)! Have a great weekend!

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

All of the clips are shot once I doubt it would flow if I planned it So yip it’s off the cuff Che

[@eduardoserrano-lobelo4405]

Sensei. Thank you so much for your videos. It brought me back to my GojuRyu roots, and I’m able to teach the katas to my wadoryu dojo son for kata competitions. Result is that he has been national Swiss champion regularly. Really appreciate you and hope to visit South Africa soon to visit your dojo. Oss

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Ah that is so amazing to hear! Congratulations on his amazing achievements! I have been so fortunate to visit beautiful Switzerland - if you are ever in South Africa, we would be so overjoyed if you dropped in at our little dojo ❤️🇿🇦

[@micheledannunzio5592]

Really good Sensei! Thanks

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thanks Glad you appreciated it

[@labocinadephilihq6397]

Thanks for sharing sensei. This bunkai of this kata is the most clearly that I have seen.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Ah, you are so welcome! I personally love this kata, even if I have just barely started scratching the surface of it 🙇🏻‍♀️ Zoë

[@Burvedys]

These kata with omitted -te are all numbers in their names: 36 (sanseru), 18 (sepai), 13 (seisan), 108 (suparimpei). Initially this meant a number of core combinations in a kata. Simple (I've counted but it's more easily done in Uechi than Goju, hence I said initially). Of course, original crane-derivative kata are sanchin (as heishu-gata or basic in a sense of gamaku and chinkuchi or to build structure and create dynamics), sanseru (as kaishu-gata or main fighting combinations), seisan (as fukyu-gata or demonstration at fairs and promotions kata) and suparimpei (as advanced for a "master" which has all other kata in it, too). Then sepai (18 hands) was added as a soft-side to a hard sanseru (half of 36, by the way as saifa is a travel-size). As sanchin is not about numbers per se (and no battles my arse; three is a number of structural tensions from initial crane that we train with chiishi, i.e. tsuki and chudan-uke, except a "frame" as a third is a kind of "lost" now, even you may see it spread in tora-guchi, while our street-cousins in their Uechi-ryu still have it as basic kamae), so seiyunchin and shisochin were added to train three sorts of different power generations (sanchin is about gamaku and hara; seiyunchin is grounded in shiko-dachi and draws power from the feet; and shisochin draws power from zenkutsu-dachi and koshi or turning hips which is hello to Shorin-ryu, too). Saifa and kururumfa are two other ways of achieving atifa or penetrating power (i.e. "smash the brian without a pause" vs "smash the brian with a prolonged agony", or whatever their names suggests translated now politely-correctly but incorrectly). Tensho (as a soft form of heishu-gata vs sanchin-gata) is renamed from rokkishu (or six palm forms; go ahead and count, it's a pure fun getting lost in maths). Gekisai both are created in 1940s just to make karate unified as well as Shorin-ryu's kata named fukyu and they all are very shotokan-like (although our are done with a go-ju flavor anyway because we rule!). Have I missed something? Now you know the secret, here is your menkyo kaiden, but what do I really know, of course... :o)

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Fantastic

[@matthews1082]

