Silent Thought: Uncomfortably Numb

Yesterday's atrocity took my mind back to 1996.  I had been due to go to Harbour Exchange on Friday, 9th February to check on systems I was responsible for in Harbour Exchange on Canary Wharf.  The day before, I finished what I was working on early, so decided to change my plans and go down to Harbour Exchange there and then.   I got off at South Quay station around 5pm and popped into the newsagents adjacent, before going to Harbour Exchange to do what I needed to do.

Little did I know how fortuitous that decision to turn out to be, as the following day, an IRA bomb was detonated in the car park next to South Quay station, at the same time as I had been there the day before.  The two people I saw in the Newsagents the day before were both killed in the blast, and it was a near miracle that only another 100 people were injured.   I was oh so lucky, but what happened next rammed it home.

It was thought to be a long shot, but I was immediately asked to accompany an Engineer to the building I had some responsibility for, to see whether we could get in to do a damage assessment.  As luck would have it, I used to live around the corner from the site, so when the cab we were in was stopped by police, we made our way on foot and I suggested a pedestrian entry point to the Engineer where we might get in.  There was only local Security on duty at that point, and we were let in as I was recognised.

What followed was to haunt me for a long time and left me numb.  We got the building in question, but the area was eerily quiet, and though  shielded from the masin blast, the severe damage that had occurred was readily apparent.  We completed the survey, and then came out and were immediately confronted by the police wanting to know who wanted to know what we were doing and how we got in.  Apparently it was still a live bomb site, as a second device was considered a strong possibility.  At that point, the whole situation hit home hard, both the luck I had and the enormity of the risk I had put myself in.

I felt numb for a long time afterwards, and each terrorist incident brings it back home.  My response to yesterday was to sink myself into Karate, both in practice at home and into today's dojo session.  Today's "Silent thought" was much needed, as was the workout that followed (basics plus Naihanchi Drills).   Please spare a thought for all the innocent victims of Terrorism, and the bravery of those who confront them 🙏🙏🙏

Dojo drilling

This Saturday in the Dojo was a day for drills, both long and short.  I'm still feeling the effects of the chest infection, but this seems to hit most during the warm up, but didn't stop me doing most of the lesson.  Still, maybe a trip back to the doctors beckons 😩 
The warm up - including rolls breakfalls and shrimping, along with the usual stretches, was followed by Naihanchi Shodan.   This was followed up with a series of short drills with different partners, including:

Back breakfall, kicks onto pads
Elbow - Drag through - Take down
Alternate grasping on inside
Alternate grasping on inside, with knees and kicks

Video from the Grasping and legwork drill

This was followed by a Patrick McCarthy inspired drill. all done with the same partner, but built up in stages:

Attackers:Right hook
Defender: left hand uke, strike open palm to temple
Pull head into shoulder
Bump head with bicep bump using nukite (knife hand strike)
Slap back of head and bring toward elbow
Forearm strike.
Roll forearm over face to expose eye socket
Use rear forearm as lever
Headbutt and push away to finish

Then it was on to a Naihanchi based drill we have practiced before, with a slight variation of a looping hook following on from the hammer fist.  As usual with the long drills, it was built up in parts, practiced with different partners.  We also practiced the #1 elements as a solo form, before working through the whole drill.

The full drill, plus the solo form are detailed below for future reference, along with a video of the solo form for comparison at a later date.  As ever, a good workout and overall enjoyable session ☺☺☺

#1   LH jab                 #2 RH parry, head to right
#1  RH cross                 #2 LH parry, head to left
#1   LH hook                 #2 Step in, two handed upper arm block and spread (Nidan)
#1  RH hammer fist         #2 Step back, cross arm block
#1  LH looping hook      #2 Step in, two handed upper arm block, inc LH shuto to neck
#1  RH hook                 #2 Step back to cat stance, LH block
#1  LH backfist         #2 RH receive   
#1  Forearm  strike         #2 Naihanchi block, LH palm up RH palm down
#1  LH uppercut to ribs #2 RH Gedan Uke
#1 RH uppercut to ribs #2 LH Gedan Uke
#1 LH haito to kneck
#1 RH haito to kneck
#1 grasp behind kneck, using thumbs as 5th finger (gable lock)
#1 pull head down left, switch leg back
#1 left knee strike
#1 switch legs, move head right, right knee strike    #2 Head up, break out, link hands
#1 head butt

Solo form of drill

#1   LH jab

#1  RH cross

#1   LH hook

#1  RH hammer fist

#1  LH hook

#1  RH hook

#1  LH backfist

#1  Forearm  strike

#1  LH uppercut (to ribs)

