Kata to bunkai or bunkai to kata?

I don't teach kids unless they have innate restraint and respectful qualities and they will learn with the adults.

Bunkai means to take apart and "oyo" means to apply.

As far as teaching, the kata and the oyo are the same. I use each minute part of the kata as a reference point, showing the mechanics of the movement, and how it is applied. It's a sort of reverse-engineering. There are variations, uses against left or right attack, positive as well as negative movement. Then I teach the tuidi and kyusho oyo, etc.

By the time the particular lesson is over, the student has a correct understanding of the technique and is able to discover things on his own within that technique. They understand applications might be effective, whether they are attacked with hands and elbows or feet and knees. They learn that the movements apply no matter your environment, or on your feet or on your back.

It is advanced training from day one.

The kata is the combat and the combat is the kata.

In my instruction, "kata" and "technique" are interchangeable.

Edit:

Thumbs down? Really?

Because I have a method of teaching?

Whoever you are, you're really lost.

Edit:

@chris.. that answer from a guy who supports training where the student is charged $150 & up monthly? Really pathetic. The reason you feel the way you do is because you don't have any training. Again, showing hostility towards something in which you don't have an understanding... yes, stupid.

My early instructors taught Kata and the self-defense was never talked about as being from the Kata. Now I know that my early instructors did not know the bunkai fro the Kata they taught us. As I began to learn from people that understood what Kata Bunkai really was, I was able to go back to the Kata and find that they were indeed in them. At some point I became able to look at my Kata and find new hidden applications on my own.

As for teaching students. I teach both Kata and self-defense applications. The students may, but usually are not aware that the self-defense applications I teach them come out of the Kata. I'm' not concerned with them knowing early on that the applications for self-defense are hidden in the Kata. That way they don't get hung up on trying to make the two agree. After they have trained for a while and the Kata begins to get good, I then start showing them where the self-defense techniques are hidden in Kata they already know.

You mentioned Kids and Adults. That is not a problem for me since I do not teach kids. If I did teach kids the students that are olde enough and mature enough to work with adults (on an Adult level) would be allowed in the adult classes. (But then they would no longer be considered members of the childrens classes.) so again there is no problem. to put immature children in with Adults will only cause students to drop out. You will lose Adults that don;t want to be slowed down by children in the classes. Some children will drop out because they can't deal with the adults effectively.

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Hi there First off i need to agree a great question that requires proposal which is a very infrequent factor for this situation. The best way i see it there are two very special matters occurring with Bunkai and that is theres the predefined method of doing it that fits the kata. That is the usual aptitude of five or six attackers surrounding tori and also you going by way of the motions. This fashion of practice is satisfactory for learning your ABC's ie using it for passing gradings etc but it surely doesnt educate you the appliance or more importantly the ideas embodied deep inside them. Karate is without any doubt a chinese art in that it includes very huge types. That is some thing you dont get in Koryu eastern arts which include three or four strikes max. The key to those types is as you will have already mentioned is to strip them appart utilising the procedures to permit variant (henka) in a true combating application referred to as shiken gata. The entire phrases you have described are embodied in the feeling of the technqiue. Henka allows you the freedom to do that and i almost always consider that alot may also be learned from practising the varieties off steadiness, messy and with uke performing unpredictable action as they attack. Afterall that is how its going to be carried out for real. I've consistently mentioned that varieties are lost on a practitioner who simply goes by means of the motions of step-by-step movement with none notion or individual input. No one must be painting through numbers after 10 to 20 years coaching. They should be learning the good stuff that cant be obvious and you simplest gain knowledge of this from version of application. Shiken gata or real fighting application isnt about aggression or ragging anyone around. Its about direct center of attention with minimal action. Getting the job finished with the proper intent! There aren't any secrets within the kata as is frequently acknowledged in city myths! Fighting is and will continuously be simplistic! Fairly comfortably when you test with them in a realistic method their meanings start to end up apparant. A backward engineering of the types so that you can speak! Understanding the history of the kata and where its come from and the place we at the moment are can also be an problem. The names of the kata maintain some significance. Most significantly the japanese arts were all formalised lengthy after they have been wanted. The formalisation and making the humanities perfect to the japanese public broken their ture that means and thus most of the feeling behind them was lost. The thing we're all guilty of at some stage is being what i name prim and propper. In many instances we feel we are being authentic to the kata when correctly we cheating ourselves via clinging to the rails. We all move another way and the humanities without problems furnish the frame work. They don't provide the rails! I wont go into the reason of the terms as it could take a as an alternative long post to try this. What i'll say is these terms are all integrated into the sensation of the artist and their action. Sadly freedom seems to take a lifetime of follow? But all of us find it irresistible particularly? ;-) just my ideas satisfactory desires idai

It has been said there is no standard way to teach. I agree and respectfully disagree on a certain level. There are many layers to bunkai. You can't or shouldn't attempt to teach certain layers to a beginner. They will not have the eye and hand coordination to accomplish the goal under pressure. They will not have to confidence to get in close and use good technique. You need to learn the technique before you learn how to apply the technique. There are many drills that we use when teaching. These drills are part of the bunkai taken from kata. It is not apparent to many that these drills are from the kata unless it is pointed out where it is in the kata. You can teach martial arts without teaching kata. Kata is a great tool used by skill individuals. Kata allow you to practice your art even when you do not have a partner to practice against. It allows you to still develop muscle memory to the techniques that are in you training. Then you later learn how to apply these techniques with a partner. You lay a strong foundation and build from there.