When I was acting as interpreter for Higaonna Sensi in Fujian China, about a decade ago, one of the last times he travelled to China to search for the roots of Goju-Ryu, several martial arts scholars pointed out that 108 is a common name in many Chinese martial arts of a certain lineage - Sanchin (3 battles) is the name of the fundamental kata - every school had a Sanchin and every Sanchin was slightly different - and when a student graduated from a school, he graduated with the Sanseru Kata (36 hands) and Sanseru simply was a name denoting the kata they needed to reach, in order to graduate - 12 years (the number of years in the Chinese Zodiac) times 3 (from Sanchin) - (12 years of practising Sanchin?). Again, Sanseru differed from School to School, it didn't have any significance as to the actual contents/techniques of the kata - simply meant the kata that denoted a person had reached "Shihan" level (in karate terminology). Then if a Master decided to break away to start a new style/school, he created a Suparimpei (108 hands) - that's the kata that signified his break-away - Suparimpei (108 = 3 X 36), was usually a combination of his Sanchin and his Sanseru, so it started with Sanchin, ended with Sanseru, but it'd showcase his own style in between - they said it was the old way Chinese martial arts used to evolve in the 19th Century and earlier - If Goju-Ryu has a 108, it means Kanryo Higaonna graduated and created his own style, created his own 108 to define his style. Other comments - Shisochin (4 Direction Battle), is also a standard kata in many Chinese Martial Arts - only difference is: In many Chinese martial arts they called it the ""number-10 Kata"" （十字拳）, because Number 10 looks like this in Chinese： 十. And that's the embusen of Shisochin. All it is, is a kata with Embusen in four directions, not 8 directions....sort of like the 4-direction Cut of Kenjutsu. Again most schools have a four-direction kata (as do most karate schools, some schools call it their version of a Kihon-Kata), but the techniques, the sequences differ from one style to another. Hope this makes sense!

[@Burvedys]

​@@matthews1082 : no, it doesn't. I'm sorry for being rude but please abandon your hope here. As I'll unsuccessfully seek mine in a single malt aged moonshine - otherwise, please shoot me when I start calling myself a "martial arts scholar" (because each time someone applies academic approach to a subject, all these caca de toro fairy tales falls down as a sand castle but I digress). What style teaches shisochin apart from Goju-ryu and Shito-ryu (Kenwa Mabuni being a friend of Chojun Miyagi)? :o)

[@matthews1082]

@@Burvedys Sure, of course you may not understand, especially if you are not Chinese (I don't know if you are), you won't understand the language or culture so that's only natural, so I am not offended by your rudeness :) But some one senior like Morio Higaonna didn't just consult anybody - the martial arts scholar was Professor Hu Jing Huan (胡金焕), Professor Emeritus in Martial Arts, at the Fujian Province University - and at the time of this meeting he was the President of the Fujian Province Martial Arts Association, holder of 9th Dan in Xing Yi Boxing, student of the famed Grandmaster Wan Lai Sheng 万籁声. We were at this place, about 15 years ago, long before Naka Tatsuya and Jesse Enkamp turned up: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mIDch3Z8i7WdpJo That's the oldest existing White Crane Dojo in the world, with Grandmaster Pan ChengMiao, who is this man: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZvIoammqbmNb9U and Master Su YingHan: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGPafpKDadCGirc and this man from Five Ancestor White Crane at 0:36 teaching Naka his kata kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6qQknmGhd-sfKM that's Master Zhang Xiao Feng, And a few other masters from Yong Tai Tiger, Quanzhou Feeding Crane etc. So, they were all friends of my late Sensei who was the IOGKF-China Chief Instructor, and so I followed them as an interpreter for Higaonna Sensei. Higaonna Sensei asked about Suparimpei, and Prof Hu and Master Su both explained that in the old days, Schools promoted students by teaching them kata (like we do in karate today), so they always started with Sanchin and by graduation they'd be taught Sanseru. 108 is the highest level kata - it defines the founding and naming of a new style/school. Master Pan also explained that Suparimpei is also called Paburen (八步连）meaning continuous 8-step.....because Sanchin Kamae looks like the number 8 (八）, so Suparimpei is often called continuous-Sanchin-Kamae in some schools. Then Master Zhang explained that the 3-36-108 was the old system that is no longer used today for promoting students, and when people start a new school nowadays, they don't have to create a new kata. He also said that in his style, Five-Ancestor White Crane, they have a system with 36-Constellation (三十六天罡）, 72-Constellation(七十二地煞, 108 techniques (一百零八法）- they are katas in his style, but also systems of techniques surrounding the kata that the disciples have to master - again 36 doesn't mean there are 36 techniques and 108-techniques doesn't mean there 108 techniques. This is the Grand-Ancestor White Crane Sanseru: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nXiqZJSJbqidpbc The grand-master of Yong-Tai Tiger fist added that, it's simply a Chinese tradition, 36 Constellations, 108-warriors, these come from Chinese lore and myths (which I knew what they were talking about-it comes from the Water Margin 水浒 y a medieval story of 108 warriors who banded together to rebel against a corrupt government - and these myths were used by Southern Chinese martial arts as a code during the early Qing (Manchu) Dynasty because many of them were part of the local resistance against the Manchu government). It doesn't mean there are 36 techniques, or turns or moves in the kata. When Nakamura Sensei demonstrated Shisochin Kata at the White Crane Dojo, the Chinese told me, that would be what they call Number 10 kata, because 10 is written 十.......and of course it was immediately apparent to me. It doesn't mean they teach the same Kata, move for move, it means they too have a 4 direction Kata, but instead of calling it 4-direction Kata, they call it the "十“ shape Kata. I have no reason to doubt these people who have spent 6 or 7 decades honing their art, especially when all, them hold the same opinion!

