Taiji Kase · Jion · Kata & Bunkai

[ogicecez]

Great karateka one of the best!

[zedosix]

What year would this video be filmed in?

[Takanawa456159]

The basis of the 28 Katas are to go over each strike and to focus on your form. Kumite is to perfect the applications of each strike. Both practices must be obtain before you can properly use shotokan.

[bertthepickle]

It is sad to see that so many old karate masters did not know the true application of kata, even back then, not that long after the katas were designed and some of them still had access to people who either created them or to people that trained directly under them.

[xlinksxaussenx]

are you talking about the guys in this vid? they surely do know alot more about the application of this kata than you ever will.

[bertthepickle]

well, let's assume that the bunkai which they displayed here is what they understood the applications for the moves to be, as we have no evidence to the contrary.

In that case, I'd say they knew very little indeed about how to apply the techniques in this kata.

Please don't confuse whatever personal physical skills these guys had OR their ability to pass on that 'limited' knowledge to a class with a deep understanding of kata application.

[bertthepickle]

Do you honestly think that any kata was designed to defend against a person attacking you from range using karate techniques?

What about the manji uke? Why would you turn away from an attacker without countering? And what is his second, lower, hand doing? Or with morote uke that follows afterwards. Why do you need to augment a block against a straight punch?

It's nonsense

[Bassai]

@bertthepickle What Taiji Kase is demonstrating here is called Omote Bunkai, or obvious application. Its the simplest to demonstrate. The next applications are called Ura, or hidden / alternative bunkai, followed by Okuden bunkai which is kind of synonymous to Ura bunkai. On Manji Gamae / Uke, the Omote bunkai means to block a simultaneous attack from the front and back. Ura and Okuden bunkai can translate it as a grappling move or otherwise. All this is known to masters back then.

[bertthepickle]

@Bassai. Thanks for the pm. We can discuss this in more detail offline. I am not convinced though that 'all this is known to masters back then'. We have to remember that in the transition from Okinawa to Japan, karate lost a lot. Particularly in the change from intimate teaching methods to open large scale classes. I believe that many of these old school masters of the 30s/40s were not taught, at that time, anything beyond the omote level. Consequently, the karateka they taught on the JKA....

[bertthepickle]

...instructors course didn't know anything beyond the omote too and brought what was essentially 'children's karate' to the west. They were fantastic technicians, teachers, motivators but they lacked, at that time, a deeper understanding of what kata moves were truly for.

Things change, of course, and there's no reason to believe that they didn't later develop/learn more practical applications. Though I'm not convinced all of them did.

We have a duty to students now to get past this omote...

[bertthepickle]

...level and to ensure that students watching this don't believe that this is all there is to it.

Personally I think that omote level instruction harms the art more than it does it good. Let's face it, an instructor should have a good idea of a student's character after a few months of training and can take an informed decision about what can be taught to them safely. Persisting with omote level teaching in a modern age is wasteful and does more harm than good.

[Coads26]

But would this useless art work against an MMA groupie? Where they wrap bandanas around their heads and wear backwards hats to show they are mixed masters of the martial science? MMA is so great because it lets you fight inside of a steel cage and train for months to wear backwards hats and act like a fool. You guys don't even know MMA youtube trolls are gonna take over the world!!

[MasOyama10dan]

O S S

[RatchetV8]

Music : X-files

[acerwk]

No good!

[spcopycat]

taiji kase was born in 1927 so this cant be accurate... gd vid tho

[007darker]

sorry he was born in 1929...

[watts18269]

I especially like the star trek music.

[markell89]

look at how he counters at 00:35. that shows great skill if u can actually apply that in real life.

[savag3b3ast]

why are you all judging other peoples katas?

you should be worried about noone but yourselves who are we to judge whether he has done the kata right or not, whether his techniques werent up to standard in the modern day katate...you have to remeber only the originators of the kata do it perfectly

[aiko4321]

Savag, I dont think even the originators did the kata perfectly... :) I agree to other things u told

[h3roinmonster]

thos video was shot when taiji kase was very young and in experienced, also when he leans forward in his techniques as u put it he doesnt lean forward; he leans in..

h3oin saying kamikaze kase was truly a fucking master

[christianbrecht]

Young or old, this aspect of his form never changed. Check out 1:10, where he does his oi-zuki leaning forward. All his movements have his butt sticking out, instead of flexed (except maybe when in kiba dachi). His mae-geri also seems weak, no proper pulling. But hey, he was a very early JKA and Funakoshi protege, so maybe this was how he was taught before the JKA kihon was further refined.

[h3roinmonster]

lol, i told you that, i remember him telling us that he learnd=ed farmers karate, so what you are saying might be possible

h3 with: blabla i miss bill hicks

[aiko4321]

Hmm.. I also can see this leaning thing.. But, as cristianbrecht has explaind in one comment, it s butt sticiking out moure than lean forward.. BTW, some karate schools lean fwd some amnt in zenkutsu with certain prnciples. But, I can see Kase Sensei s butt sticking out in every stance, even when he s in heisoku dachi... What I guess is tht s his body type, structure and shape.. There4, he cnt correct this.. Only my personal view :)

[christianbrecht]

With all due respect to Kase Sensei's memory, I see him leaning forward in many of his techniques, even though proper kihon delivery should be with the torso straight.

[34west]

I can definitely see where Taekwondo got a lot of techniques from. :) (Shotokan)

[Shrekka]

Unrealistic applicatoins and poor footwork make this video another Japanese karate "master" not really knowing more than PE Karate.

[tandoorio]

Agree 100% with your comment, very unrealistic, compliant attacker ??, never seen one of those before

[patrickdarcy]

Karate has come on a lot since those days, still very good to watch.