Now where were we.... Colin, The video you submitted for review... I think the demonstrator showed an extreme amount of "animal force" in his techniques... He must be a Monkey Style expert! I wonder if he is taking on students... I hear he can demand the "top banana" price for his appearances!!! Okay, Okay I will stop now... JoeV.
Did you get to see the ones from our New York branch? I thought they might be interesting to you guys as they showed a number of different aspects of our training as well as some complete embu’s, the previous ones only showed sections. The videos demonstrated what I think are differences or individual characteristics of Shorinji Kempo to other arts. The use of body dodging in kihon to evade an imagined attack before doing the technique and our method of ukemi are two obvious ones. Please don’t think I will be offended if you question why something is done the way it is, it is why I posted the videos. Shorinji Kempo, like your kenpo is based purely on science and body mechanics and there is generally a sound reason why everything is done the way it is, sometimes it may not be obvious though.
I will be going back and trying to get your NY branch's videos... I had some trouble when I went there last. I see a lot of sense in how your style moves... I will post more after I look at the NY vids. Peace to you! JoeV.
New Video Link My son found this link. http://www.crunchmedia.com/Media/Videos/index.htm Click on the link and then go to the video titled "When Kenpo Strikes" I do not know the lineage but the material is presented in an excellent manner. Kinda brings back the old days for me! Let me know what you think! JoeV.
Colin, I got a chance to view the videos from your New York branch. Wow, some excellent ukemi skills were shown. The only thing I could not make out was the blocks the female uke was using against the knife attack. I always prefer to use the outside of the forearm for knife blocks. There are less blood vessels on the outside. I see how the body shifting comes to play and why. I did not see any o uchi gari throws...Are these to basic for the demonstrators? JoeV.
In general we use the inside area of the forearm as it is more heavily padded. The hand and fingers are pulled back to naturally tense the ligament and add a triangulation to the structure, to make it stronger without using effort, or setting up tension within the moving limb. This helps make a faster action. In the case of lady performing the demonstration she chose to use a conventional ****a uke, and it would be OK providing you were only deflecting the movement and targeting the forearm. Another form of uke for this is a modified one were the same basic movement is performed, but the kyusho shinmon is attacked with a shoken strike (hammer fist). At higher levels the same movement that the lady uses can blend with the force and allows the wrist to be captured and kote nage preformed. I think when Doshin So developed his art he taught many lower level techniques in a certain way because the same concept and body mechanics were used in higher level techniques, thus creating stepping stones and useful techniques in the one go. On a side note my old teacher Todoroki sensei, told me that just after WW2, when Doshin So and his students persuaded the Yakuza to leave Tadotsu, they had had many confrontations with knife and sword wielding Yakuza. The way they handled this was to tape iron bars down the inside of their forearms. Knifes are a problem; I can understand the merit of limiting possible damage. My favourite technique when confronted by a knife is the hundred-meter sprint. Leg reaps are used in some embu’s. It just depends on the two students, as they are the ones that design them. I think in general many kenshi feel that they are not as spectacular as nage waza. I have seen some very good embu’s that have included them though.
I like much of kicking in that clip, nice mawashi geri and soto geri. It was interesting to see popular music used as a sales tool (or is it kempo as a sales tool for the music?). In Japan there are Shorinji Kempo cartoons and magazines used in much the same way. There is very much a mix of influences within this. Is it normal for you guys to use the kung fu wooden dummy? I don’t think it would work for us. I have noticed in a few demonstrations the attacker will sometimes hold position while a number of counter attacks are delivered, is this normal? If so is there a purpose for it? When we practice together it is not uncommon at lower levels for the attacker to not withdraw the attacking limb immediately to allow the defender time to learn the targeting of the counter. This will change as students become more familiar with the technique. In the higher kyu grade ren han ko is used. This is where the attacker has attacked and the defender carries out a defence. Our counters usually only have a couple of set strikes to the technique. After the defence has been completed, but without stopping or interrupting the flow the defender continues with whatever attacks they like, as long as it is the one string of combinations. The attacker now has to counter these. A rough translation of ran han ko is half chaos, meaning half the technique is known while half is not known. Perhaps you have a similar method of integrating rehearsed with unrehearsed actions?
Joe V, By the way, I appreciate the opportunity to help bring some understanding of Shorinji Kempo into this forum. I don’t often get the chance to talk directly about it. I also appreciate the opportunity to gain a better understanding of your art.
Most of the Hawiian Based Kempo I am familiar with, does include a high degree of "live training". Ukemi, nage waza, te waza, katame waza are all in the system I currently study (a branch of Karazenpo Go Shinjitsu via GM Pesare, Prof. Nick Cerio, and GM Villari). It is an ecclectic blend of many influences and IMHO I think has a lot in common with your style as well... No need to thank me Sir! I thank you for sharing your lineage and putting up such great links! Funny thing about the "iron bars on the inside of the forearms" If you knew there were going to be knives involved. My Uncle taught me that very same trick! Your Founder was a wise man! The best defense against a knife is a gun as far as I am concerned Second best defense is: pullout my knife. Kinda gives the tori something to think about. :woo:
I was looking for those ones, I remembered seeing them but couldn’t remember where. They are demonstrated by kenshi form Sweden. One of them is Anders Pettersson, the mod for the Shorinji Kempo forum on ebudo. I believe he is about 5th dan, this is quite high and uncommon for westerners in Shorinji Kempo. These are not the normal type of embu we do, but rather demonstrations of individual technique. They also demonstrate how we use bogu for more than just randori practice.