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

So much info I’m glad to read and research it as time allows. I two comments I have a world of knowledge, A debate no doubt and a subsequent longing to travel back and be a fly on the wall. Sadly much was lost due to war Thanks again for sharing all your insights

[@briansmith814]

That shureido fits Brian beautifully! Two Brian's!? Surreal 😲

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

He speaks Through comments too

[@jasonmorgan2799]

Thank you, Sensei.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Pleasure Jason

[@gojukobukan]

Nice job, Sensei Chinen Sensei would be proud👊🏽✌🏽

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

This is all we hope for! Zoe here - I never got to meet Sensei Chinen, but the way Ché speaks of him, it is a great pity that he is gone. But his spirit and work lives on in the work we do, across the world. We hope you will enjoy today's video - more on Sensei Chinen's teachings :)

[@jinbukanvenezuela6768]

Excelet congratulation, very good a deep kwnolege about GoJu

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thank you very much for the kind words! It is my honour to share what I have had the pleasure of learning 🙏🏻

[@yacinegtr5998]

Thank you so much master osss!

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

It a pleasure

[@Samlaren]

It is interesting how the bunkai differs, but still is kind of the same. ie the first movments until kansetsu geri is in the basic bunkai for Goju kai (IKGA): The attacker stands with left foot forward and does 2 punches Oi then yako. The uke does block, block, kansetsu geri to the back of the left knee. Gogen did a lot more of the cirkular, controlling movments than there is in the more "modern" IKGA.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Essentially we may only be 10-15 % apart , I think each Sensei brings something to the Bunkai melting pot, it’s about what works and what works for you

[@kevionrogers2605]

The block that is palm up & lifting can be used to brace the elbow or knock it up for a duck under & clearing the line to the armpit & flank.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thanks for sharing Will try it out that way

[@grilledcuttlefish9837]

Great video as always, sensei. I was wondering, what rank/ level do you start teaching the more pragmatic bunkai to students? I feel like “advanced” bunkai shouldn’t be reserved for advanced students, since they are more useful than most basic bunkai, but that is the way most schools seem to operate. I agree that the understanding should come first and technical aspects of kata later, so I want to hear your thoughts. Looking forward to more content!

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Hi there Karate is meant to be fun too, so it’s important to have classes that teach more pragmatic ideas and Bunkai . Here we deviate from the canon of the school, but rather plant the seeds of the future, we revisit these ideas from time to time to “water” them Happy holidays Che

[@joelquebec]

Sanseiru-te = 36 hands; Seipai-te = 16 hands; Seisan-te = 13 hands. These are from 沖縄口, ウチナーグチ Uchinaa-guchi, Okinawan language, but written in Japanese kanji. Kururunfa, 久留頓破, is probably my favorite kata even though it's not in my system, Shorin Kenpo (Seibukan) where Seisan is my favorite. I have competed with both and I love the bunkai of both.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thanks for Sharing Very useful info I look forward to any other gems you may leave with us Che

[@blackreddemon666]

Ladies and Gentlemen, here can you see the weekly kneading of brian.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

The more you knead the dough the better the bread

[@Vlad.1964]

ХОРОШАЯ КАТА!!!!...СУПЕР!!!! И ПОЯСНЕНИЕ К НЕМУ!!!!...