Learning a martial art is all about context.

Bunkai in the martial term is the application of kata, how can you understand the applications of something you don't know, that's like analyzing a fight that you never actually saw.

There is a lot to be said for setting the scenario first, it's easier to appreciate kata when you have fighting experience than it is when you don't but you can supplement that with a demonstration. If you've ever watched a person try to animate a fight by them-self it looks stupid and funny but if you were there and saw the fight yourself their movements actually begin to make a bit of sense, kata is somewhat the same.

I was never much of a teacher but if I had to deal with kids while I explained bunkai I kept the group in motion. Adults might not like the movement while they're trying to make sense of what you're saying but the kids will grow bored and get restless and distract everyone.

I really go back and forth with this and it largely depends on the technique to some extent. Knife hand strikes (shutos) are a good example of what I am saying and by the time a student started their green belt training they were learning intermediate kata that included that technique. However I would not actually teach them bunkai related to it because I wanted them to continue to focus on practicing their close handed, striking and punching techniques and the bunkai related to that. Once they entered their blue belt training then I would begin teaching them those bunkai related to the various methods of striking with a knife hand strike and the kata that they had already learned.

Conversely I would teach related bunkai for some basic aspects like punching, stances, and blocking almost right away. That way they learned that everything had a purpose and practical application associated with it that they were being taught and required to practice in class and develop. This then helped create additional motivation for them early on to practice things and develop them to the highest level possible and foster that attitude in them. Sometimes that was so much so that a student would ask me something or want to rush forward learning the bunkai if that was instead taught secondly or later on down the road. Rooted stances and learning to draw power up from the floor under you and your legs was a good example of that and how sometimes students and fighters would ask me how I could hit so hard even though I was not at the optimum range, having full extension of a punching technique.

As for teaching kids and adults together I would not allow children to attend an adult class until they had shown the proper level of dedication and maturity. Some of my more immature intermediate students were forced to remain in the children's class for this reason. They of course would also be taken aside and told why this was and ways to correct their behavior or modify their approach and once that was corrected then they would be welcomed into my intermediate and advanced classes which had children as young as 10-11 years of age. This way any adults in those classes did not have their training and progress slowed or stymied by the presence of younger children in the class.

At the same time there are I think certain things you don't teach or expose younger children to and chokes are a good example of that. These were not taught until the advanced ranks to anyone and a student's maturity in martial arts and their training rather than their chronological age was the primary factor under consideration in regards to that. Chokes would not even be taught in my adult beginners class for this reason.

In closing I only had a few younger students who were not allowed to move up to the intermediate and advanced classes when they reached those ranks. Usually after some counseling and them modifying their approach and work ethic over several months they usually were able to move out of the children's class and up to those more advanced classes without creating a negative impact in much of anyway. If you ask any 8-10 year old they will usually tell you that they don't want to continue attending the children's class once they achieve some rank. Its a real de-motivator for them if they have to and usually instead they want to go to those more advanced classes. If they can work at that level and are mature enough in their approach to things then there really is not much reason why they can't be included in an intermediate or advanced group composed of both adults and children. At the white belt or beginners level though this will not work so well and so at those levels they were always separated.

yes that is all correct

there is no single right or wrong way to do it

i usually teach kata first, and will on occasion teach a simple bunkai with it. i always break the kata down into at least 3 to 4 sections when teaching it, i dont always teach the entire kata during one class. depending upon the length and complexity of the kata i might break it down into two or three classes.

as the students progress i give them more and more of the bunkai.

you also have to judge on how the students will take the bunkai. ei beginner students wont be ready for advance application.

i also dont always tell them im teaching them bunkai until after i have. a lot of the self defense i teach comes from kata they dont know yet. but that does not mean they cant learn a few movements from that kata that are with in there grasp of comprehension.

you have to feel your class out and know what they are capable of learning.

i have walked into seminars expecting to teach x bunkai to the group only to look at them and have to redo my entire seminar on the fly so they can grasp it. it they cant grasp the technique there is no point in going further in-depth with it

There is no standard way as Kokoro said. The kata are broken into segments to learn them, and basic bunkai is taught. As you advance your training, the bunkai changes. Or, more correctly it expands.

I teach the basic movements first, and very basic (punch/block/kick) bunkai to beginners. The bunkai advances as you do.

With all sincerity ask yourself, does it really matter? Show them this show them that, in the end it makes no difference to the poor kid doing it. It's not like you are going to find new hidden applications from any of this. The only thing hidden is the money taken from the parents each month. I say make it more of an event and just cardiograph the lion king with them and have them put on a show for the parents. I see no difference.