#1 RH uppercut (to ribs)

#1 LH haito (to kneck)

#1 RH haito (to kneck)

#1 grasp (behind kneck), using thumbs as 5th finger (gable lock)

#1 pull (head) down left  switch leg back

#1 left knee strike

#1 switch legs, move (head) right right knee strike

#1 Release, regrab, head butt

The Devil's in the Naihanchi

When we did the Naihanchi drill at the end of the Saturday session in the dojo, I asked my Sensei afterwards if he could let me see a copy of my attempt at the drill, which he kindly did,  as shown below:

Naihanchi is full of devillishly effective moves, which can be interpreted in a number ways, of which this flow drill is one.

We practiced the drill in five main parts and then tried to put it together as a flow at the end of the lesson.   I performed it as:

Part 1

Crash
Shuto neck strikes and head control, pull head down
Knee strikes

Part 2

Forearm strike
Drag through
Chin hold take down / opponent spin out 

Part 3 

Simultaneous arm drag and punch
Step through arm bar

Part 4

Opponent left hand lapel grab
Left hand to left hand control, right arm chop down on arm and back fist
Right hand to left hand control, left hand punch and back fist

Part 5

Stomping knee kick
Arm bar
Drag through and chin hold
Arm bar, hammer fist and push away

Part 5 should have been:

Stomping knee kick,
forearm strike to neck, which is blocked
then another stomping knee kick into arm bar into hammer fist to mastoid process

I missed the forearm strike and second stomping knee kick, then went to chin hold, before correcting into arm bar and hammer fist. Lots of good material there and not too bad for a first run through ☺☺☺

Flojo

So another Saturday in the dojo, with the emphasis this time on a flow drill taken from the who Naithanchi Shodan Kata.

Still struggling with my chest, so the warm up - running, running with floor touching and tuck jumps, kami rolls and break falls, press ups, sit ups / stand ups and more, was a little challenging to say the least!

After the formal opening of the lesson, it was into Kata pratice, with each of us asked to cycle through our known Kata, whilst our Sensei spent time with rach of us going over finer points.
My known kata are definitely Naihanchi Shodan and Nidan now, but still a way to go on Sandan.

After that we were on to the biggest part of the lesson, the Naihanchi Flow Drill.   Each part of the kata was broken down into elements, which we practiced with different partners.  There are quite a few elements to go through!  Some elements were taken as end pieces in themselves (knee, elbow strikes, takedowns), but then transitions were put in as if the techniques hadn't worked.

The final part of the lesson was putting it all together.  In pairs, we took turns in putting the whole drill together.  Lower grades like me, just tried in on one side, whilst the higher grades were asked to try it on both sides.  I didn't do badly, but definitely work in progress, I missed a couple of moves towards the end, but not to worry.  ☺☺

Dojo blues

The cold and damp don't agree with my conditions and I'm still suffering from the cold / minor chest infection.  It kind of gives me the Dojo blues because I get frustrated with myself only being able to get to 70 to 80% of where I would expect to be 😕 From a health point of view however, the workouts do me good as I get to sweat out some of the cold, etc.

On Saturday our warm  up included some different core exercises on our backs.  Then it was on to Kata, and I now perform Naihanchi Nidan as my highest known Kata 😋.  After that we went through fundamentals, and with one of our other Sensei there, that was enough for one of our white belts to grade  to yellow belt 😋

Then it was on to drills:
Punching out of a situation - feet, knees, sitting, on our backs
Naihanchi drill in pyramid form. Do element one, then elements one and two, then elements one, two and three
Pull hands down; pull down, jab; pull down, jab, back hand punch
change partner and add three elements
head butt; head butt, knee; head butt, knee, opposite knee
change partner add final three elements
backhand slap; backhand slap, elbow; backhand slap, elbow, drag and neck take down
Full drill: Pull hands down, jab, backhand punch, headbutt, knee, opposite knee, backhand slap, elbow, arm drag and neck take down.

Finally it was on to Kumite, I only managed 1st out of three before I got winded, but session certainly helped health wise. 😋  Earlier in the week I had managed to attend another class with the same intent, that class was small so we worked on Kata and Bojutsu.

Earlier on the Saturday, in his class my son got to perform Pinan Shodan all the way through for the first time 😋 His practicing at home has paid off, and he was one happy boy, who got plenty of encouragement from his Sensei too 😋😋

Stuffed up Saturday: Kata, Kumite and Knives

One of the problems with my conditions is that I am prone to getting somewhat wheezy and spluttery in cold, damp conditions and Saturday was a perfect example.  So my time in the Dojo was the perfect way of sweating out a minor chest problem.