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thank You for leaving a comment

[@amalioalvarez2923]

Excelente ponencia de bunkai!! Gracias Saludos desde Uruguay

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thank you so so much for these kind words! Bunkai is the meat of karate - Kata make up the bones 💪

[@stevegray4012]

Hi Che, another great vid, do you have any thoughts on using Kyusho as part of the bunkai

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Hi Steve I think there is a strong emphasis on it already, but it’s subtlety is lost, I do however think it’s not just about the light touching or a little prodding that makes it work. I think in many typical Goju Bunkai we are actively attacking vital areas, often aggressively, this is reinforced by what was once very rigorous hojo undo I hope this helps Che

[@jonasjpm1989]

legal

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Arigato

[@Kris2024-m6w]

😊😁😂 kebanyakan Spike, gerakan nya di ulang2, lagi , ga efisien durasinya brou molor2, 😊😁😂👋

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

👍

[@oldschoolkarate-5o]

🙏🏽👍🏽oos

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thanks

[@pressloh]

Very nice, different technics🤩

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

I love Kururunfa - what a beautiful and devastating kata 😍

[@koshinryukempo3570]

Yet another 'bottler' from our GRKC crew! Really appreciate all the subtleties and insights you share so generously. No mystery why you have 15k followers. How about a dedicated 'crash-test deshi' video montage of Brian's greatest 'hits'? And great to have Zoë 'Plus One' Sensei back on deck and cracking wise with the witty quips.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

I think a montage of Brian’s Dechi life is a great idea, he is part of our reason for success

[@FirstDan2000]

Watching this a year later and it's fun to see my comments on screen. I'm famous. Or infamous? I was watching the end just now where Sensei Che shows the kata board, and started thinking about the kata with the silent Te. (Ooh that sounds deadly - the way of the silent hand). I had become convinced that this only applied to Chinese named kata (since the Te suffix is only following a Chinese number ). And I just read another comment where someone mentioned the Okinawan language Uchinaa Guchi and remembered hearing about the language becoming almost unspoken/extinct from an attempt to wipe out the Okinawan language in favour of speaking Japanese - I can remember descriptions of family members being afraid to speak Okinawan even in private, public humiliation of Okinawan speakers was also described until the language became like a taboo. So I'm wondering if the silent Te is linked to all of this. Not necessarily a karate reason, more of a cultural one. I know that the word Te isn't exclusive to Okinawa - I actually think older dialects and Chinese would say Ti or Di (if I remember correctly) I'm not claiming to be right about any of this, just describing a bit of a hunch, after remembering some recent podcasts. I'd love to be right. P.s. my jaw dropped during the bunkai demonstration when Sensei Che showed the possibility of two attackers. The laugh muscle quickly picked my jaw up when 2 Brian's appeared on screen.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

You know, Ché actually asked this exact question when he was in Okinawa and no one had an answer. I think you are very, very much hitting the nail on the head here. In this obsession with making karate "compliant" with Japanese culture for acceptance, and now to make it acceptable for the MMA crowd (ugh) the history is being increasingly forgotten and ignored. The founders of karate didn't exist in a vacuum, and the environment karate sprang up in will definitely affect its presentation. Removing the 'te' to make it less Chinese/Okinawan would make perfect sense. PS: I had completely forgotten about that edit - I haven't had as much fun editing lately. I hope to get back into it now, especially that we are re-establishing our routine. As always, a pleasure seeing you in our comments!