Setting Up The Flux In Kata Pinan Five

Many people generally believe that the Karate Shotokan Kata, we are talking forms pinan shodan through pinan five, contain the true art. Interestingly, while there is much art in the shotokan forms, there have also been some deviations from the true art. Let me cover a couple of points, and offer a specific example to backup my statement.

The pinans, or heians, as they are labeled in the Japanese, are commonly thought to be put together by Ankoh Itosu. There may be some other fellows who helped, but Sensei Itosu is thought of as the father of modern karate. You will find his forms in shito ryu kata, isshin ryu kata, and spread throughout the world.

The problem with the japanese version of karate is that the japanese students altered the kata more for power, and left out certain subtle distinctions. These distinctions provide access to all sorts of ways of developing the power of the karate art. Indeed, if one could trace the development of karate one would find gung fu.

Going back to kung fu might be good and it might be bad, depending on where you want your art to take you. But, that said, the idea that there is only linear power, that the forms must be done only for power, is rather short sighted. One does not normally make a masterpiece by painting in black and white.

To examine that one technique that will illustrate what I am saying here, let's take a technique from pinan 5. The move is halfway through the form, and you assume a side stance, swing the right hand across the body to block the left side, then shoot a left fist out to the left side. This is a very combat efficient karate technique, and it really exudes power.

The intent, in shotokan, is to explode form the tan tien, always explode from the tan tien, and just power through your opponent. When you do the older versions of the form, however, you will find that the moving of the right hand across the body sets up a 'swirl of energy' in the body. Thus, you swirl the energy around, and then shoot it out your arm.

When doing this move one is going to get the rotation of the hips, the weight drop, the stability of stance, and all the other items which make for truly workable karate. But, one will also, by stirring the energy inside the body, find all sorts of energetical sensations that are not available in a more simplistic, version of the art. Indeed, I am sure that a ten year study of the art would teach a student this, and I am sure that this is what sensei Funakoshi had in mind when he recommended doing a single kata for ten years.

Now, I am sure many karateka have come across the type of energy manifestation that I have written of here, and I have chosen it for my example because it is easy to see. The point, however, is that there are countless techniques in the classic forms, pre-shotokan, which create and develop this kind of karate energy flux. The question, therefore, becomes...can you relax your stringent upbringing in the art and develop such a flux in every technique in kata pinan five, and in every other move in all your forms?