Category: Martial Arts

Sensei asked that the black belts write up two techniques demonstrating Bunka. Since I already keep a martial notebook – I am going to cheat for this second one and use my write – up of a Bunkai he showed me last month for Pasai-Dai. I am choosing this one since – like the other technique I wrote up – it also starts from an escape from being grabbed, only this time from the front.

In the Pasai-Dai kata there is a move representing a response to a double-handed wrist grab from the front. The arms are drawn up and out breaking the attackers grip, while at the same time you strike him in the sternum with your knee. From there things get interesting.

You close with your attacker, going chest to chest, and wrap up his arms with your own. I believe this technique works best on an attacker of similar size – plus or minus maybe 30-35% of your body weight; I have been thrown hard this way by someone 6 inches shorter and fifty pounds lighter than myself.

The throw can be turned into a reap or a hip throw depending on the specific energies going into the attack and response – but in either case the thrower needs to be aware that they have the attackers hands bound up – which can make for an incredibly high hard fall. In other words don’t be an ass – when training the technique let the person out on the way to the ground a bit early so they can break fall.

Another interesting part of this throw is that you can hold the person with their arms bound up, and your hips turned to avoid a groin strike giving them a moment to calm down while you have a quiet few words with them. Then if they don’t calm down you can throw them to the ground and pin them there as needed. So it’s a throw for calming down someone you don’t want to hurt if you don’t have to.

Not my favorite technique – but I thought it was interesting enough to record and come back to and practice. The weird arm entanglement looks like it would be ineffective or hard to get to – but when the technique was shown to me I found it was unexpected and effective at locking up my upper body and my normal responses.

Several weeks ago my Sensei asked all the black belts to generate a lesson plan taking a bunkai (hidden teaching) from one of the Kata and turn it into a lesson.

This is a move from Pinan San-dan kata that I constantly hear people say is not any sort of useful technique. I got the idea I am showing here from Nakiyama’s book on defense against multiple assailants – but he also shows another use of this technique to defend against a knife in his “Defense against Armed Assailants” book. The entire series is excellent.

Basically when your arm is grabbed from the side, or from behind, one response is to anchor your hand to your hip. Mechanically coupling your arm to your hip then lets you bring the power of shifting your hips to bear on the arm, generating techniques for breaking the attackers grip, off balancing the attacker, or even throwing them. If possible technique should be timed when it will maximally off balance the person grabbing you – like between their steps. This technique is especially useful for with uneven or slippery ground, or stairs. If possible step into the hip twist for extra power. You want their grip fighting the momentum of your entire body.

In the even that the attacker holds on during the twist – they may open themselves as a taget for a back fist to the face or shove outwards. Ideally the strike / shove will continue to unbalance them, while it opens distance for escape or counter attack.