Enoeda & Nakayama BASSAI DAI

[nordique59]

I've seen the French and the British who have broken with the JKA making greater strides with bunkai.

[sroedner]

@nordique59

...and the Italians. This is a very old video though (earely 60's) and it was meant to be a popular explanation of the significance of the kata, not a profound, specialistic study. A bit like explaining Shakespeare in the Lower School.

[ndileonardo]

@sroedner sigh. Bunkai is a guess, the eyes of the beholder. These kata were not invented by Kanazawa, Enoeda, Nakayama, even Funakoshi. They are much older. Guessing at their meaning is like trying to answer any of the great existential questions. A good exercise to develop your art, but ultimately, don't think that you will answer the question. It doesn't matter! And personally, I don't know that I would say that Italians on YouTube know more than some of our great master...

[nordique59]

Where did Nakayama get that comical Bunkai from? Under him, Shotokan lost it's real essence! Now it's just seems to be a mere sport?

[brinnonvallere]

@nordique59

you can tell this guy is from Ohshima karate....they spew stuff like this all the time. No way Gichin perfected his system, his son improved on it and so did Nakayama. Ive trained both Ohshima karate and Nakayama and GIVE ME NAKAYAMA KARATE ANYTIME!

[osensei2987]

@nordique59 Nakayama was from a line of kenjutsu instructors. So in his twisted "JAPANESE" mind, he probably thought himself, "superior to the country bumpkin, Okinawan hicks". He approached empty hand and kumite as if they were fencing! IMHO, he both tragically and comically fucked up Shotokan! Even today u hear Japanese and non-Japanese make claims that the JKA "IMPROVED KARATE"! How arrogant! These ridiculous bunkai are the basis for the claim of Japanese ownership of the style!

[lio88jian]

7:38 "You go over here now!" jajaja

[Hikiwake10]

This bunkai is so bad

[nickroccoletta]

Its not bad bunkai. It is purposefully very simple and meant to be so, in order to help the student understand the basic movements of the form.

[Hikiwake10]

The basic moves are realistic and this bunkai is unrealistic

[Tapiola2007]

What do "realistic" and "unrealistic" mean here? Kata and bunkai when demonstrated formally bear little relation to a real combat situation. Nobody comes at you on the street with, for example, oi zuki and mae geri from deep stances.

You're confusing karate (Shotokan karate) as martial art and karate as self defence. The two are obvisouly related but to criticise the bunkai as shown here as "bad" because it seems "unrealistic" is to confuse the whole point completely.

[Hikiwake10]

Kata is designed to be the answer against attacks from ordinary people and not against Karate moves only just like this video.This is the right way to practice real Karate and this is the way we practice in Japan .Please tell me what is the whole point practice unrealistic moves and why I confuse it

[Tapiola2007]

Because if you came at me with "realistic" moves, my response wouldn't much resemble my kata - it would look more like jiyu kumite.

Bunkai is a fundamental aspect of kata training, I certainly agree with you there, but reducing kata to a street fight simulation makes kata a mere self-defence class and not the pure martial art that it is.

However, keep up the good work and oss!

[Hikiwake10]

I see you approach kata and karate as DO or as a sport.I prefer to see Karate as Jutsu first and Kata just like they teach in Okinawa: practical moves against real attacks and not unpractical moves against karate type of attacksThen you can go to Do.First the practical realistic training against attacks you will meet in the streets today and then the philosophical path.

[osensei2987]

@Hikiwake10 Let me say that the argument about practical vs impractical is a BS argument that goes on all of the time. The reason it seems impractical to some is because they have not received proper instruction or the instruction they have received is in error. First and foremost u need to understand what kata is and what kata is not. Unless someone has explained it to u "truthfully" then u are prone to draw wrong conclusions.

[Hikiwake10]

@osensei2987 It is hard to find someone tha truly know karate.In present day everybody focus on sport karate thats is joke

[osensei2987]

@Tapiola2007 Okinawans were likely rice farmers! I doubt they had memberships to Gold's Gym. So kata was modified in some instances from a fighting form to one the induces isometric as aerobic exercise. I did Kanku Dai about 3 times in a row and I was drenched from head to toe and had to change up my normal training routine the following day because it kicked my ass! Secondly, it provides u with an organized "LIST OF TECHNIQUES" that also need to be trained independent of kata.

[osensei2987]

@osensei2987 Having said all of that, Karate would not be the joke that it is considered to be ( in the "MINDS OF SOME" ), if the techniques were taken from the kata, protection was put on and full contact sparring took place in which the idea would be to try and execute the techniques in the kata in a realistic fight simulation. I prefer that over the glorified amateur kickboxing game of tag that is on exhibit in modern Karate kumite (sparring) that uses very little Karate technique at all.

[Hikiwake10]

@osensei2987 doesnt everyboy train like that?We do!

[osensei2987]

@Hikiwake10 No, Not in free sparring! Once the gloves go on the technique disappears. Only kicks and punches from that point on! The only concern is who scores first! All of the techniques from the kata are quickly forgotten and success is measured in the number of medals and trophies one has accumulated. Meanwhile, ppl look at the katas and say they are not practical, because we never bother to prove the techniques in kumite! We just bounce around looking to score ippons!

[Hikiwake10]

@osensei2987 In Japan we practice JIYU KUMITE and we use all the techniques we know,elbows,knees,throws.I m not talking about point fighting.That sucks

[maofas]

Kata is kata and fighting is fighting. Worrying about bunkai being unrealistic, at this point, makes about as much sense as complaining comic books are unrealistic.

[Hikiwake10]

No kata is not just ''kata'' maybe in West this is what people believe and know after all they focus on WKF but this is tottaly wrong

[maofas]

If you say, Have fun LARPing.

[Hikiwake10]

Oh well another american that doesnt know anything about karate..

[danielitobusta]

oss!! excelente referencia para los nos gusta este kata

[Winterdenni]

Wonderful to see, such a pity that the bunkai is so unrealistic.

[MasOyama10dan]

OSS !

[acerwk]

No good!

[leenufc123]

Thank You very much, I am currently a 3rd kyu and now I know what each technique does in bassai dai. This will help me visualise what I am doing in kata. OSS!!!

[unag]

Thank you for posting this rare clip. Does anyone know who the 2 assistants in the video are?

[smcgregor72]

did you see the european lad i think that is sensei ronnie watt from aberdeen,scotland now 8th dan,he and sensei enoeda were vwery close friends,i had the great houner of being graded all my dan gradings from sensei enoeda,and a few jars a very great man indeed

[johnbsan]

@smcgregor72 Indeed "the Tiger" was an exceptional karateka. I had the fortune to train with him on only a few short occassions. He was formidable on the floor and off the floor a gentleman. Sadly we are witnessing the demise of a great band of karateka and I fear that the legacy left does not follow the "budo" path where kata, bunkai, kihon and kumite were all connected in a holistic whole - too much sport karate these days where a few techniques count and flowery kata win out!

[gyakuzuki73]

Oss. Splendida e utile lezione del maestro Nakayama.