Can someone explain the meaning of this term to me? Does it mean the application of a kata or something?
The Bunkai is the explanation of the kata. Look on this link, there's a Bunkai of the kata Gankaku (shotokan) by the Italian Kata Team. Go to : www.karatebond.nl then click on: ONK 2004 and then click on: Finalepartij Team Italie Bunkai Kata Gangaku (5,9mb)
Yeah, you do the kata, it looks pretty, but no real use. The bunkai you learn is someone's interpretation of the moves in that kata. Basically, the real life self defence application of it. Eventually when you are advanced enough to stop doing the bunkai move for move, you change it up, or find something better to do with the kata, and then create your own interpretation of that kata. (We have to do our own bunkai for the BB test, which is still a ways off for me)
You're right. Everybody has his own bunkai. It's something you create. On competitions you see a lot of different bunkai's from the same kata's.
So a bunkai is a variation, what the individual sees as an improvement on the kata, for what they consider it is for?
A bunkai is the explination of a kata. They explain the techniques from the kata in the bunkai through a sort of demonstration. Through putting it in a fight. For example.
You need to keep in mind that every Kata that was made by a master has bunka application behind it and usually multiple variations of bunkai. So it's not just something you make up, it's already there and you just found one of the ways to do it. Bunkai - take apart; disassemble. That's the japanese translation of bunkai.
You are right. Most teachers describe Bunkai and the 'application of the kata'. The moves in a Kata are your defence and attack moves against imaginary attacker(s). When you perform a block in the kata, you are blocking an imaginary kick or punch from an attacker(s). When you perform a punch or a kick, you are aiming them at an attacker(s). etc. Your Kata performances will be helped greatly if as well a learning the correct moves, timing, focus, power etc etc, you actually imagine that you are blocking real kicks and punches and that you are landing kicks and punches on the attacker(s), instead of just moving your hands and feet to the correct positions. Cheers.
This was posted by MAPper Jamie Thompson on another thread, in response to a similar question from myself. Interesting link, worth a browse.
Useful though this information is I'm going to play devil's advocate.... ....Bunkai and Oyo are Japanese terms. Karate kata are Okinawan in origin, not Japanese. To my knowledge Okinawan arts did not use these terms in the past. So, to be pedantic, bunkai and oyo are not terms that should strictly be applied to karate kata. That said, I use the terms myself. Sometimes I've been berated for using them 'incorrectly'. But as they are being used out of context anyway that's a rather moot point in my opinion. Mike
So what words did the Okinawans use when they talked about the applications of thier kata? And were the terms 'bunkai' and 'oyo' used by the Japanese to refer to elements and applications of Okinawan kata? Because if they were, what's wrong with using them to refer to kata... like we use the English word 'application'... now who's being pedantic?
To the best of my knowledge they would just say something like "it could mean this" or "it could mean that". I'm nothing if not a pedant There's nothing wrong in Japanese people using those terms. However, I've been lectured before now on their 'proper' use regarding karate kata. My contention is that they have no proper use when talking about karate kata. The terms were fitted by Japanese to an Okinawan training device (ie. kata) which they did not fully understand. That said, I think they can be useful terms. I use them in the following way: Bunkai - application of the kata movement in a practical setting Oyo - extension of the bunkai, eg. what you might do next Strictly speaking these are inappropriate definitions of the terms, but strictly speaking the terms shouldn't be applied to karate kata anyway. So I don't think it really matters, as long as you can make yourself understood when discussing the subject of kata application. Confusedly, Mike
Mike, Lectured by who and what was the outcome, if any? Can you expand on that ... what does kata mean in the Okinawan sense of the word and what are the differences between the initial Japanese understanding and the Okinawans training device which would negate their usefulness to us Westeners (In your opinion or course )? Jamie
Hi Jamie Can't remember the names, but basically several people on internet discussion forums, most likely the cyberdojo if memory serves me right. The outcome was that I shut up and bowed to their greater wisdom because at the time I wasn't aware that their wisdom was flawed. I seem to recall reading / being told that historically the Okinawans didn't even use the term 'kata', but I can't recall where I picked that up so I couldn't comment on the truth of it. First let me state that I don't regard myself as an expert on the way Okinawans view(ed) their fighting arts. I've merely picked up what I can from various different sources. That said, I'm pretty confident of the following: The primary focus of Okinawan Karate is self-defence - or at least it was historically. Nowadays there is much influence from the Japanese mainland on the way that some Karate in Okinawa is practiced. The primary focus of Japanese Karate was originally self-development. I recently read one of Kanazawa's books in which he describes, after a trip to train in Okinawa, coming to exactly the same conclusion. This change in focus was clearly Funakoshi's intent in some of the many changes he made to Karate in the 20's and 30's. In Funakoshi's 'Karate-do: My Way of Life' he states "The karate that high school students practice today is not the same karate that was practiced even as recently as ten years ago, and it is a long way indeed from the karate that I learned when I was a child in Okinawa." So how was it different? We know that the old style karate was based around the practice of kata. I believe that the purpose of kata is to teach powerful and ergonomic methods of moving, together with examples of how those movements might be applied in combat. So as well as practicing the movements of the kata, one needs to practice practical (not stylised or ritualistic) applications of those movements with a partner. Contrast this with the way most of the early pioneers of karate taught in Japan. Applications of the kata were rarely taught. The movements of karate generally become larger and more dynamic (take a look at Funakoshi's 1925 Rentan Goshin Karate Jitsu for confirmation of this). The purpose of kata was changed from a means of polishing one's fighting ability to polishing one's spirit. The applications became unnecessary to achieve this end. Since that time many Japanese (and then westerners) have tried to understand the kata in combative terms. This has been profoundly difficult because of the changes in kata performance and the fact that they were never taught any practical applications in the first instance. So then you get the myths appearing which we're both familiar with, Tekki for fighting on the narrow paths in paddy fields and so on. In my opinion the end result is that you eventually get two quite different martial arts: the original Okinawan methods of self-defence and the later Japanese methods of self-development. The two look similar when watching solo practice. But it is only when you see partner work of some description that you begin to see the profound differences between the two. In our dojo we attempt to follow at least the spirit of the former Okinawan methods. Students of modern Karate and similar arts who've come along and trained with us have very rapidly put aside any idea that they might be able to cross-grade to their current kyu grade. They quickly see that they are starting in a whole new art and need to start from the bottom and work up. Does this all make some sort of sense? Mike
Mike I'm at the work at the minute, but I'll read your response later (without the usual hassles) and get back to you. Cheers Jamie
