One for all you Gojuka, I recently started learning Suparenpei at a weekend course but didn't get far and i am forgetting it already. The thing is, i'd like to learn it, it did used to be part of Ohtsuka's Wado but was dropped. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good book on this kata and maybe some good YouTube videos? I have some background in Goju from a few years ago, so have a grasp of basic principles but as much detail as possible (breathing etc.) would be useful. I know this is not the best way to do it but I can't see any chance of me getting any actual dojo instruction anytime soon. Cheers.
Did you learn it at a Wado course? Most suggest that although Otsuka dabbled with Suparenpei in the early days, it was never taken seriously as part of the system and dropped fairly early on. Some of the old guard in Japan are said to be aware of it and I have some footage of Arakawa Takamasa performing it (about 10+ years ago), but I would suggest that it is a wadofied version of the ****o-ryu kata and not the goju version. I can't share the Arakawa vid with you (as it is not my property), but it looked very similar to this guys... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxA-n0WUvvA"]Suparimpei Wado Franck - YouTube[/ame] There is a rare publication (only in Japanese) by Hakoishi sensei and he apparently features Suparenpei in that, but I haven't seen it so can't comment about its content. Gary
I've never seen how this kata would have fitted in with Wado. I do know though that Yamaguchi and Ohtsuka were good friends and shared the same training space after the bombings. So maybe it was no more than that, Ohtsuka looking at some of the Goju teachings, rather than actually adding it to his style?
It doesn't and that's the crux of it. I had a go at learning it a few years ago, but just really for a bit of fun. In fact, I trained once with Hakoishi sensei in Germany, where the headline act was meant to be him teaching it. When it came to it however, he declined, stating that he couldn't really remember it and it wasn't important anyway. That just about sums it up for me and to be honest, when I look back on it, it was a distraction.
Thanks for input guys but to be honest i'm not really bothered about whether Suparenpei fits with Wado or not, in fact my intention is to learn it for the techniques not usually practiced in Wado. Let me clarify my position, if i'm teaching Wado then I stick to principles, techniques and training methods that I understand to be Wado as I have learned it. When i'm learning and teaching self defence applications I will learn and train and teach whatever techniques seem to me to be practical and effective and i'm not concerned whether they're Wado or not. In this case i'm primarily interested in the short range/double hip/Sanshin stance work in Suparenpei, partly because short range is my chief area of interest and partly because of a nostalgic attachment to Goju from my previous training in it. As Shodan, I am currently revisiting all my kata, particularly Naifhanchi and Seishan, both of which involve a lot of work with inner circular stances similar to sanchin. I know that I don't necessarily need to learn a whole kata to understand and train some of its content, but i'd just like to do it. Now, it'd debateable whether i'll be able to get what I want from learning the Kata this way, I certainly don't expect to able to perform the kata to competition standard and don't intend to teach it to others, but maybe be able to understand and teach some of its principles? I started learning it from a second Dan at our club who had attended a course in Birmingham recently, organized by the Japanese Social Association (??) through Sensei Martin Clements of FEKO. I don't think it was an exclusively Wado gathering. I understand that the kata used to be performed by Koji Okumachi, one time Wadokai Japan coach, but I have no idea of how different/Wado-ised his version was. The opening moves of the version I started learning was definitely more Goju than Wado- start off feet together, left hand over right palm downwards, palms turned up and and then down again then step into Sanchin stance, outer block chudan with each hand etc So if you can think of any books or videos that might help me, please let me know. Thanks.
Does your group practice Kihon Gumite Arthur King? The reason I ask is because (when practiced in conjuntion with Naihanchi, Seishan and Chinto in particular) this will cover a lot of the area you are looking into ie short range power generation. Gary
Thanks Gary, yes we do Kihon Gumite and I can see what you're getting at but it's not quite the same, our Kihons are mostly in Tate Seishan, a much wider stance than Sanshin, it just doesn't have the same feel, much more like Naifhanchi in fact. I like the opening moves of Suparenpei and presume they're something akin to Peter Consterdine's double hip? I have found Suparenpei in a Don Warrener book on Amazon, but I don't know anything about him as a martial artist, or if the section on the kata is any good. Mostly I just like the idea of trying to learn a non-standard Wado kata, what have I got to lose??
