Stomping in kata?

This kata is our 2nd kata in Matsubayashi ryu.

This was created by the founder of Matsubayashi ryu and another guy. The pinan series were the 1st kata before they created this. The stomp can be a variety of things. It can be a stomping kick. It can be stepping on the adversary's foot. The reason why we step on their foot is to keep them from stepping back. It is a distraction and keeps them their long enough for the next technique. The next technique along with the foot will cause your adversary to fall to the ground.

If you look at it from a Chinese perspective it would have to do with Chi (energy flow). This roots you back to the ground. It creates a shunt in energy flow. Basically a short in the circuit. I thought this was some mystical garbage until I learned something taught in tai chi. It is not logical for my western perspective. But when I applied what was being taught it worked. I had to do it again and again because I still didn't believe it. Then I wanted to learn more techniques similar even though I would probably never use or need to use it. But it would be good for conversation and to have the knowledge. I don't know what the future holds. There may be a time when it becomes beneficial. Just like I never really thought I would be faced with a knife or have a gun to the back of my head. But I did.

Edit:

I agree with Samurai Warrior. The stomps were not in the original kata. This was likely done for the showmanship. I've seen some old grainy video of Nagamine doing this kata. He does not stomp. Being the creator of this kata I believe if it should have been done he would have stomped. But to answer the question I gave some reason why there will be a stomp in kata. The explanation I gave from the Chinese in tai chi is usually done for a cat stance. The purpose in putting the heel down before stepping has to do with energy flow. It is a temporary thing, but effective. I was not taught this in Okinawan or Japanese arts. I learned this from Tai chi. I was skeptical until I received the benefits. It should also be taught in the Ryukyu martial arts too.

Interesting, I learned the shito ryu and goju ryu version of this kata and from what I remember neither one had a stomping kick. But then again I think I learned and trained them both on concrete floors, Which you never want to stomp on unless you don't like your knees.

Anyway the kata does have a standard bunkai from goju ryu which is quite common

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHV5VTsmpsA

I believe the stomp kick in this instance is taking out the knee or ankle joint.

It could also be a follow through from the sweep, in which case your stomping on your opponent before he hits the ground.

Edit:>

You can quite easily turn that sweep and stomp into a rather deviating arm lock as the person is falling.

Dam you, Now I am going to have to torcher a few students, I think I may be playing with this kata for the next month now. My students will hate you for this.

Those are not really stomps you are seeing-that kata does not contain them. What you are seeing is the instructor amplifying the moves and what he is doing so that anyone that watches the video can see certain things. The part that you think is a stomp after the kicks is not a stomp; instead what he is showing and emphasizing is that after the kicks you set your foot down into the next stance rather than falling forward after the kick into that next stance.

This also shows that after he throws the kicks with speed and power his weight and balance is controlled and centered rather than the momentum and power of the kicks taking his balance and control of that away.

If you notice that each stomp is performed in conjunction with a high hand technique, suggesting that the opponent can only be standing.

In this case, the stomp must be on the opponent's foot as the face strike is executed at the same time. In my opinion, the stomps in this form are meant to augment surprise and/or distraction as the face strike is executed. This would have a much more devastating effect than the face strike alone - a thing that would cause the opponent to attempt to block. With the foot being stomped on, that would confuse the opponent enough to reduce or eliminate the reflexive block to the face.

Having said that, I'm no fan of the technique - at least as applied and as typically practiced: the stomp is unequivocally performed with the entire sole of the foot. Such a thing is not very destructive or even effective on an opponent: the heel must be the one to do the stomping. But good luck practicing a heel stomp on wood (or anything other than soft mats)!

Ok, so I know you to be a WTF Taekwondo-in. You must be familiar with Keumgang, yes? Keumgang, it is said, to be the only WTF form that has no kicks or foot techniques. Yes, there are no kicks in the form. But, there is a stomp: each of the mountain blocks are executed at the same time as a stomp. And guess what? The mountain block is also a face strike.

One must therefore dig deep into pressure points, of which I know very little, but I do know that the foot is susceptible to strikes even if the PP does not succeed. You can step on the opponent's foot to effect their balance: such a movement is also a distraction. It's not like the opponent can't get out of the step, but for a moment they are off-balanced. In this manner, the stomp is less important than the act of stepping on the opponent's foot. One can therefore make the argument that the stomp isn't really a stomp, but rather a step onto the opponent's foot to effect the (off) balance maneuver.

EDIT:

I don't get it: the stomps were not in the original form? And the stomps were added for showmanship or to accentuate a teaching point? That suggests that stomping is never allowed.

Sorry I don't agree; stomping is a valid self-defense response. If the form never originally had it, what's wrong with adding it in now? To say that it is wrong to change a form and to relegate the justification for the benefit of competition or teaching moments is to deny the evolution of a form (to say nothing of the style).

Look at it another way: if any single step in a form can be interpreted as a stomp, by way of henka-waza, then the stomp is both valid and not an element of showmanship. It may be convenient to say it's for showmanship (and let's face it... many forms are altered for the sake of competition and crowd-pleasing), but there's nothing wrong with converting a step into a stomp if the henka-waza allows for it, and the form itself isn't otherwise altered. Also, if it's a teaching aid, I'd be worried that the continual practice could lead to a misinterpretation (and misapplication) of the stomp. If it is to accentuate something else, then either the stomp is necessary in actual usage, or, the stomp is not required - but would still be used anyway due to continued practice. This logic doesn't make sense to me.

Aside from it's obvious application, stomping on someone's foot to either break the bones in the foot, or holding the foot in place in order to trip an opponent I think there is more to these applications. When there was a trade route between China and Okinawa more than just goods were traded and Chinese martial arts influenced Okinawan martial arts. It is my understanding that Hsing-I (Xing Yi Quan) was one style that was incorporated into the Okinawan art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQZ3xn-UmjI

Having played a bit with the style and if you get the timing just right between the stomp and the hand technique you can actually generate more power in your hand technique especially when executing a strike to a joint in order to break that joint. The Chinese explain it as drawing energy up from the ground and expelling it in the strike. It somewhat feels like that when you are doing it but I know it really does not explain why it really works. I have not come up with a more logical explanation that would fit our western mind. I do believe that because it does not fit into our concept it is one of those techniques that got lost.

If you play with this it is easier to find the timing if you combine the stomp with a hand technique that has a downward motion. It is a little harder to find with the hand technique having an upward motion. ...at least for me it was.

I know I'm talking about a teacher who I despise but my Bujinkan teacher explained his stomps in kata as a grazing attack, trying to peel skin from an attacker's shin.

Doesn't make much sense when you're watching a guy in bare feet but consider the move again when the practitioner is wearing shoes, boots or iron geta.

The theory of chi is very much part of Asian martial arts including Japanese martial art, except in Japanese it is pronounced KI.

Stomping ones foot goes back to the theories of chi generation which can be explained using physics with Newton's Third Law - "For every action, the is an equal and opposite reaction." When you strike the ground, the ground in turn strikes back at you. The idea in martial art is to "channel" that energy the ground is imparting to you through your leg(s) to your strike or even your kick.

We might be over analyzing this. I think that it's simply a "drop step" as Dempsey advised in boxing, he is using the recovery of the kick to aid in bringing force to his follow up punch.

u answered your own question possible applications

what more do u need?