Shaun mentioned that it would be good to discuss bunkai and I agree. I have my own take on application…but that is for later.
It makes sense to start at the beginning, however, Matt has mentioned the kyusho in 3 kata…I would love to have the discussion start there. If anyone wants to start with another form just say so. Once we get started I think it might be best to stick to one form at a time.
Matt jump in with 3 please….
Well, since you asked about three – consider the ‘strangest’ section. There is the twist stance / tiger claw and twist stance / immortal man section. I saw a judo video on a choke preparation drill using a push-pull motion to turn an opponent (think sleeve and collar grab), and then the claw part works well to work points on the face while the uplifted elbow on the rear arm helps trap a hyperextended arm. Similarly, the immortal man section can do a similar job to the temporal-mandible joint or the eye as the near immortal man hits a Lung point or just the GTO above the elbow, again using the raised rear elbow to trap the opponent’s arm.
Nice Matt. Thank you. One thing I loved about my judo instructor was that he would almost always show us two ways to do a technique. He would say this is the competition way…then this is how you would do it in the street. I had not seen the hyperextension on the elbow. Have you explored this form with ground work? Do you consider this form to have pressure point activations in it?
One of my favourite moves in this form is the “pull” sweep of the leg with the follow up side thrust kick. It was initially taught to me as an escape (after the three kicks not the baby crescent to the knee before the jump kick) then counter. But at some point in my practice I saw the leg manipulation. It works well in kempo sparring (not point sparring) and is really quite a surprising move.