We started out with break falls plus warm up for 10 to 15 minutes, which I struggled to get through, but you have to keep on going.  Then we observed the usual formalities of the Dojo and time to clear the mind. Kata came next.  Naihanchi Shodan in single moves, then doing the  Kata with phrasing, to emphasize the combinations inherent within.  This was followed by performance, with the instruction to concentrate of the phrasing over speed.  Kata with intent is also a good way to work up a sweat 😊

The next part of the lesson was Kumite plus pad work.  We started off with two short sessions of sport Kumite (light to medium contact) punches and kicks, then kicks only, with different partners.  This was followed by pad work on punching out of a situation: Standing, kneeling and from the ground.  Finally we went on to structured Naihanchi based Kumite with different partners.  About half way through this, all the sweating paid off and I started to really enjoy the lesson 😊😊

The final part of the lesson was the really fun part.  Our Sensei had got hold of training knives which flash and sound when sufficient contact is made to indicate a serous wound.  We went through a series of exercises with these:

Short range push off and run,
Medium range push off and run
Elbow trap head strike, run (these three with the attacker drawing the knife)
Escape from knife to throat (Deflect, trap, forearm strike, knee, forearm and push away)
We also practiced the last as a drill in pairs.
As well as being serious, these drills are fun 😊😊😊

The end of the lesson was warm down Kata and the full formal ending.  For me, an excellent  and much needed workout and great fun.  Thank you all 😊😊😊😊

Potted Nerd: The Naihanchis

Naihanchi is the fundamental Kata family of my style, Shorin-Ryu.  Being one of the earlier Kata in the world of Karate, there are many different forms.  Where a style has only one Kata, this tends to be somewhat similar to my style's Naihanchi Shodan:

An example of this, but showing the degree of variation that can be found, is Tachimura no Naihanchi, as practiced in KishimotoDi (thank you to Noah Legel for introducing me to this style and Ulf Karlsson for making such a detailed video). Unlike most other versions of the Kata, this starts of to the left, rather to the right and, according to Motobu Naoki (translated by Adreas Quast http://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=5358), this is may be a feature of the earlier form of the Kata, in the Koryū Shuri-te era (courtesy Andreas Quast article http://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=4123#_ftnref10) when it was considered ti, predating the influence of Itosu Ankō.  The Chosin Chibana form of the Kata stems from lineage of Itosu Ankō.

The origins of Naihanchi are possibly Chinese, due to the long history of trade between Okinawa and China.  An article by Simon Keegan (https://toshujutsu.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/beyond-shorin-shorei-teaching-complete-karate/) Suggests that the source form may come from Taiwanese White Crane Boxing, known as Dan Qiu Ban Bai He Quan (Half Hillock, Half White Crane Boxing).  The form Neixi, contains the  same sweeping action found in the nami-gaeshi (returning wave) technique of Naihanchi and Neixi is pronounced Nohanchi in Fuzhou dialect.....

I tried to find a youtube video of Neixi but no luck.  I did however find a video of other forms of that style, the link to which is given below:

Fujian Half Hill Crane Boxing

Neixi isn't included[; but whilst my academic skills elude me here, in one one of the articles I read, there was the assertion that the Kata was based on a form no longer practiced by the originating style.

Naihanchi as a family, and Naihanchi Shodan of my style, clearly has a long tradition in martial arts, but apart from Shodan, the family also includes Nidan and Sandan, both practiced in Shorin-Ryu:

Chosin Chibana - Naihanchi Nidan

Chosin Chibana - Naihanchi Sandan

There are differing thoughts on the origins of these two Kata.  In the footnote of the article "

On the distinction between Shuri-te and Tomari-te" <http://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=4123#_ftnref10>,translated by Andreas Quast, Gima Shinkin is cited as saying " in the Naihanchi kata he (Itosu Ankō) carried out a process of educational reorganization, which is why he divided it into three levels."  The Head of my own federation, Hanshi Koei Norhara, who studied in the lines of both Matsubayashi and Kobayashi Shorin Ryu, states in his book, "The Transformation of Tiy", that each was a Kata "invented by Itosu Ankō".

I don't think it likely that a definitive answer will be found, and all three are Kata are enjoyable to perform, but to me there seems to be more intent in Shodan than the other two.  Given that the Tachimura no Naihanchi Kata predates the work of Itosu Ankō, I think that the Nidan and Sandan Katas are his own work, but that is only my opinion. 😊